Hecate: Hecate, Greek Goddess of The Crossroads

Hecate, Greek Goddess
of The Crossroads
Hecate, Greek goddess of the three paths, guardian of the household, protector of everything
newly born, and the goddess of witchcraft -- once a widely revered and influential goddess, the
reputation of Hecate has been tarnished over the centuries. In current times, she is usually
depicted as a "hag" or old witch stirring the cauldron.
But nothing could be further from the image of Hecate's original glory.
A beautiful and powerful goddess in her own right, the Greek goddess Hecate was the only one
of the ancient Titans who Zeus allowed to retain their authority once the Olympians seized
control. Zeus shared with Hecate, and only her, the awesome power of giving humanity anything
she wished (or withholding it if she pleased).
Usually classified as a "moon goddess", her kingdoms were actually three-fold . . . the earth, sea,
and sky. Having the power to create or withhold storms undoubtedly played a role in making her
the goddess who was the protector of shepherds and sailors.
A lover of solitude, the Greek goddess Hecate was, like her cousin Artemis, a "virgin" goddess,
unwilling to sacrifice her independent nature for the sake of marriage. Walking the roads at night
or visiting cemeteries during the dark phase of the moon, the goddess Hecate was described as
shining or luminous.
In other legends she is invisible, perhaps only glimpsed as a light, a "will-o-the-wisp". Perhaps it
was this luminous quality that marked Hecate as a "moon goddess", for she seemed quite at
home on the earth.
Some scholars believe it is also was because her mother was Asteria (the Titan goddess of the
Shining Light or "Star") or perhaps it was because she sensibly always carried a torch on her
journeys.
Like Artemis, Hecate was usually depicted with her sacred dogs, although Hecate and even her
animals, were sometimes said to have three heads and that they could see in all directions.
Although usually depicted as a beautiful woman having three human heads, some images are
fearsome indeed (one with a snake's head, one with a horse's, and the third a boar's head).
This farsightedness, the ability to see in several directions at once (even the past, present, and
future) featured largely in her most famous myth, the abduction of Persephone. For it was the
goddess Hecate who "saw" and told the frantic Demeter what had become of her daughter.
The goddess Hecate continued to play an important role in the life of Persephone, becoming her
confidante when she was in the Underworld. Hades, thankful for their friendship, was more than
hospitable, honoring Hecate as a prominent and permanent guest in the spirit world. Surely this
had the effect of enhancing her reputation as a spirit of black magic with the power to conjure up
dreams, prophecies, and phantoms.
Hecate's ability to see into the Underworld, the "otherworld" of the sleeping and the dead, made
her comfortable and tolerant in the company of those most would shun out of fear or
misunderstanding.
In her role as 'Queen of the Night', sometimes traveling with a following of "ghosts" and other
social outcasts, she was both honored and feared as the protectress of the oppressed and of those
who lived "on the edge". In Rome many of the priests in her sacred groves were former slaves
who had been released to work in her service.
The goddess Hecate was often accompanied on her travels by an owl, a symbol of wisdom. Not
really known as a goddess of wisdom, per se, Hecate is nevertheless recognized for a special
type of knowledge and is considered to be the goddess of trivia.
Hecate's farsightedness and attention to detail, combined with her extraordinary interest in that
which most of us discount as irrelevant or arcane, gave her tremendous powers.
She knew what the rest of us did not.
Not surprisingly, the people thought it best to give the goddess Hecate (and any friends that
might be accompanying her) a lot of honor and a fairly wide berth. When darkness descended
they wisely retired to the fireside for supper, but put the leftovers outside as an offering to Hecate
and her hounds.
That the homeless and destitute were often the actual beneficiaries hardly mattered...after all,
they were under Hecate's protection.
In a similar fashion, food was often left at the crossroads to honor Hecate, especially at junctions
where three roads converged --what we often call a "Y-intersection".
Frequently a pole was erected at the intersection and three masks would be hung from it to pay
homage to Hecate and to request her guidance in helping to choose the right direction.
Three-faced masks also adorned the entrances of many homes, honoring the goddess Hecate who
could, of course, wield her influence over "the spirits that traveled the earth" to keep them from
entering the household.
It is hardly surprising that a woman who needed to make a trip alone at night would say a brief
prayer to Hecate to seek her protection. The goddess Hecate, like her cousin Artemis, was known
as a protector of women, especially during childbirth.
Not only was Hecate called upon to ease the pains and progress of a woman's labor, but
especially to protect and restore the health and growth of a child.
Similarly, Hecate played a role that, in contemporary times, we would describe as "hospice
nurse", helping the elderly make a smooth and painless passage into the next life and staying
with them, if need be, in the otherworld to help prepare them for their eventual return to the earth
in their next life.
Familiar with the process of death and dying as well as that of new birth and new life, the
goddess Hecate was wise in all of earth's mysteries.
The Greek goddess Hecate reminds us of the importance of change, helping us to release the
past, especially those things that are hindering our growth, and to accept change and transitions.
She sometimes asks us to let go of what is familiar, safe, and secure and to travel to the scary
places of the soul.
New beginnings, whether spiritual or mundane, aren't always easy. But Hecate is there to support
and show you the way.
She loans her farsightedness for you to see what lies deeply forgotten or even hidden, and helps
you make a choice and find your path. Oft times she shines her torch to guide you while you are
in dreams or meditation.
Hecate teaches us to be just and to be tolerant of those who are different or less fortunate, yet she
is hardly a "bleeding heart", for Hecate dispenses justice "blindly" and equally.
Whether the Greek goddess Hecate visits us in waking hours or only while we sleep, she can lead
us to see things differently (ourselves included) and help us find greater understanding of our
selves and others.
Although her name may mean "The Distant One", Hecate is always close at hand in times of
need, helping us to release the old, familiar ways and find our way through new beginnings.
HEKATE (or 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.
Two metamorphosis myths describe the origins of her animal familiars: the black she-dog and
the polecat (a mustelid house pet kept to hunt vermin). The bitch was originally the Trojan
Queen Hekabe, who leapt into the sea after the fall of Troy and was transformed by the goddess
into her familiar. The polecat was originally the witch Gale who was transformed into the beast
to punish her for her incontinence. Other say it was Galinthias, the nurse of Alkmene,
transformed by the angry Eileithyia, but received by Hekate as her animal.
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.
Hekate was identified with a number of other goddesses, including Artemis and Selene (Moon),
the Arkadian Despoine, the sea-goddess Krataeis, the goddess of the Taurian Khersonese (of
Skythia), the Kolkhian Perseis, and Argive Iphigeneia, the Thracian goddesses Bendis and
Kotys, Euboian Maira (the dog-star), Eleusinian Daeira and the Boiotian Nymphe Herkyna.
ENCYCLOPEDIA
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.
PARENTAGE OF HEKATE
I) PERSES & ASTERIA

Hesiod, Theogony 404 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
"[The Titanis] Asteria (Starry One) of happy name, whom [the Titan] Perses (Destroyer) once
led to his great house to be called his dear wife. And she conceived and bare Hekate." - Hesiod,
Theogony 404
Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter 19 (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th - 4th B.C.) :
"Tender-hearted Hekate, bright-coiffed, the daughter of Persaios."
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 8 - 9 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :

"The Titanes had children . . . Perses and Asteria of Hekate."
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3. 1035 (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :
"Hekate, Perses’ only daughter (mounogenes)."
Lycophron, Alexandra 1174 (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :

"The maiden daughter of Perseus, Brimo Trimorphos (the three-formed)."
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 45. 1 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) :
"We are told that Helios (the Sun) had two sons, Aeetes and Perses, Aeetes being the king of
Kolkhis and the other king of the Tauric Chersonese, and that both of them were exceedingly
cruel. And Perses had a daughter Hekate, who surpassed her father in boldness and lawlessness."
Ovid, Metamorphoses 7. 74 (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Now to the ancient shrine of Perseis [Hekate, daughter of Perses] she [Medea] made her way."
Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 18 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :

"If you think Latona [Leto] a goddess, how can you not think that Hecate is one, who is the
daughter of Latona’s sister Asteria?"
Seneca, Medea 812 (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :

"I see Trivia’s [Hekate's] swift gliding car . . . O Perseis [Perses’ daughter]."
II) NYX
Nyx (Night) as the mother of Hekate was probably identified with Asteria ("the Starry One").
Bacchylides, Fragment 1B (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"Torch-bearing Hekate holy daughter of great-bosomed Nyx (Night)."
III) OTHER
The Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3. 467 says that according to the Orphic
Hymns, Hekate was a daughter of Deo [Demeter]; that according to Bacchylides, a daughter of
Nyx (Night); according to Mousaios, a daughter of Zeus and Asteria; and that according to
Pherecydes, she was a daughter of Aristaios.
N.B. Pherecydes clearly identified Aristaios with the Titan Astraios (the Starry One).
Most poets make Hekate a daughter of night in some form, be that Asteria (Starry), Astraios
(Starry) or Nyx (Night).
OFFSPRING OF HEKATE
I) VIRGIN GODDESS.
Hekate was described as a virgin goddess, similar to Artemis. In art, she was often depicted
wearing a maiden's knee-length dress.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3. 840 (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :
"The only-begotten Maiden (Koure mounogenes) [Hekate]."
Lycophron, Alexandra 1174 (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :

"The maiden daughter of Perseus, Brimo Trimorphos [Hekate]."
II) SKYLLA
Hekate was sometimes identified with Krataeis, the mother of the sea-monster Skylla. She was
also titled Skylakagetis (Leader of the Dogs), connecting her with the name of the monster.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 827 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :
"[Kirke addresses her niece Medea :] `Nor let them [the Argonauts] go too near the hateful den
of Ausonian Skylla, that wicked monster borne to Phorkys by night-wandering Hekate, whom
men call Kratais.'"
III) KIRKE & MEDEA
Diodorus Siculus identified Hekate with the Kolkhian nymphs Perseis and Eidyia (the mother
and wife of King Aeetes), and also with the goddess of the neighbouring Tauric Khersonese.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 45. 1 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) :
Kolkhis and the other king of the Tauric Khersonese, . . . Perses had a daughter Hekate . . . she
married Aeetes and bore two daughters, Kirke and Medea, and a son Aigialeus."
HEKATE & THE TITAN-WAR
Hekate was one of the Titan-gods who allied themselves with Zeus.
Hesiod, Theogony 404 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
"Hekate whom Zeus the son of Kronos honoured above all. He gave her splendid gifts, to have a
share of the earth and the unfruitful sea. She received honour also in starry heaven, and is
honoured exceedingly by the deathless gods . . . For as many as were born of Gaia (Earth) and
Ouranos (Heaven) [the Titanes] amongst all these she has her due portion. The son of Kronos
[Zeus] did her no wrong nor took anything away of all that was her portion among the former
Titan gods: but she holds, as the division was at the first from the beginning, privilege both in
earth, and in heaven, and in sea. Also, because she is an only child, the goddess receives not less
honour, but much more still, for Zeus honours her."
HEKATE & THE WAR OF THE GIGANTES
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 34 - 38 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :

"[When the Gigantes made war on the gods of heaven] In the course of the battle . . . Hekate got
[the Gigante] Klytios with fire-brands."
Hekate appears in a number of ancient vase paintings battling a giant with her twin torches.
HEKATE & THE RAPE OF PERSEPHONE
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 [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, bright-coiffed, the daughter of Persaios, 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 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."
Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter 436 ff :

