Some suggestions derive the name from a Greek root: Beekes rejected a Greek etymology and suggested a Pre-Greek origin. It remained common practice in English to pronounce her name in two syllables, even when spelled with final e , well into the 19th century. The spelling Hecat is due to Arthur Golding 's translation of Ovid 's Metamorphoses , [14] and this spelling without the final E later appears in plays of the Elizabethan - Jacobean period. Hecate possibly originated among the Carians of Anatolia , [4] the region where most theophoric names invoking Hecate, such as Hecataeus or Hecatomnus, the father of Mausolus , are attested, [17] and where Hecate remained a Great Goddess into historical times, at her unrivalled [18] cult site in Lagina.
While many researchers favor the idea that she has Anatolian origins, it has been argued that "Hecate must have been a Greek goddess. William Berg observes, "Since children are not called after spooks, it is safe to assume that Carian theophoric names involving hekat- refer to a major deity free from the dark and unsavoury ties to the underworld and to witchcraft associated with the Hecate of classical Athens. If Hecate's cult spread from Anatolia into Greece, it is possible it presented a conflict, as her role was already filled by other more prominent deities in the Greek pantheon, above all by Artemis and Selene.
This line of reasoning lies behind the widely accepted hypothesis that she was a foreign deity who was incorporated into the Greek pantheon. Other than in the Theogony , the Greek sources do not offer a consistent story of her parentage, or of her relations in the Greek pantheon: Shrines to Hecate were placed at doorways to both homes and cities with the belief that it would protect from restless dead and other spirits.
Likewise, shrines to Hecate at three way crossroads were created where food offerings were left at the new moon to protect those who did so from spirits and other evils. Dogs were sacred to Hecate and associated with roads, domestic spaces, purification, and spirits of the dead. Dogs were also sacrificed to the road. Dogs, with puppies often mentioned, were offered to Hecate at crossroads, which were sacred to the goddess. Hecate was a popular divinity, and her cult was practiced with many local variations all over Greece and Western Anatolia.
However, she did not have many known sanctuaries or temples dedicated to her aside from her most famous temple in Lagina. There was a Temple of Hecate in Argolis: This one is of stone, while the bronze images opposite, also of Hekate, were made respectively by Polykleitos and his brother Naukydes. Aside from her own temples, Hecate was also worshipped in the sanctuaries of other gods, where she was apparently sometimes given her own space.
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There was an area sacred to Hecate in the precincts of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus , where the priests, megabyzi , officiated. 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.
An important sanctuary of Hecate was a holy cave on the island of Samothrake called Zerynthos:. Hecate's most important sanctuary was Lagina , a theocratic city-state in which the goddess was served by eunuchs. Lagina, where the famous temple of Hecate drew great festal assemblies every year, lay close to the originally Macedonian colony of Stratonikeia , where she was the city's patron.
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Hecate was greatly worshipped in Byzantium. She was said to have saved the city from Philip II, warning the citizens of a night time attack by a light in the sky, for which she was known as Hecate Lampadephoros. The tale is preserved in the Suda. As Hecate Phosphorus Venus she is said to have lit the sky during the Siege of Philip II in , revealing the attack to its inhabitants.
The Byzantines dedicated a statue to her as the "lamp carrier. The Athenian Greeks honored Hekate during the Deipnon. In Greek, deipnon means the evening meal, usually the largest meal of the day. Hekate's Deipnon is, at its most basic, a meal served to Hekate and the restless dead once a lunar month [36] during the new moon. The Deipnon is always followed the next day by the Noumenia , [37] when the first sliver of moon is visible, and then the Agathos Daimon the day after that.
The main purpose of the Deipnon was to honor Hekate and to placate the souls in her wake who "longed for vengeance. The Deipnon consists of three main parts: Hecate was generally represented as three-formed. This has been speculated as being connected with the appearance of the full moon, half moon, and new moon.
