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Hekate's History

Hekate is a goddess shrouded in mystey, for there is continuing debate about Her name, origin and character. There are few legends about Her,and no fixed geneology. Some say that Hekate is the daughter of Erebus and Nyx, ageless Goddess of the night, while others believe that She is one of the Furies or the last surviving Titan except for Zeus. Hesoid claims that She was born of the Titan Perses and the star goddess Asteria. Musaeus claims She was born to Asteria and Zeus, Euripides says She is a daughter of Leto, while Thessalian legend has it that Hekate is the daughter of Admetus and a Pheraean woman.

It's likely that Hekate's attributed birth changed as different social groups adopted Her worship, but no Greek Clan or Tribe ever claimed decent from Hekate. Both facts support the theory that She originated outside Greece.

Hekate probably originated in the mythology of the Karians in southwest Asia Minor, and was integrated into Greek religion around the sixth century BCE. However, there is evidence that Hekate evolved from the Egyptian midwife goddess Heqit, (alternatively spelt 'Heket' or 'Hekat'.) The frog headed goddess Heqit assisted with the daily birth of the Sun and was associated with the apparently magical germination of the seemingly lifeless corn seed. In pre-dynastic Egypt the matriarch and wise woman of the tribe was called the 'heq'. It's interesting to note that Hekate is associated with childbirth.

Hekate's name has several possible meanings. 'She who works Her will' is the most commonly accepted, but 'the far-off one' or 'far-darting one' are also suggested. Such names suggest that Her power is far reaching.

An alternative derivation, 'most shining one', is bourne out in representations of Hekate from the forth century BCE which show a young goddess of both beauty & power, carrying a torch & wearing a headdress of stars. 'Hekate' is the female equivalent of 'Hekatos', an obscure epithet of Apollo, with whom She is sometimes associated.

The Olympians 'adopted' Her after they had defeated the Titans, but She was not of the same kind, & never lived amongst them. During this time Hekate's power was still recognized: Zeus gave Her dominion over Heaven, Earth & Sea, & they shared the right to grant or withhold gifts from humanity. Hekate was worshipped as Goddess of abundance & eloquence, & She is still generous to those who recognize Her.

According to the Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities, Hekate 'was only worshipped at night by torchlight'.

Hekate is sometimes referred to a triple goddess. Classically She was part of a group with Persephone and Demeter. Contrary to modern Pagan assumptions, Demeter represents the old crone woman, Persephone the wife woman, and Hekate is the Maiden. Every early Greek representation of Hekate shows Her as a young woman. It is only much later that She is represented as Crone.

In Mytilene on the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea, near what was Troy, there are Temples of Demeter, where the women would go to the annual festival of Eleusis to celebrate fertility rites. There is ample evidence that Hekate was honored there too, perhaps as a guide for initiates into the Mysteries.

But Hekate's power was to fade. In later myths She is represented as a daughter of Zeus who rules the Underworld & the waning Moon. The Greeks began to emphasize Her darker aspects; Hekate as Goddess of the Dead & Queen of Witches. She was increasingly depicted as roaming the earth on moonless nights in the company of baying dogs and the hungry spirits of those dead who were not ready to die, those who were murdered or not given appropriate burial rites.

Edith Hamilton's Mythology says of Hecate: " She was associated with deeds of darkness, the Goddess of the Crossways, which held to be ghostly places of evil magic. An awful divinity".

Hamilton appears to be drawing on the later Greek poets for her decription. Comparing late and early verses on Hekate will make my point clearer.

For Valerius Flaccus, Hekate is dark and terrifying:

“[Medea] wearies heaven above and Tartarus beneath with her complains; 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, The Argonautica 7.311, Latin Epic from around the 1st AD.

But in the 5th and 6th BC, a very different picture emerges:

"[Hekate] the golden-shining attendant of Aphrodite." -Greek Lyric I Sappho or Alcaeus, Fragments, C6th BC

"Torch-bearing Hekate, .. holy .., daughter of great-bosomed Nyx." -Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Fragments, C5th BC

(Quotes taken from http://www.theoi.com/Ouranos/Hekate.html)

In fact no other Greek deity attracted such atmosphere of 'evil and debased superstition' (Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States p. 503).

How did Hekate become transformed from a popular, bright young Goddess into a dark and terrifying hag?

Perhaps we will never know for certain, but there are some facinating clues.

Hekate has long been associated with crossroads where three roads meet. In ancient Greek religion the soul was judged at a place where three roads meet. One road led to the Elysian Fields, one to the Fields of Asphodel, and the third road to Tartarus. So any crossroads where three roads meet might symbolize this place of judgment, and be seen as a sacred place.

But crossroads are also seen as ominous and dangerous places. In many traditions this is where suicides and criminals were buried. Were the two aspects associated or confused in some way? It's notable that it is specifically crossroads where three roads meet that are sacred to Hekate, whereas any crossroad is deemed as ominous.

The Romans adopted Hekate, and Her role shifted again. Hekate became an aspect of the moon Goddess, Diana Triformus: Diana (the Full moon, associated with Earth), Proserpina (the lunar phases, associated with Heaven), and Hekate (the New moon, associated with the Underworld.)

As the power of the Solar Gods rose, Hekate became increasingly demonized, until by the Middle Ages She was reduced to a parody of an evil crone.