Customer Reviews

Hekate in Ancient Greek Religion

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Hekate is known among Neo-pagans and among scholars almost exclusively as a goddess of dark and terrifying magic, but this image of Hekate is a late one, derived entirely from Hellenistic and Roman literature. In this study, Robert Von Rudloff focuses on the earlier worship of Hekate, from 800 to 400 BCE. He pulls together evidence that shows a complex and often conflicting picture of the origins and nature of this ambiguous goddess. As a conscientious scholar, he is careful not to draw too-solid conclusions when his evidence is skimpy and uncertain, as it often is. Von Rudloff's lack of certainty shows him to be a scholar worthy of our attention, not a Neo-pagan hack claiming to know everything. For the sake of briefness and clarity, in the summary the follows I assume a confident tone and make nice, neat interconnections in a way that Von Rudloff would not dream of doing. Be warned: objects in the mirror are much fuzzier than they appear.

The most anomalous depiction of Hekate is the earliest: Hesiod's Theogony contains a hymn to Hekate that praises her as second only to Zeus in divine importance. Was this strange exaltation of a minor goddess based on Hesiod's personal religious practices? Was it a poetic device? An interpolation by a member of some unknown Hekate sect? No one knows.

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hekate plays an important supporting role in the search for Korė, and afterward becomes the personal servant and intimate companion to Persephone, helping Hermes to guide the Maiden up from the Underworld each spring. Hekate's connection with spirits of the dead and thus with dangerous magic is derived from her role as guide and protector of Persephone. The protector of Demeter's daughter can protect mortals from the same dangers. But, as with all Greek deities, the protector against an evil can also send it; a mortal who neglects Hekate is left open to ghostly attack.

Von Rudloff sees Hekate as a companion goddess: to the Great Mother Kebele, to Artemis, and even to Apollo; she also shares tasks with Hermes and with Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth. Her usual role seems to be Best Supporting Actress. She takes the role of maiden in the Eleusinian triad of maid-bride-mother (Hekate-Persephone-Demeter), and the role of daughter in the Anatolian Great Mother triad of Kybele-Hermes-Hekate (a version of Leto-Apollo-Artemis). In art one identifies Hekate first by her twin torches, and second by her young and lively appearance. The image of Hekate as crone is entirely a product of modern Neo-paganism. To old Greeks and Romans even the evil Hekate of dangerous witchcraft was a beautiful and active young woman.

By the mid-5th century BCE Hekate--always a second-string goddess--began to lose her beneficial functions to her more famous partners, particularly to Artemis, thus making her dark side relatively more prominent. The great Athenian dramatists appear to have played a crucial part in this transformation, largely through Hekate's association with the witch Medeia. The ancients were fascinated by Medeia; she was boffo at the box office, and no play featuring her was complete without a dramatic invocation of Hekate, Queen of Witches. Outside the theatre, however, Hekate's protective side was not entirely forgotten. Names such as Hekataios and Hekatomnos continued to show up; as Von Rudloff points out, parents do not name their children after bogies. A father who names his child for Hekate will expect the goddess to provide benevolent protection.

According to Von Rudloff, the thread that unites Hekate's many divine functions is her role as Goddess of Transitions. Her shrines and altars were frequently found at gateways; her statues like herms stood before doors of houses; she assisted Eileithyia with birth and Hermes with death. Hesiod claims her principal title is kourotrophos (nurse) and his unique vision makes her an intermediary between Zeus and mankind.

If we set aside Hesiod's strange vision of universality, Hekate remains a minor goddess. Her late transformation into the Queen of Dangerous Witches is the closest approach this Best Supporting Goddess ever made to stardom. She has been type-cast as a villainess in wild wig and painted wrinkles, but the fragments of her earlier roles show her to be a goddess of versatile talent. Like many a former ingenue she has made a come-back as a character actress in her old age, and her modern devotees know--and care--little of her long-ago triumphs as the Running Maiden and the Light-bearer. But given her cue, I'm sure she could still step lightly across the stage, torches in hand, guiding La Proserpina safely home from the depths of the Underworld. Dim the house lights, raise the curtain, and cue Offenbach!

Chapters one and two are very tedious and difficult to get through. the first chapter "archaic literary evidence" puts forth a lot of theories then proceeds to argue against each one. the author's inability to prevent solid evidence quickly becomes annoying.chapter two "major sites of Hekate worship" is nothing more than a list of places in greece where there is possible evidence for Her worship. it too is pretty boring. but with chapter three "relationships between Hekate and other dieties" turns it all around. the most interesting of these is the relationship with Artemis, which is partially based on young women who die before there time . it is a really interesting reading.the fourth and final chapter "the roles of Hekate in early greek religion" was really amazing. while reading it i wished that the book would never end. it discuses posibles aspects of Hekate such as a goddess of the crossroads, a protector of doorways, a guide to the dead, a goddess of transitions, a goddess of birth life and death, and goddess of magic. this chapter makes a brilliant connection between Hekate, Artemis and Medusa. Also it makes the case for Hekate being worshiped by woman in household rituals--which should be interesting to solitary pagans.also interesting to neo-pagans is a dispelling of the myth of Artemis, Selene, and Hekate being triple goddess of the moon--at least they weren't in ancient greece. there is no evidence of Artemis or Hekate being associated with the moon before roman times. and Hekate is no crone rather she is the earliest of maiden goddesses.another reviewer complains that the book makes no mentionof neo-paganism. but the author states early on in the book that it focuses on Hekate in greek times and it does not even venture into roman times. so modern paganism would be way out of the scope of this book.i found this book really interesting once i got passed the first half. in fact the authors constant presentation of all possiblities and the downfalls of each becomes a refeshing oppurtunity to decide for myself--a big difference from a lot of psuedo history on goddesses that is out there--i think it is a must read for those interested in Hekate.