"[After Persephone was returned from the underworld to Demeter :] Then bright-coiffed Hekate
came near to them, and often did she embrace the daughter of holy Demeter: and from that time
the lady Hekate was minister and companion to Persephone."
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 39. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
[In the following passage, Herkyna, the Warding Dog (eruô, kunos), may be Hekate:]
"[The city Lebadeia, Boiotia] is separated from the grove of [the chthonian oracular daimon]
Trophonios by the river Herkyna. They say that here Herkyna, when playing with Kore
[Persephone], the daughter of Demeter, held a goose (khên) which against her will she let loose.
The bird flew into a hollow cave and hid under a stone; Kore entered and took the bird as it lay
under the stone. The water flowed, they say, from the place where Kore took up the stone, and
hence the river received the name Herkyna. On the bank of the river there is a temple of
Herkyna, in which is a maiden holding a goose in her arms. In the cave are the sources of the
river and images standing, and serpents are coiled around their sceptres. One might conjecture
the images be of Asklepios and Hygeia, but they might be Trophonios and Herkyna, because
they think that serpents are just as much sacred to Trophonios as Asklepios."
HEKATE & HERMES
Hekate was probably described as the consort of Khthonian (Underworld) Hermes in the cults of
Thessalian Pherai and Eleusis. Both gods were leaders of the ghosts of the dead, and were
associated with the spring-time return of Persephone.
"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."
Propertius, Elegies 2. 29c (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) :

"Brimo [Hekate?], who as legend tells, by the waters of Boebeis [in Thessalia] laid her virgin
body at Mercurius’ [Hermes’] side."
HEKATE & GALINTHIAS
Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 29 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :

"At Thebes Proitos had a daughter Galinthias. This maiden was playmate and companion of
Alkmene, daughter of Elektryon. As the birth throes for Herakles were pressing on Alkmene, the
Moirai (Fates) and Eileithyia (Birth-Goddess), as a favour to Hera, kept Alkmene in continuous
birth pangs. They remained seated, each keeping their arms crossed. Galinthias, fearing that the
pains of her labour would drive Alkmene mad, ran to the Moirai and Eleithyia and announced
that by desire of Zeus a boy had been born to Alkmene and that their prerogatives had been
abolished.
At all this, consternation of course overcame the Moirai and they immediately let go their arms.
Alkmene’s pangs ceased at once and Herakles was born. The Moirai were aggrieved at this and
took away the womanly parts of Galinthias since, being but a mortal, she had deceived the gods.
They turned her into a deceitful weasel (or polecat), making her live in crannies and gave her a
grotesque way of mating. She is mounted through the ears and gives birth by bringing forth her
young through the throat. Hekate felt sorry for this transformation of her appearance and
appointed her a sacred servant of herself."
Aelian, On Animals 12. 5 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.) :
"The inhabitants of Thebes, although Greeks, worship a marten [Galanthis], so I hear, and allege
that it was the nurse of Herakles, or if it was not the nurse, yet when Alkmene was in labour and
unable to bring her child to birth, the marten ran by her and loosed the bonds of her womb, so
that Herakles was delivered and at once began to crawl."
HEKATE & THE WITCH GALE
Aelian, On Animals 15. 11 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.) :
"I have heard that the land-marten (or polecat) was once a human being. It has also reached my
hearing that Gale was her name then; that she was a dealer in spells and a sorceress (Pharmakis);
that she was extremely incontinent, and that she was afflicted with abnormal sexual desires. Nor
has it escaped my notice that the anger of the goddess Hekate transformed it into this evil
creature. May the goddess be gracious to me : fables and their telling I leave to others."
HEKATE & QUEEN HEKABE
Odysseus received Queen Hekabe as his captive followingr the fall of Troy. During the voyage
back to Greece she murdered a Thracian king and was stoned by the locals. The gods then
transformed her into a black dog, and she became the animal familiar of the goddess Hekate. In
this myth the queen was clearly identified with Bendis, the Thrakian Hekate, who was offered
dogs in sacrifice.
Lycophron, Alexandra 1174 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :

"The maiden daughter of Perseus, Brimo Trimorphos (Three-formed), shall make thee [Queen
Hekabe of Troy] her attendant [after her transformed into a dog], terrifying with thy baying in
the night all mortals who worship not with torches the images of Zerynthia [Hekate] queen of
Strymon [in Thrake], appeasing the goddess of Pherai with sacrifice. And the island spur of
Pakhynos [in Sikelia, Sicily] shall hold thine [Hekabe’s] awful cenotaph, piled by the hands of
thy master [Odysseus], prompted by dreams when thou hast gotten the rites of death in front of
the streams of Heloros. He [Odysseus] shall pour on the shore offerings for thee, unhappy one,
fearing the anger of the three-necked goddess [Hekate], for that he shall hurl the first stone at thy
[Hekabe's] stoning and begin the dark sacrifice to Haides."
Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 111 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :

"When Ulysses was taking into servitude Hecuba, Priam's wife . . . she threw herself into the
Hellespont, and is said to have been changed into a dog. the place is called Cyneus (of the Dog)
from this."
Ovid, Metamorphoses 14. 430 & 561 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Troy fell and Priam too. His ill-starred wife [Hekabe] lost, after all besides her human shape;
her weird new barking terrified the breeze on foreign shores where the long Hellespont contracts
in narrows . . . There lie across the strait from Phrygia, where Ilium was, the provinces of Thrace,
where Polymestor had his wealthy palace. To him in secret Praim gave in charge his young son
Polydorus to be reared . . . When Troy;s fair fortune fell, that wicked king took his sharp sword
and slit his charge's throat . . .
Upon the beach cast up she [Hekabe] saw her Polydorus' corpse and the huge wounds the
Thracian knives had made . . . Hecuba, rage linked with grief, oblviious of her years . . . made
her way to Polymestor, author of that foul murder, and sought an audience . . . She attacked the
king and dug her fingers in his eyes, his treacherous eyes, and gouged his eyeballs out . . .
Incensed to see their king's calamity, the Thracians started to attack the queen with sticks and
stones, but she snaped at the stones, snarling, and whn her lips were set to grame words and she
tried to speak, she barked. The place remains today, named from what happened there
[Kynossema, or Dog's Barrow]. Then still remembering her ancient ills, she howled in sorrow
through the land of Thrace. That fate of hers stirred pity in the hearts of friend and foe, Trojans
and Greeks alike, and all the gods as well--all: Juno [Hera] too, Jove's wife and sister, did herself
declare the tragic end of Hecuba unfair."
Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.362 ff :

"Past the tomb of Paris [in the Troad] buried in the shallow sand; the meadowlands that Maera
terrified with monstrous barks [N.B. Ovid connects Hekabe or Hekate with the dog-star Seirios
or Maira]."
Sources:
 Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th B.C.

 The Homeric Hymns - Greek Epic C8th-4th B.C.
 Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th B.C.
 Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D.
 Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd B.C.
 Lycophron, Alexandra - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C.
 Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Geography C2nd A.D.
 Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st B.C.
 Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D.
 Aelian, On Animals - Greek Natural History C2nd - C3rd A.D.
 Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st A.D.
 Propertius, Elegies - Latin Elegy C1st B.C.
 Seneca, Medea - Latin Tragedy C1st A.D.
 Cicero, De Natura Deorum - Latin Philosophy C1st B.C.
Other references not currently quoted here: Tzetzes on Lycophron 1175; Orphica Argonautica
975; Pseudo-Plutarch On Rivers 5; Ovid Heroides 12.168; Plutarch Roman Questions 49;
Eustathius on Homer's Iliad 1197
HYMNS TO HEKATE
I) HESIODIC HYMN
Hesiod describes the wide-ranging divine powers of the goddess Hekate in the following
passage. Hekate was usually regarded as the goddess of witchcraft, though it is unclear whether
Hesiod is describing her benefits as being derived from the use of magical incantations or merely
general prayers to her divinity. The poet clearly understood that she was a night-time goddess of
witchcraft through the naming of her parents. The name of her father Perses (the destroyer) was
connected with both Persephone, goddess of the underworld, and Perseis, the mother of the
witches Aeetes and Kirke; and her mother Asteria (the starry one) was a goddess of the night.
"Asteria of happy name, whom Perses once led to his great house to be called his dear wife. And
she conceived and bare Hekate whom Zeus the son of Kronos honoured above all. He gave her
splendid gifts, to have a share of the earth and the unfruitful sea. She received honour also in
starry heaven, and is honoured exceedingly by the deathless gods. For to this day, whenever any
one of men on earth offers rich sacrifices and prays for favour according to custom, he calls upon
Hekate. Great honour comes full easily to him whose prayers the goddess receives favourably,
and she bestows wealth upon him; for the power surely is with her. For as many as were born of
Gaia (Earth) and Ouranos (Heaven) [the Titanes] amongst all these she has her due portion. The
son of Kronos did her no wrong nor took anything away of all that was her portion among the
former Titan gods: but she holds, as the division was at the first from the beginning, privilege
both in earth, and in heaven, and in sea. Also, because she is an only child, the goddess receives
not less honour, but much more still, for Zeus honours her. Whom she will she greatly aids and
advances: she sits by worshipful kings in judgement, and in the assembly whom she will is
distinguished among the people. And when men arm themselves for the battle that destroys men,
then the goddess is at hand to give victory and grant glory readily to whom she will. Good is she
also when men contend at the games, for there too the goddess is with them and profits them:
and he who by might and strength gets the victory wins the rich prize easily with joy, and brings
glory to his parents.And she is good to stand by horsemen, whom she will: and to those whose
business is in the grey discomfortable sea, and who pray to Hekate and the loud-crashing Earth-
Shaker [Poseidon], easily the glorious goddess gives great catch, and easily she takes it away as
soon as seen, if so she will. She is good in the byre with Hermes to increase the stock. 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. So, then. albeit her mother's only child, she is honoured
amongst all the deathless gods. And the son of Kronos made her a nurse of the young who after
that day saw with their eyes the light of all-seeing Eos (Dawn). So from the beginning she is a
nurse of the young (kourotrophos), and these are her honours." - Hesiod, Theogony 404
II) HOMERIC HYMNS
"Kourotrophe (nurse of the young) [Hekate], give your ear to my prayer, and grant that this
woman may reject the love-embrace of youth and dote on grey-haired old men whose powers are
dulled, but whose hearts still desire." - Homer's Epigrams 12
III) ORPHIC HYMNS
"Hekate Einodia, Trioditis [Trivia], lovely dame, of earthly, watery, and celestial frame,
sepulchral, in a saffron veil arrayed, pleased with dark ghosts that wander through the shade;
Perseis, solitary goddess, hail! The world’s key-bearer, never doomed to fail; in stags rejoicing,
huntress, nightly seen, and drawn by bulls, unconquerable queen; Leader, Nymphe, nurse, on
mountains wandering, hear the suppliants who with holy rites thy power revere, and to the
herdsman with a favouring mind draw near." - Orphic Hymn 1 to Hecate
HEKATE GODDESS OF THE NIGHT
Hekate was a torch-bearing goddess of the night, the leader of haunting ghosts and inspirer of the
night-time baying of hounds. She may have been a goddess of the moon or rather of moonless
starlit nights.
"Asteria (Starry One) ... conceived and bare Hekate." - Hesiod, Theogony 404
"Queenly Deo [Demeter] wandered over the earth with flaming torches in her hands [after the
abduction of Persephone] ... But when the tenth enlightening dawn had come, Hekate, with a
torch in her hands, met her ... [and] sped swiftly with her, holding flaming torches in her hands.
So they came to Helios (the Sun), ... and stood in front of his horses" - Homeric Hymn 2 to
Demeter 19
"[Hekate] the golden-shining attendant of Aphrodite." - Greek Lyric I Sappho or Alcaeus, Frag
23
[NB as the goddess of night, when men have intercourse.]
"Torch-bearing Hekate holy daughter of great-bosomed Nyx (Night)." - Greek Lyric IV

