Moirai facts for kids

Atropos or the Parces, Francisco de Goya, around 1820

The Moirai (The Fates) were the three goddesses of destiny in Greek mythology. They were Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos (Greek: Άτροπος).

They controlled the life and destiny of everyone. Clotho spins the thread of life (begins a person's or creature's life), Lachesis measures it (looks at the how long it currently is), and Atropos cuts the thread. When the thread is cut the person dies. The Moirai are capable of destroying an immortal.

The decisions of the Moriae about a person's life cannot be changed. Even Zeus is powerless to change their will.

The parents of the Moirai are not surely known. Some said they were the daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis, or more likely of primordial beings like Nyx, Chaos or Ananke.

Their Roman equivalent were the Parcae.

Sources: D'Aulaire's book of Greek Myths

Images for kids

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  Bas relief of Clotho, lampstand at the Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C.

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  Bas relief of Lachesis, lampstand at the Supreme Court, Washington, D.C.

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  Bas relief of Atropos cutting the thread of life

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  The three Moirai, relief, grave of Alexander von der Mark [de] by Johann Gottfried Schadow (Old National Gallery, Berlin)

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  The Norns spin the threads of fate at the foot of Yggdrasil, the tree of the world.

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  Macbeth and Banquo meeting the three weird sisters in a woodcut from Holinshed's Chronicles.

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  A section of the Egyptian Book of the Dead written on papyrus showing the "Weighing of the Heart" in the Duat using the feather of Maat as the measure in balance.

See also

In Spanish: Moiras para niños