The Fates in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / The Fates

26 passages from 9 ancient authors that tell of The Fates, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. The Moirai or Fates were three sister deities, incarnations of destiny and life. Their names were Clotho, the one who spins the thread of life; Laches... For the story in one place, read our article on The Fates.

Hesiod (3)

Hesiod, Theogony 900–929tZeus's marriages and children; the birth of Athena (900-929)Zeus marries Themis (the Hours and the Fates), Eurynome (the Graces), Demeter (Persephone), Mnemosyne (the Muses), Leto (Apollo and Artemis) and lastly Hera, whose children are Hebe, Ares and Eileithyia. Zeus bears Athena from his own head, and Hera bears Hephaestus without Zeus. The section recounts again how Zeus swallowed Metis, who conceived Athena, and how she was born by the river Trito.
Hesiod, Theogony 210–264Night's children, Strife's children and the Nereids (210-264)Night bears Doom, Fate and Death, Sleep and the tribe of Dreams, and then Blame, Woe, the Hesperides, the Fates and Nemesis; Strife in turn bears Toil, Forgetfulness, Famine and other sorrows. Pontus begets Nereus, the truthful Old Man of the Sea, and then Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto and Eurybia; Nereus and Doris have fifty daughters, whom the section names.
Hesiod, Shield of Heracles 240–324The shield of Heracles: the besieged city and the city at peace (240-324)A besieged city shows women crying from bronze towers, old men praying outside the gates, and the dusky Fates, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, fighting over the fallen. Beside it is a city with seven golden gates at peace, with wedding processions, dancing and flute-playing, and then ploughmen, reapers, vintagers, boxers, huntsmen and charioteers racing for a tripod. Ocean flows round the rim with swans and fish, and the son of Zeus mounts his chariot with Iolaus.

Apollodorus (2)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.6.1–3The Giants and TyphonEarth bears the Giants, led by Alcyoneus and Porphyrion, and because an oracle says no god can kill them, Zeus summons Heracles; the section lists which god kills which Giant. Earth then bears Typhon, who drives the gods to Egypt, takes Zeus's sinews and hides them in a Cilician cave until Hermes and Aegipan steal them back. Zeus pursues him through Thrace and Sicily and buries him under Mount Etna.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.8.1–6Oeneus, Meleager and the Calydonian boarOeneus of Calydon is the first to receive a vine from Dionysus, and the Fates declare that his son Meleager will die when the brand on the hearth is burnt out, so Althaea hides it. When Oeneus forgets Artemis in his sacrifices she sends a boar, and a company of heroes is gathered; Atalanta wounds it first and Meleager kills it and gives her the hide. He kills his mother's brothers, the sons of Thestius, who took it from her, and Althaea burns the brand; a second version has him fall in a war against the Curetes. The section ends with Oeneus's later marriage, Tydeus (father of Diomedes) and the revenge of Diomedes on the sons of Agrius.

Aeschylus (1)

Aeschylus, Libation Bearers 306–422Kommos (1): the lament at the tombOrestes, Electra and the Chorus sing together to call up the dead Agamemnon from below. Orestes wishes that his father had died at Troy, and Electra wishes instead that his murderers had been killed by their own kin. They call on Zeus, on the Fates and on the powers below to grant that blood be paid for blood.

Euripides (1)

Euripides, Alcestis 1–27Prologue: Apollo explains why Alcestis must dieApollo says that he served in the house of Admetus as a herdsman, and that Admetus was so pious that he saved him from death by persuading the Fates to let him escape if another would die in his place. Admetus found no one willing but his wife Alcestis, who is dying this very day, and Apollo must leave the house before Death comes.