Bacchylides, Frag 1B
"Hekate ... pleased with dark ghosts that wander through the shade ... nightly seen." - Orphic
Hymn 1 to Hecate
"Propitiating the only-begotten Maiden (Koure mounogeneia) [Hekate] with a midnight

offering ... Brimo [Hekate], nurse of youth (kourotrophos), Brimo, night-wanderer of the
underworld (nyktipolis khthonie), Queen of the dead (anassa eneroi)." - Apollonius Rhodius,
Argonautica 3.840
"Hekate Brimo ... hearing his words from the abyss, came up ... She was garlanded by fearsome
snakes that coiled themselves round twigs of oak; the twinkle of a thousand torches lit the scene;
and hounds of the underworld barked shrilly all around her." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica
3.1194
"[Selene the Moon cries:] `How many times ... have you [the witchMedea ] disorbed me with
your incantations, making the night moonless so that you might practise your beloved witchcraft
undisturbed." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.55
[NB Hekate empowered witches with the power to draw down the moon.]
"In the deep stillness of the midnight hour ... she [Medea] stretched her arms to the stars ... O
Nox [Nyx the Night], Mother of Mysteries, and all ye golden Astra (Stars) who with Luna
[Selene the Moon] succeed the fires of day, and thou, divine triceps (three-formed) Hecate, who
knowest all my enterprises and dost fortify the arts of magic." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.162
"Out of Erebos and Chaos she called Nox (Night) and the Di Nocti (Gods of Night) and poured a
prayer with long-drawn wailing cries to Hecate." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.403
"Hecate, queen of the night." - Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 7.515
"Dionysos waited for darksome night, and appealed in these words to circle Mene (Moon) in
heaven: 'O daughter of Helios (Sun), Mene (Moon) of many turnings, nurse of all! O Selene
(Moon), driver of the silver car! If thou art Hekate of many names, if in the night thou doest
shake thy mystic torch in brandcarrying hand, come nightwanderer, nurse of puppies because the
nightly sound of the hurrying dogs is thy delight with their mournful whimpering." - Nonnus,
Dionysiaca 44.198
GODDESS OF NECROMANCY & GHOSTS
The gods Hekate, Persephone and Haides presided over the oracles of the dead and the art of
nekromankia (necromancy), the summoning forth of the ghosts of the dead.
I) GODDESS OF GHOSTS (GENERAL)
Hekate led the ghosts of the dead to the upper world at night. Her passing was heralded by the
baying of dogs.
"The lady Hekate was minister and companion to Persephone [goddess of the underworld]." -
Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter 436
Aeschylus, Doubtul Fragment 249 (from Plutarch, On Superstition 3. 166A) (trans. Weir Smyth)
(Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"But either thou art frightened of a spectre (phantasma) beheld in sleep and hast joined the revel-
rout of nether (khthonia) Hekate."
"Brimo, night-wanderer of the underworld (nyktipolis khthonie), Queen of the dead (anassa
eneroi)." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.840
"Hekate ... pleased with dark ghosts that wander through the shade; Perseis, solitary goddess." -
Orphic Hymn 1 to Hecate
"Out of Erebos and Chaos she called Nox (Night) and the Di Nocti (Gods of Night) and poured a
prayer with long-drawn wailing cries to Hecate ... a groan came from the ground, the bushes
blanched, the spattered sward was soaked with gouts of blood, stones brayed and bellowed, dogs
began to bark, black snakes swarmed on the soil and ghostly shapes of silent spirits floated
through the air." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.403
"Baying [of Hounds] loud as that which rings at the grim gate of Dis [Haides] or from Hecate’s
escort [of black hounds] to the world above." - Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 6.110
"At another time you [Egyptian Isis] are Proserpina [Persephone or Hekate], whose howls at
night inspire dread, and whose triple form restrains the emergence of ghosts as you keep the
entrance to the earth above firmly barred. You wander through diverse groves, and are appeased
by various rites." - Apuleius, Golden Ass 11.218
II) NECROMANCY OF THE CUMAEAN SIBYLLA & AENEAS
The Cumaean Sibyl guided Aeneas to the Underworld through the Oracle of the Dead near
Cumae. Virgil's account of the story is partially quoted here.
"The Sibyl [performing the rites of necromankia at the oracle of the dead at Cumae] first lined up
four black-skinned bullocks, poured a libation wine upon their foreheads, and then, plucking the
topmost hairs from between their brows, she placed these on the altar fires as an initial offering,
calling aloud upon Hecate, powerful in heaven and hell. While other laid their knives to these
victim’s throats, and caught the fresh warm blood in bowls, Aeneas sacrifices a black-fleeced
lamb to Nox (Night), the mother of the Furiae, and her great sister, Terra (earth), and a barren
heifer to Proserpine. Then he [Aeneas] set up altars by night to the god of the Underworld
[Hades], laying upon the flames whole carcases of bulls and pouring out rich oil over the burning
entrails. But listen! - at the very first crack of dawn, the ground underfoot began to mutter, the
woody ridges to quake, and a baying of hounds was heard through the half-light: the goddess
was coming, Hecate. [a path then opened up for the Sibyl & Aeneas to travel down to Hades]." -
Virgil, Aeneid 6.257
III) NECROMANCY OF AESON & ALKIMEDE
Aeson and his wife, the witch Alkimede, are here described performing necromancy to learn
from the ghosts of the dead the fate of their son Jason, and also to bring down the curses of the
dead upon King Pelias, who has sentenced them to death.
"Unto the lord of Tartarus [Haides] and unto the Stygian ghosts was Alcimede [mother of Jason]
bringing holy offerings in fear for her mighty son [the Argonaut Jason], if Shades summoned
forth [using the magic of Nekromankia] might give her surer knowledge. Even Aeson himself,
who shares her anxiety but who hides such unmanly fears in his heart, yields and is led by his
wife. In a trench stands blood and plenteous offering to hidden Phlegethon and with fierce cries
the aged witch calls upon her departed ancestors and the grandson of great Pleione [Hermes
guide of souls]. And now at the sound of the spell rose a face, insubstantial, and [the ghost of]
Kretheus gazed upon his mournful son and daughter-in-law, and when he had sipped the blood
he began to utter these words [tells him that Jason is safe, but King Pelias is plotting Aeson’s
death] ... He [Aeson] returns to the holy rites [of the Underworld Gods]. Beneath the gloom of an
ancient cypress, squalid and ghastly with darksome hue, a bull still stood, dark blue fillets on his
horns, his brow rough with the foliage of yew; the beast too was downcast, panting and restless,
and terrified at the sight of the shade. The witch [Alkimede], according to the custom of her evil
race had kept him, chosen above all others, to use him now at last for these hellish practises.
When Aeson saw that the bull still remained at the hour of the awful rites unslain, he dooms him
to death, and with one hand upon the horns of the fated victim speaks for the last time [cursing
his half-brother King Pelias] ...
Then he appeased the goddess of triple form [Hekate goddess of earthly ghosts], and with his last
sacrifice offers a prayer to the Stygian abodes, rehearsing backward a spell soon, soon to prove
persuasive; for without that no thin shade will the dark ferryman [Kharon] take away, and bound
they stand at the mouth of Orcus [Haides]." - Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1.730
IV) NECROMANCY OF TEIRESIAS
In the following passage the seer Teiresias performing necromancy to commune with the ghosts
of the dead. The ghost of the same seer is consulted by Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey.
"[The seer Teiresias performs necromancy:] Loud bayed the pack of Hecate; thrice the deep
valley gave out a mournful noise; the whole place was shaken and the ground was stricken from
below. `My prayers are heard,' says the priest; `prevailing words I uttered; blind Chaos is burst
open, and for the tribes of Dis [Haides] a way is given to the upper world.'" - Seneca, Oedipus
569
"There stands a wood, enduring of time, and strong and erect in age, with foliage aye unshorn
nor pierced by any suns ... Nor do the shadows lack a divine power: Latonia’s [Artemis-
Hekates’] haunting presence is added to the grove ... Her arrows whistle unseen through the
wood, her hounds bay nightly, when she flies from her uncle’s [Haides’] threshold and resumes
afresh Diana’s kindlier shape [Diana is here regarded as a dual Artemis-Hekate] ...
[Teiresias performing the rites of nekromankia] bids the dark-fleeced sheep and black oxen be
set before him ... Then he entwined their fierce horns with wreaths of dusky hue, handling them
himself, and first at the edge of that well-known wood [sacred to Hekate] he nine times spills the
lavish draughts of Bacchus into a hollowed trench, and gifts of vernal milk and Attic rain
[honey] and propitiatory blood to the Shades below; so much is poured out as the dry earth will
drink. Then they roll tree trunks thither, and the sad priest bids there be three altar-fires for
Hecate and three for the maidens born of cursed Acheron [the Erinyes]; for thee, lord of Avernus
[Haides], a heap of pinewood though sunk into the ground yet towers high into the air; next to
this an altar of lesser bulk is raised to Ceres of the Underworld [Persephone]; in front and on
every side the cypress of lamentation intertwines them. And now, their lofty heads marked with
the sword and the pure sprinkled meal, the cattle fell under the stroke; then the virgin Manto
[daughter of Teiresias], catching the blood in bowls, makes first libation, and moving thrice
round all the pyres, as her holy sire commands, offers the half-dead tissues and yet living
entrails, nor delays to set the devouring fire to the dark foliage. And when Tiresias heard the
branches crackling in the flames and the grim piles roaring - for the burning heat surges before
his face, and the fiery vapour fills the hollows of his eyes - he exclaimed, and the pyres trembled,
and the flames cowered at his voice: ‘Abodes of Tartarus and awful realm of insatiable Mors
[Thanatos, death], and thou, most cruel of the brothers [Haides], to whom the Shades are given to
serve thee, and the eternal punishments of the damned obey thee, and the palace of the
underworld, throw open in answer to my knowing the silent places and empty void of stern
Persephone, and send forth the multitude that lurk in hollow night; let the ferryman [Kharon] row
back across the Styx with groaning bark. Haste ye all together, nor let there be fore the Shades
but one fashion of return to the light; do thou, daughter of Perses [Hekate], and the cloud-wrapt
Arcaidan [Hermes] with rod of power lead in separate throng the pious denizens of Elysium; but
for those who died in crime, who in Erebus, as among the seed of Cadmus, are most in number,
be thou their leader, Tisiphone, go on before with snake thrice brandished and blazing yew-
branch, and throw open the light of day, nor let Cerberus interpose his heads, and turn aside the
ghosts that lack the light." - Statius, Thebaid 4.410
V) NECROMANCY OF WITCHES
Witches were practitioners of necromancy. Their magic spells were also worked in in
necromantic-like ceremonies.
VI) ORACLES OF THE DEAD
The Oracle of the Dead in Thesprotia was a shrine dedicated to the gods Haides and Persephone.
Hekate was probably invoked as the mistress of ghosts in the rituals.
HEKATE GODDESS OF WITCHCRAFT
I) GODDESS OF MAGIC (GENERAL)
cruel. And Perses had a daughter Hekate, who surpassed her father in boldness and lawlessness;
she was also fond of hunting, and when she had no luck she would turn her arrows upon human
beings instead of the beasts. Being likewise ingenious in the mixing of deadly poisons she
discovered the drug called aconite and tired out the strength of each poison by mixing it with
food given to the strangers. And since she possessed great experience in such matters she first of
all poisoned her father, and so succeeded to the throne, and then, founding a temple of Artemis
and commanding that strangers who landed there should be sacrificed to the goddess, she
became know far and wide for her cruelty. After this she married Aeetes and bore two daughters,
Kirke and Medea, and a son Aigialeus.
Although Kirke also, it is said devoted herself to the devising of all kinds of drugs and
discovered roots of all manner of natures and potencies such as are difficult to credit, yet,
notwithstanding that she was taught by her mother Hekate about not a few drugs ...
Aeetes, partly because of his own natural cruelty and partly because he was under the influence
of his wife Hekate, had given his approval to the custom of slaying strangers. But since Medea as
time went on opposed the purpose of her parents more and more, Aeetes, they say, suspecting his
daughter of plotting against him consigned her to free custody [that is, on parole]; Medea,
however, made her escape and fled for refuge to a sacred precinct of Helios on the shore of the
sea." - Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.45.1
"[Athena] sprinkled her [Arakhne] with drugs of Hecate (Hecateidos herbae), and in a trice,
touched by the bitter lotion [the girl was metamorphosed into a spider]." - Ovid, Metamorphoses
6.139
II) MAGIC OF THE WITCH MEDEA
Hekate was the source of the magical power of the witch Medea. Most of her magic is described
as nocturnal and / or necromantic.
"[Medea curses Jason who plans to abandon her and marry Glauke:] 'By the goddess I worship
most of all, my chosen helper Hekate, who dwells in the inner chamber of my house [household
shrine], none of them shall pain my heart and smile at it! Bitter will I make their marriage, bitter
Kreon's marriage-alliance, and bitter my banishment from the land!" - Euripides, Medea 396
"As a rule she [Medea] did not spend her time at home, but was busy all day in the temple of
Hekate, of whom she was priestess." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.250
"[Argos, nephew of Medea, to Jason:] ’You have heard me speak of a young woman [Medea]
who practices witchcraft under the tutelage of the goddess Hekate. If we could win her over, we
might banish from our minds all fear of your defeat in the ordeal [yoking the fire breathing bulls
of Aeetes]." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.478
"[Argos, nephew of Medea, to the Argonauts:] ’There is a girl [Medea] living in Aeetes’ palace
whom the goddess Hekate has taught to handle with extraordinary skill all the magic herbs that
grow on dry land or in running water. With these she can put out a raging fire, she can stop rivers
as they roar in spate, arrest a star, and check the movement of the sacred moon." - Apollonius
Rhodius, Argonautica 3.529
"[Medea prays to Hekate]: And yet I wish he [Jason] had been spared. Yes Sovran Lady Hekate,
this is my prayer. Let him live to reach his home." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.466
"[Medea persuaded by her aunt Khalkiope to help Jason:] ‘At dawn I will go to Hekate’s temple
with magic medicine for the bulls [to protect Iason from their fiery breath]." - Apollonius
"She [Medea] wished to drive to the splendid Temple of Hekate [in Kolkhis]; and while they [her
handmaidens] were getting the carriage ready she took a magic ointment from her box. This
salve was named after Prometheus. A man had only to smear it on his body, after propitiating the
only-begotten Maiden (Koure mounogenes) [Hekate] with a midnight offering, to become
invulnerable by sword or fire and for that day to surpass himself in strength and daring. It first
appeared in a plant that sprang from the blood-like ichor of Prometheus in his torment, which the
flesh-eating eagle had dropped on the spurs of Kaukasos ... To make the ointment, Medea,
clothed in black, in the gloom of night, had drawn off this juice in a Caspian shell after bathing
in seven perennial streams and calling seven times on Brimo [Hekate], nurse of youth
(kourotrophos), Brimo, night-wanderer of the underworld (nyktipolis khthonie), Queen of the
dead (anassa eneroi). The dark earth shook and rumbled underneath the Titan root when it was
cut, and Prometheus himself groaned in the anguish of his soul." - Apollonius Rhodius,
Argonautica 3.840
"[Medea to Iason:] Medea forced herself to speak to him. ‘Hear me now,’ she said. ‘These are
my plans for you. When you have met my father and has given you the deadly teeth from the
serpent’s jaws, wait for the moment of midnight and after bathing in an ever-running river, go
out alone in sombre clothes and dig a round pit in the earth. There, kill a ewe and after heaping
up a pure over the pit, sacrifice it whole, with a libation of honey from the hive and prayers to
Hekate, Perses’ only daughter (mounogenes). Then, when you have invoked the goddess duly,
withdraw from the pyre. And to not be tempted to look behind you as you go, either by footfalls
or the baying of hounds, or you may ruin everything and never reach your friends alive. In the
morning, melt this charm, strip, and using it like oil, anoint your body. It will endow you with
tremendous strength and boundless confidence ... neither the spear-points of the earthborn men
nor the consuming flames that the savage bulls spew out will find you vulnerable." - Apollonius
"Iason waited for the bright constellation of the Bear to decline, and then, when all the air from
heaven to earth was still, he set out like a stealthy thief across the solitary plain. During the day
he had prepared himself, and so had everything he needed with him; Argos had fetched him
some milk and a ewe from a farm; the rest he had taken from the ship itself. When he had found
an unfrequented spot in a clear meadow under the open sky, he began by bathing his naked body
reverently in the sacred river, and then put on a dark mantle which Hypsipyle of Lemnos had
given him to remind him of their passionate embraces. Then he dug a pit a cubit deep, piled up
billets, and laid the sheep on top of them after cutting its throat. He kindled the wood from
underneath and poured mingled libations on the sacrifice, calling on Hekate Brimo to help him in
the coming test. This done, he withdrew; and the dread goddess (thea deinos), hearing his words
from the abyss, came up to accept the offering of Aison’s son. She was garlanded by fearsome
snakes that coiled themselves round twigs of oak; the twinkle of a thousand torches lit the scene;
and hounds of the underworld barked shrilly all around her. The whole meadow trembled under
her feet, and the Nymphai of marsh and river who haunt the fens by Amarantian Phasis cried out
in fear. Iason was terrified; but even so, as he retreated, he did not once turn round. And so he
found himself among his friends once more, and Dawn arrived." - Apollonius Rhodius,
Argonautica 3.1194
"The beautiful Medea sped through the palace, and for her the very doors responding to her hasty
incantations swung open of their own accord." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.39
"She [Medea] meant to reach the temple [of Hekate]. She knew the road well enough, having
often roamed in that direction searching for corpses [for necromantic rites] or for noxious roots,
as witches do." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.48
"Rising from the distant east, the Lady Selene (Moon), Titanian goddess, saw the girl [Medea the
witch] wandering distraught, and in wicked glee said to herself: ‘So I am not the only one to go
astray for love, I that burn for beautiful Endymion and seek him in the Latmian cave. How many
times, when I was bent on love, have you disorbed me with your incantations, making the night
moonless so that you might practise your beloved witchcraft undisturbed! And now you are as
lovesick as myself. The little god of mischief has given you Iason, and many a heartache with
him. Well, go your way; but clever as you are, steel yourself now to face a life of sighs and
misery.’ So said Selene." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.55
[NB Hekate empowered witches to draw down the moon.]
"As he [the Kholkian Drakon] writhed he saw the maiden [Medea] take her stand, and heard her
in her sweet voice invoking Hypnos (Sleep), the conqueror of the gods, to charm him. She also
called on the night-wandering Queen of the world below [Hekate] to countenance her efforts.
Iason from behind looked on in terror. But the giant snake, enchanted by her song, was soon
relaxing the whole of his serrated spine and smoothing out his multitudinous undulations ...
Medea, chanting a spell, dipped a fresh sprig of juniper in her brew and sprinkled his eyes with
her most potent drug; and as the all-pervading magic scent spread round his head, sleep fell on
him." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.143
"She [Medea] reinforced her words with magic, scattering to the four winds spells of such
potency as would have drawn wild creatures far away to come down from their mountain
fastnesses." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.442
"I [Medea] swear by Helios’ sacred light and by the secret rites of Perses’ night-wandering
daughter [Hekate]." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.1018
"Listen to me,’ she [Medea] said [to the Argonauts]. ‘I think that I and I alone can get the better
of that man, whoever he may be, unless there is immortal life in that bronze body. All I ask of
you is to stay here keeping the ship out of range of his rocks till I have brought him down.’
They took the ship out of range, as Medea had asked, and rested on their oars waiting to see what
marvellous device she would employ. Medea went up on the deck. She covered both her cheeks
with a fold of her purple mantle, and Iason led her by the hand as she passed across the benches.
Then, with incantations, she invoked the Keres (Spirits of Death), the swift hounds of Haides
(kunes Aidao) who feed on souls and haunt the lower air to pounce on living men. She sank to
her knees and called upon them, three times in song, three times with spoken prayers. She steeled
herself of their malignity and bewitched the eyes of Talos with the evil in her own. She flung at
him the full force of her malevolence, and in an ecstasy of rage she plied him with images of
death.
Is it true then, Father Zeus, that people are not killed only by disease or wounds, but can be
struck down by a distant enemy? The thought appals me. Yet it was thus that Talos, for all his
brazen frame, was brought down by the force of Medea’s magic. He was hoisting up some heavy
stones with which tow keep them from anchorage, when he grazed his ankle on a sharp rock and
the ichor ran out of him like molten lead. He stood there for a short time, high on the jutting cliff.
But even his strong legs could not support him long; he began to sway, all power went out of
him, and he came down with a resounding crash." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.1659
"They [the Argonauts] made fast their stern cables on the Paphlagonian coast at the mouth of the
River Halys. Medea had told them to land there and propitiate Hekate with a sacrifice. But with
what ritual she prepared the offering, no one must hear. Nor must I let myself be tempted to
describe it; my lips are sealed by awe. But the altar they built for the goddess on the beach is still
there for men of a later age to see." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.245
"[Medea] said [to the Argonauts] that she had brought with her many drugs of marvellous
potency which had been discovered by her mother Hekate and by her sister Kirke; and though
before this time she had never used them to destroy human beings, on this occasion she would be
means of them easily wreak vengeance upon men who were deserving of punishment." -
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.50.6
"She [Hekate] married Aeetes and bore two daughters, Kirke and Medea, and a son Aigialeus ...
Aeetes, partly because of his own natural cruelty and partly because he was under the influence
of his wife Hekate, had given his approval to the custom of slaying strangers. But since Medea as
time went on opposed the purpose of her parents more and more, Aeetes, they say, suspecting his
daughter of plotting against him consigned her to free custody [that is, on parole]; Medea,
however, made her escape and fled for refuge to a sacred precinct of Helios (the Sun) on the
shore of the sea." - Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.45.1
"To the ancient shrine of Hecate Perseis [daughter of Perses], deep in the forest in a shady grove,
she [the witch Medea] made her way [to meet with Jason] ... [Jason] grasped her [Medea’s] hand
and in low tones besought her aid and promised marriage ... Then by the pure rites of Triformis
[three-bodied Hecate] and by whatever Power dwelt in that grove he swore, and by her father’s
father [Helios the sun] who sees all the world, and by his triumphs and his perils passed. Then
she was sure; and straight the magic herbs she gave into his hands and taught their use [making
him invulnerable to fire]." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.74
"Aeson [father of Jason], now near to death, weary and worn by weight of years. Then said his
fond son, Aesonides [Jason]: ‘Dear wife [Medea], to whom I owe my own return, you who have
given me all, whose bounteous favours exceeded all my faith - yet, if this thing your spells can
do - for what can they not do? - take from my youthful years some part and give that part to my
dear father’, and his tears fell unrestrained. His love touched his wife’s heart ... and answered:
‘How vile a crime has fallen from your lips! So I have power to transfer to another a period of
your life! This Hecate forbids; not right nor fair is your request. But more than your request, a
greater boon, I’ll aim to give; not with your years I’ll dare the attempt but by my arts, to win
again your father’s years long gone, if but her aid Triformis [three-bodied Hekate] gives and with
her presence prospers the bold tremendous enterprise.’ Three nights remained before Luna’s
[Selene the Moon’s] bright horns would meet and form her orb; then when she shone in fullest
radiance and with form complete gazed down upon the sleeping lands below, Medea, barefoot,
her long robe unfastened, her hair upon her shoulders falling loose, went forth alone upon her
roaming way, in the deep stillness of the midnight hour. Now men and birds and beasts in peace
profound are lapped; no sound comes from the hedge; the leaves hang mute and still and all the
dewy air is silent; nothing stirs; only the stars shimmer. Then to the stars she stretched her arms,
and thrice she turned about and thrice bedewed her locks with water, thrice a wailing cry she
gave, then kneeling on the stony ground, Ò Nox [Nyx the Night], Mother of Mysteries, and all
ye golden Astra (Stars) who with Luna [Selene the Moon] succeed the fires of day, and thou,
divine triceps (three-formed) Hecate, who knowest all my enterprises and dost fortify the arts of
magic, and thou, kindly Tellus [Gaia the Earth], who dost for magic potent herbs provide; ye
Venti (Winds) and Aurae (Airs), ye Montes (mountains), Lacus (Lakes) and Amnes (streams),
and all ye Di Omnes Nemorum (Forest-Gods) and Di Omnes Noctis (Gods of Night), be with me
now! By your enabling power, at my behest, broad rivers to their source flow back, their banks
aghast; my magic song rouses the quiet, calms the angry seas; I bring the clouds and make the
clouds withdraw, I call the winds and quell them; by my art I sunder serpent’s throats; the living
rocks and mighty oaks from out their soil I tear; I move the forests, bid the mountains quake, the
deep earth groan and ghosts rise from their tombs. Thee too, bright Luna [Selene the Moon], I
banish, though thy throes the clanging bronze assuage; under my spells even my grandsire’s
[Helios the Sun’s] chariot grows pale and Aurora [Eos the Dawn] pales before my poison’s
power. You at my prayer tempered the flaming breath of the dread Bulls, you placed upon their
necks, necks never yoked before, the curving plough; you turned the warriors, Serpentigenae
(Serpent-Born), to war against themselves; you lulled at last to sleep the guardian [Draco] that
knew not sleep, and sent safe to the homes of Greece the golden prize. Now I have need of
essences whose power will make age new, bring back the bloom of youth, the prime years win
again. These you will give. For not in vain the shimmering stars have shone, nor stands in vain,
by winged Dracones drawn, my chariot here.’ And there the chariot stood, sent down from
heaven her purpose to fulfil. She mounted, stroked the harnessed Dracones’ necks, shook the
light reins and soared into the sky, and gazing down beheld, far far below, Thessalian Tempe;
then the Serpents’ course she set for regions that she knew of old. The herbs that Pelion and Ossa
bore, Othrys and Pindus and that loftiest peak, Olympus, she surveyed, and those that pleased
some by the roots she culled, some with the curve of her bronze blade she cut; many she chose
beside Apidanus’ green banks and many beside Amphrysus; nor was swift Enipeus exempt;
Peneus too and the bright stream of broad Spercheus and the reedy shores of Boebe gave their
share, and from Anthedon she plucked the grass of life, not yet renowned for that sea-change the
Euboean merman found. And now nine days had seen her and nine nights roaming the world,
driving her Dracon team. Then she returned; the Dracones, though untouched save by the
wafting odour of those herbs, yet sloughed their aged skins of many years. Before the doors she
stopped nor crossed the threshold; only the heavens covered her; she shunned Jason’s embrace;
then two turf altars built, the right to Hecate, the left to Juventas [Hebe goddess of Youth],
wreathed with the forest’s mystic foliage, and dug two trenches in the ground beside and then
performed her rites. Plunging a knife into a black sheep’s throat she drenched the wide ditches
with blood; next from a chalice poured a stream of wine and from a second chalice warm
frothing milk and, chanting magic words, summoned the Numina Terrena (Deities of Earth) and
prayed the sad shades’ monarch (Rex Umbrarum) [Haides] and his stolen bride [Persephone]
that, of their mercy, from old Aeson’s frame they will not haste to steal the breath of life. And
when in long low-murmured supplications the deities were appeased, she bade bring out the old
exhausted king [Aeson], and with a spell charmed him to deepest sleep and laid his body, lifeless
it seemed, stretched on a bed of herbs. Away! She ordered Jason and away! The ministrants, and
warned that eyes profane see not her secrets; then with streaming hair, ecstatic round the flaming
altars moved, and in the troughs of flood dipped cloven stakes and lit them dripping at the
flames, and thrice with water, thrice with sulphur, thrice with fire purged the pale sleeping body
of the king. Meanwhile within the deep bronze cauldron, white with bubbling froth, the rich
elixir boils. Roots from the vales of Thessaly and seeds and flowers she seethes therein and bitter
juices, with gem-stones from the farthest Orient and sands that Oceanus’ ebbing waters wash,
and hoar-frost gathered when the moon shines full, and wings and flesh of owls and the warm
guts of wolves that change at will to human form. To them she adds the slender scaly skins of
Libyan water-snakes and then the livers of long-lived gazelles and eggs and heads of ancient
crows, nine generations old. With these and a thousand other nameless things her more than
mortal purpose she prepared. Then with a seasoned stick of olive wood she mixed the whole and
stirred it. And behold! The old dry stick that stirred the bubbling brew grew green and suddenly
burst into leaf, and all at once was laden with fat olives; and where the froth flowed over from
the pot and the hot drops spattered the ground beneath, fair springtime bloomed again, and
everywhere flowers of the meadow sprang and pasture sweet. And seeing this Medea drew her
blade and slit the old king’s throat and let the blood run out and filled his veins and arteries with
her elixir; and when Aeson drank, through wound and lips, at once his hair and beard, white for
long years, regained their raven hue; his wizened pallor, vanquished, fled away and firm new
flesh his sunken wrinkles filled, and all his limbs were sleek and proud and strong. Then Aeson
woke and marvelled as he saw his prime restored of forty years before." - Ovid, Metamorphoses
7.162
1] Ye gods of wedlock, and thou, Lucina [Hera], guardian of the nuptial couch, and thou
[Athena] who didst teach Tiphys to guide his new barque to the conquest of the seas, and thou
[Poseidon], grim ruler of the deeps of sea, and Titan [Helios the sun], who dost portion out bright
day unto the world, and
"[Medea cries out to Hekate:] `Thou [Hekate-Selene] who doest show thy bright face as witness
of the silent mysteries, O three-formed (triformis) Hecate, and ye gods by whose divinity Jason
swore to me ... I have yet curse more dire to call down on my husband – may he live." - Seneca,
Medea 6
"[Medea:] Ì have a robe ... [and] a gleaming necklace of woven gold and a golden band which
the sparkle of gems adorns, with which the air is encircled. Let my sons bring these as gifts unto
the bride [Glauke of Korinthos], but let them first be anointed and imbued with baneful poisons.
Now call on Hecate. Prepare the death-dealing rites; let altars be erected, and let now their fires
resound within the palace.'" - Seneca, Medea 570
"Nurse: `Monstrously grows her [Medea's] grief [at Jason's betrayal], feeds its own fires and
renews its former strength. Often have I seen her in frenzy and assailing the gods [Sun and
Moon], drawing down the sky; but greater than such deeds, greater is the monstrous thing Medea
is preparing. For now that with maddened steps she has gone out and come to her baleful shrine
[to Hekate], she lavishes all her stores and brings forth whatever e’en she herself long has
dreaded, and marshals her whole train of evil powers, things occult, mysterious, hidden; and,
supplicating the grim altar with her left hand, she summons destructive agencies, whatever
burning Libya’s sands produce, what Taurus, stiff with arctic cold, holds fast in his everlasting
snows, and all monstrous things. Drawn by her magic incantations, the scaly brood leave their
lairs and come to her ... When she had summoned forth the whole tribe of serpents, she
assembled her evil store of baleful herbs ... These plants felt the knife while Phoebus [the sun]
was making ready the day; the shoot of that was clipped at midnight; while this was severed by
finger-nail with muttered charm. She seizes death-dealing herbs, squeezes out serpents’ venom,
and with these mingles unclean birds, the heart of a boding owl, and a hoarse screech-owl’s
vitals cut out alive. Other objects the mistress of evil lays out, arranged in separate heaps; in
some is the ravening power of fire; in others numbing frost’s icy cold. She adds to her poisons
words, no less fearsome than they. – But listen, her frenzied step has sounded, and she chants her
incantations. All nature shudders as she begins her song.'
Medea: Ì supplicate the throng of the silent, and, you, funereal gods, murky Chaos and shadowy
Dis’ dark dwelling-place, the abysses of dismal Death, gift by the banks of Tartarus. Leaving
your punishments, ye ghosts, haste to the new nuptials ... Now, summoned by my sacred rites, do
thou [Hekate], orb of the night [as the moon], put on thy most evil face and come, threatening in
all thy forms. For thee, losing my hair from its band after the manner of my people, with bare
feet have I trod the secret groves and called forth rain from the dry clouds; I have driven the seas
back to their lowest depths, and Oceanus, his tides outdone, has sent his crushing waves farther
into the land; and in like manner, with heaven’s law confounded the world has seen both sun and
stars together, and you, ye bears, have bathed in the forbidden sea. The order of the seasons have
I changed: the summer land has blossomed ‘neath my magic song, and by my compelling Ceres
has seen harvest in winter-time; Phasis has turned his swift waters backward to their source, and
Hister, divided into many mouths, has checked his boisterous streams and flowed sluggishly in
all his beds. The waves have roared, the mad sea swelled, though the winds were still; the heart
of the ancient woods has lost its shadows, when the bright day has come back to them at
commandment of my voice; Phoebus [the Sun] has halted in mid-heaven, and the Hyades, moved
by my incantations, totter to their fall. The hour is at hand, O Phoebe [Hekate-Selene], for thy
sacred rites.
To thee [Hekate] I offer these wreaths wrought with bloody hands, each entwined with nine
serpent coils; to thee, these serpent limbs which rebellious Typhoeus wore, who caused Jove’s
throne to tremble. In this is the blood which Nessus, that traitor ferryman, bestowed as he
expired. With these ashes the pyre on Oeta sank down which drank in the poisoned blood of
Hercules. Here thou seest the billet of a pious sister but impious mother, Althaea, the avenger.
These feathers the Harpyia left in her trackless lair when she fled from Zetes. Add to these the
quills of the wounded Stymphalian bird which felt the darts of Lerna. – You have given forth
your voice, ye altars; I see my tripods shaken by the favouring deity.
I see Trivia’s [Hekate-Selene's] swift gliding car, not as when, radiant, with full face, she drives
the livelong night, but as when, ghastly, with mournful aspect, harried by Thessalian threats, she
skirts with nearer rein the edge of heaven. So do thou wanly shed form thy torch a gloomy light
through air; terrify the peoples with new dread, and let precious Corinthian bronzes resound,
Dictynna, to thy aid. To thee on the altar’s bloody turf we perform thy solemn rites; to thee a
torch caught up from the midst of a funeral pyre has illumed the night; to thee, tossing my head
and with bended neck, I have uttered my magic words; for thee a fillet, lying in funeral fashion,
binds my flowing locks; to thee is brandished the gloomy branch [the yew] from the Stygian
stream; to thee with bared breast will I as a maenad smite my arms with the sacrificial knife. Let
my blood flow upon the altars; accustom thyself, my hand, to draw the sword and endure the
sight of beloved blood. [She slashes her arm and lets the blood flow upon the altar.] Self-smitten
have I poured forth the sacred stream.
But if thou complainest that too often thou art called on by my prayers, pardon, I pray; the cause,
O Perses’ daughter, of my too oft calling on thy bows is one and the same ever, Jason.
Do thou now [she takes a phial] poison Creusa’s robe that, when she has donned it, the creeping
flame may consume her inmost marrow. Within this tawny gold [she takes a casket] lurks fire,
darkly hid; Prometheus gave it me, even he who expiates with ever-growing live his theft from
heaven, and taught me by his art how to store up its powers. Mulciber hath also given me fires
which subtly lurk in sulphur; and bolts of living flame I took from my kinsman, Phaëthon. I have
gifts from Chimaera’s middle part, I have flames caught from the bull’s scorched throat, which,
well mixed with Medusa’s gall, I have bidden to guard their bane in silence.
Give sting to my poisons, Hecate, and in my gifts keep hidden the seeds of fire. Let them cheat
the sight, let them endure the touch; let burning fire penetrate to heart and veins; let her limbs
melt and her bones consume in smoke, and with her blazing locks let the bride outshine her
wedding torches.
My prayers are heard: thrice has bold Hecate bayed loud, and has raised the accursèd fire with its
baleful light. Now all my power is marshalled; hither call my sons that by their hands thou mayst
send these costly gifts unto the bride.." - Seneca, Medea 670-843
"Medea who now is consectrated to Diana of the Underworld [Hekate] and leads the holy
dance." - Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 5.238
"[Medea the priestess of Hekate] in her sacred fillets by the twin torches’ light [which she held]."
- Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 5.350
"Persean Hecate dwelling in her lofty groves beheld her [Medea being led in love to Jason by the
goddess Hera], and from the depth of her heart uttered these words: ‘Alas! thou dost leave our
woodland an thy maidens’ bands, unhappy girl, to wander in thy own despite to the cities of the
Greeks. Yet not unbidden goest thou, nor, my dear one, will I forsake thee. A signal record of
they flight shalt thou leave behind, nor though a captive shall thou ever be despised by thy false
lord, nay, he shall know me for thy teacher, and that I grieved with shame that he robbed me of
my handmaid." - Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 6.495
"[Aphrodite plans to make Medea fall in love with Jason, and threatens Hekate not to interfere:]
'To the shrine of light-bringing Diana [Hekate], where the Colchian [Medea] is wont to shed the
light of sacred torches and with her company of maidens dance around its Queen. Nor let dread
of Hecate now come over thee; fear not lest she hinder my [Aphrodite's] efforts. Nay, let her
even venture: straightway will the passion pass to her [Hekate], and I will compel her herself to
subdue with triple chant the fire-breathing bulls, and to suffer embraces." - Valerius Flaccus,
Argonautica 7.179
"[Medea] wearies heaven above and Tartarus beneath with her complains [of love for Jason]; she
beats upon the ground, and murmuring into her clutching hands calls on the Queen of Night
[Hekate] and Dis [Haides] to bring her aid by granting death, and to send him who is the cause of
her madness down with her to destruction." - Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 7.311
"The maiden [Medea] addresses Jason: ‘ ... There remains yet a direr task, believe me, at the
huge tree of Mars [Ares] [the quelling of the mighty Drakon], a task which - ah, would that thou
hadst so much faith in me and in Hecate, queen of the night, and in the power we sway!" -
Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 7.515
"She [Medea] prays to Hecate to send her now more potent spells and mightier powers, nor
abides contented with the drugs she knew. Then she girds up her robe and takes forth a
Caucasian herb, of potency sure beyond all others, sprung of the gore that dropped from the liver
of Prometheus, and grass wind-nurtured, fostered and strengthened by that blood divine among
snows and grisly frosts, when the Vulture rises from his feasting on the flesh and from his open
beak bedews the cliffs. That flower knows not the languor of life, but stands, immortally fresh,
against the thunderbolt, and in the midst of lightnings its leaves are green. Hecate first, plying a
blade that Stygian springs hardened, tore forth the strong stalk from the rocks; then showed she
the plant to her handmaid [Medea], who beneath the tenth shining of Phoebe’s [Selene the
Moon’s] light reaps the harvest of the mountain-side and rages madly among all the gory relics
of the god; fruitlessly doth he groan, beholding the face of the Colchian maid; then over all the
mountain pain contracts his limbs, and all his fetters shake beneath her sickle [Prometheus
suffers anguish when the plant sprung from his blood is gathered]. The Colchian [Medea] began
to move through the dark night with sound of magic spells ... and when they came to the tall trees
and the shade of the triple goddess [Hekate] ... so in the midnight shadows of the grove did they
two [Jason & Medea] meet and draw nigh each other, awe-struck, like silent firs or motionless
cypresses ... And already had she begun to take the Titanian herbs and Persean [Hekate's]
potencies from her bosom … and forthwith with groans and tears she proffered the poisons to the
youth [Jason]." - Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 7.352
III) MAGIC OF THE WITCH KIRKE
"She [Hekate] married Aeetes and bore two daughters, Kirke and Medea, and a son Aigialeus.
Although Kirke also, it is said devoted herself to the devising of all kinds of drugs and
discovered roots of all manner of natures and potencies such as are difficult to credit, yet,
notwithstanding that she was taught by her mother Hekate about not a few drugs." - Diodorus
Siculus, Library of History 4.45.1
"Then Circe turned to prayers and incantations, and unknown chants to worship unknown gods,
chants which she used to eclipse Luna’s (the Moon’s) pale face and veil her father’s [the Sun’s]
orb in thirsty clouds. Now too the heavens are darkened as she sings; the earth breathes
vapours ... They [Picus’ courtiers] changed on Circe (who by now had cleared the air and let the
wind and sun disperse the mists) and charged her, rightly, with her guilt and claimed their king
and threatened force and aimed their angry spears. She sprinkled round about her evil drugs and
poisonous essences, and out of Erebos and Chaos called Nox (Night) and the Di Nocti (Gods of
Night) and poured a prayer with long-drawn wailing cries to Hecate. The woods (wonder of
wonders!) leapt away, a groan came from the ground, the bushes blanched, the spattered sward
was soaked with gouts of blood, stones brayed and bellowed, dogs began to bark, black snakes
swarmed on the soil and ghostly shapes of silent spirits floated through the air. The woods
(wonder of wonders!) leaps away, a groan came from the ground, the bushes blanched, the
spattered sward was soaked with gouts of blood, stones brayed and bellowed, dogs began to bar,
black snakes searmed on the solid and ghostly shapes of silent spirits floated through the air.
Stunned by such magic sorcery, the group of courtiers stood aghast; and as they gazes, she
touched their faces with her poisoned wand, and at its touch each took the magic form of some
wild beast; none kept his proper shape." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.369
THE TAURIAN HEKATE & IPHIGENEIA
Some poets identified Hekate with the goddess worshipped by the tribes of the Tauric
Chersonese (the Black Sea Crimea). Hesiod says that Agamemnon's daughter Iphigeneia was
carried off to the region and transformed into this goddess by Artemis.
"I know that Hesiod in the Catalogue of Women represented that Iphigeneia was not killed but,
by the will of Artemis, became Hekate." - Hesiod, Catalogues of Women Frag 71 (from
Pausanias 1.43.1)
"Stesichorus in his Oresteia follows Hesiod and identifies Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia with
the goddess called Hekate." - Greek Lyric III Stesichorus, Frag 215 (from Philodemus, Piety)
"Now I have heard another account of Iphigenia that is given by Arkadians and I know that
Hesiod, in his poem A Catalogue of Women, says that Iphigenia did not die, but by the will of
Artemis became Hekate." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 1.43.1
"[In Argos] near the Lords [shrine of the Dioskouroi] is a sanctuary of Eilethyia, dedicated by
Helene when, Theseus having gone away with Peirithoos to Thesprotia, Aphidna had been
captured by the Dioskouroi and Helene was being brought to Lakedaimon. For it is said that she
was with child, was delivered In Argos, and founded there the sanctuary of Eilethyia, giving the
daughter she bore [Iphigeneia] to Klytaimnestra, who was already wedded to Agamemnon, while
she herself subsequently married Menelaos. And on this matter the poets Euphorion of Khalkis
and Alexandros of Pleuron, and even before them, Stesikhoros of Himera, agree with the Argives
in asserting that Iphigenia was the daughter of Theseus. Over against the sanctuary of Eilethyia is
a temple of Hekate [the goddess probably here identified as the apotheosed Iphigeneia], and the
image is a work of Skopas. This one is of stone, while the bronze images opposite, also of
Hekate, were made respectively by Polykleitos and his brother Naukydes." - Pausanias, Guide to
Greece 2.22.7
cruel. And Perses had a daughter Hekate, who surpassed her father in boldness and lawlessness;
she was also fond of hunting, and when she had no luck she would turn her arrows upon human
beings instead of the beasts. Being likewise ingenious in the mixing of deadly poisons she
discovered the drug called aconite and tired out the strength of each poison by mixing it with
food given to the strangers. And since she possessed great experience in such matters she first of
all poisoned her father, and so succeeded to the throne, and then, founding a temple of Artemis
and commanding that strangers who landed there should be sacrificed to the goddess, she
became know far and wide for her cruelty. After this she married Aeetes and bore two daughters,
Kirke and Medea, and a son Aigialeus ... Aeetes, partly because of his own natural cruelty and
partly because he was under the influence of his wife Hekate, had given his approval to the
custom of slaying strangers." - Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.45.1
HEKATE IDENTIFIED WITH ARTEMIS
Artemis was frequently identified with the goddess Hekate. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter,
Artemis the playmate of Persephone perhaps becomes Hekate, the companion of Demeter in the
search for her stolen daughter. Hekatos (the far-shooter) was also a common Homeric epithet
applied to Artemis' brother Apollon. Depictions of the two goddesses were near identical. The
attributes they had in common included a short-skirt and hunting boots, torches and a hunting
dog.
"We pray that other guardians be always renewed, and that Artemis-Hecate watch over the
childbirth of their women." - Aeschylus, Suppliant Women 674
"O Artemis, thou maid divine, Diktynna, huntress, fair to see, O bring that keen-nosed pack of
thine, and hunt through all the house with me. O Hekate, with flameful brands." - Aristophanes,
Frogs 1358
"Aeetes succeeded to the throne, and then, founding a temple of Artemis [usually described as a
temple of Hekate, but the author equates the two] and commanding that strangers who landed
there should be sacrificed to the goddess." - Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.45.1
TRIAD OF HEKATE, ARTEMIS & SELENE
The triad Hekate-Artemis-Selene was popular in Roman-era poetry.
"[Medea cries out to Hekate:] `Thou [Hekate-Selene] who doest show thy bright face as witness
of the silent mysteries, O three-formed (triformis) Hecate.'" - Seneca, Medea 6
"[The witch Medea casts her spells:] `Now, summoned by my sacred rites, do thou [Hekate], orb
of the night [i.e. the moon], put on thy most evil face and come, threatening in all thy forms." -
Seneca, Medea 750
"The hour is at hand, O Phoebe [Hekate-Selene], for thy sacred rites." - Seneca, Medea 770
"[The witch Medea summons the power of Hekate:] Ì see Trivia’s [Hekate-Selene-Artemis]
swift gliding car, not as when, radiant, with full face [i.e. the moon], she drives the livelong
night, but as when, ghastly, with mournful aspect, harried by Thessalian threats, she skirts with
nearer rein the edge of heaven. So do thou wanly shed form thy torch a gloomy light through air;
terrify the peoples with new dread, and let precious Corinthian bronzes resound, Dictynna
[Artemis-Selene], to thy aid. To thee on the altar’s bloody turf we perform thy solemn rites." -
Seneca, Medea 787
"[Phaedra prays to Artemis-Hekate-Selene:] Ò [Artemis] queen of the groves (regina

