Hecate (also spelt Hekate) is a goddess capable of both good and evil. Hecate is often depicted with three heads as she was called the Goddess of the Crossroads. She would go with Persephone to the Underworld every year when the girl returned to Hades. Child of Perses and Asteria, she was the only Titan to retain her control under Zeus' reign. This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain. A shrine to Hecate was placed at the entrances of homes or even cities, hoping to protect them from the evil spirits that roamed the world. She rules wisdom, choices, expiation, victory, vengeance, and travel. Major temple shrines to Hecate were in the regions of Phrygia and Caria. Her priests are normally accompanied by hell hounds sent by their goddess to guard her temples. Some nymphs in Greek mythology were famous, but others were only known in a certain time Echidna: Greek Mythologys Mother of Monsters, Lamia: The Child-Eating Monster of Greek Legend. The most popular theory is that the Carians in Asia Minor brought Hecate to Greece, where she became a part of their religion. Performing a protection rite on yourself and use of amulet is always encouraged as well. Check your inbox for your latest news from us. She's ill at ease in cities and civilization. Hecate. She is often displayed holding two torches or a key. In single form she appears on Greek vases and coins. Any information you provide to us via this website may be placed by us on servers located in countries outside the EU if you do not agree to such placement, do not provide the information. They include, science, maths, English and more. The goddess was frequently associated with Demeter and even assimilated to her in some cults. My name is Mike and for as long as I can remember (too long!) Therefore, this deity is also invoked when there is thought to be a miscarriage of justice. She was the daughter of Perses and Asteria. The masculine form of this word is said to be used for Apollo, one of the Greek gods. ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/greek-mythology-hecate-1526205. She could not undo the curse, but she made the polecat her sacred servant. She is also Queen of the Night, and is highly connected to All Hallow's Eve. Those who failed to win the goddesss favor could expect her to invite evil and misfortune into their lives. This makes her the granddaughter of Phoebe and Coeus, both Titans. She was the only one among the Titans who retained this power under the rule of Zeus, and she was honored by all the immortal gods. On her head she sometimes wears a kalathos, a tall wicker basket, or a moon sickle. Her attributes, besides the torch, are the snake, whip, dagger, and sword. Anatolia, which covered most of what is now Turkey, was a region that had close ties to the Greek world. She convinced her daughter Eiliethyia, the goddess of childbirth, and the Moirai, the Fates, to prevent the birth. Hesiod claimed that Hecate was a favorite of Zeus . They were so closely linked that Hecate was referred to as Medeas mother in some later texts, although earlier ones had said she was the child of an Oceanid. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Hecate is usually depicted with a burning torch in her hand and with a dog laying at her feet, its head raised. She's ill at ease in cities and civilization. Hecate was also offered dogs, especially puppies, as a sacrifice. But she isnt in the Homeric epics, which is a big deal. Hecate was weaved strongly into all these symbolisms of the crossroads and still does to her devotees. She is not a typical one-dimensional goddess but lives on many different levels. Hecate is also sometimes interpreted in association with Artemis and Selene. While Hecate was described as a single goddess with three parts, the tripartite goddess in other instances was shown as three separate but intrinsically-linked beings. Well send you tons of inspiration to help you find a hidden gem in your local area or plan a big day out. As worshippers began to focus on one aspect of a god more than others, that gods secondary purposes were separated into another deity altogether. According to them, Hecate is known to support bravery and hence encourage soldiers, warriors, athletes, etc. A: In the play Macbeth by Shakespeare, in Act three, scene five, Hecate was shown to be angry with the witches as they excluded her from their meetings with Macbeth. It was believed that she could see in all directions. Most of the ceremonies and festivals dedicated to this Goddess were often celebrated at night. While Hecates temples in the area are from a later period, she bears a resemblance to a more ancient goddess in Caria. She was a goddess that could be both a protective guardian and a source of menace. Hecate: Greece's Dark Goddess of the Crossroads. Q: Why was Hecate excluded from witch meetings? HEKATE (Hecate) was the goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy. As early as the 5th century BC, the image of the hekataion was the standard way of showing the goddess in sculpture. Dogs also howl at the Moon, so this could be a link. Not only could she move between the realms, but she had power to control the passage of others. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability. She was also the goddess of the Oikos and the guardian of its entrances. The chief Greek god, Zeus, was very fond of this Goddess and gave her a share of the earth and sea. The first sculpture of Hecate in triple form was the (lost) statue by Alcamenes (fifth century BCE) at the Acropolis. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. She was also bound to other goddesses in a closely-linked trio. The Tridevi The triad of goddesses in Hinduism often represents the three states of creation, preservation, and destruction. Click to reveal Her group included the Lampades, the nymphs of the Underworld, and ghosts. IT WAS A COMMON PRACTICE TO PLACE IMAGES OF HECATE ATCITYGATES & THE DOORWAYS OF PRIVATE HOMES AS SHE COULD WARD OFF EVIL SPIRITS. Some scholars of ancient Greek religion have noted that Apollo was occasionally given the name Hecatos, which they interpret to mean one who reaches far. These academics believe that Hecate, therefore, may have once been another name for Apollos twin sister, Artemis. Hecate was also known as the queen or Goddess of the night. . Mike Greenberg, PhD. 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. Regula, deTraci. This grouping of the goddesses happens again in Aristophanes Frogs (1358f) when Aeschylus character calls on the goddesses. Subscribe for virtual tools, STEM-inspired play, Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Although they combined her with Diana and Artemis, the Romans also worshipped this deity, referred to her as Trivia, which means three ways. However, the queen killed the Thracian king when on her way to Greece. If you purchase using the buy now button we may earn a small commission. She was most famously the goddess of magic, witchcraft, ghosts, necromancy, the Moon, and the night. She was known by her Roman name, Trivia, as well as by her triple form. In other Indo-European cultures, the three-part goddesses included: The archetype of the triple goddess is so common that its considered one of the fundamental aspects of Indo-European religion. Hecate was a goddess in Greek Mythology. Her name is akin to the Latin words dium ("sky") and dius ("daylight"). The heads could be of a dog, a lion, or a horse, representing the constellations that make up the year. She was also called the Goddess of the threshold or the Goddess of the house. We strive to recommend the very best things that are suggested by our community and are things we would do ourselves - our aim is to be the trusted friend to parents. She acted as a sort of guardian because she watched over the places that allowed passage into homes, cities, or even states. It has been suggested that this arose from the use of watchdogs, particularly at night, to scare away intruders and warn their owners of danger. Many depictions, such as those of the Moirae, show the three goddesses corresponding to the three stages of a womans life. This is how she came to command the earth, bliss . Hecate is the Goddess of witchcraft, magic, crossroads, ghosts and necromancy. In Ancient Greek religion, Hecate had a wide range of godly tasks. In Hesiod she is the daughter of the Titan Perses and the nymph Asteria and has power over heaven, earth, and sea; hence, she bestows wealth and all the blessings of daily life. I have been in love with all things related to Mythology. She was the only child of the Titanes Perses and Asteria from whom she received her power over heaven, earth, and sea. The ancient Greeks thought of her as a Greek goddess, not someone from another country. What Were the Hamadryads in Greek Mythology? There is evidence that this may have been the case with Hecate. A goddess of crossroads, magic, poison, and the undead, Hecate was also the daughter of the Titan Perses and the nymph Asteria, according to Hesiod. In the writings of Hesiod, Hecate is the daughter of the Titan Perses and the nymph Asteria. As she is said to be the guardian of the crossroads, she is most often depicted with three faces and carrying torches or a key. Scylla's most retold appearance is in Homer's Odyssey. She was accompanied by packs of barking dogs. She was born into the world ruled by the Titans, but continued to be influential and powerful in the Olympian pantheon. But by the end of the ancient world, this image had changed into a single goddess with three heads. Origin and Family Persis and Asteria, two Titans from the generation of deities prior to the Olympians, are the legendary parents of Hecate. Latin Spelling. At least one story, however, gives the goddess a much more human origin. HEKATE (Hecate) was the goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy. 170 BCE). Hecate was the principal goddess who had jurisdiction over enchantments and spells. The earliest archaeological evidence that has been found that proved that this deity was important and worshipped by the people was the circular altar that was used in the 6th century BCE for sacrifices to her. Her attributes, besides the torch, are the snake, whip, dagger, and sword. Apollonius of Rhodes says that the sound of dogs barking from the Underworld can be heard when Hecate is nearby. Local sun goddesses from before the Greek era have many of the same attributes as those later associated with Hecate. And there is a good book titled Hekate liminal rites By David Rankine and Sorite DEsteyou should check out. In mythology Nyx represented night. In later times, the most common way to show Hecate in art is as a three-headed goddess with each head facing a different direction at a crossroads. The conflicting origins of Hecate were only the beginning of what made this goddess so mysterious. Witches do gather together or solitary on crossroads as