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.[2]
The concept of a universal principle of natural order and balance has been compared to similar concepts in other cultures such as theVedicṚta, theAvestanAsha (Arta), and theEgyptianMaat.
The word Moirai, also spelledMoirae orMœræ,[3][4] comes fromAncient Greek:μοῖρα, which means "lots, destinies, apportioners". It also means a portion or lot of the whole. It is related tomeros, "part, lot" andmoros, "fate, doom".[5] The possible derivedLatinmeritum, "reward",Englishmerit, maybe coming from theProto-Indo-European language root*(s)mer, "to allot, assign".[6]
In addition, Moira may mean
portion or share in the distribution of booty (ίση μοῖρα,ísē moîra, "equal booty"),[7]
portion in life, lot, destiny, (μοῖραv ἔθηκαν ἀθάνατοι,moîran éthēken athánatoi, "the immortals fixed the destiny"),[8]
death (μοῖρα θανάτοιο,moîra thanátoio, "destiny of death"),
TheNorns spin the threads offate at the foot ofYggdrasil, the tree of the world.
The three Moirai are known in English as theFates. This derives fromRoman mythology, in which they are theParcae or Fata, plural ofLatin:fatum,[11] meaning prophetic declaration, oracle, or destiny; euphemistically, the "sparing ones". There are other equivalents that descend from theProto-Indo-European culture.
In Norse mythology theNorns are a trio of female beings who rule the destiny of gods and men, twining the thread of life. They set up the laws and decided on the lives of the children of men.[12]
Their names wereUrðr, related with Old Englishwyrd, modernweird ("fate, destiny, luck"),Verðandi, andSkuld, and it has often been concluded that they ruled over the past, present and future respectively, based on the sequence and partly the etymology of the names, of which the first two (literally 'Fate' and 'Becoming') are derived from the past and present stems of the verbverða, "to be", respectively,[13] and the name of the third one means "debt" or "guilt", originally "that which must happen".[14] In younger legendary sagas, the Norns appear to have been synonymous with witches (völvas), and they arrive at the birth of the hero to shape his destiny.[15]
Many other cultures included trios of goddesses associated with fate or destiny. TheCelticMatres andMatrones, female deities almost always depicted in groups of three, have been proposed as connected to the Norns.[16]
InLithuanian and otherBaltic mythologies, the goddessLaima is the personification of destiny, and her most important duty was to prophesy how the life of a newborn will take place.[17][18] With her sisters Kārta and Dēkla, she is part of a trinity of fate deities similar to the Moirai.[19] InHurran mythology the three goddesses of fate, theHutena, were believed to dispense good and evil, life and death to humans.
InDante'sDivine Comedy, the Fates are mentioned in bothInferno (XXXIII.126) andPurgatorio (XXI.25-27, XXV.79-81) by their Greek names, and their traditional role in measuring out and determining the length of human life is assumed by the narrator.
Macbeth and Banquo meeting the threeweird sisters in a woodcut fromHolinshed's Chronicles.
In theAvestan religion andZoroastrianism, aša, is commonly summarized in accord with its contextual implications of "truth", "righteousness", "order". Aša and itsVedic equivalent, Rta, are both derived from aPIE root meaning "properly joined, right, true". The word is the proper name of the divinity Asha, the personification of "Truth" and "Righteousness".Aša corresponds to an objective, material reality which embraces all of existence.[25] This cosmic force is imbued also with morality, as verbal Truth, and Righteousness, action conforming with the moral order.[26]
In the literature of theMandaeans, an angelic being (Abatur) has the responsibility of weighing the souls of the deceased to determine their worthiness, using a set of scales.[27]
In the Vedic religion, Rta is an ontological principle of natural order which regulates and coordinates the operation of the universe. The term is now interpreted abstractly as "cosmic order", or simply as "truth",[28] although it was never abstract at the time.[29]
It seems that this idea originally arose in theIndo-Aryan period, from a consideration (so denoted to indicate the original meaning of communing with the star beings) of the qualities of nature which either remain constant or which occur on a regular basis.[30]
The individuals fulfill their true natures when they follow the path set for them by the ordinances ofRta, acting according to theDharma, which is related to social and moral spheres.[31] The god of the watersVaruna was probably originally conceived as the personalized aspect of the otherwise impersonalṚta.[32] The gods are never portrayed as having command overṚta, but instead they remain subject to it like all created beings.[31]
In Egyptian religion, maat was theancient Egyptian concept oftruth, balance, order,law,morality, andjustice. The word is the proper name of the divinity Maat, who was the goddess of harmony, justice, and truth represented as a young woman.