nemorum), thou who in solitude lovest thy mountain-haunts, and who upon the solitary
mountains art alone held holy, change for the better these dark, ill-omened threats. O great
goddess of the woods and groves, bright orb of heaven, glory of the night, by whose changing
beams the universe shines clear, O three-formed Hecate, lo, thou art at hand, favouring our
undertaking. Conquer the unbending soul of stern Hippolytus; may he, compliant, give ear unto
our prayer. Soften his fierce heart; may he learn to love, may he feel answering flames. Ensnare
his mind; grim, hostile, fierce, may he turn him back unto the fealty of love. To this end direct
thy powers; so mayst thou wear a shining face [Selene the moon] and, the clouds all scattered,
fare on with undimmed horns; so, when thou drivest thy car through the nightly skies, may no
witcheries of Thessaly prevail to drag thee down and may no shepherd [i.e. Endymion] make
boast o’er thee. Be near, goddess, in answer to our call; hear now our prayers." - Seneca, Phaedra
406
"With such swift course as the lord [Helios the sun] of stars hurries on the centuries, and in such
wise as Hecate [Selene the moon] hastens along her slanting ways." - Seneca, Troades 386
"[Statius, in the passage that follows describes Artemis as a triple goddess incorporating:
Artemis-Hekate-Selene:] Cynthia, queen of the mysteries of the night, if as they say thou dost
vary in threefold wise the aspect of thy godhead, and in different shape comest down into the
woodland ... The goddess stooped her horns and made bright her kindly star, and illumined the
battle-field with near-approaching chariot." - Statius, Thebaid 10.365
"[The seer Teiresias performs necromancy in the grove of Artemis-Hekate:] There stands a
wood, enduring of time, and strong and erect in age, with foliage aye unshorn nor pierced by any
suns ... Beneath is sheltered quiet, and a vague shuddering awe guards the silence, and the
phantom of the banished light gleams pale and ominous. Nor do the shadows lack a divine
power: Latonia’s [Artemis-Hekate's] haunting presence is added to the grove; her effigies
wrought in pine or cedar and wood or very tree are hidden in the hallowed gloom of the forest.
Her arrows whistle unseen through the wood, her hounds bay nightly [as Hekate], when she flies
from her uncle’s [Haides] threshold and resumes afresh Diana’s kindlier shape. Or when she is
weary from her ranging on the hills, and the sun high in heaven invites sweet slumber, here doth
she rest with head flung back carelessly on her quiver, while all her spears stand fixed in the
earth around ...
[Teiresias cries out summoning the ghosts forth:] `Haste ye all together, nor let there be fore the
Shades but one fashion of return to the light; do thou, daughter of Perses [Artemis-Hekate], and
the cloud-wrapt Arcadian [Hermes] with rod of power lead in separate throng the pious denizens
of Elysium.'" - Statius, Thebaid 4.410
"To the trilingual Sicilians I [Artemis] am Ortygian Proserpina [Hekate]." - Apuleius, The
Golden Ass 11.5
"[Nonnus in the passage that follows describes Artemis-Hekate-Selene as a triple goddess:] O

