Moirai

In ancient Greek religion & mythology, the Moirai (a.k.a. in English as the Fates) were the personification of destiny.

There were 3 sisters named: Clotho, who was the spinner; Lachesis, who was the allotter; & Atropos, who was the inevitable, a symbol for death. Their Roman equals are the Parcae.

The Moirai’s role was to make sure that every being, mortal & divine, lived out their destinies. For mortals, this destiny went their entire lives & is pictured as a thread spun from a spindle. A spindle is the thing that Sleeping Beauty touched to become Sleeping Beauty.

Usually, they were considered to be above even the gods, in their role as enforcers of Fate. Zeus was even scared of them. Even though, in some stories, Zeus is able to command them. But these are rare.

The word Moirai (also spelt Moirae or Moerae) comes from Ancient Greek. This means “lots, destinies, apportioners.” It also means a portion, or lot of the whole.

In Dante’s Divine Comedy, the Fates are mentioned in both Inferno & Purgatorio by their Greek names. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the Weird Sisters (or 3 Witches) are prophetesses, who are deeply rooted in both the real & supernatural worlds.

The Moirai are:

• Clotho, the spinner. She spun the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle. Her Roman equal was Nona (“the 9th”), who was originally called upon in the 9th month of pregnancy.
• Lachesis, the allotter or drawer of lots. She measured the thread of life allotted to each person with her measuring rod. Her Roman equal was Decima (“the 10th”).
• Atropos, “inexorable,” or inevitable,” literally “unturning.” She was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of each person’s death. When their time has come, she would cut their life-thread with her shears. Think about the end of Disney’s Hercules, when our main man, Herc, went to save Meg from Hades’ domain. Herc’s life-thread turned gold when he saved. Her Roman equal was Morta (“the dead one”).

In the Republic of Plato, the 3 Moirai sing together with the music of the Seirenes. Lachesis sings the things that were, Clotho the things that are, & Atropos the things that are to be. Pindar, in his Hymn to the Fates, holds them in high honor. He calls them to send their sisters, the Hours (Eunomia, “lawfulness”; Dike, “right”; & Eirene, “peace”), to stop the internal civil strife.

In the Theogony, Hesiod describes the Moirai as daughters of the primeval goddess Nyx (“night”), & the sisters of the Keres (“the black fates”), Thanatos (“death”), & Nemesis (“retribution”). Later in the poem, Hesiod instead calls them daughters of Zeus & the Titaness Themis (“the Institutor”), who was the embodiment of divine order & law. This places them as sisters of the Hours.

In the cosmogony of Alcman (7th century BC), first came Thetis (“disposer, creation”) & then simultaneously Poros (“path”) & Tekmor (“end post, ordinance”). Poros is related to the end of all things.

Later, in the Orphic cosmogony, first came Thesis, whose ineffable nature is unexpected. 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 & Time. They were sometimes called to control the fates of the gods. The 3 Moirai are daughters of Ananke.

In the Theogony of Hesiod, the 3 Moirai are personified as the daughters of Nyx & are acting the gods. Later they were daughters of Zeus & Themis, who was the embodiment of divine order & law. In Pluto’s Republic, the 3 Fates are daughters of Ananke (necessity).

The Moirai were supposed to appear 3 nights after a kid’s birth to determine the course of its life. At Sparta, the Temple to the Moirai stood near the communal hearth of the polis. Polis means “city” in Ancient Greek.

As the goddesses of birth who even prophesied the fate of the newly born, Elieithyia, the ancient Minoan goddess of childbirth & divine midwifery, was their companion.

The Erinyes, a group of chthonic goddesses of vengeance, served as tools of the Moirai. Chthonic means concerning, belonging to, or inhabiting the underworld. They inflicted punishment for evil deeds, particularly upon those who sought to avoid their rightful destiny. The Morai were confused with the Erinyes, as well as the death-goddesses, the Keres.

In earlier times, they were pictured as only a few, or perhaps only 1, individual goddess Homer’s Illiad speaks generally of the Moira, who spins the thread of life for men at their birth. She’s Moria Krataia, “powerful Moira,” or there are several Moirai.

In the Odyssey, there’s a reference to the Klothes, or spinners. At Delphi, only the Fates of Birth & Death were revered. In Athens, Aphrodite was called Aphrodite Urania, the “eldest of the Fates.”

In the older myths, they’re daughters of primeval beings like Nyx (“night”) in Theogony, or Ananke in Orphic cosmogony.

The Moirai could be placated as goddesses. Brides in Athens offered them locks of hair, & women swore by them. They may have originated as a birth goddesses & only later their reputation as the agents of destiny. The Moirai were also credited to be the inventors of 7 Greek letters – A, B, H, I, T, & Y.

The Fates had at least 3 known temples: Ancient Corinth, Sparta, & Thebes. The temple in Sparta was situated next to the grave/tomb of Orestes.

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Athena, Medusa, and the Birth of the Flute

Many of our modern instruments today have their roots in mythology. Deities can be both virtuosos and inventors! Hermes created the lyre. Pan created the syrinx (or panpipe). But did you know that Athena made the first flute?

That’s the story, at least according to the poet Pindar. Let’s check it out and see more about Athena’s legendary instrument.

Key Players

You’ve probably heard about most of the folks involved in this myth, but just so we’re on the same page, these are the key players:

• Athena – Goddess of wisdom, supporter of heroes, and owner of a shiny shield
• Perseus – Epic hero, slayer of monsters, and son of Zeus
• Medusa – Scary monster, snakes for hair, and turns people to stone

Alright, now to the story!

