Clotho

Flax is wound round a distaff for the thread of human life. Clotho performs this task among the three Fates, or Moirae, who regulate the duration and destiny of mortals. Lachesis spins the thread, while Atropos measures and cuts it when a person’s life is about to end. Their decrees are unalterable.

Clotho is one of three sister goddesses of fate. The sisters are generally described as old women in white ermine robes bordered with purple, wearing woollen chaplets interwoven with narcissus flowers. In one account, Clotho and her sisters are daughters of Zeus and Themis. Hesiod elsewhere calls the Moirae children of Night, while another account names Nox and Erebus as their parents. Their name refers to portions or shares of life, which they assign at birth. Clotho belongs to this group as the spinner who begins the allotment of each mortal’s life.