This book is filled with interesting and objective information. It conveys intellectual credibility and has a great retinue of documented sources. This book unlike the other book by Crowfoot on Hecate is well researched, eloquent and engrossing. No personal stories of vampire brides or sleeping in coffins which makes it worlds above the competitors. Also what I like is that it does not proselytize, it is thorough and does not try to make Hekate all things to all people but dissect each aspect and give us the facts.

After reading this book, I am left rather curious and somewhat uninformed. While the book is a good read, and I can still reccomend it as a source for possible links between Hekate and many of the other Gods of the Greeks, I was more often than not struck by the author's constant use of nonexistant evidence. Phrases like "...but there is no evidence..." and "...maybe..." and "scant evidence" are common in this book, and lead me to think that the author has a real love for this particular Goddess that leads him to stretch for connections where none exist.

Of course, I am still reccomending this book for those of you who would like to start to look into this interesting deity and her worship, for, if anything, it points to a great many starting points for you to take, as well as bringing up several issues of relevance to the Pagan Community, such as the multi-faceted way in which this Goddess was worshipped as opposed to the somewhat limitd way in which she is looked upon in the modern world.

After reading an excerpt from the author's book on a website, I had great expectations for the book...I was rather disappointed.

The author spends most of his time refuting other theories on this Goddess while not really presenting any ideas of his own. It made for a frustrating read, and I came away wishing he'd given a bit more that was "concrete."

I still recommend it, but also suggest refering to other authors (many of whom are listed in his bibliography) for more primary source material. END

I enjoy reading anything about Hecate. However, parts of the book were a bit too deep and I had to skip over them. I do recommend this book for anyone who loves this Goddess. There is enough information to absorb.

There is nothing but speculation in this book. The author seems almost afraid to make any conclusions about anything. The book is jammed packed from beginning to end with statments such as, "there is little evidence of..." "there is nothing to substantiate..." "we can only assume...". Is the author afraid of getting a minor fact wrong and the academic community tearing him to shreds? He said he wrote this book using the information in his Masters Thesis on the same subject. I wonder what the professor said !!

It seems sometimes that the author goes out of his way to discount Hekate as a major Greek Goddess. Even where evidence abounds, he quickly trivializes it. Did he set out to make Hekate a side-note in history ? He would make a good point about widespread worship of Hekate, and quickly dismiss it. For example, we all know that Apollo is also known as "Hekatos". Well, Hekate according to Greek God geneaology, existed well before Artemis and Apollo, the former being inexplicably tied with Hekate by the 4th and 5th centuries. Instead of accepting this FACT as solid evidence of widespread worship of Hekate as a major deity, he quickly denounces the name "Hekatos" given to Apollo as a fluke. And names Hekate as the loser when she and Artemis were "merged". By his own admission, Hekate's statues flourish in temples of "major" deities, and at the doors of peasant homes, and the famous "curse tablets" invoke Hekate's name in almost half of them. Yet in still, this author will NOT give Hekate her due credit.

But much to the author's credit, he does seem to go out of his way to put aside Hekate's more infamous image as a "spook", to quote the author. The book seems to be more dedicated to proving Hekate was a benevolent Goddess until the coming of the mysogenistic monotheistic religions, which quickly put her [Hekate] in the realm of demons, along with Medusa, Lillith and several other powerful "Women's Goddesses". I also give the author credit for recognizing mysogeny when he sees it. But, still, my biggest complaint about this book is that is not much more than written speculation. The author dares not make a strong statement about anything. No, I did not learn much about Hekate in this book. I am afraid to quote it ! The author is afraid to even speak his mind ! He walks on broken glass throughout this very short and un-informative book. I did learn some classical Greek though !

Also, much to my surprise, the author NEVER mentions the little Pagan Renassaince we seem to be experiencing in the late 20th -early 21st century. He never explores modern day paganism and the resurgence of Hekate's worship here in the United States and Europe. Nor does he explore the socio-economic and political effects that modern paganism is having on the Western World. It would have been very interesting for the author to explore the psychological motivations that are fueling our little Pagan Renassaince. But, alas, he did not. ...anyway...this is my two cents, I will give change The title of this book should have been: HEKATE IS GOOD GOOD GOOD ! (author stumps his foot and pouts.)