The Fates are the Destinies mentioned in Theogony,
who are three daughters of the primeval goddess, Nyx ("the Night"), representing a power acting
over the gods.
Known as Moirai or Moerae in Greek Mythology and Fata or Parcae by the Romans,
The Fates were comprised of three women often described as elderly, stern, severe, cold
and unmerciful.
Their names in Greek were Clotho, (“the spinner”), Lachesis (“the apportioner”)
and Atropos (“the inevitable”).
The Roman names for them were Nona, Decuma and Morta.
While Greek portrayal of these deities was that of grave and busy maidens, Romans often
showcased them as being mean or denying humans their hopes and desires.
The first of the fate goddesses, Clotho, meaning spinner, spun the thread of life.
She is depicted as a maiden and is often seen carrying a spindle or a roll (the book of
Fate).
Lachesis, meaning unbending, measured the thread of life which determined how long one
would live.
She appeared as a matron with a staff with which she points to the horoscope on a globe.
Atropos meaning “inexorable” or “inevitable” was the cutter of the thread of life and appeared
as a crone.
She chose the manner of each person’s death and when their time was up, cut their life-thread
with shears.
The smallest of the three, she is also characterized as the most terrible.
In various accounts, the three goddesses are shown with staffs, scepters or wearing crowns
as symbols of dominion.
They all lived in Zeus’s palace on Mount Olympus.
At the birth of a boy, the fates spun out the thread of his future life, followed his
steps, directing the consequences of his actions according to the counsel of the gods.
The Fates did not interfere in human affairs directly but availed themselves of intermediate
causes, and determined the lot of mortals conditionally.
Man was allowed to exercise a certain influence upon them.
As man's fate was determined at his death, the goddesses of fate became the goddesses
of death.
In most versions of greek mythology, the fates were the daughters of Zeus and the titaness,
Themis.
So, Zeus being the main God and the father of these moirai even had them kill men due
to wanting his own revenge.
He was also known to command the fates not to cut some or had Clotho to re-spin the cut
piece back together.
Sometimes the fates would not listen to Zeus and did what they knew was right.
They had all of the oracles to tell them things and what was to happen and who would die on
this day.
The threads were very delicate and small but tough as nails and the only thing that could
break the life line was Atropos shears.
When Lachesis decided that the thread was long enough then she would give the order
to Atropos to snip the thread and get rid of the life form that was connected to it.
When Atropos cut the life thread with her shears they were always sharp as a razor and
never went dull.
When she would cut the thread, it was always a clean cut with no loose ends…. unless
it was stopped by Lord Zeus himself.
It has been said the fates even had the power to kill the gods because the yarn strands
were for every life form on earth and the heavens.
But this is uncertain to be true or not.
Many things are written, saying that the gods feared the fates due to this reason and did
not want to cross them in any way, due to the possibility their immortality ending in
a final snip.
Many prayed to the fates in hopes of getting on their good side and not having their life
ended and to ensure a good harvest or a good child birth.
However, the fates have been tricked or bribed into not cutting the life from a certain person.
One of the most well known accounts is when Apollo got the Fates drunk.
He was tricking them so that his friend Admetus would be spared from death.
It is even said that a few of the Greek gods and goddess besides Zeus could manipulate
them and cause them to hold off a little longer on a cut.
Nemesis was said to be able to convince Atropos to prolong the cut on certain people.
Another myth that follows the sisters is that after every birth of a child, for seven nights
afterwards they visit the child and determine his or her fate to see how to spin their life
line.
There is a story that has been carried out and is still a big part in Greek Mythology.
The fate of Meleager, a famous Greek hero, was decided when he was seven days old.
The Sisters said that he would die when the branded log that lay upon the hearth would
burn up.
The mother was scared of this and grabbed up the log and placed it in a chest and locked
and hid it up so no one but she knew where it was.
Before Meleager had murdered his uncles along with his mother, she told him what the fates
had said seven nights after he was born.
She then told him where the log was and what would happen to him if it ever got burnt.
Meleager was struck by sadness for all of the killings he had done and brought out the
log and threw it upon the fire and watched it burn and just as the fates had predicted
just as soon as the log finished burning Meleager was killed.
The sisters of fate had the most important job of all of Olympian gods and goddesses.
They knew every thing that every single man, woman, child and god had ever done or would
do.
The Fates were not limited to the powers of deciding a life’s path.
They were also known to go on the battle field and fight with the giants and Titans and killed
many too.
In many pictures they are shown with staffs or some weapon of sort.