HEKATE was the goddess of witchcraft, the night, the new moon, ghosts, necromancy and crossroads. She had few public temples in the ancient world, however, small household shrines, which were erected to
ward off evil and the malevolent powers of witchcraft, were quite
common. Her most important cults were those of Eleusis and the island of
Samothrake, where she was worshipped as an associate-goddess of the
Mysteries.

In classical sculpture Hekate was depicted in one of two ways: either as a woman holding twin torches; or as three woman standing back to back and facing in three directions. According to
Pausanias, Alkamenes was the first sculptor to portray her in this
so-called Triformis style. There is a good example of an Hekate
Trimorphis in the Vatican Museum and also one in Antiquities Museum of
Leiden.

GENERAL CULT

Pindar, Paean 2 (trans. Sandys) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"It was the first of the month when this befell, and
the gracious Hekata, the maid of the ruddy feet, was thereby sending us a
message that was longing for fulfilment."
[N.B. Offerings were made to Hekate on the morning of the new moon]

Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 18 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :
"If you think Latona [Leto] a goddess, how can you not
think that Hecate is one, who is the daughter of Latona’s sister
Asteria? Is Hecate a goddess too? We have seen altars and shrines
belonging to her in Greece."

HOUSEHOLD SHRINES

Small household shrines were erected to Hekate to ward of the harmful influences of witchcraft and the power of the evil eye.

Aeschylus, Fragment 216 (from Scholiast on Theocritus, Idyll 2. 36) (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"Lady (despoina) Hekate, before the
portal of the royal halls." [I.e. her shrine by the gates.]

Euripides, Medea 396 ff (trans. Vellacott) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"My chosen helper Hekate, who dwells in the inner
chamber of my house [i.e. at the household shrine]."

Aristophanes, Plutus 410 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
"Ask Hekate whether it is better to be rich or
starving; she will tell you that the rich send her a meal every month
[i.e. food placed inside her door-front shrines] and that the poor make
it disappear before it is even served."

Aristophanes, Wasps 804 ff :
"I have heard it foretold, that one day the Athenians would dispense justice in their own houses, that each citizen would have
himself a little tribunal constructed in his porch similar to the
altars of Hekate (Hekataion), and that there would be such before every
door."
[N.B. Hekataion were statues or chapels of Hekate, placed at
the entrance of houses.]

CROSSROAD SHRINES

Aristophanes, Frogs 440 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
"The Lady Hekate's wayside shrine."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 30. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"It was Alkamenes [of Athens], in my opinion, who
first made three images of Hekate attached to one another."

Ovid, Fasti 1. 141 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"You see Hecate’s faces turned in three directions so
she can protect the triple crossroads."

Virgil, Aeneid 4. 609 ff (trans. Day-Lewis) (Roman epic C1st B.C.) :
"Hecate whose name is howled by night at the city
cross-roads."

CULT IN ATTIKA (SOUTHERN GREECE)

I) ATHENS Chief City of Attika

Aristophanes, Wasps 799 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
"Athenians . . . in their own houses . . . constructed
in the porch . . . altars of Hecate . . . before every door."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 30. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"It was Alkamenes, in my opinion, who first made three
images of Hekate attached to one another, a figure called by the
Athenians Epipurgidia (on the Tower); it stands beside the temple of
Nike Apteron (Wingless Victory) [on the Akropolis]."

II) ELEUSIS Town in Attika

Hekate was one of the chief goddesses of the Eleusinian Mysteries, alongside Demeter and Persephone. The story of the Abduction of Persephone describes her role in the sagas of the
Mysteries.

Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 280 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
"[Description of the Thesmophoria festival held in
honour of the Great Goddesses, Demeter and Persephone :]
Woman Herald : Silence! Silence! Pray to the Thesmophorai, Demeter and
Koura [Persephone]; pray to Ploutos, Kalligeneia, Kourotrophos
[Hekate], Ge (the Earth), Hermes and the Kharites (Graces), that all may
happen for the best at this gathering, both for the greatest advantage
of Athens and for our own personal happiness! May the award be given her
who, by both deeds and words, has most deserved it from the Athenian
people and from the women! Address these prayers to heaven and demand
happiness for yourselves. Io Paean! Io Paean! Let us rejoice!"

CULT IN AIGINA (SOUTHERN GREECE)

I) AIGINA Chief Town of Aigina

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 30. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"Of the gods, the Aiginetans worship most Hekate, in
whose honour every year they celebrate mystic rites which, they say,
Orpheus the Thrakian established among them. Within the enclosure is a
temple; its wooden image is the work of Myron, and it has one face and
one body. It was Alkamenes, in my opinion, who first made three images
of Hekate attached to one another [in Athens]."