do magicians , hoodoo and voudan practitioners to cast their enchantments and spells. But because these Anatolian cult sites were built later, other classicists say that the goddess could not have come from Anatolia. She is helping a dog attack a giant who looks like a snake. The most commonly repeated story of her birth was that Hecate was the daughter of Perses and Asteria, two second-generation Titans. Polecats hid in dirty holes and, it was believed by the Greeks, had a grotesque and unnatural way of mating. Hecate was a complex, ancient goddess known to the Greeks but originally worshiped by people of Asia Minor*. Esoteric writing from this time says that Hecate has the heads of a horse, a dog, and a snake. Her companions are theFuries(Erinyes), the winged creatures who punished wrong-doing, and her children are the Empusae, female demons partial to seducing travellers. By joining Kidadl you agree to Kidadls Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receiving marketing communications from Kidadl. Hecate is the daughter of Perses and Asteria. Subscribe to our popular newsletter Synced Global AI Weekly to get weekly AI updates. Meanwhile, others believe she is the progeny of Hecate and Phorcys. Ft. 1302 Covington Ct, Virginia Beach, VA 23453. Demeter descended to the underworld every spring to bring her daughter back to the surface, making the three goddesses share an association with the underworld. But Hecate herself existed in the in between spaces, as well. In fact, Hecate might have been another goddess altogether! She witnessed the abduction of Demeter's daughter Persephone to the underworld and, torch in hand, assisted in the search for her. In the sources about Hekate that are from the ancient world, the crossroads are not mentioned as a symbol of Hecate. Both of these gods were thought to be in charge of the dead and had something to do with Persephone coming back in the spring. My work has also been published on Buzzfeed and most recently in Time magazine. "Worker-from-afar." She is the witness to every crime. They believed that by praising the goddess, the restless dead would be soothed and not deliver vengeance on the family. From the three supposedly came her image in Greek . One of her epithets, Apotropaia, references the protection she gave in these spaces. The goddess Hecate is one of the lesser-known goddesses of the Greek pantheon. The cave and the dawn are both thresholds- liminal times, thresholds between the earth and the underworld and night and day. Her tasks went beyond the heavens, the earth, the seas, and the Underworld. The blessings she gave them were eventually seen as magic, while prayers were seen as incantations. Hecate is usually thought to have originated in Thrace, a wild northern region of Greece that is also known for its tales of Amazons. She held several different roles, including earth goddess, queen of the underworld, and goddess of magic and witchcraft.. Link will appear as Hecate: https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net - Greek Gods & Goddesses, October 19, 2019, Greek Gods and Goddesses 2010 - 2023 | About | Contact | Sitemap | Privacy, Hecate: https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net, Magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy, None, however in some myths there are various potential offspring mentioned - (Aegialeus, Circe, Empusa, Medea, Scylla). A statue called Hekate Epipyrgidia (On the Ramparts) stood at the Athens Acropolis entrance. As one of the deities capable of passing between realms, she had access to the secrets of the dead. She has long been associated with witchcraft and the occult, even necromancy. The dog was so closely tied to her than in many ancient stories people could hear the howling and barking of her sacred animal when her magic was used nearby. Historian Robert Graves notes that the heads could be distinctive of a dog, lion and horse, representing the constellations which cover the calendar year. Writings throughout the centuries have woven different tales about Hecate and her role as a goddess. The triple goddesses are often referred to as the Maiden, Mother (or Matron), and Crone. Hecate acted as a veil between the world of the mortals and the supernatural. These statues took on a distinctive appearance. The Moirai, or Fates, were one such trio of goddesses. The parentage of Scylla is hotly debated. She could not be forced to love anyone. In the 6th century BCE, a circular altar was built in Miletos to honour the goddess (the earliest archaeological evidence of her worship). People often put pictures of the triple goddess on city walls, especially at city gates, the entrances to sacred sites, and the doorways of private homes. Picture of the Greek Underworld, the residence of Hecate. The Moirai crossed their arms and Eileithyia refused to help the laboring woman. If you are interested in effective unique protection magickCLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE! the Jinn or Genie-good, bad or simply Goetic spirits of another name? It is unclear why this change took place. Nearby Recently Sold Homes. THE MOST COMPLETE COURSE IN PRACTICAL MAGICK EVER RELEA Advanced Magick for the 21st Century The Adeptu 3 Special gods of old Briton You should revisit! As the goddess of the night, witchcraft and sorcery, Hecate was very important to ancient Greeks, particularly to the famed author and scholar Hesiod. Hecate is petitioned for fertility, especially for