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Hecate, a divinity of the
Underworld and
companion of
Persephone, is called
the queen of night and the goddess of the
cross-roads; her three faces are turned towards as
many directions, and her name was shrieked at night
at the cross-roads of cities. She is often seen
bearing torches, and it is with them that she
killed Clytius 6 in the course of the
Gigantomachy.
Hecate is regarded as supreme, both in Heaven and
in the Underworld,
and it is said that Zeus
calls upon her whenever any man on earth offers
sacrifices, and prays for favour.
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Privileges preserved after the
Titanomachy
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On becoming the ruler of the universe,
Zeus did not deprive Hecate
of the privileges—concerning earth, heaven and
sea—that were her share when the
TITANS ruled the world
before him, but she keeps them just as the division
was in the beginning.
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Gives and takes away
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This goddess, a night-wanderer, is credited with
wit-depriving spells, reminding those of
Pan or the
CORYBANTES, but also
with power:
It is Hecate, some believe, that bestows wealth
and grants advances to those whose prayers she
receives favourably. Similarly, the outcome of war
and victory in games may depend on her, who grants
glory to whom she pleases. And to those who work at
sea, she gives great catch or takes it away, if
that is her will; likewise, concerning herds, she
increases their number from a few, or reduces it to
be less, following her own will.
Hecate, who is regarded as nurse and overseer of
the young, is also said to have a part in
judgements, when these take place; and in
assemblies, she distinguishes whom she will.
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Witchcraft
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This power resembles that of sorcery. For
Medea, who was a priestess
of Hecate, used witchcraft, apparently under the
guidance of the goddess, in order to handle magic
herbs and poisons with skill, and to be able to
stay the course of rivers, or check the paths of
the stars and the moon. The Caucasian witch also
relied on the goddess' help, when she was about to
commit a crime in Hellas:
"By the
goddess I worship most of all, my chosen helper
Hecate, who dwells in the inner chamber of my
house, none of them shall pain my heart and smile
at it! Bitter will I make their marriage, bitter
Creon's marriage-alliance, and bitter my banishment
from the land!" [Euripides,
Medea
400]
For Hecate had not left her, although
Medea sailed away from
Colchis. But when the goddess noticed that
Medea, by a trick of
Hera, would fell in love
with Jason and leave the
country, she lamented:
"Alas! you'll
leave our woodland and your maiden bands, unhappy
girl, to wander in your own despite to the cities
of the Greeks. Yet not unbidden you go, nor, my
dear one, will I forsake you. A signal record of
your flight shall you leave behind, nor though a
captive shall you ever be despised by your false
lord, nay, he shall know me for your teacher, and
that I grieved with shame that he robbed me of my
handmaid." [Hecate. Valerius Flaccus,
Argonautica
6.497]
Nevertheless, she helped
Medea in Colchis, as did
both Hera and
Aphrodite; and the
reason why the witch succeeded in helping
Jason against her own
father and brother is that she was supported by
these three goddesses, and particularly by Hecate.
It was the latter who gave
Medea the Caucasian herb
of great potency, sprung from the gore that dropped
from the liver of
Prometheus 1; with
it Medea anointed
Jason's body and arms,
making him practically invulnerable.
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Underworld
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Hecate, daughter of Tartarus, has never been a
comforting sight; for her changing aspect and
triple head turn her into a terrible appearance.
Besides, she held swords in her hands, and they say
that from her left shoulder came forth a long maned
horse, while the furious face of a bitch could be
seen to her right; and in her middle there was a
wild serpent.
Yet Hecate has been called tender-hearted,
probably because she was concerned with the
disappearance of
Persephone, and
addressed Demeter with
sweet words when the latter was distressed:
"Demeter, bringer of seasons, what god of
heaven or what mortal man has taken away
Persephone and pierced with sorrow your
heart? For I heard her voice, yet saw not with my
eyes who it was." [Hecate to
Demeter.