It was considered that she set the order of the universe fromchaos at the moment of creation.[33] Maat was the norm and basic values that formed the backdrop for the application of justice that had to be carried out in the spirit of truth and fairness.[34]
InEgyptian mythology, Maat dealt with the weighing of souls that took place in the underworld. Her feather was the measure that determined whether the souls (considered to reside in the heart) of the departed would reach the paradise of afterlife successfully. In the famous scene of theEgyptianBook of the Dead,Anubis, using a scale, weighs the sins of a man's heart against the feather of truth, which represents maat. If man's heart weighs down, then he is devoured by a monster.[35]
Clotho (/ˈkloʊθoʊ/, GreekΚλωθώ,[klɔːtʰɔ̌ː], "spinner") spun the thread of life from herdistaff onto herspindle. Her Roman equivalent wasNona ("the ninth"), who was originally a goddess called upon in the ninth month ofpregnancy.
Lachesis (/ˈlækɪsɪs/, GreekΛάχεσις,[lákʰesis], "allotter" or drawer of lots) measured the thread of life allotted to each person with hermeasuring rod. Her Roman equivalent wasDecima ("the tenth").
Atropos (/ˈætrəpɒs/, GreekἌτροπος,[átropos], "inexorable" or "inevitable", literally "unturning",[37] was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of each person's death; and when their time has come, she cut their life-thread with her "abhorredshears".[38] Her Roman equivalent wasMorta ("the dead one").
In theRepublic ofPlato, the three Moirai sing in unison with the music of theSeirenes.Lachesis sings the things that were,Clotho the things that are, andAtropos the things that are to be.[39]Pindar in hisHymn to the Fates, holds them in high honour. He calls them to send their sisters, theHours:Eunomia ("lawfulness"),Dike ("right"), andEirene ("peace"), to stop the internal civil strife.[40]
The figure who came to be known as Atropos had her origins in the pre-GreekMycenaean religion as adaemon or spirit called Aisa.[41] Much of theMycenaean religion survived intoclassical Greece, but it is not known to what extent classical religious belief is Mycenaean, nor how much is a product of theGreek Dark Ages or later.Moses I. Finley detected only few authentic Mycenaean beliefs in the 8th-centuryHomeric world.[42] One such belief was the attribution of unexpected events to spirits or daemons, who appeared in special occurrences.Martin P. Nilsson associated these daemons to a hypothetical Pre-Greek religion.[43]
Another important Mycenaean philosophy stressed the subjugation of all events or actions todestiny and the acceptance of the inevitability of the natural order of things; today this is known asfatalism.[43]
The concept ofmoira referred to one's fair allotment or portion, originally one's portion of loot from battle, which was distributed according to strict traditions. The idea eventually began to be applied to one's fair allotment in life. Obtaining more than one's fair portion (ὑπὲρ μοῖραν "over the portion") of loot, or of life in general was possible, but would result in severe consequences because this was considered a violation in the natural order of things. For example, in a passage in theIliad,Apollo tries three times to stopPatroclus from sackingTroy, warning him that it would be "over his portion".[44]
In particular, the most important parts of the natural order were birth and death. Eventually, the concept of one's destined portion in life began to be personified as a spirit or daemon, referred to asAisa orMoira, who would determine the appropriate time for one's death at the moment of their birth.[41][43] In this sense,Moira is a power that governs even the gods.