Ovid (3)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.462–571Demeter searches for PersephoneDemeter (Ceres), hearing nothing from her daughter, wanders over the earth by torchlight and finds only her girdle floating in the pool, and punishes the land that is ungrateful. The nymph Arethusa tells her where her daughter is, and Demeter appeals to Zeus (Jupiter). Zeus decides that Persephone (Proserpina) may return to her mother if she has eaten nothing in the underworld, but Ascalaphus tells that she ate pomegranate seeds, and Demeter turns him into an owl. The Sirens, Persephone's companions, are given the feathers of birds, and Zeus settles the matter by dividing the year between mother and husband.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.445–546Althaea and the death of MeleagerHis mother Althaea, hearing of her brothers' death, takes from a chest the brand which the Fates had said would measure her son's life, and throws it on the fire. Meleager dies in agony far away, and Althaea kills herself, and his sisters mourn and are turned into guinea-hens.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.745–879The deification of Julius Caesar; epilogueAphrodite (Venus), seeing the plots against Julius Caesar, begs the gods to save him, but the Fates cannot be altered, and she takes his soul from his body and sets it among the stars as a comet. Zeus (Jupiter, 'Jove' in More's translation) foretells the greatness of Augustus, and Ovid ends the poem with a prayer for the emperor, and the claim that his own work will outlast the thunder of Zeus and be read by men through all the ages.

Pausanias (6)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.11.1–11Sparta: the market-place, the Persian Colonnade and the seer TisamenusPausanias begins his description of Sparta, restating his principle of selecting only the most memorable things. He lists the market-place magistracies, the Persian Colonnade with its marble Persians, temples of Caesar and Augustus and the statue of Agias, and tells of the seer Tisamenus and his five victories. He also describes the Chorus and sanctuaries of Pythaean Apollo, Market Zeus and the Fates, with the grave of Orestes and the statue of King Polydorus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.42.1–13Phigalia: the cave of Black Demeter and Onatas' statuePausanias describes the cave of Black Demeter on Mount Elaius, where, according to the Phigalians, Demeter mourned Proserpine in black until Pan found her and the Fates calmed her. The old wooden image had a horse's head with serpents and beasts, a dolphin and a dove, and after it burned and the rites lapsed, a famine and a Delphic oracle led the Phigalians to commission a bronze image from Onatas of Aegina. He dates Onatas by his work for Hiero's offerings at Olympia. Pausanias also describes the bloodless offerings of fruit and wool, and notes that the image had been destroyed by falling stones.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.25.1–10Thebes: tomb of Menoeceus, Dirce, Pindar's house and the CabiriPausanias describes the tomb of Menoeceus with its pomegranate-tree, the pillar marking the single combat of Oedipus' sons and the place called the Dragging of Antigone. He notes the river Dirce, Pindar's house and the sanctuary of Mother Dindymene, and the sanctuaries of Themis, the Fates, Zeus of the Market and Hercules Nose-docker. He ends with the grove and sanctuary of the Cabiri, giving the Theban account of their rites and of the punishment of those who profaned them.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.4.1–7Corinth: Athena the Bridler, the kings of Corinth and the road up to Acro-CorinthNear the tomb of Medea’s children is the sanctuary of Athena the Bridler, which leads Pausanias to Bellerophon and Pegasus and to the lineage of Corinth’s kings from Sisyphus to the Dorian Aletes, the Bacchids and the tyrant Cypselus. He describes the theatre, the Daedalic Hercules, the spring Lerna and the temples of Zeus and Asclepius, and the shrines of Isis, Serapis, the Mother of the Gods, the Fates, Demeter and Bunaean Hera on the way up to Acro-Corinth.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.15.1–12Olympia: more altars, the Prytaneum and the monthly sacrificesPausanias lists the altars near the Leonidaeum, the Wild Olive of the Fair Crown, the starting-place of the chariots and the Wedge, and those behind the Heraeum and near the Prytaneum. He describes the Prytaneum’s hearth of ashes, the monthly sacrifices of incense, wheat and honey, and the libations at which the Eleans honour Libyan Ammon and the Elean heroes. He ends with the banqueting room for Olympic victors.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.24.1–7Delphi: the maxims of the Sages, Homer's oracle, the temple interior and Neoptolemus' gravePausanias describes the maxims inscribed by the Seven Sages in the fore-temple at Delphi, the bronze likeness of Homer and the oracle said to have been given to him, with the rival claims of Ios and Cyprus to his birth. He notes the altar of Poseidon, the images of the Fates, the hearth where Neoptolemus was killed and the iron chair of Pindar. Outside he describes the grave of Neoptolemus, the small stone given to Cronus and the spring Cassotis.