Homeric
Hymn to Demeter 55]
And when Demeter
finally found her daughter, Hecate embraced
Persephone, becoming,
from that time, her companion. All three are seen
with torches, and Hecate—who, according to
some, is attended by the
CORYBANTES, or by the
CURETES—had a share, along with
Demeter and her
daughter, in the mystic element in initiations, as
also had Dionysus 2,
Apollo, and the
MUSES.
Hecate, being a deity of the lower world, also
grants power in that realm; otherwise had not
Aeneas addressed the
Cumaean Sibyl
thus:
"I beseech
you, gracious one; for you are all-powerful, and
not in vain has Hecate made you mistress in the
groves of Avernus."
[Aeneas to the
Sibyl. Virgil,
Aeneid
6.116]
And later, the same Sibyl tells
Aeneas:
". . . when
Hecate appointed me to the Avernian grove, she
instructed me in heaven's punishments and guided me
through all." [The Sibyl to
Aeneas. Virgil,
Aeneid
6.564]
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Threefold Hecate
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According to the traveller Pausanias, Hecate was
worshipped mainly in Aegina (the island in the
Saronic Gulf midway Attica and Argolis), where
every year the mystic rites said to have been
established by Orpheus,
were celebrated.
Hecate has been identified or associated with
Artemis; that is why
Antigone 2 invokes her
thus:
" O Lady
Hecate, child of Leto!" [Euripides,
Phoenician
Women 110]
And the poet Publius Vergilius Maro says:
". . .
threefold Hecate, triple-faced maiden Diana."
[Virgil,
Aeneid
4.511]
Others have expressed themselves otherwise,
saying that Iphigenia
is Hecate by the will of
Artemis. And still
others have conjectured that she is represented
with three heads for resembling
Artemis on earth, and
Selene in Heaven. And
Artemis herself is
identified with Selene,
being often depicted with the arch of the moon on
her forehead; and others have thought that
Apollo, the bright one,
dethroned Helius,
becoming the sun himself.
The list could certainly be made longer and more
complex, given the many aspects of many deities.
But some humans, hating the contradictions they
happen to discover everywhere, demand—in the
name of knowledge—that the gods and goddesses
be as easy to classify and understand as the birds
that fly accross the sky.
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Parentage [three versions]
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Mates
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Offspring
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Notes
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Perses 1 & Asteria 1
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Perses 3 & unknown
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Tartarus & unknown
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- Perses 1 is son of the Titan Crius
1 and Eurybia 1, the daughter of Pontus
and Gaia.
- Asteria 1 is daughter of the
TITANS Coeus
and Phoebe 1, or, as some say, of
Titan, the son of the
TITANS
Hyperion 1 and Thia. Asteria 1 was
turned into a quail by
Zeus, and so
transformed flung herself into the sea
in order to escape his amorous
advances.
- Perses 3 is the son of
Helius and
Perseis, one of the
OCEANIDS.
He deposed his brother
Aeetes, who
reigned in Colchis, and is said to be
Aeetes'
blood-brother only on his mother's
side. He was at war with
Aeetes when
the
ARGONAUTS
arrived in Colchis. He was later killed
by Medea or by
her son Medus on her return to Colchis.
- For Tartarus see
Underworld.
- Additional note: According to
Frazer, the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod.,
Argon. iii.467 says that
according to the Orphic Hymns,
Hecate was a daughter of Deo; yet that
cannot be found in Hymn 1.1,
where Hecate is presented as daughter
of Perses 1. Apparently, the same
scholiast affirms that, according to
Bacchylides, she was daughter of
Nyx; according
to Musaeus, daughter of
Zeus and
Asteria 1; and according to Pherecydes,
daughter of Aristaeus.
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a) Phorcus
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["a)" and "b)" = different versions]
Phorcus is a sea-deity, son of Pontus (Sea)
& Gaia (Earth), or of
Oceanus & Tethys.
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Aeetes
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Aeetes was king of
Colchis in Caucasus.
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Apsyrtus
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Apsyrtus is best known as
Medea's brother.
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