The earliest Greek depictions of Hecate were not three-formed. The earliest known monument is a small terracotta found in Athens, with a dedication to Hecate, in writing of the style of the 6th century. The goddess is seated on a throne with a chaplet bound round her head; she is altogether without attributes and character, and the main historical value of this work, which is evidently of quite a general type and gets a special reference and name merely from the inscription, is that it proves the single shape to be her earlier form, and her recognition at Athens to be earlier than the Persian invasion.
The 2nd-century travel writer Pausanias stated that Hecate was first depicted in triplicate by the sculptor Alkamenes in the Greek Classical period of the late 5th century BCE [3] which was placed before the temple of the Wingless Nike in Athens. Greek anthropomorphic conventions of art resisted representing her with three faces: Some classical portrayals show her as a triplicate goddess holding a torch, a key, serpents, daggers and numerous other items.
In Egyptian-inspired Greek esoteric writings connected with Hermes Trismegistus , and in magical papyri of Late Antiquity she is described as having three heads: In other representations her animal heads include those of a cow and a boar. In the Argolid , near the shrine of the Dioscuri , Pausanias saw the temple of Hecate opposite the sanctuary of Eileithyia ; He reported the image to be the work of Scopas , stating further, "This one is of stone, while the bronze images opposite, also of Hecate, were made respectively by Polycleitus and his brother Naucydes, son of Mothon.
In the Argonautica , a 3rd-century BCE Alexandrian epic based on early material, [55] Jason placates Hecate in a ritual prescribed by Medea, her priestess: He is told to sweeten the offering with a libation of honey , then to retreat from the site without looking back, even if he hears the sound of footsteps or barking dogs. She is commonly attended by a dog or dogs, and the most common form of offering was to leave meat at a crossroads.
Images of her attended by a dog [58] are also found at times when she is shown as in her role as mother goddess with child, and when she is depicted alongside the god Hermes and the goddess Kybele in reliefs. Dogs were closely associated with Hecate in the Classical world. Her approach was heralded by the howling of a dog. The dog was Hecate's regular sacrificial animal, and was often eaten in solemn sacrament. It has been claimed that her association with dogs is "suggestive of her connection with birth, for the dog was sacred to Eileithyia , Genetyllis, and other birth goddesses.
Although in later times Hecate's dog came to be thought of as a manifestation of restless souls or demons who accompanied her, its docile appearance and its accompaniment of a Hecate who looks completely friendly in many pieces of ancient art suggests that its original signification was positive and thus likelier to have arisen from the dog's connection with birth than the dog's underworld associations. Another metamorphosis myth explains why the polecat is also associated with Hecate.
This maiden was playmate and companion of Alkmene, daughter of Elektryon. They remained seated, each keeping their arms crossed. Galinthias, fearing that the pains of her labour would drive Alkmene mad, ran to the Moirai and Eleithyia and announced that by desire of Zeus a boy had been born to Alkmene and that their prerogatives had been abolished.
At all this, consternation of course overcame the Moirai and they immediately let go their arms. The Moirai were aggrieved at this and took away the womanly parts of Galinthias since, being but a mortal, she had deceived the gods. They turned her into a deceitful weasel or polecat , making her live in crannies and gave her a grotesque way of mating. She is mounted through the ears and gives birth by bringing forth her young through the throat. Hekate felt sorry for this transformation of her appearance and appointed her a sacred servant of herself.
Aelian told a different story of a woman transformed into a polecat: It has also reached my hearing that Gale was her name then; that she was a dealer in spells and a sorceress Pharmakis ; that she was extremely incontinent, and that she was afflicted with abnormal sexual desires. Nor has it escaped my notice that the anger of the goddess Hekate transformed it into this evil creature.
May the goddess be gracious to me: Athenaeus of Naucratis , drawing on the etymological speculation of Apollodorus of Athens , notes that the red mullet is sacred to Hecate, "on account of the resemblance of their names; for that the goddess is trimorphos , of a triple form". The Greek word for mullet was trigle and later trigla. It 'delighted in polluted things,' and 'would eat the corpse of a fish or a man'. Blood-coloured itself, it was sacred to the blood-eating goddess Hecate. It seems a symbolic summation of all the negative characteristics of the creatures of the deep. The main symptoms were a preoccupation with size, the consequent rise to absurd heights of the prices of large specimens, a habit of keeping red mullet in captivity, and the enjoyment of the highly specialized aesthetic experience induced by watching the color of the dying fish change.
