Myths and history of Hecate

Hecate belongs to the number of the most important deities of ancient world and simultaneously is one of the most ambiguous. Her cult endured more than three thousand years, leaving its traces during the periods from Greek Archaic, Renaissance and up to modern neo-Wicca cultures.

The oldest mention of Hecate is thought to be Theogony by Hesiod where it is reported that her parents are titan Pers (“Disraptor”) and goddess Asteria (“Stellar”). According to one of the theories the cult of Hecate had appeared in Thracian tribe and had been founded by Orpheus, and only later it shifted to Greeks.

Ambiguity of the goddess raises a lot of questions. For instance, not being an Olympic deity, she is greatly reverenced by Olympians and considerably honored – Zeus granted her the power over the Earth, Water and Heaven. At the same time, it is mentioned that she was not welcomed at Olympus, but her cult with its followers was not threaten to be destroyed.

Her role in the myth about abduction of Persephone is the most known. She turned to be the only eyewitness of this moment and since then it is her who annually escorts Persephone from the realm of dead to the realm of alive, to meet her mother Demeter, and back. In this myth Hecate is named “predecessor” of Persephone and her “follower” which means that while Persephone’s descending to the underworld, Hecate walks in front of her, and while returning to the earth, she walks behind to protect her from any dangers. Hence, there is one more goddess name – Hecate Soteira (“Saviour”). In addition, later the characters of Persephone and Hecate started to merge, so, Persephone has become an incarnation of the former.

One popular legend with participation of Hecate is a legend about Byzantium. When Philip the Macedonian was going to attack the city, Hecate illuminated it with the light in the middle of the night. That way the goddess with a torch and her barking dogs woke up the citizens, and the city crashed that attack. After that the statue of the goddess appeared – Hecate Lampadephoros, “Hecate with the torch”.

The Hecate's cult has never fallen into disrepair, she often played a nontrivial role in mysteries of ancient Greeks. Especially Orphic mysteries should be noted with relation to her. In them she frequently appeared under the name Brimo (“angry” or “fierce”). Her name was written on tabulas as a password that should be said after the death while traveling over the underworld to protect themselves from dangers.