In another passage of theIliad,Zeus knows that his cherished sonSarpedon will be killed by Patroclus, but Zeus cannot prevent his fate.[45] In a later scene known as thekerostasia, Zeus appears as the arbiter of destiny, using a pair of scales to weighHector's destiny and determining that he is fated to die.[46]
The elevation of Moira to a goddess who determines the course of events appears in the newer parts of the epos. In theOdyssey, she is accompanied by the "Spinners", the personifications of Fate, who do not yet have separate names.[47]
In his writing, the poetHesiod introduces a moral purpose to the Moirai which is absent in the Homeric poems. In his conception, the Moirai punish not only men but also gods for their sins.[48]
In theTheogony,Hesiod describes the Moirai as daughters of the primeval goddessNyx ("night"), and sisters of theKeres ("the black fates"),Thanatos ("death"), andNemesis ("retribution").[48] Later in the poem, Hesiod instead calls them daughters of Zeus and theTitanessThemis ("the Institutor"),[49] who was the embodiment of divine order and law,[50][51] placing them as sisters ofEunomia ("lawfulness, order"), Dike ("justice"), and Eirene ("peace").[49]
In the cosmogony ofAlcman (7th century BC), first came Thetis ("disposer, creation"), and then simultaneouslyPoros ("path") andTekmor ("end post, ordinance").[52][53] Poros is related with the beginning of all things, and Tekmor is related with the end of all things.[54]
Later in theOrphic cosmogony, first came Thesis, whose ineffable nature is unexpressed.Ananke ("necessity") is the primeval goddess of inevitability who is entwined with the time-godChronos, at the very beginning of time. They represented the cosmic forces of Fate and Time, and they were called sometimes to control the fates of the gods. The three Moirai are daughters of Ananke.[55]
The Moirai were three sisters:Clotho (the spinner),Lachesis (the allotter), andAtropos (the inevitable, a metaphor for death). But according to a Latin verse,[56] their roles and functions were somewhat different: "Clotho, the youngest of the sisters, presided over the moment in which we are born, and held a distaff in her hand; Lachesis spun out all the events and actions of our life; and Atropos, the eldest of the three, cut the thread of human life with a pair of scissors."[57]
In theHomeric poems Moira or Aisa are related to the limit and end of life, and Zeus appears as the guider of destiny. In theTheogony ofHesiod, the three Moirai are personified, daughters ofNyx and are acting over the gods.[48] Later they are daughters of Zeus andThemis, who was the embodiment of divine order and law. InPlato'sRepublic the Three Fates are daughters ofAnanke (necessity).[58]
The Moirai were supposed to appear three nights after a child's birth to determine the course of its life, as in the story ofMeleager and the firebrand taken from the hearth and preserved by his mother to extend his life.[59] Bruce Karl Braswell from readings in thelexicon of Hesychius, associates the appearance of the Moirai at the familyhearth on theseventh day with the ancient Greek custom of waiting seven days after birth to decide whether to accept the infant into the Gens and to give it a name, cemented with a ritual at the hearth.[60] AtSparta the temple to the Moirai stood near the communal hearth of thepolis, asPausanias observed.[61]
As goddesses of birth who even prophesied the fate of the newly born,Eileithyia, the ancientMinoan goddess of childbirth and divine midwifery, was their companion. Pausanias mentions an ancient role of Eileythia as "the clever spinner", relating her with destiny too.[62] Their appearance indicate the Greek desire for health which was connected with the Greek cult of the body that was essentially a religious activity.[63]
TheErinyes, a group ofchthonic goddesses of vengeance, served as tools of the Moirai, inflicting punishment for evil deeds, particularly upon those who sought to avoid their rightful destiny. At times, the Moirai were conflated with the Erinyes, as well as the death-goddesses theKeres.[64]
Bas relief ofClotho, lampstand at the Supreme Court of the United States,Washington, D.C.
In earlier times they were represented as only a few—perhaps only one—individual goddess. Homer'sIliad (xxiv.209) speaks generally of the Moira, who spins the thread of life for men at their birth; she isMoira Krataia "powerful Moira" (xvi.334) or there are several Moirai (xxiv.49). In theOdyssey (vii.197) there is a reference to theKlôthes, or Spinners. At Delphi, only the Fates of Birth and Death were revered.[65] In Athens,Aphrodite, who had an earlier, pre-Olympic existence, was calledAphrodite Urania the "eldest of the Fates" according to Pausanias (x.24.4).
Some Greek mythographers went so far as to claim that the Moirai were the daughters of Zeus—paired with Themis ("fundament"), asHesiod had it in one passage.[66] In the older myths they are daughters of primeval beings like Nyx ("night") inTheogony, or Ananke in Orphic cosmogony. Whether or not providing a father even for the Moirai was a symptom of how far Greek mythographers were willing to go, in order to modify the old myths to suit thepatrilineal Olympic order,[67] the claim of a paternity was certainly not acceptable toAeschylus,Herodotus, or Plato.
Despite their forbidding reputation, the Moirai could be placated as goddesses. Brides inAthens offered them locks of hair, and women swore by them. They may have originated as birth goddesses and only later acquired their reputation as the agents of destiny.