CULT IN SIKYONIA (SOUTHERN GREECE)

I) TITANE Town in Sikyonia

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 11. 8 :
"In the portico [of the temple of Askepios at Titane,
Sikyonia] are dedicated images of Dionysos and Hekate, with Aphrodite,
the Mater Theon (Mother of the Gods), and Tykhe (Fortune). These are
wooden."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 12. 1 :
"In Titane there is also a sanctuary of Athena, into
which they bring up the image of Koronis [mother of Asklepios] . . . The
sanctuary is built upon a hill, at the bottom of which is an Altar of
the Winds, and on it the priest sacrifices to the winds one night in
every year. He also performs other secret rites [of Hekate] at four
pits, taming the fierceness of the blasts [of the winds], and he is said
to chant as well the charms of Medea."

CULT IN ARGOLIS (SOUTHERN GREECE)

I) ARGOS Chief City of Argolis

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 22. 7 :
"[In Argos] near the Lords [shrine of the Dioskouroi]
is a sanctuary of Eilethyia, dedicated by Helene when, Theseus having
gone away with Peirithoos to Thesprotia, Aphidna had been captured by
the Dioskouroi and Helene was being brought to Lakedaimon. For it is
said that she was with child, was delivered In Argos, and founded there
the sanctuary of Eilethyia, giving the daughter she bore [Iphigeneia] to
Klytaimnestra, who was already wedded to Agamemnon, while she herself
subsequently married Menelaos . . . Over against the sanctuary of
Eilethyia is a temple of Hekate [the goddess probably here identified
with the apotheosed Iphigeneia], and the image is a work of Skopas. This
one is of stone, while the bronze images opposite, also of Hekate, were
made respectively by Polykleitos and his brother Naukydes."

CULT IN THESSALIA (NORTHERN GREECE)

I) PHERAI Town in Thessalia

Lycophron, Alexandra 1174 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"Brimo Trimorphos [Hekate] . . . appeasing the goddess
of Pherai with sacrifice."

CULT IN THRAKE (NORTH OF GREECE)

I) HAIMOS & STRYMON Mountain and River in Thrake

Hekate was closely identified with the Thrakian goddess Bendis.

Lycophron, Alexandra 1174 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"Brimo Trimorphos [Hekate] . . . queen of Strymon."

Ovid, Fasti 1. 389 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"I have seen Sapaeans [a Thrakian tribe] and your snow
dwellers, Haemus [mountain in Thrake], offer the guts of dogs to Trivia
[Hekate]."

CULT IN SAMOTHRAKE (GREEK AEGEAN)

I) ZERYNTHIA Mountain & Cave of Samothrake

Lycophron, Alexandra 74 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"Zerynthos [on the island of Samothrake], cave of the
goddess to whom dogs are slain [Hekate]."

Lycophron, Alexandra 1174 ff :
"The maiden daughter of Perseus, Brimo Trimorphos (Three-formed), shall make thee [Hekabe queen of Troy] her attendant
[Hekabe was transformed into a dog], terrifying with thy baying in the
night all mortals who worship not with torches the images of Zerynthia
[Hekate] queen of Strymon, appeasing the goddess of Pherai with
sacrifice."

Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 20 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Some, however, believe that the Kouretes were the
same as the Korybantes and were ministers of Hekate [in the Mysteries of
Samothrake]."

Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 10 :
"Now most of the Greeks assigned to Dionysos, Apollon, Hekate, the Mousai, and above all to Demeter, everything of an
orgiastic or Bakkhic or choral nature, as well as the mystic element in
initiations . . . And branch-bearing, choral dancing, and initiations
are common elements in the worship of these gods."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3. 61 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"Already the bird of morning was cutting the air with
loud cries [on the island of Samothrake]; already the helmeted bands of
desert-haunting Korybantes were beating on their shields in the Knossian
dance, and leaping with rhythmic steps, and the oxhides thudded under
the blows of the iron as they whirled them about in rivalry, while the
double pipe made music, and quickened the dancers with its rollicking
tune in time to the bounding steps. Aye, and the trees whispered, the
rocks boomed, the forests held jubilee with their intelligent movings
and shakings, and the Dryades did sing. Packs of bears joined the dance,
skipping and wheeling face to face; lions with a roar from emulous
throats mimicked the triumphant cry of the priests of the Kabeiroi, sane
in their madness; the revelling pipes rang out a tune to honour of
Hekate, divine friend of dogs, those single pipes, which the
horn-polisher’s art invented in Kronos’s days."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 4. 184 ff :
"Grottoes of the Kabeiroi and Korybantian cliffs [on the island of Samothrake] . . . the revelling companies of my mother’s
[Elektra, queen of the island of Samothrake,] Hekate with their torches
in the night."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 13. 400 ff :
"Zerynthos [on the island of Samothrake] of the unresting Korybantes, the foundation of renowned Perseis [Hekate], where
the rocks are thronged with torchbearing mystics of the Maid."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 29. 213 ff :
"[The Kabeiros] Alkon grasped a fiery bolt in one hand, and swung about a festal torch of Hekate from his own country
[i.e. Samothrake]."

