And Nyx (Night) bare hateful Moros (Doom) and black Ker (Violent Death) and Thanatos (Death), and she bare Hypnos (Sleep) and the tribe of Oneiroi (Dreams). And again the goddess murky Nyx, though she lay with none, bare Momos (Blame) and painful Oizys (Misery), and the Hesperides ... Also she bare the Moirai (Fates) and the ruthless avenging Keres (Death-Fates) ... Also deadly Nyx bare Nemesis (Envy) to afflict mortal men, and after her, Apate (Deceit) and Philotes (Friendship) and hateful Geras (Old Age) and hard-hearted Eris (Strife).
Erebus
In Greek mythology, Erebus /ˈɛrəbəs/, also Erebos (Greek: Ἔρεβος, "deep darkness, shadow"),[1] was often conceived as a primordial deity, representing the personification of darkness; for instance, Hesiod's Theogony identifies him as one of the first five beings in existence, born of Chaos.[2] Erebus features little in Greek mythological tradition and literature, but is said to have fathered several other deities with Nyx; depending on the source of the mythology, this union includes Aether, Hemera, the Hesperides, Hypnos, the Moirai, Geras, Styx,Charon, and Thanatos.
In Greek literature the name Erebus is also used of a region of the Greek underworld where the dead pass immediately after dying, and is sometimes used interchangeably with Tartarus.[3][4][5][6][7]
The perceived meaning of Erebus is "darkness"; the first recorded instance of it was "place of darkness between earth and Hades". Semitic forms such as Hebrew עֶרֶב (ˤerev) 'sunset, evening' are sometimes cited as a source.[3] However, an Indo-European origin for the name Ἔρεβος itself is possible from PIE *h1regʷ-es/os-, "darkness"[8][9] "darkness" (cf. Sanskrit rájas, Gothic riqis, Old Norse røkkr).[1]
According to the Greek oral poet Hesiod's Theogony, Erebus is the offspring of Chaos, and brother to Nyx: "From Chaos came forth Erebus and black Night; but of Night were born Aether and Day, whom she conceived and bore from union in love with Erebus." Hesiod,Theogony (120–125)[10]
The Roman writer Hyginus, in his Fabulae, described Erebus as the father of Geras, the god of old age.[11]
Chaos
Greek χάος means "emptiness, vast void, chasm, abyss", from the verb χαίνω, "gape, be wide open, etc.", from Proto-Indo-European *ǵheh2n,[2] cognate to Old English geanian, "to gape", whence English yawn.[3] It may also mean space, the expanse of air, and the nether abyss, infinite darkness.[4]
Pherecydes of Syros (fl. 6th century BC) interpretes chaos as water, like something formless which can be differentiated.[5]
Hesiod and the Pre-Socratics use the Greek term in the context of cosmogony. Hesiod's "chaos" has been interpreted as a moving, formless mass from which the cosmos and the gods originated.[6] In Hesiod's opinion the origin should be indefinite and indeterminate, and it represents disorder and darkness.[7][8] Chaos has been linked with the term tohu wa-bohu of Genesis 1:2 . The term may refer to a state of non-being prior to creation[9][10] or to a formless state. In the Book of Genesis, the spirit of God is moving upon the face of the waters, and the earliest state of the universe is like a "watery chaos".[11][12] The Septuagint makes no use of χάος in the context of creation, instead using the term for גיא, "chasm, cleft", in Micha 1:6 andZacharia 14:4.
Of the certain uses of the word chaos in Theogony, in the creation the word is referring to a "gaping void" which gives birth to the sky, but later the word is referring to the gap between the earth and the sky, after their separation. A parallel can be found in the Genesis. In the beginning God creates the earth and the sky. The earth is "formless and void" (tohu wa-bohu), and later God divides the waters under the firmament from the waters over the firmament, and calls the firmament "heaven".[1]
Nevertheless, the term chaos has been adopted in religious studies as referring to the primordial state before creation, strictly combining two separate notions of primordial waters or a primordial darkness from which a new order emerges and a primordial state as a merging of opposites, such as heaven and earth, which must be separated by a creator deity in an act of cosmogony.[13] In both cases, chaos referring to a notion of a primordial state contains the cosmos in potentia but needs to be formed by a demiurge before the world can begin its existence.
This model of a primordial state of matter has been opposed by the Church Fathers from the 2nd century, who posited a creation ex nihilo by an omnipotent God.[14]
In modern biblical studies, the term chaos is commonly used in the context of the Torah and their cognate narratives in Ancient Near Eastern mythology more generally. Parallels between the Hebrew Genesis and the Babylonian Enuma Elish were established by H. Gunkel in 1910.[15] Besides Genesis, other books of the Old Testament, especially a number of Psalms, some passages in Isaiah and Jeremiah and the Book of Job are relevant.[16][17][18]
Use of chaos in the derived sense of "complete disorder or confusion" first appears in Elizabethan Early Modern English, originally implying satirical exaggeration.[19]
Chaoskampf
 |
| Depiction of the Christianized Chaoskampf: statue of Archangel Michael slaying Satan, represented as a dragon. Quis ut Deus? is inscribed on his shield. |
Further information: Dragon, Sea serpent and Proto-Indo-European religion § Dragon or Serpent
The motif of Chaoskampf (German for "struggle against chaos") is ubiquitous in myth and legend, depicting a battle of a culture hero deity with a chaos monster, often in the shape of a serpent or dragon. The same term has also been extended to parallel concepts in the religions of the Ancient Near East, such as the abstract conflict of ideas in the Egyptian duality of Maat and Isfet.[citation needed]
The origins of the Chaoskampf myth most likely lie in the Proto-Indo-European religion whose descendants almost all feature some variation of the story of a storm god fighting a sea serpent representing the clash between the forces of order and chaos. Early work by German academics in comparative mythology popularized translating the mythological sea serpent as a "dragon." Indo-European examples of this mythic trope include Thor vs. Jörmungandr (Norse), Tarhunt vs. Illuyanka (Hittite), Indra vs. Vritra (Vedic), Θraētaona vs. Aži Dahāka (Avestan), and Zeus vs. Typhon (Greek) among others.[20]
This myth was ultimately transmitted into the religions of the Ancient Near East (most of which belong to the Afro-Asiatic language family) most likely initially through interaction with Hittite speaking peoples into Syria and the Fertile Crescent.[21] The myth was most likely then integrated into early Sumerian and Akkadian myths, such as the trials of Ninurta, before being disseminated into the rest of the Ancient Near East. Examples of the storm god vs. sea serpent trope in the Ancient Near East can be seen with Baʿal vs. Yam (Canaanite), Marduk vs. Tiamat (Babylonian), Ra vs. Apep (Egyptian Mythology), and Yahweh vs. Leviathan (Jewish) among others.