daughter of Helios (Sun), Mene (Moon) of many turnings, nurse of all! O Selene (Moon), driver
of the silver car! If thou art Hekate of many names, if in the night thou doest shake thy mystic
torch in brandcarrying hand, come nightwanderer ... If thou art staghunter Artemis, if on the hills
thou dost eagerly hunt with fawnkilling Dionysos, be thy brother’s helper now!." - Nonnus,
Dionysiaca 44.198
SACRED ANIMALS
I) WEASEL, POLECAT (Greek galeê)
"I have heard that the land-marten (or polecat) was once a human being ... a dealer in spells and a
sorceress (Pharmakis); that she was extremely incontinent ... the anger of the goddess Hekate
transformed it into this evil creature." - Aelian, On Animals 15.11
"They [the Moirai] turned her [Galinthias] into a deceitful weasel (or polecat) ... Hekate felt
sorry for this transformation of her appearance and appointed her a sacred servant of herself." -
Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 29
II) DOG (Greek kuôn, skylax)
"Hekate Brimo ... hearing his words from the abyss, came up ... and hounds of the underworld
(kunes khthonioi) barked shrilly all around her." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.1194
"Zerynthos [in Samothrake], cave of the goddess to whom dogs are slain [Hekate]." - Lycophron,
Alexandra 74
"[Dogs] terrifying with thy baying in the night all mortals who worship not with torches the
images of Zerynthia [Hekate]." - Lycophron, Alexandra 1174
"I know of no other Greeks who are accustomed to sacrifice puppies except the people of
Kolophon; these too sacrifice a puppy, a black bitch, to Enodia (of the Wayside) [Hekate] ... at
night." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 3.14.9-10
"She ... out of Erebos and Chaos called Nox (Night) and the Di Nocti (Gods of Night) ... stones
brayed and bellowed, dogs began to bark." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.403
"Sapaeans [a Thrakian tribe] ... offer the guts of dogs to Trivia [Hekate]." - Ovid, Fasti 1.389
"A baying of hounds was heard through the half-light: the goddess was coming, Hecate." -
Virgil, Aeneid 6.257
"Baying [of Hounds] loud as that which rings at the grim gate of Dis [Haides] or from Hecate’s
escort [of black hounds] to the world above." - Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 6.110
"At another time you [Egyptian Isis] are Proserpina [Persephone or Hekate], whose howls at
night inspire dread." - Apuleius, Golden Ass 11.218
"Hekate, divine friend of dogs." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3.61
"Hekate ... nightwandering, nurse of puppies because the nightly sound of the hurrying dogs is
thy delight with their mournful whimpering." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 44.198
"Hekate and the Zerinthian cave, where they sacrificed dogs." - Suidas s.v. All' ei tis humôn en
Samothraikei memuemenos esti
She had few public temples in the ancient world, however, small household shrines, which were
erected to ward off evil and the malevolent powers of witchcraft, were quite common. Her most
important cults were those of Eleusis and the island of Samothrake, where she was worshipped
as an associate-goddess of the Mysteries.
In classical sculpture Hekate was depicted in one of two ways: either as a woman holding twin
torches; or as three woman standing back to back and facing in three directions. According to
Pausanias, Alkamenes was the first sculptor to portray her in this so-called Triformis style. There
is a good example of an Hekate Trimorphis in the Vatican Museum and also one in Antiquities
Museum of Leiden.
GENERAL CULT
Pindar, Paean 2 (trans. Sandys) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :

"It was the first of the month when this befell, and the gracious Hekata, the maid of the ruddy
feet, was thereby sending us a message that was longing for fulfilment."
[N.B. Offerings were made to Hekate on the morning of the new moon]
Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 18 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :

"If you think Latona [Leto] a goddess, how can you not think that Hecate is one, who is the
daughter of Latona’s sister Asteria? Is Hecate a goddess too? We have seen altars and shrines
belonging to her in Greece."
HOUSEHOLD SHRINES
Small household shrines were erected to Hekate to ward of the harmful influences of witchcraft
and the power of the evil eye.
Aeschylus, Fragment 216 (from Scholiast on Theocritus, Idyll 2. 36) (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek
tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"Lady (despoina) Hekate, before the portal of the royal halls." [I.e. her shrine by the gates.]
Euripides, Medea 396 ff (trans. Vellacott) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :

"My chosen helper Hekate, who dwells in the inner chamber of my house [i.e. at the household
shrine]."
Aristophanes, Plutus 410 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
"Ask Hekate whether it is better to be rich or starving; she will tell you that the rich send her a
meal every month [i.e. food placed inside her door-front shrines] and that the poor make it
disappear before it is even served."
Aristophanes, Wasps 804 ff :

"I have heard it foretold, that one day the Athenians would dispense justice in their own houses,
that each citizen would have himself a little tribunal constructed in his porch similar to the altars
of Hekate (Hekataion), and that there would be such before every door."
[N.B. Hekataion were statues or chapels of Hekate, placed at the entrance of houses.]
CROSSROAD SHRINES
Aristophanes, Frogs 440 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
"The Lady Hekate's wayside shrine."
"It was Alkamenes [of Athens], in my opinion, who first made three images of Hekate attached
to one another."
Ovid, Fasti 1. 141 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"You see Hecate’s faces turned in three directions so she can protect the triple crossroads."
Virgil, Aeneid 4. 609 ff (trans. Day-Lewis) (Roman epic C1st B.C.) :

"Hecate whose name is howled by night at the city cross-roads."
CULT IN ATTIKA (SOUTHERN GREECE)
I) ATHENS Chief City of Attika
Aristophanes, Wasps 799 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
"Athenians . . . in their own houses . . . constructed in the porch . . . altars of Hecate . . . before
every door."
"It was Alkamenes, in my opinion, who first made three images of Hekate attached to one
another, a figure called by the Athenians Epipurgidia (on the Tower); it stands beside the temple
of Nike Apteron (Wingless Victory) [on the Akropolis]."
II) ELEUSIS Town in Attika
Hekate was one of the chief goddesses of the Eleusinian Mysteries, alongside Demeter and
Persephone. The story of the Abduction of Persephone describes her role in the sagas of the
Mysteries.
Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 280 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
"[Description of the Thesmophoria festival held in honour of the Great Goddesses, Demeter and
Persephone :]
Woman Herald : Silence! Silence! Pray to the Thesmophorai, Demeter and Koura [Persephone];
pray to Ploutos, Kalligeneia, Kourotrophos [Hekate], Ge (the Earth), Hermes and the Kharites
(Graces), that all may happen for the best at this gathering, both for the greatest advantage of
Athens and for our own personal happiness! May the award be given her who, by both deeds and
words, has most deserved it from the Athenian people and from the women! Address these
prayers to heaven and demand happiness for yourselves. Io Paean! Io Paean! Let us rejoice!"
CULT IN AIGINA (SOUTHERN GREECE)
I) AIGINA Chief Town of Aigina
"Of the gods, the Aiginetans worship most Hekate, in whose honour every year they celebrate
mystic rites which, they say, Orpheus the Thrakian established among them. Within the
enclosure is a temple; its wooden image is the work of Myron, and it has one face and one body.
It was Alkamenes, in my opinion, who first made three images of Hekate attached to one another
[in Athens]."
CULT IN SIKYONIA (SOUTHERN GREECE)
I) TITANE Town in Sikyonia
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 11. 8 :

"In the portico [of the temple of Askepios at Titane, Sikyonia] are dedicated images of Dionysos
and Hekate, with Aphrodite, the Mater Theon (Mother of the Gods), and Tykhe (Fortune). These
are wooden."

"In Titane there is also a sanctuary of Athena, into which they bring up the image of Koronis
[mother of Asklepios] . . . The sanctuary is built upon a hill, at the bottom of which is an Altar of
the Winds, and on it the priest sacrifices to the winds one night in every year. He also performs
other secret rites [of Hekate] at four pits, taming the fierceness of the blasts [of the winds], and
he is said to chant as well the charms of Medea."
CULT IN ARGOLIS (SOUTHERN GREECE)
I) ARGOS Chief City of Argolis

"[In Argos] near the Lords [shrine of the Dioskouroi] is a sanctuary of Eilethyia, dedicated by
Helene when, Theseus having gone away with Peirithoos to Thesprotia, Aphidna had been
captured by the Dioskouroi and Helene was being brought to Lakedaimon. For it is said that she
was with child, was delivered In Argos, and founded there the sanctuary of Eilethyia, giving the
daughter she bore [Iphigeneia] to Klytaimnestra, who was already wedded to Agamemnon, while
she herself subsequently married Menelaos . . . Over against the sanctuary of Eilethyia is a
temple of Hekate [the goddess probably here identified with the apotheosed Iphigeneia], and the
image is a work of Skopas. This one is of stone, while the bronze images opposite, also of
Hekate, were made respectively by Polykleitos and his brother Naukydes."
CULT IN THESSALIA (NORTHERN GREECE)
I) PHERAI Town in Thessalia

"Brimo Trimorphos [Hekate] . . . appeasing the goddess of Pherai with sacrifice."
CULT IN THRAKE (NORTH OF GREECE)
I) HAIMOS & STRYMON Mountain and River in Thrake
Hekate was closely identified with the Thrakian goddess Bendis.

