Hecate ( HEK-ə-tee; Ancient Greek: Ἑκάτη) is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Variously associated with crossroads, night, light, magic, witchcraft, and the Moon, she is most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, or snakes, or accompanied by dogs, and in later periods she is typically depicted as three-formed or triple-bodied. Her earliest appearance in literature was in Hesiod's Theogony in the 8th century BCE, where she is described as a goddess of great honour with domains in sky, earth, and sea. She had popular followings among the witches of Thessaly, and an important sanctuary among the Carians of Asia Minor in Lagina. The earliest evidence for Hecate's cult comes from Selinunte, in Sicily. Hecate was one of several deities worshipped in ancient Athens as a protector of the oikos (household), alongside Zeus, Hestia, Hermes, and Apollo. In the Chaldean Oracles of the 2nd–3rd century CE, she was also regarded with some rulership over earth, sea, and sky, as well as a more universal role as Savior (Soteira), Mother of Angels, and the anima mundi. Regarding the nature of her cult, it has been remarked: "she is more at home on the fringes than in the centre of Greek polytheism. Intrinsically ambivalent and polymorphous, she straddles conventional boundaries and eludes definition." The Romans often knew her by the epithet of Trivia, an epithet she shares with Diana, each in their roles as protectress of travel and of the crossroads (trivia, "three ways"). Hecate was closely identified with Diana and Artemis in the Roman era.
Name
Etymology Potential Greek source words have been suggested for the goddess's name. The word ἑκών, meaning "willing" (thus, "she who works her will" or similar), may be related to the name Hecate. However, no sources suggested list will or willingness as a major attribute of Hecate, which calls this assertion into question. Another Greek word suggested as the origin of the name Hecate is Ἑκατός Hekatos, an obscure epithet of Apollo interpreted as "the far-reaching one" or "the far-darter". This has been suggested in comparison with the attributes of the goddess Artemis, strongly associated with Apollo and frequently equated with Hecate in the classical world. Supporters of this etymology suggest that Hecate was originally considered an aspect of Artemis prior to the latter's adoption into the Olympian pantheon. Artemis would have, at that point, become more strongly associated with purity and maidenhood, while her originally darker attributes like her association with magic, the souls of the dead, and the night would have continued to be worshipped separately through Hecate. Though often considered the most likely Greek origin of the name, the Ἑκατός theory does not account for her worship in Anatolia, where her association with Artemis seems to have been a late development, and the competing theories that the attribution of darker aspects and magic to Hecate were themselves not originally part of her cult. R. S. P. Beekes rejected a Greek etymology and suggested a Pre-Greek origin.
Older English pronunciation and spelling In Early Modern English, the name was also pronounced disyllabically (as ) and sometimes spelled Hecat. It remained common practice in English to pronounce her name in two syllables, even when spelled with final e, well into the 19th century. The spelling Hecat is due to Arthur Golding's 1567 translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, and this spelling without the final E later appears in plays of the Elizabethan-Jacobean period. Webster's Dictionary of 1866 particularly credits the influence of Shakespeare for the then-predominant disyllabic pronunciation of the name.
Possible origins Evidence suggests that Hecate originated among the Carians of Anatolia, the region where most theophoric names invoking Hecate, such as Hecataeus or Hecatomnus (the father of Mausolus) are attested, at her unrivalled cult site in Lagina. In particular, there is some evidence that she might be derived from the local sun goddesses (see also Arinna) based on similar attributes. The monuments to Hecate in Phrygia and Caria are numerous, but of a later date.
Iconography
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