There is also evidence to suggest the possible transmission of this myth as far east as Japan and Shintoism as depicted in the story of Susanoo vs. Yamata no Orochi, most likely by way of Buddhist influence.[22]
The Chaoskampf would eventually be inherited by descendants of these ancient religions, perhaps most notably by Christianity. Examples include the story of Saint George and the Dragon (most probably descended from the Slavic branch of Indo-European and stories such as Dobrynya Nikitich vs. Zmey Gorynych). Some scholars argue that this extends to Christ and/or Saint Michael vs. the Devil (as seen in the Book of Revelationamong other places and probably related to the Yahweh vs. Leviathan and later Gabriel vs. Rahab stories of Jewish mythology), but this is hotly contested, as is the even more controversial view that the narrative appears in the crucifixion story of Jesus found in the gospels,[23] a view debated by scholars such as Walter Wink, who indicates that the gospel accounts of Christ's death present the diametric opposite thematic viewpoint presented in the Chaoskampf myths.[24]
Influence on Greek philosophy[edit]
In the Theogony of Hesiod, Chaos is a divine primordial condition, which is the origin of the gods, and all things. It seems that in Hesiod's opinion, the origin should be indefinite and indeterminate, and it may represent infinite space, or formless matter.[4] The notion of the temporal infinity was familiar to the Greek mind from remote antiquity in the religious conception of immortality.[11] This idea of "the divine" as an origin, influenced the first Greek philosophers.[25] The main object of the first efforts to explain the world remained the description of its growth, from a beginning. They believed that the world arose out from a primal unity, and that this substance was the permanent base of all its being. It seems that Anaximander was influenced by the traditional popular conceptions and Hesiod’s thought, when he claims that the origin is apeiron (the unlimited), a divine and perpetual substance less definite than the common elements. Everything is generated from apeiron, and must return there according to necessity.[26] A popular conception of the nature of the world, was that the earth below its surface stretches down indefinitely and has its roots on or above Tartarus, the lower part of the underworld.[27] In a phrase ofXenophanes, "The upper limit of the earth borders on air, near our feet. The lower limit reaches down to the "apeiron" (i.e. the unlimited).[27] The sources and limits of the earth, the sea, the sky, Tartarus, and all things are located in a great windy-gap, which seems to be infinite, and is a later specification of "chaos".[27][28] Primal Chaos was sometimes said to be the true foundation of reality, particularly by philosophers such as Heraclitus.
Greco-Roman tradition[edit]
For Hesiod and the early Greek Olympian myth (8th century BC), Chaos was the first of the primordial deities, followed by Gaia (Earth), Tartarus and Eros (Love).[29] From Chaos came Erebus and Nyx.[30]
Passages in Hesiod's Theogony suggest that Chaos was located below Earth but above Tartarus.[31] Primal Chaos was sometimes said to be the true foundation of reality, particularly by philosophers such as Heraclitus.
Ovid (1st century BC), in his Metamorphoses, described Chaos as "a rude and undeveloped mass, that nothing made except a ponderous weight; and all discordant elements confused, were there congested in a shapeless heap."[32]
Fifth-century Orphic cosmogony had a "Womb of Darkness" in which the Wind lay a Cosmic Egg whence Eros was hatched, who set the universe in motion.
Alchemy[edit]
Further information: Prima materia
The Greco-Roman tradition of Prima Materia, notably including 5th and 6th centuries Orphic cosmogony was merged with biblical notions (Tehom) in Christian belief and inherited by alchemy and Renaissance magic.
The cosmic egg of Orphism was taken as the raw material for the alchemical magnum opus in early Greek alchemy. The first stage of the process of producing the Lapis Philosophorum, i.e., nigredo, was identified with chaos. Because of association with the creation in Genesis, where "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2), Chaos was further identified with the element Water.
Alchemy in the Middle Ages and Renaissance[edit]
Blessed Raimundus Lullus (1232–1315) wrote a Liber Chaos, in which he identifies Chaos as the primal form or matter created by God.
Swiss alchemist Paracelsus (1493–1541) uses chaos synonymously with element (because the primeval chaos is imagined as a formless congestion of all elements). Paracelsus thus identifies Earth as "the chaos of the gnomi", i.e., the element of the gnomes, through which these spirits move unobstructed as fish do through water, or birds through air.[33]
An alchemical treatise by Heinrich Khunrath, printed in Frankfurt in 1708, was entitled Chaos.[34] The 1708 introduction to the treatise states that the treatise was written in 1597 in Magdeburg, in the author's 23rd year of practicing alchemy.[35] The treatise purports to quote Paracelsus on the point that "The light of the soul, by the will of the Triune God, made all earthly things appear from the primal Chaos."[36]
Martin Ruland, in his 1612 Lexicon Alchemiae, states, "A crude mixture of matter or another name for Materia Prima is Chaos, as it is in the Beginning."
The term gas in chemistry was coined by Dutch chemist J. B. Van Helmont in the 17th century, directly based on the Paracelsian notion of chaos. The g in gas is due to the Dutch pronunciation of this letter as a spirant, also employed to pronounce Greek χ.[37]
Aether
Aether or Aither (Æthere, Ancient Greek: Αἰθήρ, pronounced [aitʰɛ̌ːr]), in ancient Greece, was one of the primordial deities. Aether is the personification of the upper air.[1] He embodies the pure upper air that the gods breathe, as opposed to the normal air (ἀήρ, aer) breathed by mortals. Like Tartarus and Erebus, Aether may have had shrines in ancient Greece, but he had no temples and it is unlikely that he had a cult.
In Hesiod's Theogony, Aether (Light), was the son of Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night), and the brother of Hemera (Day).[2]
The Roman mythographer Hyginus, says Aether was the son of Chaos and Caligo (Darkness).[3] According to Jan Bremmer,[4]
Hyginus ... started his Fabulae with a strange hodgepodge of Greek and Roman cosmogonies and early genealogies. It begins as follows: Ex Caligine Chaos. Ex Chao et Caligine Nox Dies Erebus Aether (Praefatio 1). His genealogy looks like a derivation from Hesiod, but it starts with the un-Hesiodic and un-Roman Caligo, ‘Darkness’. Darkness probably did occur in a cosmogonic poem of Alcman, but it seems only fair to say that it was not prominent in Greek cosmogonies.
Hyginus says further that the children of Aether and Day were Earth, Heaven, and Sea, while the children of Aether and Earth were "Grief, Deceit, Wrath, Lamentation, Falsehood, Oath, Vengeance, Intemperance, Altercation, Forgetfulness, Sloth, Fear, Pride, Incest, Combat, Ocean, Themis, Tartarus, Pontus; and the Titans, Briareus, Gyges, Steropes, Atlas, Hyperion, and Polus, Saturn, Ops, Moneta, Dione; and three Furies – namely, Alecto, Megaera, Tisiphone."[3]
Aristophanes states that Aether was the son of Erebus. However, Damascius says that Aether, Erebus and Chaos were siblings, and the offspring of Chronos (Father Time). According to Epiphanius, the world began as a cosmic egg, encircled by Time and Inevitability (most likely Chronos and Ananke) in serpent fashion. Together they constricted the egg, squeezing its matter with great force, until the world divided into two hemispheres. After that, the atoms sorted themselves out. The lighter and finer ones floated above and became the Bright Air (Aether and/or Uranus) and the rarefied Wind (Chaos), while the heavier and dirtier atoms sank and became the Earth (Gaia) and the Ocean (Pontos and/or Oceanus). See also Plato's Myth of Er.
The fifth Orphic hymn to Aether describes the substance as "the high-reigning, ever indestructible power of Zeus," "the best element," and "the life-spark of all creatures."[5] Though attributed to the mythological poetOrpheus who lived before the time of Homer, the likely composition of the hymns in the 6th-4th centuries BCE make them contemporary with natural philosophers, such as Empedocles, who theorized the material forces of nature as identical with the gods and superior to the anthropomorphic divinities of Homeric religion.
In Greek mythology Hemera (/ˈhɛmərə/; Ancient Greek: Ἡμέρα [hɛːméra] "day") was the personification of day and one of the Greek primordial deities. She is the goddess of the daytime and, according to Hesiod, the daughter of Erebus and Nyx (the goddess of night).[1] Hemera is remarked upon in Cicero's De Natura Deorum, where it is logically determined that Dies (Hemera) must be a god, ifUranus is a god.[2] The poet Bacchylides states that Nyx and Chronos are the parents, but Hyginus in his preface to the Fabulae mentions Chaos as the mother/father and Nyx as her sister.
