Lecture: HECATE Goddess of Magic

"The only-begotten Maiden"

HEKATE (Hecate) was the goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy. She was the only child of the Titanes Perses and Asteria from whom she received her power over heaven, earth, and sea.

Hekate assisted Demeter in her search for Persephone, guiding her through the night with flaming torches. After the mother-daughter reunion became she Persephone's minister and companion in Haides.

Three metamorphosis myths describe the origins of her animal familiars: the black she-dog and the polecat (a mustelid house pet kept by the ancients to hunt vermin). The dog was the Trojan Queen Hekabe (Hecuba) who leapt into the sea after the fall of Troy and was transformed by the goddess. The polecat was either the witch Gale, turned as punishment for her incontinence, or Galinthias, midwife of Alkmene (Alcmena), who was transformed by the enraged goddess Eileithyia but adopted by the sympathetic Hekate.

Hekate was usually depicted in Greek vase painting as a woman holding twin torches. Sometimes she was dressed in a knee-length maiden's skirt and hunting boots, much like Artemis. In statuary Hekate was often depicted in triple form as a goddess of crossroads.

Her name means "worker from afar" from the Greek word hekatos. The masculine form of the name, Hekatos, was a common epithet of the god Apollon.

Hekate was identified with a number of other goddesses including Artemis, Selene (the Moon), Despoine, the sea-goddess Krataeis (Crataeis), the goddess of the Taurian Khersonese in Skythia, the Kolkhian (Colchian) nymph Perseis, the heroine Iphigeneia, the Thracian goddesses Bendis and Kotys (Cotys), the Euboian nymph Maira (the Dog-Star), the Eleusinian nymph Daeira and the Boiotian nymph Herkyna (Hercyna).

FAMILY OF HECATE

PARENTS

PERSES was the Titan god of destruction. He was the father of Hekate, goddess of witchcraft, by the Titanis Asteria.

ASTERIA was the Titan goddess of falling stars and perhaps of nighttime divinations such as oneiromancy (by dreams) and astrology (by stars). She was the mother of Hekate (Hecate), goddess of witchcraft, by the Titan Perses.


OFFSPRING

SKYLLA was a sea-monster who haunted the rocks of a narrow strait opposite the whirlpool of Kharybdis (Charybdis). Ships who sailed too close to her rocks would lose six men to her ravenous, darting heads.

KIRKE (Circe) was a goddess of sorcery (pharmakeia) who was skilled in the magic of transmutation, illusion, and necromancy. She lived on the mythical island of Aiaia (Aeaea) with her nymph companions.

HE′CATE (Hekatê), a mysterious divinity, who, according to the most common tradition, was a daughter of Persaeus or Perses and Asteria, whence she is called Perseis. (Apollod. i. 2. § 4; Apollon. Rhod. iii. 478.) Others describe her as a daughter of Zeus and Demeter, and state that she was sent out by her father in search of Persephone (Schol. ad Tleocrit. ii. 12); others again make her a daughter of Zeus either by Pheraea or by Hera (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 1175; Schol. ad Theocrit. ii. 36) ; and others, lastly, say that she was a daughter of Leto or Tartarus. (Procl. in Plat. Cratyl. p. 112 ; Orph. Argon. 975.) Homer does not mention her. According to the most genuine traditions, she appears to have been an ancient Thracian divinity, and a Titan, who, from the time of the Titans, ruled in heaven, on the earth, and in the sea, who bestowed on mortals wealth, victory, wisdom, good luck to sailors and hunters, and prosperity to youth and to the flocks of cattle; but all these blessings might at the same time be withheld by her, if mortals did not deserve them. She was the only one among the Titans who retained this power under the rule of Zeus, and she was honoured by all the immortal gods.