The frog , which was also the symbol of the similarly-named Egyptian goddess Heqet , [69] has also become sacred to Hecate in modern Pagan literature, possibly due in part to its ability to cross between two elements. In her three-headed representations, discussed above, Hecate often has one or more animal heads, including cow, dog, boar, serpent and horse. Hecate was closely associated with plant lore and the concoction of medicines and poisons.
In particular she was thought to give instruction in these closely related arts. Apollonius of Rhodes , in the Argonautica mentions that Medea was taught by Hecate, "I have mentioned to you before a certain young girl whom Hecate, daughter of Perses, has taught to work in drugs. The yew in particular was sacred to Hecate. Greeks held the yew to be sacred to Hecate Her attendants draped wreathes of yew around the necks of black bulls which they slaughtered in her honor and yew boughs were burned on funeral pyres.
The yew was associated with the alphabet and the scientific name for yew today, taxus , was probably derived from the Greek word for yew, toxos , which is hauntingly similar to toxon , their word for bow and toxicon , their word for poison. It is presumed that the latter were named after the tree because of its superiority for both bows and poison. Hecate was said to favor offerings of garlic , which was closely associated with her cult. It has been suggested that the use of dogs for digging up mandrake is further corroboration of the association of this plant with Hecate; indeed, since at least as early as the 1st century CE, there are a number of attestations to the apparently widespread practice of using dogs to dig up plants associated with magic.
Hecate was associated with borders, city walls, doorways, crossroads and, by extension, with realms outside or beyond the world of the living. She appears to have been particularly associated with being 'between' and hence is frequently characterized as a " liminal " goddess. As a goddess expected to avert harmful or destructive spirits from the house or city over which she stood guard and to protect the individual as she or he passed through dangerous liminal places, Hecate would naturally become known as a goddess who could also refuse to avert the demons, or even drive them on against unfortunate individuals.
It was probably her role as guardian of entrances that led to Hecate's identification by the mid fifth century with Enodia , a Thessalian goddess. Enodia's very name "In-the-Road" suggests that she watched over entrances, for it expresses both the possibility that she stood on the main road into a city, keeping an eye on all who entered, and in the road in front of private houses, protecting their inhabitants.
This function would appear to have some relationship with the iconographic association of Hecate with keys, and might also relate to her appearance with two torches, which when positioned on either side of a gate or door illuminated the immediate area and allowed visitors to be identified.
Hecate's importance to Byzantium was above all as a deity of protection. When Philip of Macedon was about to attack the city, according to the legend she alerted the townspeople with her ever present torches, and with her pack of dogs, which served as her constant companions. Watchdogs were used extensively by Greeks and Romans. Cult images and altars of Hecate in her triplicate or trimorphic form were placed at three-way crossroads though they also appeared before private homes and in front of city gates.
In what appears to be a 7th-century indication of the survival of cult practices of this general sort, Saint Eligius , in his Sermo warns the sick among his recently converted flock in Flanders against putting "devilish charms at springs or trees or crossroads", [86] and, according to Saint Ouen would urge them "No Christian should make or render any devotion to the deities of the trivium, where three roads meet Like Hecate, "[t]he dog is a creature of the threshold, the guardian of doors and portals, and so it is appropriately associated with the frontier between life and death, and with demons and ghosts which move across the frontier.
The yawning gates of Hades were guarded by the monstrous watchdog Cerberus , whose function was to prevent the living from entering the underworld, and the dead from leaving it. Hecate has been characterized as a pre-Olympian chthonic goddess. The first literature mentioning Hecate is the Theogony by Hesiod:. And she conceived and bore Hecate whom Zeus the son of Cronos honored above all.