She was the female counterpart of her brother and consort, Aether (Light), but neither of them figured actively in myth or cult. Hyginus lists their children as Uranus, Gaia, and Thalassa (the primordial sea goddess), while Hesiod only lists Thalassa as their child.
According to Hesiod's Theogony, Hemera left Tartarus just as Nyx entered it; when Hemera returned, Nyx left:[3]
"Nyx and Hemera draw near and greet one another as they pass the great threshold of bronze: and while the one is about to go down into the house, the other comes out at the door."
Pausanias seems to confuse her with Eos when saying that she carried Cephalus away. Pausanias makes this identification with Eos upon looking at the tiling of the royal portico in Athens, where the myth of Eos and Kephalos is illustrated. He makes this identification again at Amyklai and at Olympia, upon looking at statues and illustrations where Eos (Hemera) is present.
Hesperides
In Greek mythology, the Hesperides (/hɛˈspɛrɪdiːz/; Ancient Greek: Ἑσπερίδες) was the collective name for the nymphs of the evening and golden light of sunset, and who were the "Daughters of the Evening" or "Nymphs of the West". They tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world, located near the Atlas mountains in North Africa at the edge of the encircling Oceanus, the world-ocean.[1]
According to the Sicilian Greek poet Stesichorus, in his poem the "Song of Geryon", and the Greek geographer Strabo, in his book Geographika (volume III), the garden of the Hesperides is located in Tartessos, a location placed in the south of the Iberian peninsula.
By Ancient Roman times, the garden of the Hesperides had lost its archaic place in religion and had dwindled to a poetic convention, in which form it was revived in Renaissance poetry, to refer both to the garden and to the nymphs that dwelt there.
Etymology[edit]
The Nymphs of the Evening[edit]
Ordinarily the Hesperides number three, like the other Greek triads (the Three Graces and the Moirai). "Since the Hesperides themselves are mere symbols of the gifts the apples embody, they cannot be actors in a human drama. Their abstract, interchangeable names are a symptom of their impersonality," Evelyn Harrison has observed.[2]
They are sometimes portrayed as the evening daughters of Night (Nyx) either alone,[4] or with Darkness (Erebus),[5] in accord with the way Eos in the farthermost east, in Colchis, is the daughter of the titanHyperion. Or they are listed as the daughters of Atlas, or of Zeus, and either Hesperis or Themis, or Phorcys and Ceto. In another source, the nymphs are said to be the daughters of Hesperus.[6]
Nevertheless, among the names given to them, though never all at once, there were either three, four, or seven Hesperides. Hesiod says that these "clear-voiced Hesperides",[7] daughters of Night, guarded the golden apples beyond Ocean, gives the number of the Hesperides as three, and their names as: Aigle (or Aegle, "dazzling light"), Erytheia (or Erytheis) and ox-eyed Hesperethusa ("sunset glow", alternatively Hesperathusa, Hesperarethusa).[8] Is the colour of the setting sun: red, yellow or gold. Pseudo-Apollodorus gives the number of the Hesperides as four, named: Aigle, Erytheia, Hesperia (or Hesperie) and Arethusa.[9] Fulgentius gives four Hesperides, named: Aegle, Hesperie, Medusa and Arethusa.[10][11] Apollonius of Rhodes gives their names as Aigle, Erytheis and Hespere (or Hespera).[12]Hyginus in his preface to the Fabulae names them as Aegle, Hesperie and Aerica.[13][14] In another source, they are named Ægle, Arethusa and Hesperethusa, the three daughters of Hesperus.[15][16] An ancient vase painting attests the following names as four: Asterope, Chrysothemis, Hygieia and Lipara; on another seven names as Aiopis, Antheia, Donakis, Kalypso, Mermesa, Nelisa and Tara.[17] A Pyxishas Hippolyte, Mapsaura, and Thetis.[18] Petrus Apianus attributed to these stars a mythical connection of their own. He believed that they were the seven Hesperides, nymph daughters of the Atlas and Hesperis. Their names were: Aegle, Erythea, Arethusa, Hestia, Hespera, Hesperusa and Hespereia.[19] In the far west of the world. Hesperides scene of the apotheosis of Heracles (romanised to Hercules) on a late fifth-century hydria by the Meidias Painter in London[20] They are sometimes called the Western Maidens, the Daughters of Evening or Erythrai, and the "Sunset Goddesses", designations all apparently tied to their imagined location in the distant west. Hesperis is appropriately the personification of the evening (as Eos is of the dawn) and the Evening Star is Hesperus. In addition to their tending of the garden, they were said to have taken great pleasure in singing.
Erytheia ("the red one") is one of the Hesperides. The name was applied to an island close to the coast of southern Hispania, which was the site of the original Punic colony of Gades (modern Cadiz). Pliny's Natural History (VI.36) records of the island of Gades: "On the side which looks towards Spain, at about 100 paces distance, is another long island, three miles wide, on which the original city of Gades stood. By Ephorus and Philistides it is called Erythia, by Timæus and Silenus Aphrodisias, and by the natives the Isle of Juno." The island was the seat of Geryon, who was overcome by Heracles.
The Garden of the Hesperides[edit]
The Garden of the Hesperides is Hera's orchard in the west, where either a single apple tree or a grove grows, producing golden apples that grant immortality when eaten. The trees were planted from the fruited branches that Gaia gave to Hera as a wedding gift when Hera accepted Zeus. The Hesperides were given the task of tending to the grove, but occasionally picked apples from it themselves. Not trusting them, Hera also placed in the garden a never-sleeping, hundred-headed dragon named Ladon as an additional safeguard. In the myth of the Judgement of Paris, it was from the Garden that Eris, Goddess of Discord, obtained the Apple of Discord, which led to the Trojan War.
In later years it was thought that the "golden apples" might have actually been oranges, a fruit unknown to Europe and the Mediterranean before the Middle Ages. Under this assumption, the Greek botanicalname chosen for all citrus species was Hesperidoeidē (Ἑσπεριδοειδῆ, "hesperidoids") and even today the Greek word for the orange fruit is πορτοκαλί (Portokali)--after the country of Portugal in Iberia near where the Garden of the Hesperides grew.
Hypnos
According to Greek mythology Hypnos lived in a cave, whose mansion does not see the rising, nor the setting sun, nor does it see the "lightsome noon." At the entrance were a number of poppies and other hypnotic plants. His dwelling had no door or gate so that he might not be awakened by the creaking of hinges. The river Lethe, in the underworld, flowed through his cave.[3] This river is known as the river of forgetfulness.
Family
Hypnos lived next to his twin brother, Thanatos (Θάνατος, "death personified") in the underworld. The underworld is translated into English as Hell in the Septuagint Bible.
Hypnos' mother was Nyx (Νύξ, "Night"), the deity of Night, and his father was Erebus, the deity of Darkness. Nyx was a dreadful and powerful goddess, and even Zeus feared entering her realm.
His wife, Pasithea, was one of the youngest of the Graces and was promised to him by Hera, who is the goddess of marriage and birth. Pasithea is the deity of hallucination or relaxation.
