"[3] It was Atropos who chose the manner of death and ended the life of mortals by cutting their threads.

It is clear, however, that at a certain period they ceased to be only concerned with death and also became those powers who decided what may happen to individuals.

Although Zeus was the chief Greek god and their father, he was still subject to the decisions of the Fates, and thus the executor of destiny, rather than its source.

In the ancient Greek poem, The Shield of Heracles, Atropos is referred to as the oldest and smallest of the three fates.

[6] The genus of the deadly nightshade, Atropa belladonna, was named after Atropos by Carolus Linnaeus because of the plant's poisonous properties.