According to the mythographerApollodorus, in theGigantomachy, the war between the Giants and Olympians, the Moirai killed the GiantsAgrios andThoon with their bronze clubs.[68]
The Moirai were also credited to be inventors of seven Greek letters — A B H T I Y.[69]
In the Homeric poems Moira is represented as a singular entity whose actions are not governed by the gods. Only Zeus, the chief of the gods, is close to her, and in some cases acts in a similar role.[43] Using aweighing scale Zeus weighs Hector's "lot of death" against that of Achilleus. Hector's lot weighs down, and he dies according to Fate. Zeus appears as the guider of destiny, who gives everyone the right portion.[70][71] A similar scenario is depicted on a Mycenaean vase, where Zeus holds a scale in front of two warriors, indicating that he is measuring their destiny before the battle. The belief was that if they die in battle, this was to be accepted as their correct destiny.[72]
InTheogony, the threeMoirai are daughters of the primeval goddess, Nyx ("Night"),[73] representing a power acting over the gods.[48] Later they are daughters of Zeus who gives them the greatest honour, andThemis, the ancient goddess of law and divine order.[50][51]
Even the gods feared the Moirai or Fates, which according to Herodotus a god could not escape.[74] The Pythian priestess atDelphi once admitted that Zeus was also subject to their power, though no recorded classical writing clarifies to what exact extent the lives of immortals were affected by the whims of the Fates. It is to be expected that the relationship of Zeus and the Moirai was not immutable over the centuries. In either case in antiquity we can see a feeling towards a notion of an order to which even the gods have to conform.Simonides names this power Ananke (necessity) (the mother of theMoirai in Orphic cosmogony) and says that even the gods don't fight against it.[75] Aeschylus combines Fate and necessity in a scheme, and claims that even Zeus cannot alter which is ordained.[76]
A supposed epithetZeus Moiragetes, meaning "Zeus Leader of the Moirai" was inferred by Pausanias from an inscription he saw in the 2nd century AD atOlympia: "As you go to the starting-point for the chariot-race there is an altar with an inscriptionto the Bringer of Fate. This is plainly a surname of Zeus, who knows the affairs of men, all that the Fates give them, and all that is not destined for them."[77][78] At the Temple of Zeus atMegara, Pausanias inferred from the relief sculptures he saw "Above the head of Zeus are theHorai and Moirai, and all may see that he is the only god obeyed by Moira." Pausanias' inferred assertion is unsupported incult practice, though he noted a sanctuary of the Moirai there at Olympia (5.15.4), and also atCorinth (2.4.7) and Sparta (3.11.8), and adjoining the sanctuary of Themis outside a city gate ofThebes.[79]
The fates had at least three known temples, inAncient Corinth, Sparta andThebes. At least the temple of Corinth contained statues of them:
"[On the Akropolis (Acropolis) of Korinthos (Corinth):] The temple of the Moirai (Moirae, Fates) and that of Demeter and Kore (Core) [Persephone] have images that are not exposed to view."[80]
The temple in Thebes was explicitly imageless:
"Along the road from the Neistan gate [at Thebes in Boiotia (Boeotia)] are three sanctuaries. There is a sanctuary of Themis, with an image of white marble; adjoining it is a sanctuary of the Moirai (Moirae, Fates), while the third is of Agoraios (Agoreus, of the Market) Zeus. Zeus is made of stone; the Moirai (Moirae, Fates) have no images."[81]
The temple in Sparta was situated next to the grave ofOrestes.[82]
Aside from actual temples, there was also altars to the Moirai. Among them was notably the altar in Olympia near the altar of Zeus Moiragetes,[78] a connection to Zeus which was also repeated in the images of the Moirai in the temple of Despoine in Arkadia[83] as well as in Delphi, where they were depicted with Zeus Moiragetes (Guide of Fate) as well as with Apollon Moiragetes (Guide of Fate).[84] On Korkyra, the shrine of Apollo, which according to legend was founded by Medea was also a place where offerings were made to the Moirai and the nymphs.[85] The worship of the Moirai are described by Pausanias for their altar near Sicyon:
"On the direct road from Sikyon (Sicyon) to Phlios (Phlius) ... At a distance along it, in my opinion, of twenty stades, to the left on the other side of the Asopos [river], is a grove of holm oaks and a temple of the goddesses named by the Athenians the Semnai (August), and by the Sikyonians the Eumenides (Kindly Ones). On one day in each year they celebrate a festival to them and offer sheep big with young as a burnt offering, and they are accustomed to use a libation of honey and water, and flowers instead of garlands. They practise similar rites at the altar of the Moirai (Moirae, Fates); it is in an open space in the grove."[86]
^William Arthur Heidel (1929).The Day of Yahweh: A Study of Sacred Days and Ritual Forms in the Ancient Near East, p. 514. American Historical Association.