Hypnos' three sons were known as the Oneiroi, which is Greek for "dreams." Morpheus is the Winged God of Dreams and can take human form in dreams. Phobetor is the personification of nightmares and created frightening dreams, he could take the shape of any animal including bears and tigers. Phantasos was known for creating fake dreams full of illusions. Morpheus, Phobetor, and Phantasos appeared in the dreams of kings. The Oneiroi lived in a cave at the shores of the Ocean in the West. The cave had two gates with which to send people dreams; one made from ivory and the other from buckhorn. However, before they could do their work and send out the dreams, first Hypnos had to put the recipient to sleep.[4]
Moirai/ The Fate
In Greek mythology, the Moirai (Ancient Greek: Μοῖραι, "apportioners", Latinized as Moerae)—often known in English as the Fates—were the white-robed incarnations of destiny (Roman equivalent: Parcae, euphemistically the "sparing ones", or Fata; also analogous to the Germanic Norns). Their number became fixed at three: Clotho (spinner), Lachesis (allotter) and Atropos (unturnable).
They controlled the mother thread of lifestyle of every mortal from birth to death. They were independent, at the helm of necessity, directed fate, and watched that the fate assigned to every being by eternal laws might take its course without obstruction. The gods and men had to submit to them, although Zeus's relationship with them is a matter of debate: some sources say he is the only one who can command them (the Zeus Moiragetes), yet others suggest he was also bound to the Moirai's dictates.[1] In the Homeric poems Moira or Aisa, is related with the limit and end of life, and Zeus appears as the guider of destiny. In the Theogony of Hesiod, the three Moirai are personified, and are acting over the gods.[2] Later they are daughters of Zeus and Themis, who was the embodiment of divine order and law. In Plato's Republic the Three Fates are daughters of Ananke (necessity).[3]
It seems that Moira is related with Tekmor (proof, ordinance) and with Ananke (destiny, necessity), who were primeval goddesses in mythical cosmogonies. The ancient Greek writers might call this power Moira or Ananke, and even the gods could not alter what was ordained.[4] The concept of a universal principle of natural order has been compared to similar concepts in other cultures like the Vedic Rta, the Avestan Asha (Arta) and the Egyptian Maat.
In earliest Greek philosophy, the cosmogony of Anaximander is based on these mythical beliefs. The goddess Dike (justice, divine retribution), keeps the order and sets a limit to any actions.[5]
The three fates, Lachesis, Atropos, and Cloto; by Hans Vischer ca 1530 AD. Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin
The Ancient Greek word moira (μοῖρα) means a portion or lot of the whole, and is related to meros, "part, lot" and moros, "fate, doom",[6] Latin meritum, "desert, reward", English merit, derived from the PIE root *(s)mer, "to allot, assign".[7]
Moira may mean portion or share in the distribution of booty (ίση μοῖρα ísē moîra "equal booty"),[8] portion in life, lot, destiny, (μοῖραv ἔθηκαν ἀθάνατοι moîran éthēken athánatoi "the immortals fixed the destiny")[9] death (μοῖρα θανάτοιο moîra thanátoio "destiny of death"), portion of the distributed land.,[10] The word is also used for something which is meet and right (κατὰ μοῖραν, katà moîran, "according to fate, in order, rightly")[11]
It seems that originally the word moira did not indicate destiny but included ascertainment or proof. The word daemon, which was an agent related to unexpected events, came to be similar to the word moira.[12] This agent or cause against human control might be also called tyche (chance, fate): "You mistress moira, and tyche, and my daemon "[13]
The word nomos, "law", may have meant originally a portion or lot, as in the verb nemein, "to distribute", and thus "natural lot" came to mean "natural law".[14] The word dike, "justice", conveyed the notion that someone should stay within his own specified boundaries, respecting the ones of his neighbour. If someone broke his boundaries, thus getting more than his ordained part, then he would be punished by law. By extension, moira was one's portion or part in destiny which consisted of good and bad moments as was predetermined by the Moirai (Fates), and it was impossible for anyone to get more than his ordained part. In modern Greek the word came to mean "destiny" (μοίρα or ειμαρμένη).
Kismet, the predetermined course of events in the Muslim traditions, seems to have a similar etymology and function: Arabic qisma.t "lot" <qasama, "to divide, allot" developed to mean Fate or destiny. As a loanword, qesmat 'fate' appears in Persian, whence in Urdu language, and eventually in English Kismet.
The three Moirai
The three Moirai, or the triumph of death, Flemish tapestry ca 1520,Victoria and Albert Museum,London.
- Clotho (/ˈkloʊθoʊ/, Greek Κλωθώ [klɔːˈtʰɔː] – "spinner") spun the thread of life from her Distaff onto her Spindle. Her Roman equivalent was Nona, (the 'Ninth'), who was originally a goddess called upon in the ninth month ofpregnancy.
- Lachesis (/ˈlækɨsɪs/, Greek Λάχεσις [ˈlakʰesis] – "allotter" or drawer of lots) measured the thread of life allotted to each person with her measuring rod. Her Roman equivalent was Decima (the 'Tenth').
- Atropos (/ˈætrəpɒs/, Greek Ἄτροπος [ˈatropos] – "inexorable" or "inevitable", literally "unturning",[16] sometimes called Aisa) was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of each person's death; and when their time was come, she cut their life-thread with "her abhorred shears".[17] Her Roman equivalent was Morta ('Dead One').
In the Republic of Plato, the three Moirai sing in unison with the music of the Seirenes. Lachesis sings the things that were, Clotho the things that are, and Atropos the things that are to be.[18] Pindar in his Hymn to the Fates, holds them in high honour. He calls them to send their sisters Hours, Eunomia (Lawfulness), Dike (Right), and Eirene (Peace), to stop the internal civil strife:
Listen Fates, who sit nearest of gods to the throne of Zeus, and weave with shuttles of adamant, inescapable devices for councels of every kind beyond counting, Aisa, Clotho and Lachesis, fine-armed daughters of Night, hearken to our prayers, all-terrible goddesses, of sky and earth. Send us rose-bossomed Lawfulness, and her sisters on glittering thrones,
Right and crowned Peace, and make this city forget the misfortunes which lie heavily on her heart.[19]
Origins
In ancient times caves were used for burial purposes in eastern Mediterranean, in conjunction with underground shrines or temples. The priests and the priestesses exerted considerable influence upon the world of the living. Births are also recorded in such shrines, and the Greek legend of conception and birth in the tomb – as in the story of Danae- is based on the ancient belief that the dead know the future. Such caves were the caves of Ida and Dikte mountains in Crete, where myth situates the birth of Zeus and other gods, and the cave of Eileithyia near Knossos.[20] The relative Minoan goddesses were named Diktynna (later identified with Artemis), who was a mountain nymph of hunting, and Eileithyia who was the goddess of childbirth.[21]
It seems that in Pre-Greek religion Aisa was a daemon. In Mycenean religion Aisa or Moira was originally an abstract power related with the limit and end of life. At the moment of birth she spins the destiny, because birth ordains death.[22] Later Aisa is not alone, but she is accompanied by the "Spinners", who are the personifications of Fate.[23] The act of spinning is also associated with the gods, who at birth and at marriage do not spin the thread of life, but single facts like destruction, return or good fortune. Everything which has been spun must be winded on the spindle, and this was considered a cloth, like a net or loop which captured man.[24]
Invisible bonds and knots could be controlled from a loom, and twining was a magic art used by the magicians to harm a person, and control his individual fate.[25] Similar ideas appear in Norse mythology,[26] and in Greek folklore. The appearance of the gods and the Moirai may be related to the fairy tale motif, which is common in many Indo-European sagas and also in Greek folklore. The fairies appear beside the cradle of the newborn child and bring gifts to him.[27]
The services of the temples were performed by old women who were physically misshapen, though intellectually superior persons, giving rise to the fear of witches and of the misshapen. They might be considered representations of the Moirai, who belonged to the underworld, but secretly guided the lives of those in the upperworld. Their power could be sustained by witchcraft and oracles.[20] In Greek mythology the Moirai at birth are accompanied by Eileithyia. At the birth of Hercules they use together a magic art, to free the newborn from any "bonds" and "knots".[25]
The Homeric Moira
An 1886 bas-relief figure of Dike Astraea in the Old Supreme Court Chamber at the Vermont State House.
