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Moirai
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Moirai ()often known in English as the Fateswere the personifications of fate, destiny. They were three sisters: Clotho (the spinner), Lachesis (mythology), Lachesis (the allotter), and Atropos (the inevitable, a metaphor for death). Their Roman mythology, Roman equivalent is the Parcae. The role of the Moirai was to ensure that every being, mortal and divine, lived out their destiny as it was assigned to them by the laws of the universe. For mortals, this destiny spanned their entire lives and was represented as a thread spun from a spindle. Generally, they were considered to be above even the gods in their role as enforcers of fate, although in some representations, Zeus, the chief of the gods, is able to command them. The concept of a universal principle of natural order and balance has been compared to similar concepts in other cultures such as the Vedic Ṛta, the Avestan Asha (Arta), and the Ancient Egyptian ...
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Fates
The Fates are a common motif in European polytheism, most frequently represented as a trio of goddesses. The Fates shape the destiny of each human, often expressed in textile metaphors such as spinning fibers into yarn, or weaving threads on a loom. The trio are generally conceived of as sisters and are often given the names Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, which are the names of the Moirai, the version of the Fates who appear in Greek mythology. These divine figures are often artistically depicted as beautiful maidens with consideration to their serious responsibility: the life of mortals. Poets, on the other hand, typically express the Fates as ugly and unwavering, representing the gravity of their role within the mythological and human worlds. Individual roles The Moirai, meaning "allotted portion" or "share", separated each sister into a different role in order to handle the fates of humans. The Fates were expected to appear within three days of a mortal's birth. Clotho ...
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Zeus
Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea (mythology), Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, though sometimes reckoned the eldest as the others required disgorging from Cronus's stomach. In most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Eileithyia, Hebe (mythology), Hebe, and Hephaestus.Hard 2004p. 79 At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione (Titaness/Oceanid), Dione, by whom the ''Iliad'' states that he fathered Aphrodite. According to the ''Theogony'', Zeus's first wife was Metis (mythology), Metis, by whom he had Athena.Hesiod, ''Theogony'886900 Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many divine and heroic offspring, including Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, D ...
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Themis
In Greek mythology and religion, Themis (; ) is the goddess and personification of justice, divine order, law, and custom. She is one of the twelve Titan children of Gaia and Uranus, and the second wife of Zeus. She is associated with oracles and prophecies, including the Oracle of Delphi. Name ''Themis'' means "divine law" rather than human ordinance, literally "that which is put in place", from the Greek verb ''títhēmi'' ( τίθημι), meaning "to put." To the ancient Greeks she was originally the organizer of the "communal affairs of humans, particularly assemblies." Moses Finley remarked of ''themis'', as the word was used by Homer in the 8th century BCE, to evoke the social order of the 10th- and 9th-century Greek Dark Ages: Finley adds, "There was ''themis''—custom, tradition, folk-ways, ''mores'', whatever we may call it, the enormous power of 'it is (or is not) done'." In the ''Hymn to Apollo'', Themis is referred to as " Ichnaea", meaning "Tracker". Descr ...
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Atropos
Atropos (; "without turn"), in Greek mythology, was the third of the Three Fates or Moirai, goddesses of fate and destiny. Her Roman equivalent was Morta. Atropos was one of the Three Fates and was known as "the Inflexible One." It was Atropos who chose the manner of death and ended the life of mortals by cutting their threads. She worked along with her two sisters, Clotho, who spun the thread, and Lachesis, who measured the length. Atropos has been featured in several stories, such as those of Atalanta and Achilles. Origin Her origin, along with the other two fates, is uncertain, although some called them the daughters of the night. It is clear, however, that at a certain period they ceased to be concerned only with death and also became those powers who decided what may happen to individuals. Although Zeus was the chief Greek god and their father, he was still subject to the decisions of the Fates, and thus the executor of destiny, rather than its source. According to H ...
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Lachesis
Lachesis ( ; ; from , 'to obtain by lot, by fate, or by the will of the gods'), in ancient Greek religion, was the middle of the Three Fates, or Moirai; the others were her sisters, Clotho and Atropos. Normally seen clothed in white, Lachesis is the measurer of the thread spun on Clotho's spindle, and in some texts, determines Destiny, or thread of life. Her Roman equivalent was Decima. Lachesis was the apportioner, deciding how much time for life was to be allowed for each person or being. She measured the thread of life with her rod. She is also said to have chosen a person's destiny after a thread was measured. In mythology, it is said that she appears with her sisters within three days of a baby's birth to decide the baby's fate. Origin According to Hesiod's ''Theogony'', Lachesis and her sisters were the daughters of Nyx (Night), though later in the same work (ll. 901-906) they are said to have been born of Zeus and Themis. Lachesis is also mentioned in the tenth book ...
