HECATE (Gr. `EKarri, "she who works from afar"), a god dess in Greek mythology. According to the generally accepted view, she was of Hellenic origin, but Farnell regards her as a f or eign importation from Thrace, the home of Bendis, with whom Hecate had many points in common. She is not mentioned in the Iliad or the Odyssey, but in Hesiod (Theogony, 409) she is the daughter of the Titan Perses and Asterie. She is there represented as a mighty goddess, having power over heaven, earth and sea; hence she is the bestower of wealth and all the blessings of daily life. Hecate is frequently identified with Artemis, and both occa sionally with the moon.
Later, Hecate is the chief goddess who presides over magic arts and spells; hence occasionally she is referred to as the mother of Circe, and her name is very common in charms. She is said to have been worshipped at Samothrace, and is closely connected with Demeter. Alone of the gods besides Helios, she witnessed the abduction of Persephone, and, torch in hand, assisted Demeter in her search for her daughter. On moonlight nights she was seen at the cross-roads (hence her name Tpeo6irte, Lat. Trivia), accompa nied by ghosts and hell-hounds. There, on the last day of the month, eggs and fish were offered to her. Black puppies and she lambs (black victims being offered to chthonian deities) were also sacrificed (Schol. on Theocritus ii. 12), the former unusual but not quite unparalleled victims in Greece. Pillars like the Hermae, called Hecataea, stood, especially in Athens, at cross-roads and doorways, perhaps to keep away the spirits of evil. It is to be noted that Hecate plays little or no part in mythological legend.
In older times Hecate is represented as single-formed, clad in a long robe, holding burning torches; later she becomes triformis, "triple-formed," with three bodies standing back to back—prob ably in order to look all ways at once from the cross-road. In her six hands are various emblems.
See L. R. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, ii. ch. xvi., xix.; Preller Robert i., p. 321 et seq. ; O. Gruppe, Griechische Mythologie, ii. p. 1,288 (1906) ; and the classical dictionaries.