He gave her splendid gifts, to have a share of the earth and the unfruitful sea. She received honor also in starry heaven, and is honored exceedingly by the deathless gods. For to this day, whenever any one of men on earth offers rich sacrifices and prays for favor according to custom, he calls upon Hecate.
Great honor comes full easily to him whose prayers the goddess receives favorably, and she bestows wealth upon him; for the power surely is with her. For as many as were born of Earth and Ocean amongst all these she has her due portion. The son of Cronos did her no wrong nor took anything away of all that was her portion among the former Titan gods: Whom she will she greatly aids and advances: And when men arm themselves for the battle that destroys men, then the goddess is at hand to give victory and grant glory readily to whom she will.
Good is she also when men contend at the games, for there too the goddess is with them and profits them: And she is good to stand by horsemen, whom she will: She is good in the byre with Hermes to increase the stock. The droves of kine and wide herds of goats and flocks of fleecy sheep, if she will, she increases from a few, or makes many to be less. So, then, albeit her mother's only child, she is honored amongst all the deathless gods. And the son of Cronos made her a nurse of the young who after that day saw with their eyes the light of all-seeing Dawn.
So from the beginning she is a nurse of the young, and these are her honours.
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Total length is 11" Each knife is hand-made to your specifications, with many options available. Small solid bronze knife, the shape and style of a bird. We re-created this knife based on an item in the British Museum. We followed size weight and decoration as closely as possible. The original is dated at to BC. Total length is only 10cm. Made of solid bronze this celtic design dates back to BC. The representation of the male figure was very popular with early celtic swords and knives.
Dagger can be polished or a patina can be created for an ancient look. Our own version of the traditional Scottish Dirk. Specially shaped handle, with wide pommel. Matching sheath is include with this piece. Blade is sharpened on one side and only halfway on the other side. A solid bronze sickle with celtic knotwork on both sides of blade. Can be made with or without pommel. Can be polished or aged bronze Each knife is hand-made to your specifications, with many options available. A simple design with a single crescent.
Open pentacle for the pommel. Adaptable for many uses. One of our most ornate daggers. This is a large hilt. A detailed dragon at the base of the hilt with the wings of the dragon forming a knuckle guard. The pommel is a dragons claw with a egg shaped gemstone in it's grasp. A curved cup hilt dagger.
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A thin elegant dragon sweeps around your hand. The pommel has the flames of the dragon surrounding a semiprecious stone egg. One of our smaller"Bodice" knives, though suitable for use anywhere. The detailing is at the end of the knife so when hidden only the end shows. This knife has a small dragon perched on the end with it's wings spread.
Price includes small sheath. The first dragon dagger we ever designed. Head and wings form the quillons of this knife, with a pointed tail as the pommel. Based on the historic rondel design. The hilt and pommel are the same size and hold the hand firmly in place. Both the hilt and pommel have the dragon biting his tail an ancient symbol of continuity. The entire hilt of this knife forms the body of a detailed dragonfly. The wings spread out to form the hilt, the handle is the body and the tail forms the pommel. Gemstones in the eyes are optional. An eagle with it's wings spread wide and talons open, forms the hilt of this dagger.
The pommel is a landscape of a mountain lake and forest. Entire hilt is very detailed.
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Two dragons entwined together form the hilt of this dagger, their tails coil down the bade. The pommel has a dragon coiled around a gemstone biting it's own tail. Gemstones are between the two dragons as well. A small seated fairy with butterfly wings. Fairy holds a small gemstone in her hands.
Slim hilt and blade. A small fairy with butterfly wings outstretched forms the quillons of this dagger, with a flower as the pommel Each knife is hand-made to your specifications, with many options available.
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The traditional emblem of french royalty. The Fleur de Lis makes the the hilt for this knife. The hilt of this knife is a stylized fox with the pommel a fox's tail. Small and sturdy and smooth on the back side, this knife is perfect for boot or bracer. Created for use as a bodice knife, Knife is slim and smooth to conceal easily. Only the little tree frog hangs on with his flippers and peeks over the edge. We incorporated design elements from existing examples of "Hammer of Thor" bronze age designs currently in museums and created this bronze age knife using the Hammer of Thor as the hilt.
