Hecate, the Most Mysterious Greek Goddess - Greek Gods Explained

Thanks to Jonathan Doberski and Khiliarkhos for help with my research.

#greekmythology

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[CJCroen]

Hecate is a very cool deity.
A witch, a friend to outcasts, a spooky ghost enthusiast… she’s basically the goddess of goths XD

[Vedues]

Hecate's parents are both very interesting deities as well. Her father was Perses, the Titan of Destruction, who is also called the wisest of all men and a loving husband. Go figure. Her mother was Asteria, the Titaness of the Stars, who turned herself into the island of Delos to stop Zeus from assaulting her and defied Hera by letting her sister, Leto, give birth on her, even calling her out for inflicting that kind of pain on another woman.

[murkiuryd]

Makes you think. Both Hecate, and I just saw someone else's comment referencing Saga, a very important Aesir goddess we know very little about, reminds me of a concept that I've seen elsewhere. In Overly Sarcastic Productions' video on Quetzalcoatl, they explain that very important deities can sometimes show up very scarcely in the mythological record because they were **so** important, **so** culturally pervasive that it was seen as unnecessary to write a lot of their stories down, since it may have been considered common knowledge to that society.

Not that it's a guarantee that Hecate and Saga also fit that bill, I'm definitely not an expert in mythology, but it really makes you wonder just how much contextual information has been lost to time and which other deities we might really be missing out on.

[akechijubeimitsuhide]

She also randomly appears in the Scottish Play as the witches' boss but the scene is nearly always cut in stage productions.

[joaomartins]

I'm kinda surprised you didn't mentioned her association with Artemis/Diana and Selene/Luna (the moon goddesses). The Romans believed they were actually the same goddess with three different aspects, and called her "Diana Triformis" (Diana of the three forms/faces).

[marisastoletheprecioussara]

I actually never heard of her until I researched Hecatia from Touhou, then I found out she was inspired by the real Greek goddess Hecate.

[arcticdino]

"Hesiod's sky mommy" is now a phrase that will forever sit in my mind

[tnygma]

Hecate reminds me of Angrboða from Norse Myth, both have very little written about them, both are strongly associated with Witchcraft, and both were either highly respected or highly feared by the main family of gods, I think that's interesting

[v.v]

I have a theory that somehow Hecate is connected to Cerberus. The snakes, the dogs, the three heads, the protection, the underworld association, the crossroads bit since Cerberus guards the entrance to the underworld, lots of oddly similar notes and yet nothing substantial tying them together mythologically

[mrrd]

Hecate reminds me slightly of a Tagalog god I know named Lakapati, who was hailed as a hermaphrodite god/goddess of compassion and fertility who was prayed to regularly for good fortune, prosperity, and even the protection of families, but would later be branded demonic by Catholic authorities. I'm not saying that's what happened here, but it's possible the difference of a few hundred years was enough to repaint her as something terrifying to a new order that might've favoured different gods for political reasons and not the cool goddess who was relevant to most aspects of daily life but was also kinda spooky.

[gnomer]

I cant believe jake doubleyoo is covering my favorite good witch azura character!!

[jscjake]

In case anyone was wondering about her Ferret and Dog, they were actually important characters in the mythology before being turned into animals.

The Ferret was a woman named Galinthias who was turned into a Ferret by Hera. The reason for this punishment is actually kind of cartoonish, but basically Hera told Ilithyia (E-lee-thee-uh) the goddess(es) of childbirth to prevent Herakles from being born. Galinthias tricks Ilithyia by telling her that the baby had already been born by the will of Zeus and everyone just straight up stopped worshipping her because of it. It's not really set in stone who turned Galinthias into the weasel but most versions agree on Hera but others say it was Ilithyia or even the Moirai depending on the telling. Without Galinthias, Herakles would not have been born and Alcmene (Herakles' mother) would have died in childbirth.

The Dog was the Trojan Queen named Hecuba. Hecuba isn't really the most important character but just the fact that she's the Queen of Troy, the mother to Hector and Paris, and wife of Priam, the last king of Troy gives her enough importance to be even somewhat relevant. It is said that Hecuba was about to throw herself into the sea as Troy was burning but that Hekate took pity on her, turning her into a dog and one of her familiars.

[theblaqknight]

The 3 faced thing reminds me of the Morrigan. They are both very powerful witches in ancient lore too.

[Ms.marshmaIIow]

Hectate has been one of my favourate godesses for a very long time so its very nice to see her get a glimpse of the spotlight in this video! Also if you like Hecate and cool stories about plants and Greek mythology. I highly sugguest you read the: This poison heart series. Its very well written and not that lengthy if your not an heavy reader.

[lonelyshpee]

The one Greek goddess who shops at Hot Topic and hates the moon for some reason

[p.brooke]

I too aspire to be a protector and granter of good fortune, a patron of magic and witchcraft, and a spooky dread goddess of the Underworld

[paradactyl]

Hecate's characterizations kind of resonate with Santa Muerete's. Both of them are seen as creepy endowers of evil magic by outsiders. But both are also seen as benevolent maternal granters of wishes by their worshippers.

[lynnline]

Awesome video! I also really appreciate what you said in the beginning. I am a hellenist and worship these gods. It can sometimes be frustrating when people only ever seen them as cool characters in stories, and forget that lots of people actually worshipped them and still do to this day :)

[Brian-tncd]

Something im always curious about is why authors/translators could never agree whether Hecate was with a 'C' or a 'K', ive seen Cerberus very rarely written with K but most translations I've seen have 'C'

[parsnipguy]

portrayal of her changes because she has three forms: the deity spawned from nyx, as well as the titan brimo and the nymph makris