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[Alexandr Korol]

The image of a woman, a goddess sitting and holding an axis — I opened the Wikipedia entry “Ananke (mythology).” “Anánke, Anánka — in ancient Greek mythology, the goddess of necessity and inevitability, the personification of fate, destiny, and higher predetermination. She was venerated in Orphic beliefs. According to Plato, between the knees of Ananke rotates the spindle, the axis of which is the axis of the world...” Notice — the world axis, the center of the world. “...the Moirai from time to time help with the rotation.” The Moirai are her daughters, there are seven of them. “The concept of Ananke was clearly reflected in Aeschylus’ Prometheus (Prometheus as the victim of Ananke); it also relates to: the pursuit of the matricide Orestes by the Erinyes in the tragedy The Eumenides; the curse upon the family of Oedipus and his terrible involuntary crimes in the lost tragedy of Aeschylus, and especially in Sophocles’ tragedies Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. In the tenth book of Plato’s Republic there appears the spindle of Ananke, which is mentioned in the passage that concludes the narrative.” But elsewhere Ananke is mentioned only in passing, without further detail about her. Let’s take a look at who the Moirai are. “The Moirai (ancient Greek Μοῖραι, from μοῖρα, moira, literally ‘part’ or ‘share,’ hence ‘lot’ — that which each person receives at birth) are goddesses of fate in ancient Greek mythology. In ancient Rome, the Moirai corresponded to the Parcae.

Moira, usually in the singular, is already mentioned in Homer’s poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, as an impersonal necessity, not subject even to the gods.” That is, this power is even above the gods, above the gods themselves. “Originally it was believed that every person had their own Moira. With the development of the Olympian religion, the number of Moirai was reduced to one, two, or three, most commonly three sisters:

Clotho (Greek Κλωθώ, “Spinner”) — spinning (the thread of life). Clotho brought Pelops back to life, foretold Athena’s virginity.

Lachesis, also Lachesa (Greek Λάχεσις, “Fate,” “she who gives the lot”) — determining destiny. Lachesis watched over the childbirth of Leto.