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Clotho
Clotho (; ) or Klotho, is a mythological figure. She was one of the Three Fates or Moirai. In ancient Greek mythology, she spins the thread of human life, her sisters draw out ( Lachesis) and cut ( Atropos) the thread. She also made major decisions, such as when a person was born, thus in effect controlling people's lives. This power enabled her not only to choose who was born, but also to decide when deities or mortals were to be saved or put to death. For example, Clotho resurrected Pelops when his father killed him. Her Roman equivalent is Nona. As one of the three fates, her influence in Greek mythology was significant. Along with her sisters and Hermes, Clotho was given credit for creating the alphabet for their people. Even though Clotho and her sisters were worshiped as goddesses, their representation of fate is more central to their role in mythology. Thread represented human life and her decisions represented the fate of all people in society. Origin Although the ...
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Lachesis (mythology)
Lachesis ( ; ; from , 'to obtain by lot, by fate, or by the will of the gods'), in ancient Greek religion, was the middle of the Three Fates, or Moirai; the others were her sisters, Clotho and Atropos. Normally seen clothed in white, Lachesis is the measurer of the thread spun on Clotho's spindle, and in some texts, determines Destiny, or thread of life. Her Roman equivalent was Decima. Lachesis was the apportioner, deciding how much time for life was to be allowed for each person or being. She measured the thread of life with her rod. She is also said to have chosen a person's destiny after a thread was measured. In mythology, it is said that she appears with her sisters within three days of a baby's birth to decide the baby's fate. Origin According to Hesiod's ''Theogony'', Lachesis and her sisters were the daughters of Nyx (Night), though later in the same work (ll. 901-906) they are said to have been born of Zeus and Themis. Lachesis is also mentioned in the tenth boo ...
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Ṛta
In the Historical Vedic religion, Vedic religion, ''Ṛta'' (International Phonetic Alphabet, /ɹ̩t̪ɐ/; Sanskrit ' "order, rhythm, rule; truth; logos") is the principle of natural order which regulates and coordinates the operation of the universe and everything within it. In the hymns of the Vedas, ''Ṛta'' is described as that which is ultimately responsible for the proper functioning of the natural, moral and sacrificial orders. Conceptually, it is closely allied to the injunctions and ordinances thought to uphold it, collectively referred to as ''Dharma'', and the action of the individual in relation to those ordinances, referred to as ''Karma'' – two terms which eventually eclipsed ''Ṛta'' in importance as signifying natural, religious and moral order in later Hinduism. Sanskrit scholar Maurice Bloomfield referred to ''Ṛta'' as "one of the most important religious conceptions of the Rigveda", going on to note that, "from the point of view of the history of religiou ...
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Parcae
In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion and Roman mythology, myth, the Parcae (singular, Parca) were the female personifications of destiny who directed the lives (and deaths) of humans and gods. They are often called the Fates in English, and their interpretatio graeca, Greek equivalent were the Moirai. They did not control a person's actions except when they are born, when they die, and how much they suffer. The Parcae recorded the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal and immortal from birth to death. Even the gods feared them, and by some sources Jupiter (mythology), Jupiter was also subject to their power. Nona (mythology), Nona was supposed to determine a person's lifespan on the ''dies lustricus'', that is, the day on which the name of the child was chosen, which occurred on the ninth day from birth for a male and the eighth for a female. The recurrence of the nundinae was also considered a ''Glossary of ancient Roman religion#festus, dies festus'' and ...
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Fate
Destiny, sometimes also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predeterminism, predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words wiktionary:fate, ''fate'' and ''destiny'' have distinct connotations. The earliest known mention of the term or its meaning is found on a document written in cuneiform script that reports on the mythical Tablet of Destinies (mythic item), Tablet of Destinies. It probably refers to a political treaty between three groups of Sumerian gods (cf. the Atra-Hasis, Epic Athra Hasis), whereby only the leader has the power to restore the things he once determined to their original state. Todays traditional usage defines fate similar: as a power or agency that predetermines (rules) the attributes of a thing or set of events positively or negatively affecting someone or a group. Other possibilities are that of an idiom, to Fortune-telling, tell someone's fortun ...
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Ancient Greek Religion
Religious practices in ancient Greece encompassed a collection of beliefs, rituals, and Greek mythology, mythology, in the form of both popular public religion and Cult (religious practice), cult practices. The application of the modern concept of "religion" to ancient cultures has been questioned as anachronistic. The Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks did not have a word for 'religion' in the modern sense. Likewise, no Greek writer is known to have classified either the gods or the cult practices into separate 'religions'. Instead, for example, Herodotus speaks of the Hellenes as having "common shrines of the gods and sacrifices, and the same kinds of customs". Most ancient Greeks recognized the Twelve Olympians, twelve major Olympian gods and goddesses—Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus—although philosophies such as Stoicism and some forms of Platonism used language that seems to assume a s ...
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Greek Mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories concern the ancient Greek religion's view of the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, nature of the world; the lives and activities of List of Greek deities, deities, Greek hero cult, heroes, and List of Greek mythological creatures, mythological creatures; and the origins and significance of the ancient Greeks' cult (religious practice), cult and ritual practices. Modern scholars study the myths to shed light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greece, and to better understand the nature of mythmaking itself. The Greek myths were initially propagated in an oral tradition, oral-poetic tradition most likely by Minoan civilization, Minoan and Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean singers starting in the 18th century&n ...
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