Les Moires entre la naissance et la mort : de la représentation au culte

in Etudes de Lettres (2011), (3-4), 93-113

In ancient Greece, Moirai are divine powers related to the ‘share’ that everyone receives and mythic tales where they appear mainly associate to birth and death. As traditional spinners and weavers, such ... [more ▼]

In ancient Greece, Moirai are divine powers related to the ‘share’ that everyone receives and mythic tales where they appear mainly associate to birth and death. As traditional spinners and weavers, such goddesses rule over everyone’s life course and over the various patterns of the life thread. Cult evidence related to the Moirai is neither numerous nor explicit about their worshippers’ expectations. Nevertheless, myths and rituals are not unrelated bodies of evidence, but specific languages, which resonate inside the mental frame of poets who narrated tales and worshippers who performed rituals. Both of these aspects of the Greek knowledge about Moirai are closely interconnected and studied as such in the present work. Powers of distribution, reward and regulation, Moirai interact with the stability warranted by Zeus’ authority on a mythical level and take also part in such a balance within human communities. [less ▲]

La féminité des déesses à l’épreuve des épiclèses : le cas d’Héra

in Bodiou, Lydie; Mehl, Véronique (Eds.) La religion des femmes en Grèce ancienne. Mythes, cultes, société (2009)