[42][43] and sisters of Eunomia ("lawfulness, order"), Dike ("justice"), and Eirene ("peace"). [97], In the Vedic religion, Rta is an ontological principle of natural order which regulates and coordinates the operation of the universe. She is not to be confused with Megara, the wife of Heracles. "Some Ethical Concepts for the Modern World from Hindu and Indian Buddhist Tradition" in: Radhakrishnan, S. 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 seems that Moira is related with Tekmor ("proof, ordinance") and with Ananke ("destiny, necessity"), who were primordial goddesses in mythical cosmogonies. [4] Later they are daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis ("the Institutor"),[41] who was the embodiment of divine order and law. They were particularly concerned with homicide, unfilial conduct, offenses against the gods, and perjury. [51] Their appearance indicate the Greek desire for health which was connected with the Greek cult of the body that was essentially a religious activity. In modern French (mégère), Portuguese (megera), Modern Greek (μέγαιρα), Italian (megera), Russian (мегера) and Czech (megera), this name denotes a jealous or spiteful woman. [25] Later Aisa is not alone, but she is accompanied by the "Spinners", who are the personifications of Fate. 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 the patrilineal Olympic order,[56] the claim of a paternity was certainly not acceptable to Aeschylus, Herodotus, or Plato. 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. Agamemnon claims that he is not responsible for his arrogance. What does the name of the mother of the Muses mean? The fates had at least three known temples, in Ancient Corinth, Sparta and Thebes. In Greek mythology, the white-robed Moirae or Moerae (in Greek Μοίραι the "apportioners", often called the Fates) were the personifications of destiny (Roman equivalent: Parcae, "sparing ones", or Fata; also equivalent to the Germanic Norns).They controlled the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal and immortal from birth to death (and beyond). and weave with shuttles of adamant, Using a pair of scales he decides that Hector must die, according to his aisa (destiny). [33], 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. Aša and its Vedic equivalent, Rta, are both derived from a PIE root meaning "properly joined, right, true". As a loanword, qesmat 'fate' appears in Persian, whence in Urdu language, and eventually in English Kismet. Its Norse cognate is Urðr, and both names are derived from the PIE root wert, "to turn, wind",[86] related with "spindle, distaff". They controlled the mother thread of life of every mortal from birth to death. [3], Like her sisters Alecto and Tisiphone, as well as the Melian Nymphs, she was born of the blood of Uranus when Cronus castrated him.[4]. Their power could be sustained by witchcraft and oracles. If someone died in battle, he would exist like a shadow in the gloomy space of 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. [38] In the last section of the Iliad, Moira is the "mighty fate" (μοίρα κραταιά moíra krataiá) who leads destiny and the course of events. Aisa, Clotho and Lachesis, At other times these goddesses were seen with staffs, a symbol of power, along with crowns. [24], It seems that in Pre-Greek religion Aisa was a daemon. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the Weird sisters (or Three Witches), are prophetesses, who are deeply entrenched in both worlds of reality and supernatural. 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.