Abstract
Weaving and femininity are historically intimately connected withthe concept of Fate. In antiquity Fate was portrayed as a powerfulfemale principle controlling the cosmic system humans inhabited.However, as the antique religious world gave way to a new era,the role of Fate subsided under Christian dominance. This articleexamines how this change played out, and how the worldview thatwon prominence as Christianity prevailed gradually lost touch withthe presence of powerful female cosmic principles. It shows that thedisappearance of Fate from the prevailing world was seminal in thebirth of a new ‘technology of the self’. In conclusion, the article placesthe disappearance of Fate in the context of a discussion of how theview of the self changed in the aftermath of Christianity, which hadbecome dominant. This discussion is related to the scholarship ofPeter Brown, among others, as well as a newly published posthumouswork by Michel Foucault (2018).
Highlights
Weaving and femininity are historically intimately connected with the concept of Fate
The idea of Fate as a powerful female cosmic principle has been present as far back as we can see into the religious world of the Mediterranean basin (Eidinow 2011; DeConick 2011; Christ 1997)
The third part of the article begins to explore the reasons the versions of Christianity that would prevail in the theological struggles of the first centuries rejected Fate and divine femininity
Summary
This article has explored how the notion of Fate and Providence subsided during the high and late Roman period. The Christian worldview which won prominence was slowly formed, giving way to a worldview without the presence of powerful female cosmic principles. The disappearance of these powerful female symbols coincided with the birth of new ideals in which the individual was responsible for his/her own salvation and moral formation. It was not just Fate that disappeared, but the divine female active force – like Isis, Kybele, and Wisdom This female force had offered concrete protection against the tribulations of material life and gave way to other female characters like Mother Church that offered people moral tools to be turned inwards. A fruitful way to begin to approach these monumental transformations taking place in the latter parts of antiquity is through the above discussion regarding the supplanting of Fate in favour of free will
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