She also assisted the gods in their war with the Gigantes, and slew Clytius. (Hes. Theog. 411-452; Apollod. i. 6. § 2.) This extensive power possessed by Hecate was probably the reason that subsequently she was confounded and identified with several other divinities, and at length became a mystic goddess, to whom mysteries were celebrated in Samothrace (Lycoph. 77; Schol. ad Aristoph. Pac. 277) and in Aegina. (Paus. ii. 30. § 2; comp. Plut. de Flum. 5.) For being as it were the queen of all nature, we find her identitied with Demeter, Rhea (Cybele or Brimo); being a huntress and the protector of youth, she is the same as Artemis (Curotrophos); and as a goddess of the moon, she is regarded as the mystic Persephone. (Hom. Hymn. in Cer. 25, with the commentat.; Paus. i. 43, § 1.) She was further connected with the worship of other mystic divinities, such as the Cabeiri and Curetes (Schol. ad Theocrit. ii. 12; Strab. x. p. 472), and also with Apollo and the Muses. (Athen. xiv. p. 645; Strab. x. p. 468.) The ground-work of the above-mentioned confusions and identifications, especially with Demeter and Persephone, is contained in the Homeric hymn to Demeter; for, according to this hymn, she was, besides Helios, the only divinity who, from her cave, observed the abduction of Persephone. With a torch in her hand, she accompanied Demeter in the search after Persephone; and when the latter was found, Hecate remained with her as her attendant and companion. She thus becomes a deity of the lower world; but this notion does not occur till the time of the Greek tragedians, though it is generally current among the later writers. She is described in this capacity as a mighty and formidable divinity, ruling over the souls of the departed ; she is the goddess of purifications and expiations, and is accompanied by Stygian dogs. (Orph. Lith. 48; Schol. ad Theocr l. c. ; Apollon. Rhod. iii. 1211; Lycoph. 1175; Horat. Sat. i. 8. 35; Virg. Aen. vi. 257.) By Phorcos she became the mother of Scylla. (Apollon. Rhod. iv. 829 ; comp. Hom. Od. xii. 124.) There is another very important feature which arose out of the notion of her being an infernal divinity, namely, she was regarded as a spectral being, who at night sent from the lower world all kinds of demons and terrible phantoms, who taught sorcery and witchcraft, who dwelt at places where two roads crossed each other, on tombs, and near the blood of murdered persons. She herself too wanders about with the souls of the dead, and her approach is announced by the whining and howling of dogs. (Apollon. Rhod. iii. 529, 861, iv. 829; Theocrit. l. c. ; Ov. Heroid. xii. 168, Met. xiv. 405; Stat. Theb. iv. 428 ; Virg. Aen. iv. 609; Orph. Lith. 45, 47; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1197, 1887; Diod. iv. 45.) A number of epithets given her by the poets contain allusions to these features of the popular belief, or to her form. She is described as of terrible appearance, either with three bodies or three heads, the one of a horse, the second of a dog, and the third of a lion. (Orph. Argon. 975, &c.; Eustath. ad Hom. pp. 1467, 1714.) In works of art she was some-times represented as a single being, but sometimes also as a three-headed monster. (Paus. ii. 28. § 8. 30. § 2.) Besides Samothrace and Aegina, we find express mention of her worship at Argos (Paus. ii. 30. § 2.) and at Athens, where she had a sanctuary under the name of Epipurgidia, on the acropolis, not far from the temple of Nice. (Paus. ii. 30. § 2.) Small statues or symbolical representations of Hecate (hekataia) were very numerous, especially at Athens, where they stood before or in houses, and on spots where two roads crossed each other; and it would seem that people consulted such Hecataea as oracles. (Aristoph. Vesp. 816, Lysistr. 64; Eurip. Med. 396; Porphyr. de Abstin. ii. 16; Hesych. s. v. Hekataia). At the close of every month dishes with food were set out for her and other averters of evil at the points where two roads crossed each other; and this food was consumed by poor people. (Aristoph. Plot. 596 ; Plut. Synmpos. vii. 6.) The sacrifices offered to her consisted of dogs, honey, and black female lambs. (Plut Quaest. Rom. 49; Schol. ad Theocrit. ii. 12 ; Apollon. Rhod. iii. 1032.)

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

HECATE & THE RAPE OF PERSEPHONE

Persephone, Hermes, Hecate and Demeter, Athenian red-figure bell krater C5th B.C., Metropolitan Museum of Art

Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter 19 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th - 4th B.C.) :

"Then she [Persephone] cried out shrilly [as she was seized by the god Haides] with her voice, calling upon her father, the Son of Kronos (Cronus) [Zeus], who is most high and excellent. But no one, either of the deathless gods or mortal men, heard her voice, nor yet the olive-trees bearing rich fruit: only tender-hearted Hekate (Hecate), bright-coiffed, the daughter of Persaios (Persaeus), heard the girl from her cave, and the lord Helios (the Sun) . . .

Then for nine days queenly Deo [Demeter] wandered over the earth with flaming torches in her hands, so grieved that she never tasted ambrosia and the sweet draught of nectar (nektaros), nor sprinkled her body with water. But when the tenth enlightening dawn had come, Hekate, with a torch in her hands, met her, and spoke to her and told her news: ‘Queenly Demeter, bringer of seasons and giver of good gifts, what god of heaven or what mortal man has rapt away Persephone and pierced with sorrow your dear heart? For I heard her voice, yet saw not with my eyes who it was. But I tell you truly and shortly all I know.’

So, then, said Hekate. And the daughter of rich-haired Rheia answered her not, but sped swiftly with her, holding flaming torches in her hands. So they came to Helios (the Sun), who is watchman of both gods and men, and stood in front of his horses: and the bright goddess enquired of him."

HECATE & HERMES

Hekate was probably described as the consort of Khthonian (Underworld) Hermes in the cults of Thessalian Pherai (Pherae) and Eleusis. Both gods were leaders of the ghosts of the dead, and were associated with the spring-time return of Persephone.

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 38. 7 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"The hero Eleusis, after whom the city [of Eleusis] is named, some assert to be a son of Hermes and of Daeira [Hekate?], daughter of Okeanos (Oceanus)."

Propertius, Elegies 2. 29c (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) :
"Brimo [Hekate], who as legend tells, by the waters of Boebeis [lake in Thessaly] laid her virgin body at Mercurius' [Hermes'] side."