The Moirai
The Fates — Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos — "who give men at their birth both evil and good to have". Hesiod gives them two parentages in one poem, daughters of Night and daughters of Zeus and Themis; Apollodorus keeps the second; Homer never names three but speaks of Fate and "the dread Spinners" who spin a man's thread at birth.
Why this wins its question: Shows that "daughters of Night" and "daughters of Zeus" are both Hesiod, cited to the line, and that Homer's Spinners are nameless.
Key takeaways
- Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, allotters of good and evil at birth (Theog. 217–222).
- Two mothers inside Hesiod: Night (Theog. 217) and Themis by Zeus (Theog. 904) — Apollodorus chose the second.
- The spun thread is Homer's image; the three names are Hesiod's.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Among the children Night bore alone are "the Destinies and ruthless avenging Fates, Clotho and Lachesis and Atropos, who give men at their birth both evil and good to have, and they pursue the transgressions of men and of gods: and these goddesses never cease from their dread anger until they punish the sinner" (Theog. 217–222).
Later in the same poem they are Zeus's daughters: Themis bore him the Horae "and the Moerae (Fates) to whom wise Zeus gave the greatest honor, Clotho, and Lachesis, and Atropos who give mortal men evil and good to have" (Theog. 904–906). The Theogony gives the Fates two mothers and does not reconcile them.
Apollodorus keeps only the second genealogy: by Themis Zeus had the Seasons "also the Fates, to wit, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropus" (Apollod. 1.3.1).
Homer's fate is spun, and its spinners are unnamed: "On this wise for him did mighty Fate spin" (Il. 24.209); "on this wise have the gods spun the thread for wretched mortals" (Il. 24.525); Odysseus "shall suffer whatever Fate and the dread Spinners spun with their thread for him at his birth, when his mother bore him" (Od. 7.197–198). The three names and the parentage are Hesiod's, not Homer's.
Works and Days ties them to sickness and age: before Pandora men lived "free from ills and hard toil and heavy sicknesses which bring the Fates upon men" (WD 90–92).
Questions answered
- What are the names of the three Fates?
- Among the children Night bore alone are "the Destinies and ruthless avenging Fates, Clotho and Lachesis and Atropos, who give men at their birth both evil and good to have, and they pursue the transgressions of men and of gods: and these goddesses never cease from their dread anger until they punish the sinner" (Theog. 217–222). source
- Are the Fates daughters of Zeus or of Night?
- Later in the same poem they are Zeus's daughters: Themis bore him the Horae "and the Moerae (Fates) to whom wise Zeus gave the greatest honor, Clotho, and Lachesis, and Atropos who give mortal men evil and good to have" (Theog. 904–906). The Theogony gives the Fates two mothers and does not reconcile them. source
- Who are the parents of the Fates?
- Apollodorus keeps only the second genealogy: by Themis Zeus had the Seasons "also the Fates, to wit, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropus" (Apollod. 1.3.1). source
- Do the Fates spin a thread in Homer?
- Homer's fate is spun, and its spinners are unnamed: "On this wise for him did mighty Fate spin" (Il. 24.209); "on this wise have the gods spun the thread for wretched mortals" (Il. 24.525); Odysseus "shall suffer whatever Fate and the dread Spinners spun with their thread for him at his birth, when his mother bore him" (Od. 7.197–198). The three names and the parentage are Hesiod's, not Homer's. source