| Hecate | |
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Real Name |
Hecate, Trivia |
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First Appearance |
Greek Myth |
Origin[]
Hecate is the goddess of magic, crossroads, witchcraft, sorcery, ghosts, and necromancy in ancient Greek religion and myth. The daughter of Perses and Asteria (twin sister of Leto), Hecate was a member of the third generation of Titans, but sided with Zeus and his siblings during the Titanomachy. As such, she was greatly honored by Zeus, who allowed her to operate on Earth, as well as the sky and the Underworld. A nocturnal figure, Hecate often dwelled in underground caves or in the Underworld itself. She was often invoked as a household deity, to provide aid in warding off evil spirits.
Hecate assisted Demeter in her search for her daughter Persephone following Hades' abduction of her, guiding the goddess' path at night by her flaming torches. Afterwards, she frequently served as a companion of Persephone, joining her on her yearly journey to and from the realm of the dead.
In later times, Hecate was depicted as a woman with three-heads, thought to represent the past, present and future. Serving as her attendants were the Empousa, a species of man-eating monsters who were vampiric in appearance with a leg made of solid bronze and the other that of a donkey. Often identified with the goddesses Artemis and Selene, Hecate served as a representative of the harvest moon. Her symbols were a pair of torches, keys and daggers, and the serpent, polecat, and dog were considered her sacred animals. She was usually worshiped alongside Demeter and Persephone. Her Roman counterpart is Trivia.
As a "goddess of witchcraft", Hecate has been incorporated in various systems of Neopagan witchcraft, Wicca, and neopaganism, in some cases associated with the Wild Hunt of Germanic tradition, in others as part of a reconstruction of specifically Greek polytheism, in English also known as "Hellenismos". In Wicca, Hecate has in some cases become identified with the "crone" aspect of the "Triple Goddess".
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Hecate are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Theogony
- Homeric Hymn to Demeter
- Argonautica
- Gigantomachy
- The Golden Ass
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Macbeth
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Stories By Famous Authors Illustrated #6: Adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
- Adventures into the Unknown #29: The story The Witches' Brew, features not only Hecate but also Lilith and Satan.
- Chamber of Chills #18: The 1 page feature Monsters of History included not only Hecate but also Polyphemus the Cyclopes, Medusa, Chimera, The Furies, and The Hydra
- Wonderworld Comics #14: Hans Von Lundberg found the Curse of Hecate which allowed him to control Pestilence to wipe out humanity with disease. Yarko the Great stops the mad scientist by making him switch places with his female experiment trapping Hans Von Lundberg. Yarko then bargains with Death to exchange the life of Hans to resurrect his victims and to free Pestilence from his control.
- Wonder Comics #18: In The Saxon Hostage, Silver Knight deals with Vorkal who was assisted by the with called Hecate just as Silver Knight was aided by the Deathless Druid.
Notes[]
- In Hellenistic syncretism, Hecate also became closely associated with Isis. Lucius Apuleius in The Golden Ass (2nd century) equates Juno, Bellona, Hecate and Isis.