^Martin Nilsson (1967).Die Geschichte der griechischen Religion. Vol. 1. C. F. Beck, Munich, p. 499 f.
^Cf. Ramakrishna (1965:153–168), James (1969:35–36)
^Duchesne-Guillemin, Jacques (1963), "Heraclitus and Iran",History of Religions,3 (1):34–49,doi:10.1086/462470,S2CID62860085
^Boyce, Mary (1970). "Zoroaster the Priest".Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies.33 (1). London, England: University of London:22–38.doi:10.1017/S0041977X00145100.S2CID170473160.
^See the philological work of Own Barfield, e.g Poetic Diction or Speaker's Meaning
^Hermann Oldenberg (1894).Die Religion des Veda. Wilhelm Hertz, Berlin, pp. 30, 195–198.
^abBrown, W. N. (1992). "Some Ethical Concepts for the Modern World from Hindu and Indian Buddhist Tradition" in: Radhakrishnan, S. (Ed.)Rabindranath Tagore: A Centenary Volume 1861 – 1961. Calcutta: Sahitya Akademi.ISBN81-7201-332-9.
^Ramakrishna, G. (1965). "Origin and Growth of the Concept ofṚta in Vedic Literature". Doctoral Dissertation: University of Mysore Cf.
^Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt, Robert A. Armour, American Univ in Cairo Press, p167, 2001,ISBN977-424-669-1
^Morenz, Siegfried (1992).Egyptian Religion. Translated by Keep, Ann E. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 117–125.ISBN0-8014-8029-9.
^Taylor, John H., ed. (2010).Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead: Journey through the afterlife. London, England: British Museum Press. pp. 209, 215.ISBN978-0-7141-1989-2.
^The expectation that there would be three was strong by the 2nd century CE: when Pausanias visited the temple of Apollo at Delphi, with Apollo and Zeus each accompanied by a Fate, he remarked "There are also images of two Moirai; but in place of the third Moira there stand by their side Zeus Moiragetes and Apollon Moiragetes."
^Compare the ancient goddessAdrasteia, the "inescapable".
^"Comes the blind Fury with th'abhorred shears, / And slits the thin spun life."John Milton,Lycidas, l. 75. Works related toLycidas at Wikisource
^Plato (1992).Republic. Translated by Sorrey (Second ed.). Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. p. 617c.ISBN978-0872201361.
^ab"Not yet is thy fate (moira) to die and meet thy doom" (Ilias 7.52), "But thereafter he (Achilleus) shall suffer whatever Fate (Aisa) spun for him at his birth, when his mother bore him": (Ilias 20.128 ):M. Nilsson. (1967).Die Geschichte der Griechischen Religion Vol I, C.F.Beck Verlag., Műnchen pp. 363–364
^M. I. Finley (2002).The world of Odysseus. New York Review Books, New York, p. 39 f. (PDF file).
^abcdMartin P. Nilsson (1967).Die Geschichte der griechischen Religion. Vol. 1. C. F. Beck, Munich, pp. 361–368.
^Iliad 16.705: "Draw back noble Patrolos, it is not your lot (aisa) to sack the city of the Trojan chieftains, nor yet it will be that of Achilleus, who is far better than you are": C. Castoriades (2004).Ce qui fait la Grèce. 1, D'Homère a Héraclite. Séminaires 1982–1983 (=La creation humaine, 2). Éditions du Seuil, Paris, p. 300.
^Iliad 16.433: "Ah, woe is me, for that it is fated that Sarpedon, dearest of men to me, be slain by Patroclus, son of Menoetius! And in twofold wise is my heart divided in counsel as I ponder in my thought whether I shall snatch him up while yet he liveth and set him afar from the tearful war in the rich land of Lycia, or whether I shall slay him now beneath the hands of the son of Menoetius."