"Brimo Trimorphos [Hekate] . . . queen of Strymon."
Ovid, Fasti 1. 389 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"I have seen Sapaeans [a Thrakian tribe] and your snow dwellers, Haemus [mountain in Thrake],
offer the guts of dogs to Trivia [Hekate]."
CULT IN SAMOTHRAKE (GREEK AEGEAN)
I) ZERYNTHIA Mountain & Cave of Samothrake

"Zerynthos [on the island of Samothrake], cave of the goddess to whom dogs are slain [Hekate]."
Lycophron, Alexandra 1174 ff :

"The maiden daughter of Perseus, Brimo Trimorphos (Three-formed), shall make thee [Hekabe
queen of Troy] her attendant [Hekabe was transformed into a dog], terrifying with thy baying in
the night all mortals who worship not with torches the images of Zerynthia [Hekate] queen of
Strymon, appeasing the goddess of Pherai with sacrifice."
Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 20 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Some, however, believe that the Kouretes were the same as the Korybantes and were ministers
of Hekate [in the Mysteries of Samothrake]."
Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 10 :

"Now most of the Greeks assigned to Dionysos, Apollon, Hekate, the Mousai, and above all to
Demeter, everything of an orgiastic or Bakkhic or choral nature, as well as the mystic element in
initiations . . . And branch-bearing, choral dancing, and initiations are common elements in the
worship of these gods."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3. 61 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :

"Already the bird of morning was cutting the air with loud cries [on the island of Samothrake];
already the helmeted bands of desert-haunting Korybantes were beating on their shields in the
Knossian dance, and leaping with rhythmic steps, and the oxhides thudded under the blows of
the iron as they whirled them about in rivalry, while the double pipe made music, and quickened
the dancers with its rollicking tune in time to the bounding steps. Aye, and the trees whispered,
the rocks boomed, the forests held jubilee with their intelligent movings and shakings, and the
Dryades did sing. Packs of bears joined the dance, skipping and wheeling face to face; lions with
a roar from emulous throats mimicked the triumphant cry of the priests of the Kabeiroi, sane in
their madness; the revelling pipes rang out a tune to honour of Hekate, divine friend of dogs,
those single pipes, which the horn-polisher’s art invented in Kronos’s days."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 4. 184 ff :

"Grottoes of the Kabeiroi and Korybantian cliffs [on the island of Samothrake] . . . the revelling
companies of my mother’s [Elektra, queen of the island of Samothrake,] Hekate with their
torches in the night."

"Zerynthos [on the island of Samothrake] of the unresting Korybantes, the foundation of
renowned Perseis [Hekate], where the rocks are thronged with torchbearing mystics of the
Maid."

"[The Kabeiros] Alkon grasped a fiery bolt in one hand, and swung about a festal torch of
Hekate from his own country [i.e. Samothrake]."
Suidas s.v. Zerynthia (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) :
"Zerynthia : . . . Also Zerinthian cave, where they used to sacrifice dogs. There the mysteries of
the Korybantes [Kabeiroi] and of Hekate took place."
Suidas s.v. All' ei tis humôn en Samothraikei memuemenos esti :

"In Samothrake there were certain initiation-rites, which they supposed efficacious as a charm
against certain dangers. In that place were also the mysteries of the Korybantes [Kabeiroi] and
those of Hekate and the Zerinthian cave, where they sacrificed dogs. The initiates supposed that
these things save [them] from terrors and from storms."
CULT IN DELOS (GREEK AEGEAN)
I) PSAMITE Islet near Delos
Hekate was worshipped on Psamite an islet in the vicinity of Delos. In some accounts this island
was the metamorphosed body of her mother Asteria.
Suidas s.v. Hekates nesou :

"Hekates nesou (of the island of Hekate) : On the approach to Delos lies a certain islet, which
some call Psamite. They say that it is called this because the goddess is honoured with psamita.
A psamiton is a particular kind of cake."
CULT IN RHODES (GREEK AEGEAN)
Suidas s.v. Asphodelos :

"Asphodelos (Asphodel) : A bulbous plant, having long leaves and an edible stem; and its seed
when roasted and the root chopped up with figs fetches a high price. [It is] sacred to Persephone
and the underworld [deities]. Also Rhodians wreath Kore [Persephone] and Artemis [Hekate]
with asphodel."
CULT IN LYDIA (ASIA MINOR)
I) EPHESOS City in Ionia / Lydia
"They [the priests of the temple of Artemis at Ephesos] showed me also some of the works of
Thrason, who made the Hekatesion (Shrine of Hekate)."
II) KOLOPHON Town in Ionia / Lydia
"I know of no other Greeks [than the Spartans sacrifices to Enyalios] who are accustomed to
sacrifice puppies except the people of Kolophon; these too sacrifice a puppy, a black bitch, to
Enodia (of the Wayside) [Hekate]. Both the sacrifice of the Kolophonians and that of the youths
at Sparta are appointed to take place at night."
CULT IN KARIA (ASIA MINOR)
I) LAGINA Town in Karia
"Stratonikeia [in Karia, Asia Minor] is a settlement of Makedonians . . . There are two temples in
the country of the Stratonikeians, of which the most famous, that of Hekate, is at Lagina; and it
draws great festal assemblies every year."
CULT IN PAPHLAGONIA (ASIA MINOR)
I) R. HALYS River in Paphlagonia
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 245 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :
"They [the Argonauts] made fast their stern cables on the Paphlagonian coast at the mouth of the
River Halys. Medea had told them to land there and propitiate Hekate with a sacrifice. But with
what ritual she prepared the offering, no one must hear. Nor must I let myself be tempted to
describe it; my lips are sealed by awe. But the altar they built for the goddess on the beach is still
there for men of a later age to see."
CULT IN SICILY (SOUTHERN ITALY)
I) PAKHYNOS Town in Sikelia

"[The goddess Hekate] shall make thee [Hekabe queen of Troy] her attendant [after her
transformation into a dog] . . . And the island spur of Pakhynos [in Sikelia] shall hold thine
[Hekabe’s] awful cenotaph, piled by the hands of thy master [Odysseus], prompted by dreams
when thou hast gotten the rites of death in front of the streams of Heloros. He [Odysseus] shall
pour on the shore offerings for thee, unhappy one, fearing the anger of the three-necked goddess
[Hekate], for that he shall hurl the first stone at thy stoning and begin the dark sacrifice to
Haides."
CULT TITLES OF HEKATE
Hekate had a number of cult titles, variously referring to her cult functions and the locations of
her shrines:--
Greek Name Transliteration Latin Spelling Translation

Destroyer,
PerseiV Perseis Perseïs
Daughter of Perses
Angry One,
Brimw Brimô Brimo
Terrible One
Lady of the
Aidwnaia Aidônaia Aedonaea
Underworld
Three-Formed,
TrimorfiV Trimorphis Trimorphis
Three-Bodies
Of the Crossroads,
TrioditiV Trioditis Trioditis
Of the Three-Ways
Of the Wayside,
Enodia Enodia Enodia
Of the Crossroads
Einodia Einodia Einodia Of the Wayside

(Epic spelling)
Of the Wayside
Ennodia Ennodia Ennodia
(Thessalian sp.)
Of Mount Zerynthia
Zhrunqia Zerynthia Zerynthia
(in Samothrace)
The Romans title Hecate Trivia, the Latin equivalent of the Greek Trioditis
A shrine of Hekate was called a Hekatesion:--

Èkathsion Hekatêsion Hecatesium Temple of Hekate
POETIC TITLES & EPITHETS OF HEKATE
Hekate had a number of poetic titles and epithets:--

NuktipoloV Nyktipolos Nyctipolus Night Wandering
AtaloV Atalos Atalus Tender, Delicate
Cqonih Khthoniê Chthonia Of the Underworld
KourotrofoV Kourotrophos Curotrophus Nurse of the Young
SkulakagetiV Skylakagetis Scylacagetis Leader of the Dogs
Only Begotten
Kourh mounogenhV Kourê mounogenês Core munagenes
Maiden
Bright-Coiffed, With
LiparokrhdemnoV Liparokrêdemnos Liparocredemnus
Bright Headband
Queen of the those

Anassa Eneroi Anassa eneroi Anassa eneri
Below (i.e the Dead)
ENCYCLOPEDIA HEKATE TITLES
A′NGELOS (Angelos). A surname of Artemis, under which she was worshipped at Syracuse,
and according to some accounts the original name of Hecate. (Hesych. s. v.; Schol. ad Theocrit.
ii. 12.)
BRIMO (Brimô), the angry or the terrifying, occurs as a surname of several divinities, such as
Hecate or Persephone (Apollon. Rhod. iii. 861, 1211; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 1171), Demeter (Arnob.
v. p. 170), and Cybele. (Theodoret. Ther. i. 699.) The Scholiast on Apollonius (l. c.) gives a
second derivation of Brimo from Bromos, so that it would refer to the crackling of the fire, as
Hecate was conceived bearing a torch.
CHTHO′NIA (Chthonia), may mean the subterraucous, or the goddess of the earth, that is, the
protectress of the fields, whence it is used as a surname of infernal divinities, such as Hecate
(Apollon. Rhod. iv. 148; Orph. Hymn. 35. 9), Nyx (Orph. Hymn. 2. 8), and Melinoë (Orph.
Hymn. 70. 1), but especially of Demeter. (herod. ii. 123; Orph. Hymn. 39. 12; Artemid. ii. 35;
Apollon. Rhod. iv. 987.)
PHERAEA (Pheraia). 1. A surname of Artemis at Pherae in Thessaly, at Argos and Sicyon,

where she had temples. (Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 259 ; Paus. ii. 10. § 6, 23. § 5.) 2. A surname of
Hecate, because she was a daughter of Zeus and Pheraea, the daughter of Aeolus, or because she
had been brought up by the shepherds of Pheres, or because she was worshipped at Pherae.
(Tzetz. ad Lyc. 1180; Spanheim, ad Callim. l. c.)
PHO′SPHORUS (Phôsphoros), Phosphorus also occurs as a surname of several goddesses of

light, as Artemis (Diana Lucifera, Paus. iv. 31. § 8; Serv. ad Aen. ii. 116), Eos (Eurip. Ion. 1157)
and Hecate. (Eurip. Helen. 569.)
Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Hecate: Hecate, Greek Goddess of The Crossroads

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Hecate, Greek Goddess

She knew what the rest of us did not.

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

I) PERSES & ASTERIA

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 8 - 9 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :

Lycophron, Alexandra 1174 (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :

Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 18 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :

Seneca, Medea 812 (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :

Lycophron, Alexandra 1174 (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :

III) KIRKE & MEDEA

HEKATE & THE TITAN-WAR

HEKATE & THE WAR OF THE GIGANTES

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 34 - 38 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :

HEKATE & THE RAPE OF PERSEPHONE

Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter 436 ff :

HEKATE & HERMES

Propertius, Elegies 2. 29c (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) :

HEKATE & GALINTHIAS

Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 29 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :

HEKATE & QUEEN HEKABE

Lycophron, Alexandra 1174 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :

Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 111 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :

Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.362 ff :

 Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th B.C.

II) HOMERIC HYMNS

III) ORPHIC HYMNS

"Torch-bearing Hekate holy daughter of great-bosomed Nyx (Night)." - Greek Lyric IV

"Propitiating the only-begotten Maiden (Koure mounogeneia) [Hekate] with a midnight

GODDESS OF NECROMANCY & GHOSTS

I) GODDESS OF GHOSTS (GENERAL)

III) NECROMANCY OF AESON & ALKIMEDE

VI) ORACLES OF THE DEAD

HEKATE GODDESS OF WITCHCRAFT

I) GODDESS OF MAGIC (GENERAL)

II) MAGIC OF THE WITCH MEDEA

THE TAURIAN HEKATE & IPHIGENEIA

HEKATE IDENTIFIED WITH ARTEMIS

The triad Hekate-Artemis-Selene was popular in Roman-era poetry.

"[Phaedra prays to Artemis-Hekate-Selene:] `O [Artemis] queen of the groves (regina

"[Nonnus in the passage that follows describes Artemis-Hekate-Selene as a triple goddess:] O

I) WEASEL, POLECAT (Greek galeê)

II) DOG (Greek kuôn, skylax)

"Hekate, divine friend of dogs." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3.61

Pindar, Paean 2 (trans. Sandys) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :

Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 18 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :

Euripides, Medea 396 ff (trans. Vellacott) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :

Aristophanes, Wasps 804 ff :

Virgil, Aeneid 4. 609 ff (trans. Day-Lewis) (Roman epic C1st B.C.) :

CULT IN ATTIKA (SOUTHERN GREECE)

I) ATHENS Chief City of Attika

II) ELEUSIS Town in Attika

CULT IN AIGINA (SOUTHERN GREECE)

I) AIGINA Chief Town of Aigina

CULT IN SIKYONIA (SOUTHERN GREECE)

I) TITANE Town in Sikyonia

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 11. 8 :

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 12. 1 :

CULT IN ARGOLIS (SOUTHERN GREECE)

I) ARGOS Chief City of Argolis