The Fates, were the three sisters that controlled the destinies of all mortal mankind from birth to death. Their father was the dark element of Tartarus, named Erebus; their mother was Night. Each of the three sisters was given a task that represented the lives of men and women, spinning a thread of gold, silver, or wool; now tightening, now slacking and at last cutting it off. One sister, named Clotho, the youngest, put the wool around the spindleand spun the thread of life. This determined a person's life. The second sister, named Lachesis, measured the thread once it was spun. She determined how long a person should live. The third sister, Atropos, cut the thread. Once she cut the thread, the person was dead. As Zeus became a stronger god, both in mythology and in the everyday lives of people, it was determined that he alone decided how long a person should live, making the Fates more minor in importance. In other accounts, it is said that even Zeus could not interfere with the decisions of the Fates.

The Fates were assisted by the god Hermes in the creation of the Pelasgian alphabet. They also helped the Olympian Gods on more than one occasion. They supported Zeus in his battle against Typhon by giving the monster poisoned fruits to eat. However, they were willing to help Hades when he protested to Zeus that Asclepius had revived a dead Hippolytus, hence negating the powers of both the Underworld and the Fates.

ACTIVITIES:
Fates activity

KEY TEST WORDS: Fates controlled human destiny. Clotho is the Spinner, Lachesis the Disposer of Lots, and Atropos the Cutter.

The Group Deities

The Underworld

Footnotes: The Fates were represented in art as serious maidens always side by side. They were worshipped by sacrifices of honey and flowers, sometimes of ewes, in Greece and Italy. In Sparta and in Rome they had temples and altars.

SOURCES:
Jane Smith
Edith Hamilton's Mythology
Bulfinch's Mythology
"Manual of Mythology" by Alexander S. Murray.