The Story

Due to a somewhat hasty promise, Perseus was dispatched to retrieve a grisly wedding gift: the head of Medusa. This was no simple task, as Medusa was one of three Gorgons (monsters with fangs, snakes for hair, and a terrifying gaze that turns victims to stone).

But it was, at least, possible. Unlike her sisters, Stheno and Euryale, Medusa was mortal.

Like many things in Greek mythology, this turned into an epic quest. And… as it often does, it involved praying to the gods for aid. Hermes offered his winged sandals for speed and a sharp sword for battle. Hades lent his cap of invisibility for stealth. But Athena gave perhaps the most important item: her polished shield.

Perseus entered the Gorgon’s cave while they slept. He avoided being turned to stone by walking backwards and using the shield as a mirror to see where he was going, then beheaded Medusa.

When Stheno and Euryale were woken up by all the commotion, they were understandably upset that their sister had just been murdered. They tried to chase after Perseus, but he escaped due to his newfound speed and invisibility buffs. Returning to Medusa’s body, they wailed and unleashed cries of anguish over her death.

Pindar says…

[Athena] wove into music the dire dirge of the reckless Gorgons which Perseus heard pouring in slow anguish from beneath the horrible snakey hair of the maidens … she created the many-voiced song of flutes so that she could imitate with musical instruments the shrill cry that reached her ears from the fast-moving jaws of Euryale.

Basically, Athena decided to mimic their cries with an instrument, and thus the aulos was born. According to other sources, she may have fashioned it out of a deer bone.

She thought it was a great instrument… until she caught her own reflection. She didn’t like the way her cheeks puffed out while playing, so she threw it away — and some say she cursed anyone who would have found it.

(Marsyas, a stayr, happened to find this discarded aulos later on… but that’s a whole other story. In summary, however, it did not end well for him.)

The Aulos

The double flute of Ancient Greece was called an aulos — an instrument that is quite different from what we would picture as a flute today. For starters, it was a reeded instrument.

The modern woodwinds category is split up into two sections: reeded, like a clarinet, and non-reeded, like a flute — that is, what we call a flute now. Perhaps a picture would be better suited to this task of explaining.

When I say “flute,” it might conjure up an image of one of these…

And any of those would be correct.

You might also be thinking of a Pan Flute. Or maybe an ancient, Paleolithic bone flute. Or heck, you might even picture the tin whistle-style instrument that Captain Picard played in The Inner Light.

And all of those would be correct, too!

But you’re most likely thinking of this…

A concert flute — this variety is made of metal and has a complicated system of tone holes and keys, something that slowly evolved over the past 200 years or so.

My point is… the term “flute” can be pretty wide and encompasses many different instruments.

But to the Ancient Greeks, a flute would have probably looked like this.

The aulos was a reeded instrument. There was a hollow tube affixed to some type of mouthpiece, which allowed the musician to blow air over a carved piece of wood or cane (the reed), which caused vibration. Two of these were frequently lashed together and both would be played simultaneously — one side emitting a drone note and the other playing a simple melody.

Since most of these instruments were made out of wood, there are very few surviving pieces from antiquity; thus, some of our best representation is found in Greek iconography. You’ll frequently see them depicted on amphorae.

The sound of the aulos has been described as penetrating… but I think, honestly, most people would find it to be whiny in comparison to the smooth tone of instruments we are used to today. After all, according to mythology, it was supposed to mimic the wailing of the Gorgons.

Around the World

Despite the fact that some older poems use the word “flute,” it seems like the aulos is more closely related to a clarinet or oboe. The inclusion of a reed is fairly definitive in the classification process, and in fact would place the aulos in the “reeded aerophones” family (which does not include the modern concert flute).

But the Greeks were not alone in this invention. You can find folk instruments like this all over the world.

There’s the Roman Tibia…

The Egyptian Arghul…

There’s the Iranian Dozaleh, Albanian Zumare, and the Ibizan Reclam de Xeremies.

And of course, sometimes musicians just play two clarinets at once.

Conclusions

I always find the mythic origins of instruments to be a fascinating topic. And I love the fact that cultures around the world independently developed their own versions of similar instruments.

And now you know who invented the flute! At least… according to Greek mythology.

#athena #doubleFlute #flute #greek #instruments #medusa #myth #mythology #perseus #pindar

OLYMPIA Xl
- by Pindar

https://www.tumblr.com/ukdamo/776264915402014720/olympia-xl?source=share

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“Is it by justice or by crooked deceit that I the higher tower shall scale and so live my life out in fenced and guarded security?”
Pindar, from Book 2, Republic, Plato.

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#BigTech #AIEthics #DataPrivacy #RuleofLaw #Illuminati I applaud the move to impose national rules on AI technology and ensure data privacy for all. We must remain vigilant to the potential of AI being used for nefarious purposes and ensure that the rule of law is followed. #Pindar http://www.techmeme.com/231028/p1#a231028p1

Pindar (c. https://www.worldhistory.org/Pindar/ #History #GreekLiterature #OlympicGames #Pindar

Pindar (c. https://www.worldhistory.org/Pindar/ #History #GreekLiterature #OlympicGames #Pindar

#Pindar: "It helps to bear lightly the yoke one has taken upon one's neck, and kicking against the goad, you know, becomes a slippery path" (Pythian 2).