The Moirai were three sisters, daughters of Zeus, whose mission was to govern the lives of men.
There are differences regarding their names; in the most widely known versions these are:
- Lachesis, who presided over the last month of pregnancy and measured the length of the thread of life
- Clotho, symbol of fatalism in human events
- Atropos, who presided over birth and was, simultaneously, charged with cutting the thread of existence.
The Moirai correspond to the Norns of Norse mythology and the Parcae in Latin mythology.