Quintus Smyrnaeus (8)

Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 1.134–226Penthesileia arms for battleAt dawn Penthesileia puts on the arms given her by the war-god, and Priam prays to Zeus. While he prays an eagle darts past with a dove in its talons, and fear chills his heart. The Argives see the Trojan host and Penthesileia charging and arm to meet them.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 1.227–352Penthesileia's onslaughtPenthesileia kills Molion, Persinous, Eilissus, Antitheus and many more, and rides others down beneath her horse. Slaughter, Doom and the Fates move through the fight beside her. She breaks through the Argive ranks like a tigress, striking with her halberd and her javelin.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 2.388–548Achilles kills MemnonAchilles leaves the line and finds Memnon, rebuking him as inferior in blood and strength. They fight with swords and shields, and the long and even struggle is watched from Olympus. At last Eris tips the scales and Achilles kills Memnon.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 3.1–95Apollo shoots AchillesThe Pylians bury Antilochus by the Hellespont, and Achilles drives the Trojans back, filling the streams of Simois and Xanthus with the dead. Apollo warns him to stop, and Achilles defies him. Apollo, veiled in cloud, shoots an arrow into his ankle, and Achilles pulls it out in agony.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 5.568–663The burial of AiasThe army wails for Aias, and Odysseus and Nestor speak to the grieving Argives. The kings lift the huge body and carry it to the pyre, and his bones are gathered and buried.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 8.237–394Ares rallies the TrojansAres comes unseen to the Trojans as they flee within their gates, and they turn and fight again like hounds at a wolf. Neoptolemus kills Perimedes, Cestrus, Phalerus and many more, and the Argives press the Trojans into the city.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 11.1–128The battle after Paris' deathThe Trojan women mourn in the city, but the young men go on fighting outside, for Strife and the Fates stalk through both armies. Neoptolemus, Aeneas, Philoctetes, Polydamas, Odysseus, Diomedes, Agamemnon, Thoas and Teucer kill in turn, and the dead are numbered.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 13.168–296The deaths of Priam and AstyanaxDiomedes kills Coroebus, who had hoped to marry Cassandra, and the aged Ilioneus, who begs for mercy in vain. Neoptolemus kills Pammon, Polites, Antiphonus and Agenor, and then beheads Priam at the altar of Zeus after Priam asks to die. The Argives throw Astyanax from a tower and drag Andromache into slavery, and only the house of Antenor is spared.

Nonnus of Panopolis (1)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 8.333–418Book 8: The thunderbolt and the birth of DionysosZeus warns Semele that his thunder is not gentle, but gives way to the Fates and comes to her with lightning. Semele takes hold of the thunderbolts and is burnt to ashes. Hermes carries the unborn child, washed in fire, to his father. Zeus then calms Hera and gives Semele a place among the gods.

Orpheus (attributed) (1)

Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 57–61Hymns 57-61: the Terrestrial Hermes, Cupid, the Fates, the Graces, NemesisHermes of the earth is invoked as the god whom Fate set to dwell on the dread path that leads to deepest hell, and Cupid as the pure and lovely source of sweet delight. The Fates are addressed as the daughters of Night and are named Atropos, Lachesis and Clotho. The Graces are called on as the descendants of Jove, with Eunomia, and Nemesis as the almighty queen by whom the deeds of mortal life are seen.