Much of the Mycenean religion survived into classical Greece, but it is not known to what extent Greek religious belief is Mycenean, nor how much is a product of the Greek Dark Ages or later. M.Finley detected only few authentic Mycenean beliefs in the eighth-century Homeric world.[28] The religion which later the Greeks considered Hellenic embodies a paradox. Though the world is dominated by a divine power bestowed in different ways on men, nothing but "darkness" lay ahead. Life was frail and unsubstantial, and man was like a shadow in a dream.[29]
In the Homeric poems the words moira, aisa, moros mean "portion, part". Originally they did not indicate a power which leaded destiny, and must be considered to include the "ascertainment" or "proof". By extension Moira is the portion in glory, happiness, mishappenings, death (μοίρα θανάτοιο: destiny of death) which are unexpected events. The unexpected events were usually attributed to daemons, who appeared in special occurrences. In that regard Moira was later considered an agent, like the daemon of Pre-Greek religion.[30]
People believed that their portion in destiny was something similar with their portion in booty, which was distributed according to their descent, and traditional rules. It was possible to get more than their ordained portion (moira), but they had to face severe consequences because their action was "over moira" (υπέρ μοίραν:over the portion). It may be considered that they "broke the order". The most certain order in human lives is that every human should die, and this was determined by Aisa or Moira at the moment of birth.[22] The Myceneans believed that what comes should come (fatalism), and this was considered rightly offered (according to fate: in order). If someone died in battle, he would exist like a shadow in the gloomy space of the underworld.[30]
The kingdom of Moira is the kingdom of the limit and the end. In a passage in Iliad, Apollo tries three times to stop Patroclus in front of the walls of Troy, warning him that it is "over his portion" to sack the city. Aisa (moira) seems to set a limit on the most vigorous men's actions.[31]
Moira is a power acting in parallel with the gods, and even they could not change the destiny which was predetermined. In Iliad Zeus knows that his dearest Sarpedon will be killed by Patroclus, but he cannot save him.[32] In the famous scene of Kerostasia, Zeus the chief-deity of the Myceneans appears as the guider of destiny. Using a pair of scales he decides that Hector must die, according to his aisa (destiny).[33] His decision seems to be independent from his will, and is not related with any "moral purpose". His attitude is explained by Achilleus toPriam, in a parable of two jars at the door of Zeus, one of which contains good things, and the other evil. Zeus gives a mixture to some men, to others only evil and such are driven by hunger over the earth. This was the old "heroic outlook".[34]
The personification of Moira appears in the newer parts of the epos. In Odyssey, she is accompanied by the "Spinners", the personifications of Fate, who do not have separate names.[23] Moira seems to spin the predetermined course of events. Agamemnon claims that he is not responsible for his arrogance. He took the prize of Achilleus, because Zeus and Moira predetermined his decision.[35] In the last section of Iliad, Moira is the "mighty fate" (μοίρα κραταιά:moira krataia) who leads destiny and the course of events. Thetis the mother of Achilleuswarns him that he will not live long because mighty fate stands hard by him, therefore he must give to Priam the corpse of Hector.[36] At Hector’s birth mighty fate predetermined that his corpse would be devoured by dogs after his death, and Hecabe is crying desperately asking for revenge.[37]
Mythical cosmogonies
In Theogony, Hesiod (7th century BC) uses a lot of eastern material in his cosmology. The origin of all things is Chaos, which is formless and void, and represents disorder. Zeus establishes his order on the world, destroying the powers which are threatening order and harmony.[38]
The three Moirai are daughters of the primeval goddess Nyx (Night), and sisters of Keres (black Fates), Thanatos (Death) and Nemesis.[2] Later they are daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis (the "Institutor"),[39] who was the embodiment of divine order and law.[40][41] and sisters of Eunomia (lawfulness, order), Dike (Justice), and Eirene (Peace)[39]
Hesiod introduces a moral purpose which is absent in the Homeric poems. The Moirai represent a power to which even the gods have to conform. They give men at birth both evil and good moments, and they punish not only men but also gods for their sins.[2]
In the cosmogony of Alcman (7th century BC), first came Thetis (Disposer, Creation), and then simultaneously Poros (path) and Tekmor (end post, ordinance).[42][43] Poros is related with the beginning of all things, and Tekmor is related with the end of all things.[44]
Later in the Orphic cosmogony, first came Thesis (Disposer), whose ineffable nature is unexpressed. Ananke (necessity) is the primeval goddess of inevitability who is entwined with the time-god Chronos, 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.[45]
Mythology
Prometheus creates man. Clotho andLachesis besides Poseidon (with his trident), and presumably Atroposbesides Artemis (with the moon crescent). Roman sarcophagus,Louvre.
The Moirai were described as ugly old women, sometimes lame. They were severe, inflexible and stern. Clotho carries a spindle or a roll (the book of fate), Lachesis a staff with which she points to the horoscope on a globe, and Atropos(Aisa) a scroll, a wax tablet, a sundial, a pair of scales, or a cutting instrument. At other times the three were shown with staffs or sceptres, the symbols of dominion, and sometimes even with crowns. At the birth of each man they appeared spinning, measuring, and cutting the thread of life.[46]
The Moirai were supposed to appear three nights after a child's birth to determine the course of its life, as in the story of Meleager and the firebrand taken from the hearth and preserved by his mother to extend his life.[47] Bruce Karl Braswell from readings in the lexicon of Hesychius, associates the appearance of the Moirai at the family hearth on the seventh 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.[48] At Sparta the temple to the Moirai stood near the communal hearth of the polis, as Pausanias observed.[49]
As goddesses of birth who even prophesied the fate of the newly born, Eileithyia, the ancient Minoan 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.[50] Their appearance indicate the Greek desire for health which was connected with the Greek cult of the body that was essentially a religious activity.[51]
The Moirai assigned to the terrible chthonic goddesses Erinyes who inflicted the punishment for evil deeds their proper functions, and with them directed fate according to necessity. As goddesses of death they appeared together with thedaemons of death Keres and the infernal Erinyes.[46]
Bas relief of Lachesis. Base of a lampstand in front of the Supreme Court of the United StatesWashington, D.C..
In earlier times they were represented as only a few—perhaps only one—individual goddess. Homer's Iliad (xxiv.209) speaks generally of the Moira, who spins the thread of life for men at their birth; she is Moira Krataia "powerful Moira" (xvi.334) or there are several Moirai (xxiv.49). In the Odyssey (vii.197) there is a reference to the Klôthes, or Spinners. At Delphi, only the Fates of Birth and Death were revered.[52] In Athens, Aphrodite, who had an earlier, pre-Olympic existence, was called Aphrodite 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"), as Hesiod had it in one passage.[53] In the older myths they are daughters of primeval beings like Nyx("Night") in Theogony, or Ananke ("Necessity") 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,[54] the claim of a paternity was certainly not acceptable to Aeschylus, Herodotus, or Plato.
