Goddess of Fate
The Moirai — Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos — spin, measure, and cut the thread of every life.
The Meaning of Goddess of Fate
Three sisters controlled the destiny of every mortal and god. Clotho, the Spinner, drew the thread of life from her spindle at the moment of birth. Lachesis, the Allotter, measured its length, determining how many years each being would live. Atropos, the Inflexible, cut the thread with her shears when the appointed time arrived, and no power in heaven or earth could delay her. Even Zeus bowed to the Moirai's decisions. When his son Sarpedon was destined to die at Troy, Zeus wept tears of blood but did not overrule the Fates, knowing that to do so would unravel the order of the cosmos. The three sisters sat in a cave or at the foot of Zeus's throne, dressed in white robes, and their decrees were carved on an adamantine wall that none could alter.
Symbols
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
Moirai
💭 conceptThe three Fates who control destiny
The three goddesses of fate who controlled the destiny of every mortal and god. Even Zeus himself could not overrule their decrees.
Fate
💭 conceptLanguage and destiny
An English word meaning destiny or predetermined outcome, derived from the Moirai, the three Greek goddesses who spun, measured, and cut the thread of every mortal's life
Moira
💭 conceptFate and one's allotted portion
Moira was one's appointed portion in life — determined by the three Moirai who spun, measured, and cut every life's thread.
Fates
💭 conceptThe inescapable power of destiny
The concept of fate — moira — was central to Greek thought. Not even the gods could escape what was fated, making destiny the ultimate force in the Greek universe.
Moira
💭 conceptThe concept of allotted portion and destiny
The fundamental Greek concept that each person receives an allotted portion of life, and even the gods cannot exceed it.
God of Death
💭 conceptDeath, mortality, peaceful passing
Thanatos is the personification of death, a winged figure who comes to claim mortals when their time expires.
Perseus and Medusa
💭 conceptNarrative
The hero's quest to slay the mortal Gorgon and his ingenious use of divine gifts to accomplish the impossible
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.
Niobe's Children
💭 concepthubris, grief
The fourteen children of Niobe, killed by Apollo and Artemis after their mother boasted of being superior to Leto, the divine twins' mother.
Prophecy of Achilles
💭 conceptprophecy, heroism
The dual fate offered to Achilles: a long peaceful life in obscurity or a short glorious life at Troy, establishing the Greek ideal of heroic choice.
Metamorphoses
💭 conceptTransformation, punishment, mercy
Stories of mortals and gods reshaped into new forms — by love, divine punishment, or compassion — central to how Greeks explained the natural world.
The Creation
💭 conceptCosmogony, power, succession
The Greek account of how the universe began — from Chaos to the reign of Zeus, through two wars of divine succession.