female children. Like her Greek counterpart, she was also a goddess of domestic animals. She was made to look like a goddess who could easily move from the Underworld to the real world. Kidadl has a number of affiliate partners that we work with including Amazon. In literature, there is a clear link between her, Demeter, and Persephone. Hecate is defined by her powerful magic, being at ease with the night and darkness and in wild surroundings. Kos, Erythrai,Samothrace, Thessaly, and Miletos also worshipped the. We try our very best, but cannot guarantee perfection. When Persephone was abducted to the underworld by Hades, Hecate was the only witness willing to help Demeter search for her daughter. As these stories were passed on, though, they often changed. Kidadl cannot accept liability for the execution of these ideas, and parental supervision is advised at all times, as safety is paramount. For many it is a time to connect with Her, to thank her for her blessings, her guidance and her protection during the last lunar cycle and also to ask her to bless and protect them in the new lunar cycle. Regula, deTraci. Hecate also has several temples where her shrine is worshipped. Was the Griffin a Bird from Greek Mythology? She also assisted the gods in their war with the Gigantes, and slew Clytius.5, 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 Samothrace6 and in Aegina.7 For being as it were the queen of all nature, we find her identified 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.8 She was further connected with the worship of other mystic divinities, such as the Cabeiri and Curetes,9 and also with Apollo and the Muses.10, 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. People believed that by honoring and praying to this Goddess, their homes would be preserved from the vengeance of the dead. She was specifically associated with witchcraft, magick, the Moon, Archways, and creatures of the night such as hell-hounds and ghosts. The best of the LearningMole geography tutorials. Asteria may be the original goddess associated with the Asterion mountain range on the island of Crete. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a28cb13cce875e3 $204,000 Last Sold Price. She was a goddess in charge of magic, witchcraft, and much more. This was a terrible fate. As the Romans developed and constructed superior road systems, we started to see the emergence of choices and nowadays in modern. Hecate Triodos is the specific aspect presiding over crossroads. They gave mortals wealth, victory, wisdom and luck. Why notsubscribe to our LearningMole Library for as little as 1.99 per month to access over1000fun educational videos. They claim she originated in Caria, a region in southern Anatolia on the Mediterranean, and was adopted into the Greek pantheon. She is also mentioned in Aeneid, a play by Virgil where she guides one of the characters, Sibyl, in the Underworld. Seneca often talks about Hecate and her moon-based counterparts and even links Medea to the goddess. During the Hellenistic and Roman times, people still worshipped Hecate. You have subscribed to: Remember that you can always manage your preferences or unsubscribe through the link at the foot of each newsletter. Archaeological items found in Lagina in Caria and Phrygia also point to the importance of this Goddess during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Moving between the barrier between life and death explains Hecates connection to both ghosts and necromancy. She was both a product of the Titans and an honored member of Zeuss court at Olympus. Archaeologists have found essential offerings to the goddess at Lagina in Caria and Phrygia. There are few legends about Her, and no fixed genealogy. From the 5th century BCE, the goddess hecate is associated with the darker side of the human experience, that isdeath, witchcraft, magick, the Moon, dreams, hell hounds and creatures which roam the darkness of night. Her name has been connected to dark magic and disturbing rituals in the works of Shakespeare and well into modern times. Persephone was married to Hades and was the queen of the Underworld. The droves of kine and wide herds of goats and flocks of fleecy sheep, if she will, she increases from a few, or makes many to be less. She may be petitioned for a swift, painless death. The Goddess Hecate is supposed to be the daughter of Perses, a Titan, and Asteria, a nymph. Hecate carrying a torch is a common way to show this myth in art. This article was most recently revised and updated by, From Athena to Zeus: Basics of Greek Mythology, Ancient Origins - Hecate: Triple-Bodied Greek Goddess of Witchcraft and Keeper of Keys, Hecate - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Her name was derived from the Greek word hekatos which means worker from afar. A: In Greek Mythology, Hecate was the Goddess of magic and witchcraft. Numerous smaller sculptures of Hecate remain in which the goddess appears as three separate women, wearing chitons, with the backs pressed against a pillar. She is often pictured holding keys because, as the goddess of boundaries, she held the power to open and close the doors to the realm of Hades. The name Hecate means:The Most Lovely One; Worker from Afar; Three -Headed Hound of the Moon; Influence from Afar; The One Before the Gate; Light Bringer. The food offered to this deity included cheese, cakes of eggs, and a dish of red mullet. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.