Hecate
- daughter of Perses, or Perseus, and Asteria, sister of Latona, the presider over enchantments, conjurations, etc.; she is often identified with Diana, Luna, and Proserpina, and is therefore represented with three heads, Cic. N. D. 3, 18, 46; Verg. A. 4, 511 Serv.; Ov. M. 7, 74; 94; 194; 14, 405; id. F. 1, 141; Hor. S. 1, 8, 33; Sen. Phaedr. 420 et saep. —
- II Derivv.
- A Hĕcătēĭus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to Hecate, Hecateian: carmina, i. e. magical incantations, Ov. M. 14, 44: Aulis, devoted to Diana, Stat. Ach. 1, 447: Idus, i. e. of August, sacred to Diana, id. Silv. 3, 1, 60.—
- B Hĕcătēïs, ĭdos, f. adj., Hecateian: herba, i. e. enchanter's nightshade, Ov. M. 6, 139.
in corallo debet inscribi natura noctiluce, hoc est †accate [v. l. eichete, ? l. Hecate ]; signatur ‥ in eo Gorgonis figura
(Ἑκάτη). A Greek goddess, though perhaps of non-Hellenic origin. She was unknown to Homer, but in Hesiod she was the only daughter of the Titan Perses and of Asteria, the sister of Leto. She stood high in the regard of Zeus, from whom she had received a share in the heaven, earth, and ocean. She was invoked at all sacrifices, for she could give or withhold her blessing in daily life, in war, in contests on the sea, in the hunting-field, in the education of children, and in the tending of cattle. Thus she appeared as a personification of the divine power, and was the instrument through which the gods effected their will, though themselves far away. In later times she was confused with Persephoné, the queen of the lower world, or associated with her. Sometimes she was regarded as the goddess of the moon (Selené) or as Artemis, sometimes she was identified with foreign deities of the same kind. Being conceived of as a goddess of night and of the lower world, she was, as time went on, transformed into a deity of ghosts and magic. She was represented as haunting crossways and graves, accompanied by the dogs of the Styx, with the spirits of the dead and troops of spectral forms in her train. She lent powerful aid to all magical incantations and witches' work. All enchanters and enchantresses were her disciples and protégés; Medea, in particular, was regarded as her votary. She was worshipped in private and in public in many places—for instance, in Samothrace, Thessaly, Lemnos, Athens, and Aegina—and had a celebrated temple near Stratonicea in Caria. Her images were set up in the front of houses and by the road-side, with altars in front of them and a roof above them. On the last day of the month, which was sacred to her, offerings were made to her in the crossways of eggs, fish, and onions. The victims sacrificed to her were young dogs, black ewes, and honey.
In works of art she is usually portrayed in three forms, represented by three statues standing back to back. Each form has its special attributes— torches, keys, daggers, snakes, and dogs. In the Gigantomachia of Pergamum she appears with a different weapon in her three right hands—a torch, a sword, and a lance.