Despite their forbidding reputation, the Moirai could be placated as goddesses. Brides in Athens 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 mythographer Apollodorus, in the Gigantomachy, the war between the Giants and Olympians, the Moirai killed the Giants Agrios and Thoon with their bronze clubs.[55]
Zeus and the Moirai
In the Homeric poems Moira, who is almost always one, is acting independently from the gods. Only Zeus, the chief sky-deity of the Myceneans is close to Moira, and in a passage he is the personification of this abstract power.[30] Using a weighing scale (balance) Zeus weighs Hector's "lot of death" (Ker) against the one of Achilleus. Hector's lot weighs down, and he dies according toFate. Zeus appears as the guider of destiny, who gives everyone the right portion.[56][57]
In a Mycenean vase, Zeus holds a weighing scale (balance) in front of two warriors, indicating that he is measuring their destiny before the battle. The belief (fatalism) was that if they die in battle, they must die, and this was rightly offered (according to fate).[58]
In Theogony, the three Moirai are daughters of the primeval goddess, Nyx ("Night"),[59] representing a power acting over the gods.[2] Later they are daughters of Zeus who gives them the greatest honour, and Themis, the ancient goddess of law and divine order.[40][41]
Bas relief of Clotho. Base of a lampstand in front of the Supreme Court of the United States,Washington
Even the gods feared the Moirai or Fates, which according to Herodotus a god could not escape.[60] The Pythian priestess at Delphi once admitted, that Zeus was also subject to their power, though no classic writing clarifies as 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 the Moirai in Orphic cosmogony) and says that even the gods don't fight against it.[61] Aeschylus combines Fate and necessity in a scheme, and claims that even Zeus cannot alter which is ordained.[4]
A supposed epithet Zeus Moiragetes, meaning "Zeus Leader of the Moirai" was inferred by Pausanias from an inscription he saw in the 2nd century AD at Olympia: "As you go to the starting-point for the chariot-race there is an altar with an inscription to the Bringer of Fate.[62] 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."[63] At the Temple of Zeus at Megara, Pausanias inferred from the relief sculptures he saw "Above the head of Zeus are the Horai and Moirai, and all may see that he is the only god obeyed by Moira." Pausanias' inferred assertion is unsupported in cult practice, though he noted a sanctuary of the Moirai there at Olympia (v.15.4), and also at Corinth (ii.4.7) and Sparta (iii.11.8), and adjoining the sanctuary of Themis outside a city gate of Thebes.[64]
Cross-cultural parallels
Europe
In Roman mythology the three Moirai are the Parcae or Fata, plural of "fatum" meaning prophetic declaration, oracle, or destiny. The English words fate (native wyrd) and fairy (magic, enchantment), are both derived from "fata", "fatum" .[65]
In Norse mythology the Norns are 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.[66] Their names were Urðr (that which became or happened) related with Wyrd, weird (fate), Verðandi (that which is happening)[67] and Skuld (that which should become, debt, guilt).[68]
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. It seems that originally all of them were Disir, ghosts or deities associated with destruction and destiny. The notion that they were three, their distinction and association with the past, present and future may be due to a late influence from Greek and Roman mythology.[69]
The Valkyries (choosers of the slain), were originally daemons of death. They were female figures who decided who will die in battle, and brought their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain. They were also related with spinning, and one of them was named Skuld (debt, guilt).[70] They may be related to Keres, the daemons of death in Greek mythology, who accompanied the dead to the entrance of Hades. In the scene of Kerostasie Keres are the "lots of death", and in some cases Ker (destruction) has the same meaning, with Moira interpreted as "destiny of death" (moira thanatoio :μοίρα θανάτοιο) .[2][71]
The Germanic Matres and Matrones, female deities almost entirely in a group of three, have been proposed as connected to the Norns and the Valkyries.[72]
In Anglo-Saxon culture Wyrd (Weird) is a concept corresponding to fate or personal destiny (literally: what befalls one). Its Norse cognate is Urðr, and both names are deriven from the PIE root wert, "to turn, wind",[73] related with "spindle, distaff".[74] In Old English literature Wyrd goes ever as she shall, and remains wholly inevitable.[75][76]
In Macbeth the Weird sisters (or Three Witches), are prophetesses, who are deeply entrenched in both worlds of reality and supernatural. Their creation was influenced by British folklore, witchcraft, and the legends of the Norns and the Moirai.[77] Hecate, the chthonic Greek goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and three-way crossroads,[78] appears as the master of the "Three witches". In Ancient Greek religion, Hecate as goddess of childbirth is identified with Artemis,[79] who was the leader (ηγεμόνη: hegemone ) of the nymphs.[80]
In Lithuanian mythology Laima is the personification of destiny, and her most important duty was to prophecy how the life of a newborn will take place. She may be related to the Hindu goddess Laksmi, who was the personification of wealth and prosperity, and associated with good fortune.[81][82] In Latvian mythology, Laima and her sisters were a trinity of fate deities.[83]
The Moirai were usually described as cold, remorseless and unfeeling, and depicted as old crones or hags. The independent spinster has always inspired fear rather than matrimony: "this sinister connotation we inherit from the spinning goddess," write Ruck and Staples (Ruck and Staples 1994:). See weaving (mythology).
Orient
A section of the Egyptian Book of the Dead written on papyrus showing the "Weighing of the Heart" in the Duatusing the feather of Maat as the measure in balance.
The notion of a universal principle of natural order has been compared to similar ideas in other cultures, such as aša, (Asha) in Avestan religion, Rta in Vedic religion, and Maat in Ancient Egyptian religion.[84]
In the Avestan religion and Zoroastrianism, aša, is commonly summarized in accord with its contextual implications of "truth", "right(eousness)", "order". Aša and its Vedic equivalent, Rta, are both derived from a PIE 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.[85] This cosmic force is imbued also with morality, as verbal Truth, and Righteousness, action conforming with the moral order.[86] In the literature of the Mandeans, an angelic being has the responsibility of weighing the souls of the deceased to determine their worthiness, using a set of scales.[87]
In the Vedic religion, Rta is an abstract principle of natural order which regulates and coordinates the operation of the universe. The term may be interpreted abstractly as "cosmic order", or simply as "truth".[88] It seems that this concept originally arose in the Indo-Aryan period, from a consideration of the features of nature which either remain constant or which occur on a regular basis.[89]
The individuals fulfill their true natures when they follow the path set for them by the ordinances of Rta, acting according to the Dharma, which is related to social and moral spheres.[90] The god of the waters Varuna was probably originally conceived as the personalized aspect of the otherwise impersonal Ṛta.[91] The gods are never portrayed as having command over Ṛta, but instead they remain subject to it like all created beings.[90]
In Egyptian religion, maat was the ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law, morality, and justice. 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 from chaos at the moment of creation.[92] 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.[93]
In Egyptian 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 the Egyptian Book 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[94]
Geras
In Greek mythology, Geras (Ancient Greek: Γῆρας, Gễras) was the god of old age.[1] It was considered a virtue whereby the more gēras a man acquired, the more kleos (fame) and arete (excellence and courage) he was considered to have. According to Hesiod, Gēras was a son of Nyx.[2] Hyginus adds that his father was Erebus.[3] He was depicted as a tiny shriveled-up old man. Gēras's opposite was Hebe, the goddess of youth. His Roman equivalent was Senectus. He is known primarily from vase depictions that show him with the hero Heracles; the mythic story that inspired these depictions has been entirely lost.
Atropos or Aisa
Atropos or Aisa (/ˈætrəpɒs/; Ancient Greek: Ἄτροπος "without turn"), in Greek mythology, was one of the three Moirai, goddesses of fate and destiny. Her Roman equivalent was Morta.
Atropos was the oldest of the Three Fates, and was known as the "inflexible" or "inevitable." It was Atropos who chose the mechanism of death and ended the life of each mortal by cutting their thread with her "abhorred shears." She worked along with her two sisters, Clotho, who spun the thread, and Lachesis, who measured the length.
