If you’ve watched Disney’s Hercules, you probably remember the scary old ladies with the scissors and the thread and the doom and the gloom...not that I’m creeped out by them or anything!
Those ladies are Disney’s interpretation of the Moirai.
The Greek word “moira” means portion, and “Moirai” means apportioner. It’s a word not often used in modern times, but it means one who divides or assigns. “Moirai” is also translated to mean Fate, for it is what the Moirai portion out for all living things.
The origins of the Moirai change depending on which myths one reads. Sometimes they are the daughters of Ananke, goddess of inevitability. (If you’ve seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ananke was personified as Anya, the vengeance demon that Xander dated.) More often, the parents of the Moirai are Zeus and Themis, a Titan who represented divine order and law. Either way, the Moirai are clearly the daughters of beings representing aspects of Fate.
There are three Moirai - Clotho, who spins the thread of life; Lachesis, who measures the thread; and Atropos, who cuts the thread. If you read my Norse post about the Norns, you’ll see that the Moirai are incredibly similar to them - which is fascinating, given how different ancient Norse and Greek cultures were from one another.
The most interesting thing about the Moirai - and their most striking similarity to the Norns - is who they spun their thread for. The answer is everyone. Even the Greek gods were subject to Fate, and were unable to act against it. This is particularly interesting when one considers that the Moirai are daughters of the gods, and thus came into existence after the gods did. Did Fate not exist before they were born? Were the gods not subject to its rule until the Moirai came into being?
We’ll talk a little more about the Moirai when I do my post about Fate and the role it plays in the Greek myths. For now, I’d love to hear your thoughts on them! I’m aware of two other mythologies that have three women representing Fate (Roman and Celtic), but I’d love to hear about it if you know of any others! Please post below or email me with comments or questions.
Stay tuned - next post I’ll be talking about Achilles, who is perhaps the best known “hero” of Greek mythology!
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