^Morrison, J. V. (1997). "Kerostasia, the Dictates of Fate, and the Will of Zeus in the Iliad".Arethusa.30 (2):276–296.doi:10.1353/are.1997.0008.S2CID162253423.
^"But thereafter he shall suffer whatever Fate (Aisa) and the dread Spinners spun with her thread for him at his birth, when his mother bore him." (Odyssey 7.198)
^abTheogony 901;The Theogony of Hesiod. Translated by Hugh Evelyn White (1914), 901–906 (online text).
^abM. I. Finley (1978)The world of Odysseus rev.ed. New York Viking Press p.78 Note.
^abIn theOdyssey,Themistes: "dooms, things laid down originally by divine authority", thethemistes ofZeus. Body: council of elders who stored in the collective memory.Thesmos: unwritten law, based on precedent. Cf. L. H. Jeffery (1976).Archaic Greece. The City-States c. 700–500 BC. Ernest Benn Ltd., London & Tonbridge, p. 42.ISBN0-510-03271-0.
^Τέκμωρ (Τekmor): fixed mark or boundary, end post, purpose (τέκμαρ).
^"Zeus obviously had to assimilate this spinning Goddess, and he made them into his daughters, too, although not by all accounts, for even he was bound ultimately by Fate", observe Ruck and Staples (1994:57).
^Ilias X 209 ff. O.Crusius Rl, HarissonProlegomena 5.43 ff:M. Nillson (1967).Die Geschichte der Griechischen Religion. Vol I. C.F.Beck Verlag. München pp. 217, 222
^This is similar to the famous scene in theEgyptian book of the dead, although the conception is different.Anubis weighs the sins of a man's heart against the feather of truth. If man's heart weighs down, then he is devoured by a monster: Taylor, John H. (Editor- 2009),Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead: Journey through the afterlife. British Museum Press, London, 2010. pp. 209, 215ISBN978-0-7141-1993-9
^M.P.Nilsson, "Zeus-Schiksalwaage ".Homer and Mycenea D 56. The same belief inKismet. Also the soldiers in the World-War believed that they wouldn't die by a bullet, unless their name was written on the bullet:M. Nillson (1967).Die Geschichte der Griechischen Religion. Vol I. C.F.Beck Verlag. München pp. 366, 367
^Aeschylus,Prometheus Bound, 510–518: "Not in this way is Moira (Fate) who brings all to fulfillment, destined to complete this course. Skill is weaker far than Ananke (necessity). Yes in that even he (Zeus) cannot escape what is foretold."Theoi Project – Ananke
^"There is a sanctuary ofThemis, with an image of white marble; adjoining it is a sanctuary of the Fates, while the third is of Zeus of the Market. Zeus is made of stone; the Fates have no images." (Pausanias, 9.25.4)
Homer. The Iliad with an English translation. A. T. Murray, Ph.D. (1924), in two volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd.
Homer. The Odyssey with an English translation. A. T. Murray, Ph.D. (1919), in two volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd.
Thomas Blisniewski, 1992.Kinder der dunkelen Nacht: Die Ikonographie der Parzen vom späten Mittelalter bis zum späten 18. Jahrhundert. (Cologne) Iconography of the Fates from the late Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century.
Markos Giannoulis, 2010.Die Moiren. Tradition und Wandel des Motivs der Schicksalsgöttinnen in der antiken und byzantinischen Kunst, Ergänzungsband zu Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, Kleine Reihe 6 (F. J. Dölger Institut). Aschendorff Verlag, Münster,ISBN978-3-402-10913-7.
Jane Ellen Harrison,Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion 1903. Chapter VI, "The Maiden-Trinities".
L. H. Jeffery, 1976.Archaic Greece. The City-States c. 700–500 BC. Ernest Benn Ltd. London & Tonbridge,ISBN0-510-03271-0.
Karl Kerenyi, 1951.The Gods of the Greeks (Thames and Hudson).
Martin P. Nilsson,1967.Die Geschichte der Griechischen Religion. Vol I, C.F. Beck Verlag., München.
Bertrand Russell, 1946.A history of Western Philosophy, and its connections with Political and Social Circumstances from the earliest times to the Present Day. New York. Simon & Schuster p. 148
R. G. Wunderlich (1994).The secret of Crete. Efstathiadis group, Athens pp. 290–291, 295–296. (British Edition, Souvenir Press Ltd. London 1975)ISBN960-226-261-3
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