Atropos has been featured in several stories such as Atalanta [1] and Achilles. Her origin, along with the other two fates, is uncertain, although some called them the daughters of the night. It is clear, however, that at a certain period they ceased to be only concerned with death and also became those powers who decided what may happen to individuals. Although Zeus was the chief Greek god and their father, he was still subject to the decisions of the Fates, and thus the executor of destiny, rather than its source. According to Hesiod's Theogony, Atropos and her sisters (Clotho and Lachesis) were the daughters of Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night), though later in the same work (ll. 901-906) they are said to have been born of Zeus and Themis.
Lachesis
Lachesis (/ˈlækɪsɪs/; Greek: Λάχεσις, Lakhesis, "disposer of lots", from λαγχάνω, lanchano, "to obtain by lot, by fate, or by the will of the gods"), in ancient Greek religion, was the second of the Three Fates, or Moirai: Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos. Normally seen clothed in white, Lachesis is the measurer of the thread spun on Clotho's spindle, and in some texts, determines Destiny, or thread of life.[1] Her Roman equivalent was Decima. Lachesis was the apportioner, deciding how much time for life was to be allowed for each person or being.[2] She measured the thread of life with her rod. She is also said to choose a person's destiny after a thread was measured. In mythology, it is said that she appears with her sisters within three days of a baby's birth to decide its fate.According to Hesiod's Theogony, she and her sisters (Atropos and Clotho) are the daughters of Zeus and Themis.[3] Lachesis is also mentioned in the tenth book of the Republic of Plato as the daughter of Necessity. She instructs the souls who are about to choose their next life, assign them lots, and presents them all of the kinds, human and animal, from which they may choose their next life.
Clotho
Clotho (/ˈkloʊθoʊ/; Greek: Κλωθώ) is the youngest of the Three Fates or Moirai – including her sisters Lachesis and Atropos, in ancient Greek mythology. Her Roman equivalent is Nona. Clotho was responsible for spinning the thread of human life. She also made major decisions, such as when a person was born, thus in effect controlling people's lives. This power enabled her not only to choose who was born, but also to decide when gods or mortals were to be saved or put to death. For example, when Pelops was killed and boiled by his father, it was Clotho who brought him back to life.
As one of the three fates her contribution to mythology was immense. Clotho, along with her sisters and Hermes, was given credit for creating the alphabet for their people. Even though Clotho and her sisters were real goddesses, their representation of fate is more focused upon in Greek mythology. Thread represented human life and her decisions represented the fate of all men in society.
Ananke
In ancient Greek religion, Ananke (/əˈnæŋkiː/), also spelled Anangke, Anance, or Anagke (Greek: Ἀνάγκη, from the common noun ἀνάγκη, "force, constraint, necessity"), was the personification of destiny, necessity and fate, depicted as holding a spindle. She marks the beginning of the cosmos, along with Chronos. She was seen as the most powerful dictator of all fate and circumstance which meant that mortals, as well as the Gods, respected her and paid homage. Considered as the mother of the Fates according to one version, she is the only one to have control over their decisions[1] (except, according to some sources, also Zeus[2]).
According to the ancient Greek traveller Pausanias, there was a temple in ancient Corinth where the goddesses Ananke and Bia (meaning violence or violent haste) were worshipped together in the same shrine. Her Roman counterpart was Necessitas ("necessity").[3] "Ananke" is derived from the common Ancient Greek noun ἀνάγκη (Ionic: ἀναγκαίη anankaiē), meaning "force, constraint or necessity." The common noun itself is of uncertain etymology.[4] Homer uses the word meaning necessity (ἀναγκαίη πολεμίζειν, "ιt is necessary to fight") or force (ἐξ ἀνάγκης, "by force").[5] In Ancient Greek literature the word is also used meaning "fate" or "destiny" (ἀνάγκη δαιμόνων, "fate by the daemons or by the gods"), and by extension "compulsion or torture by a superior."[6] The word is often personified in poetry, as Simonides does: "Even the gods don’t fight against ananke".[7]
In the philosophical sense it means "necessity," "logical necessity,"[8] or "laws of nature."[9]
Keres
In Greek mythology, the Keres /ˈkɪriːz/ (Κῆρες), singular Ker /ˈkɜr/ (Κήρ), were female death-spirits. The Keres were daughters of Nyx, and as such the sisters of the Fates – collectively known as the Moirai, the names of the three Moirai being Atropos, Clotho and Lachesis. Some later authorities, such as Cicero, called them by a Latin name, Tenebrae, or the Darknesses, and named them daughters of Erebus and Nyx.
The Greek word Kir or Ker ( κήρ ), means goddess of death, or doom. Homer uses the word with this meaning κήρες θανάτοιο , "goddesses of death", or meaning "violent death". By extension the word may mean "plague, disease" and in prose "blemish or defect". The relative verb κεραίζω or κείρω means "ravage or plunder".[1] Sometimes in Homer the words "ker" and moira, have almost similar meaning. The older meaning was probably "destruction of the dead", and Heshychius relates the word with the verb κηραινειν, "decay".[2]
"They were described as dark beings with gnashing teeth and claws and with a thirst for human blood. They would hover over the battlefield and search for dying and wounded men." A description of the Keres can be found in the Shield of Heracles (248-57):
"The black Dooms gnashing their white teeth, grim-eyed, fierce, bloody, terrifying fought over the men who were dying for they were all longing to drink dark blood. As soon as they caught a man who had fallen or one newly wounded, one of them clasped her great claws around him and his soul went down to Hades, to chilly Tartarus. And when they had satisfied their hearts with human blood, they would throw that one behind them and rush back again into the battle and the tumult."
As death daimons, they were also associated with Cerberus.
Though not mentioned by Hesiod, Achlys may have been included among the Keres.[3]
A parallel, and equally unusual personification of "the baleful Ker" is in Homer's depiction of the Shield of Achilles (Iliad,ix.410ff), which is the model for the Shield of Heracles. These are works of art that are being described.
In the fifth century Keres were imaged as small winged sprites in vase-paintings adduced by J.E. Harrison (Harrison, 1903), who described apotropaic rites and rites of purification that were intended to keep the Keres at bay.
According to a statement of Stesichorus noted by Eustathius, Stesichorus "called the Keres by the name Telchines", whom Eustathius identified with the Kuretes of Crete, who could call up squalls of wind and would brew potions from herbs (noted in Harrison, p 171).
The term Keres has also been cautiously used to describe a person’s fate.[4] An example of this can be found in the Iliad where Achilles was given the choice (or Keres) between either a long and obscure life and home, or death at Troy and everlasting glory. Also, when Achilles and Hector were about to engage in a fight to the death, the god Zeus weighed both warrior's keres to determine who shall die.[5] As Hector’s ker was deemed heavier, he was the one destined to die.[6] During the festival known as Anthesteria, the Keres were driven away. Their Roman equivalents were Letum (“death”) or the Tenebrae (“shadows”).
Hunger, pestilence, madness,. nightmare have each a sprite behind them; are all sprites," J.E. Harrison observed (Harrison 1903, p 169), but two Keres might not be averted, and these, which emerged from the swarm of lesser ills, were Old Age and Death. Odysseus says, "Death and the Ker avoiding, we escape" (Odyssey xii.158), where the two are not quite identical: Harrison (p. 175) found the Christian parallel "death and the angel of death.
Keres is also used to describe a branch of paganism that follows the goddess Nyx. When applied in this way, Keres is taken to mean "daughters of Nyx."
Among destructive personifications are (not all called Keres);
Anaplekte (quick, painful death),
Akhlys (mist of death),
Nosos (disease),
Ker (destruction),
Stygere (hateful).
