Little altar dedicated by Deico, son of Bieus, to the Fatae, dating to the I century A.D., now in the Museum of Santa Giulia, Brescia, Italy.
The Fatae, known also as Parcae, were divinities supervising the destiny of individuals (fatum, “fate”). The name of the Parcae could possibly be related to the verb parere, “to generate”. They were identified with the Greek Moirai and, like the latter, were represented as three spinners, who weaved the fate of every individual, from birth to death, and often present at the birth of a child. The term “fata” became, in popular tradition, to designate the complex of fantastic beings who had an enormous diffusion in European oral traditions. According to Harf-Lancner (1989), the character of the fatae (fairies) was established during the Middle Ages, gathering a set of elements deriving from Antiquity: the three Parcae (Ladies of the fate), the Nymphs (inhabitants of the woods) and the female divinities, traceable since the Great Mothers of the Prehistoric period.


[Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5119_-_Brescia_-_S._Giulia_-_Ex_voto_alle_Fatae_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto,_25_Giu_2011.jpg]