3/19/2023 0 Comments Greek mythology hades fanartWhat is the Trojan Horse? Relationship with Zeus Zeus Powerless: Sarpedon and Hector.Sometimes, one – or all – of them can be seen reading or writing the book of fate. Any case, they are almost always pictured as weaving or binding thread. Thus, in the visual arts, they were usually depicted as handsome women, but in literature, they are often imagined as both old and ugly. The representation of the Fates evolved through time, and it seems that it often depended on the medium through which they were portrayed. Sometimes, each of the Fates was assigned to a specific period of time: Atropos – the past, Clotho –the present, and Lachesis – the future. Fates' Functions Ĭonsistently portrayed as three women spinners, each of the three Fates had a different task, revealed by her very name: Clotho spun the thread of life, Lachesis measured its allotted length, and Atropos cut it off with her shears. At a later date, in the Orphic cosmogony, the Fates got a new mother: Ananke, or Necessity. Both genealogies make sense: in the first case, the Moirai are linked through Nyx with Death, and in the second they are clearly associated with the unchanging order of things. In his “ Theogony,” the poet first informs us that the Fates are the fatherless daughters of Nyx, the Night, only to later describe them as daughters of Zeus and Themis, and, thus sisters of the Horae, Eunomia, Dike, and Eirene. The Fates have at least three different genealogies, two of which go way back to Hesiod. Their names were: Clotho (meaning “The Spinner”), Lachesis (or “The Alloter”) and Atropos (literally “The Unturning” or, more freely, “The Inflexible”). The Moirai’s Roman counterpart were the Parcae, probably because the Romans confused the origin of their name, thinking it stems from pars which is the Latin translation of moira it’s actually derived from parere, “to bring forth,” which explains why the Parcae were initially birth spirits, and also why the Romans weren’t so far off when they merged them with the Moirai. By extension, Moirai means “The Apportioners,” i.e., the ones who give to each his own (portion of life). The word moira means “share” or “portion” of something, whether meal, land, or victory spoils (compare this with the English word “merit” from the Latin meritum, “a reward”). The Fates were originally called Moirai in Ancient Greece. The existence of Erebus would prove to be a way in which the ancient Greeks could explain why periods of darkness occurred, or why areas underground were dark, whilst those above ground were in light.The Fates: A Quick Profile Their Name and their Names It was generally thought that the primordial god is present in all areas of the underworld, causing it to be a dark place. Additionally though, Erebus is commonly thought of as being the deepest reaches of the underworld, although this is more commonly referred to as Tartarus. If considered a region of the underworld, Erebus is often considered to be the first region through which the departed are said to pass. In the fleeting mentions of Erebus, he is often used interchangeably with Hades, the Underworld, or as a region of Hades. Some sources, including Aristophanes, also state that Eros was the offspring of Nyx and Erebus, although the likes of Hesiod would obviously contradict this.Ī long list of non-primordial gods and demons were also said to have been born to Erebus and Nyx, including Charon, Hypnos and Thanatos, the Moirai and the Hesperides.Įrebus doesn’t figure prominently in any mythological tale although both Hesiod and Ovid make mention of him. Nyx and Erebus worked hand in hand, bringing the darkness of night to the world, but each morning Hemera would push aside her parents, allowing daylight (Aether) to envelop the world. Many tales from Greek mythology are about people making sense of the world around them, and Nyx, Erebus, Aether and Hemera played an important part in this.
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