(Μοῖραι [Moîrai]; Latin Parcae)
A. Myth
While Homer speaks only of one Moirē (with the sole exception of Hom. Il. 24,49, where a group of goddesses of fate appears), ruling the fates and lives of men and determining their end (Hom. Il. 16,853; 18,119 et al.), the M. make their first appearance as three sisters in Hesiod’s Theogony. Hesiod sometimes calls them daughters of Zeus and Themis, sisters of the Horae (Hes. Theog. 901–906), and sometimes daughters of Nyx (Night) like Ker and Thanatos (Death; Hes. The…