Suidas s.v. Zerynthia (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) :
"Zerynthia : . . . Also Zerinthian cave, where they
used to sacrifice dogs. There the mysteries of the Korybantes [Kabeiroi]
and of Hekate took place."

Suidas s.v. All' ei tis humôn en Samothraikei memuemenos esti :
"In Samothrake there were certain initiation-rites,
which they supposed efficacious as a charm against certain dangers. In
that place were also the mysteries of the Korybantes [Kabeiroi] and
those of Hekate and the Zerinthian cave, where they sacrificed dogs. The
initiates supposed that these things save [them] from terrors and from
storms."

CULT IN DELOS (GREEK AEGEAN)

I) PSAMITE Islet near Delos

Hekate was worshipped on Psamite an islet in the vicinity of Delos. In some accounts this island was the metamorphosed body of her mother Asteria.

Suidas s.v. Hekates nesou :
"Hekates nesou (of the island of Hekate) : On the approach to Delos lies a certain islet, which some call Psamite. They
say that it is called this because the goddess is honoured with psamita.
A psamiton is a particular kind of cake."

CULT IN RHODES (GREEK AEGEAN)

Suidas s.v. Asphodelos :
"Asphodelos (Asphodel) : A bulbous plant, having long leaves and an edible stem; and its seed when roasted and the root
chopped up with figs fetches a high price. [It is] sacred to Persephone
and the underworld [deities]. Also Rhodians wreath Kore [Persephone] and
Artemis [Hekate] with asphodel."

CULT IN LYDIA (ASIA MINOR)

I) EPHESOS City in Ionia / Lydia

Strabo, Geography 14. 1. 23 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"They [the priests of the temple of Artemis at
Ephesos] showed me also some of the works of Thrason, who made the
Hekatesion (Shrine of Hekate)."

II) KOLOPHON Town in Ionia / Lydia

Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 14. 9 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"I know of no other Greeks [than the Spartans
sacrifices to Enyalios] who are accustomed to sacrifice puppies except
the people of Kolophon; these too sacrifice a puppy, a black bitch, to
Enodia (of the Wayside) [Hekate]. Both the sacrifice of the Kolophonians
and that of the youths at Sparta are appointed to take place at night."

CULT IN KARIA (ASIA MINOR)

I) LAGINA Town in Karia

Strabo, Geography 14. 2. 15 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Stratonikeia [in Karia, Asia Minor] is a settlement
of Makedonians . . . There are two temples in the country of the
Stratonikeians, of which the most famous, that of Hekate, is at Lagina;
and it draws great festal assemblies every year."

CULT IN PAPHLAGONIA (ASIA MINOR)

I) R. HALYS River in Paphlagonia

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 245 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :
"They [the Argonauts] made fast their stern cables on
the Paphlagonian coast at the mouth of the River Halys. Medea had told
them to land there and propitiate Hekate with a sacrifice. But with what
ritual she prepared the offering, no one must hear. Nor must I let
myself be tempted to describe it; my lips are sealed by awe. But the
altar they built for the goddess on the beach is still there for men of a
later age to see."

CULT IN SICILY (SOUTHERN ITALY)

I) PAKHYNOS Town in Sikelia

Lycophron, Alexandra 1174 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"[The goddess Hekate] shall make thee [Hekabe queen of
Troy] her attendant [after her transformation into a dog] . . . And the
island spur of Pakhynos [in Sikelia] shall hold thine [Hekabe’s] awful
cenotaph, piled by the hands of thy master [Odysseus], prompted by
dreams when thou hast gotten the rites of death in front of the streams
of Heloros. He [Odysseus] shall pour on the shore offerings for thee,
unhappy one, fearing the anger of the three-necked goddess [Hekate], for
that he shall hurl the first stone at thy stoning and begin the dark
sacrifice to Haides."

CULT TITLES OF HEKATE

Hekate had a number of cult titles, variously referring to her cult functions and the locations of her shrines:--

The Romans title Hecate Trivia, the Latin equivalent of the Greek Trioditis

A shrine of Hekate was called a Hekatesion:--

POETIC TITLES & EPITHETS OF HEKATE

Hekate had a number of poetic titles and epithets:--

Sources:

• Pindar, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th B.C.
• Aeschylus, Fragments - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C.
• Euripides, Medea - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C.
• Aristophanes,Thesmophoriazusae - Greek Comedy C5th-4th B.C.
• Aristophanes, Wasps - Greek Comedy C5th-4th B.C.
• Aristophanes, Plutus - Greek Comedy C5th-4th B.C.
• Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd B.C.
• Lycophron, Alexandra - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C.
• Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D.
• Virgil, Aeneid - Latin Epic C1st B.C.
• Ovid, Fasti - Latin Poetry C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
• Cicero, De Natura Deorum - Latin Rhetoric C1st B.C.
• Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.
• Suidas - Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.