Atropos

"Without turn." The eldest of the three Moirae. She presided over death and cut the thread of life when a person's life was at an end. Hesiod1 mentions them as the daughters of Nyx.

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Iconography

In works of art Atropos was represented as a grave maiden with a pair of scales, or a sun-dial, or a cutting instrument.

References

Notes

  1. Theogony, 217 ff.

Sources

  • Aken, Dr. A.R.A. van. (1961). Elseviers Mythologische Encyclopedie. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  • Bartelink, Dr. G.J.M. (1988). Prisma van de mythologie. Utrecht: Het Spectrum.
  • Hyginus. Fabulae: Preface, 171.