Atropos
The eldest and most feared of the three Moirai, Atropos cuts the thread of life at the moment of death, choosing how each person dies.
The Myth of Atropos
Atropos was the third and most feared of the Fates, daughters of Zeus and Themis. Her name means "she who cannot be turned" — the inexorable one. While Clotho spun the thread of life and Lachesis measured it, Atropos chose the manner of death and cut the thread with her shears at the appointed moment. Even the gods feared to cross her. She and her sisters held authority that superseded Zeus himself in matters of fate — when Zeus wanted to spare someone from death, he had to consult the Moirai. The herb atropine, derived from deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), is named after her, as the plant was used historically to dilate pupils and could kill in large doses. Her Roman equivalent was Morta.
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Fun Fact
The poison atropine — extracted from deadly nightshade — is named after Atropos, the Fate who cuts the thread of life. The plant's genus is Atropa belladonna.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Clotho
goddessspinning the thread of life, birth, fate
The youngest of the three Moirai (Fates), Clotho spins the thread of every mortal life at the moment of birth.
Stheno
🐉 creatureimmortality
Eldest and most ferocious of the three Gorgon sisters, immortal unlike Medusa, who pursued Perseus after he beheaded her sister.
Persephone
⚡ godQueen of the Underworld
The daughter of Demeter who became queen of the dead — the goddess who bridges the living world and the realm of the departed.
Goddess of Fate
💭 conceptFate, destiny, lifespan, inevitability
The Moirai — Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos — spin, measure, and cut the thread of every life.
Lachesis
goddessfate, life allotment, chance, measuring destiny
The second of the three Moirai, Lachesis measures the thread of each mortal life and assigns the portion of fortune and misfortune.
Trivia
⚡ godCrossroads, magic, night, the underworld
Roman goddess of crossroads and sorcery, equivalent to the Greek Hecate
Tisiphone
⚡ godUnderworld
One of the three Erinyes who avenges murder by driving perpetrators to madness
Meliboea
🌿 nymphnature, grief
A nymph (or mortal woman) who survived the massacre of Niobe's children and was preserved by her extreme pallor of terror.
Alecto
⚡ godUnderworld
One of the three Erinyes whose name means "Unceasing" and who embodies relentless anger
Laodamia
🗡 herodevotion
Wife of Protesilaus who embraced a wax image of her dead husband so desperately the gods briefly returned him to life.
Mors
⚡ godDeath, mortality, the final passage
Roman personification of death, equivalent to the Greek Thanatos
Hecate Trivia
⚡ godcrossroads, magic
An epithet of Hecate as goddess of crossroads and three-way intersections, where offerings were left at night to appease her and the restless dead.