The fates: Did you mean...?

The Fates (also known as the Moirai in Greek mythology) are three sister goddesses responsible for assigning destinies to mortals at their birth, a human's lifespan, and the timing of their death. The golden thread they spin represents...

The Fates Gathering in the Stars by Elihu Vedder, 1887 CE, now in the Art Institute of Chicago. This image depicts the three Greek Fates - Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos - spinning the thread of life, then marking...

A relief depicting Atropos, one of the Fates of Greek mythology, cutting the thread of life.

The Three Fates, oil on canvas by Paul Thumann, 19th century.

The norns were supernatural female entities responsible for the fates of all living beings in Viking Age Scandinavia. Associated with Yggdrasil, the world tree and central element of the nine realms of Norse cosmology...

For the ancient Greeks, the quality of arete (personal excellence) and the concept of eusebia (social duty) were most important. Aristotle discusses both of these at length in his Nichomachean Ethics...

The Horae (Horai, sing. Hora) were the personification and goddesses of the seasons and the hours and, later on, were regarded as goddesses of order and justice in Greek mythology. They were the daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis...

Enki's Journey to Nippur (circa 2000 BCE) is a Sumerian origin myth explaining the creation of the temple at Eridu by the god Enki and how musical instruments were ordained for use in festivals in ancient...

The Moirai and the Erinyes are the Fates and the Furies of Greek mythology. The Moirai, which in Greek means parts or allotted portions, were the three goddesses of fate and destiny. Clotho, the spinner, Lachesis...

A Valkyrie is a figure in Norse mythology depicted as a warrior woman on horseback, a wolf or boar, and armed with a spear, who decides the fate of warriors in battle and carries the dead to Odin’s Valhalla. Valkyrie means "chooser...