InGreek mythology,Moros/ˈmɔːrɒs/ (Ancient Greek:Μόρος,romanized: Móros,lit. 'Doom'[1]) orMorus/ˈmɔːrəs/ is the personified spirit of impending doom,[2] who drives mortals to their deadly fate. It was also said that Moros gave people the ability to foresee their death. HisRoman equivalent wasFatum.
Moros is the offspring ofNyx, theprimordial goddess of the night. It is suggested by Roman authors that Moros was son ofErebus, primordial god of darkness.[3] However, inHesiod's Theogony it is suggested that Nyxbore him by herself, along with several of her other children.
Regardless of the presence or absence of Moros' father, this would make him the brother of theMoirai, or the Fates. Among his other siblings areThanatos and theKeres, death spirits who represented the physical aspects of death—Keres being the bringers of violent death andterminal sickness, while Thanatos represents a more peaceful passing.
InPrometheus Bound, the titularTitan suggests that he gave humanity the spiritElpis, the personification of hope, in order to help them ignore the inevitability of Moros.[4] He is also referred to as "the all-destroying god, who, even in therealm of Death, does not set his victim free,"[5] further supporting his image as representative of the inevitability of death and suffering.
Aeschylus, Fragment 199 (from Plutarch, Life and Poety of Homer 157) (trans. Weir Smyth):
"A man dies not for the many wounds that pierce his breast, unless it be that life's end keep pace with death, nor by sitting on his hearth at home doth he the more escape his appointed doom (peprômenon moros)."[6]
The wordmoros is not personified here but the passage provides a clear picture of the concept.
Along withThanatos, he is associated as therider of the pale horse in theApocalypse.[7][8]