Keres and Valkyries
It is possible that a connection exists between Keres and the Valkyries of Norse myth.[7] Both deities are war spirits that fly over battlefields during conflicts and choose those to be slain. The difference is that Valkyries are benevolent deities in contrast to the malevolence of the Keres, perhaps due to the different outlook of the two cultures towards war. The word valkyrie derives from Old Norse valkyrja (plural valkyrjur), which is composed of two words; the noun valr (referring to the slain on the battlefield) and the verb kjósa (meaning "to choose"). Together, they mean "chooser of the slain".[8] The Greek word "Ker" etymologically means destruction, death,[9] and in Kerostasia, Zeus chooses Hector to be killed.
Styx
Styx was also the name of the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, and goddess of the River Styx itself. She was wife to Pallas and bore him Zelus, Nike, Kratos and Bia (and sometimes Eos). Styx supported Zeus in the Titanomachy where she was the first to rush to his aid. For this reason her name was given the honor of being a binding oath for the gods.
Charon
In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon (/ˈkɛərɒn/ or /ˈkɛərən/; Greek Χάρων) is the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. A coin to pay Charon for passage, usually an obolus or danake, was sometimes placed in or on the mouth of a dead person.[1] Some authors say that those who could not pay the fee, or those whose bodies were left unburied, had to wander the shores for one hundred years. In the catabasis mytheme, heroes – such as Heracles, Orpheus, Aeneas, Theseus, Sisyphus, Dionysus, Odysseus and Psyche – journey to the underworld and return, still alive, conveyed by the boat of Charon.
He is the son of Nyx and Erebus. Nyx and Erebus were brother and sister. He was also the brother of Thanatos and Hypnos.
The name Charon is most often explained as a proper noun from χάρων (charon), a poetic form of χαρωπός (charopós), “of keen gaze”, referring either to fierce, flashing, or feverish eyes, or to eyes of a bluish-gray color. The word may be a euphemism for death.[2] Flashing eyes may indicate the anger or irascibility of Charon as he is often characterized in literature, but the etymology is not certain. The ancient historian Diodorus Siculus thought that the ferryman and his name had been imported from Egypt.[3]
Charon is depicted frequently in the art of ancient Greece. Attic funerary vases of the 5th and 4th centuries BC. are often decorated with scenes of the dead boarding Charon’s boat. On the earlier such vases, he looks like a rough, unkempt Athenian seaman dressed in reddish-brown, holding his ferryman's pole in his right hand and using his left hand to receive the deceased. Hermes sometimes stands by in his role as psychopomp. On later vases, Charon is given a more “kindly and refined” demeanor.[4]
In the 1st century BC, the Roman poet Virgil describes Charon in the course of Aeneas’s descent to the underworld (Aeneid, Book 6), after the Cumaean Sibyl has directed the hero to the golden bough that will allow him to return to the world of the living:
There Chairon stands, who rules the dreary coast -
A sordid god: down from his hairy chin
A length of beard descends, uncombed, unclean;
His eyes, like hollow furnaces on fire;
A girdle, foul with grease, binds his obscene attire.[5]
Other Latin authors also describe Charon, among them Seneca in his tragedy Hercules Furens, where Charon is described in verses 762-777 as an old man clad in foul garb, with haggard cheeks and an unkempt beard, a fierce ferryman who guides his craft with a long pole. When the boatman tells Hercules to halt, the Greek hero uses his strength to gain passage, overpowering Charon with the boatman's own pole.[6]
In the second century, Lucian employed Charon as a figure in his Dialogues of the Dead, most notably in Parts 4 and 10 (“Hermes and Charon” and “Charon and Hermes”).[7]
In the Divine Comedy, Charon forces reluctant sinners onto his boat by beating them with his oar. (Gustave Doré, 1857) In the 14th century, Dante Alighieri described Charon in his Divine Comedy, drawing from Virgil's depiction in Aeneid 6. Charon is the first named mythological character Dante meets in the underworld, in the third canto of Inferno. Elsewhere, Charon appears as a cranky, skinny old man or as a winged demon wielding a double hammer, although Michelangelo's interpretation, influenced by Dante's depiction in Inferno, canto 3, shows him with an oar over his shoulder, ready to beat those who delay (“batte col remo qualunque s'adagia”, Inferno 3, verse 111).[8] In modern times, he is commonly depicted as a living skeleton in a cowl, much like the Grim Reaper.
Greek underworld
Residents
Aeacus
Cerberus
Charon
Erinyes
Hades
Hecate
Hypnos
Melinoe
Minos
Moirai
Persephone
Rhadamanthus
Thanatos
Geography
Acheron
Asphodel
Fields
Cocytus
Elysion
Erebus
Lethe
Phlegethon
Styx
Tartarus
Famous Tartarus inmates
The Danaides
Ixion
Salmoneus
Sisyphus
Tantalus
The Titans
Tityus
Visitors
Aeneas
Dionysus
Heracles
Hermes
Odysseus
Orpheus
Pirithous
Psyche
Theseus
Most accounts, including Pausanias (10.28) and later Dante's Inferno (3.78), associate Charon with the swamps of the river Acheron. Ancient Greek literary sources – such as Pindar, Aeschylus, Euripides, Plato, and Callimachus – also place Charon on the Acheron. Roman poets, including Propertius, Ovid, and Statius, name the river as the Styx, perhaps following the geography of Virgil’s underworld in the Aeneid, where Charon is associated with both rivers.[9]
"Haros" and modern usage[edit]
"Haros" is the modern Greek equivalent of Charon, and usage includes the curse "you will be eaten (i.e., taken) by Haros", or "I was in the teeth of Haros" (i.e., "I was near death/very sick/badly injured"). During the Korean War, the Greek Expeditionary Force defended an outpost called Outpost Harry.[citation needed] The Greek soldiers who witnessed what was going on between 10 and 16 June 1953, before they were due to go on to the hill on the 16th, referred to it as "Outpost Haros".[citation needed]
Thánatos
The Greek poet Hesiod established in his Theogony that Thánatos is a son of Nyx (Night) and Erebos (Darkness) and twin of Hypnos (Sleep).
"And there the children of dark Night have their dwellings, Sleep and Death, awful gods. The glowing Sun never looks upon them with his beams, neither as he goes up into heaven, nor as he comes down from heaven. And the former of them roams peacefully over the earth and the sea's broad back and is kindly to men; but the other has a heart of iron, and his spirit within him is pitiless as bronze: whomsoever of men he has once seized he holds fast: and he is hateful even to the deathless gods." [5]
Counted among Thanatos' siblings were other negative personifications such as Geras (Old Age), Oizys (Suffering), Moros (Doom), Apate (Deception), Momus (Blame), Eris (Strife), Nemesis (Retribution) and even the Acherousian/Stygian boatman Charon. Thanatos was loosely associated with the three Moirai (for Hesiod, also daughters of Night), particularly Atropos, who was a goddess of death in her own right. He is also occasionally specified as being exclusive to peaceful death, while the bloodthirsty Keres embodied violent death. His duties as a Guide of the Dead were sometimes superseded by Hermes Psychopompos. Conversely, Thanatos may have originated as a mere aspect of Hermes before later becoming distinct from him.[citation needed]
Thanatos was regarded[by whom?] as merciless and indiscriminate, hated by—and hateful towards—mortals and the deathless gods. But in myths which feature him, Thanatos could occasionally be outwitted, a feat that the sly King Sisyphus of Korinth twice accomplished. When it came time for Sisyphus to die, Zeus ordered Thanatos to chain Sisyphus up in Tartarus. Sisyphus cheated death by tricking Thanatos into his own shackles, thereby prohibiting the demise of any mortal while Thanatos was so enchained.