A small and elegant bronze sickle with simple handle, lanyard optional. Each sickle is hand-made to your specifications, with many options available. The very first dagger we ever created and the logo for the company. A really beautiful knife. The hilt is sculpted bronze of a Purple Siberian Iris in full bloom, the pommel is a bud just opening.
The iris is a very detailed flower, to bring all of the details into a more 2 dimensional hilt and maintain the look of 3 dimensions was a challenge. This is the black knife used for circle making. Fittings are solid bronze, several options are available for the black handle material including horn, ebony or dyed holly. Total length is 9. This is the dagger. Fittings are solid bronze, shown with holly handle and gold engraving.
Companion to the White and Black Knife. Based on designs from The Greater Key of Solomon. A sickle with carbon steel blade Shown with holly handle and gold inlay engraving. This is the White Knife used for all operations except circle making. Fittings are solid bronze and the handle can be white bone or holly wood. The style is based on early saxon swords with the straight hilt and large pommel. We adapted the design to a dagger size. The hilt and pommel are covered in knot work. It makes a strong, sturdy yet beautiful knife. Two leaping wolves form the hilt of this dagger, Their tails encircle a gemstone.
The pommel has a wolf sitting howling at the moon. The majestic lion with teeth bared and ready to roar. A lions head is on both sides of this knife with a flowing mane making the quillons and a twisted minoret pommel. The goddess holds the moon in her hands. A solid bronze sickle, sturdy enough for use and yet decorative enough to have on display. Sickle is designed to be able to stand on it's own and is a match to our male Solis sickle. Created as a special request by one of our customers, we have included it as one of our stock items.
Similar to our Skull and Cross bone knife but with thinner and more elegant bones. A graceful mermaid with long flowing hair wraps around your hand and forms the guard of this knife. Her hands hold the blade from either side, her tail curves elegantly. The pommel is a rocky shore with shells and starfish on it, a wave coming down holds a gem sphere. A large bronze bladed boline with the image of mistltoe sculpted into both sides of the blade.
The blade is 6. The traditional image of the phases of the moon, but with a pentacle placed in the center of the hilt between the two crescents. The pommel is a matching moon crescent. Bronze sickle done with moon and star athame hilt. Two traditional symbols of magic. The three disc phases of the moon form the hilt of this knife and the pentagram for the pommel. Can be highly customized with gemstones or alternate pommels. Bronze sickle with a branch of oak leaves and acorns in relief on both sides of the blade.
An acorn is the pommel. A small hand sickle made of solid bronze. A life size oak leaf cups the spine of the blade, it's stem wrapping around the handle. Acorn pommel with your choice of handle. A single oak leaf hilt makes this a slim and elegant knife. An owl perched on top of a slim elegant knife suitable for either bodice or boot.
A beautifully sculpted realistic owl forms the crosspiece of this knife. Wings spread wide and talons forward ready to strike. The pommel has the image of a barren tree against the full moon, the tree the owl calls home. The winged Pegasus of myth with his wings spread wide forms the quillon for this dagger. The pommel has a disc of the sun mounted on a greek column.
A sleek and elegant boline knife. Smooth endcap pommel with pentagram in end. Each boline is hand-made to your specifications, with many options available. The mythical phoenix rises from the flames, its stylized sweeping wings make the hilt with its majestic head for the pommel.
A small evil looking rat sits up on his hind legs. Slim dagger for bodice or boot. An unusual knife, covered in rats. Quillon is made up of to rats facing opposite each other. Their tails loop around to form secondary hand guards. A rat is perched on top as the pommel with it's tail curving down to form the knuckle guard. Suited for larger blades only. An aesthetically pleasing design of rats. A rat on either side looks down the blade, their tails curling elegantly to the side to form quillons. On top is a round of cheese with a piece cut out of it and a rat perched victoriously on top.
Two detailed raven heads form the quillon.