Hecate | The Ancient Origins of the Goddess of Witchcraft

Head to to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code ladyofthelibrary Support me on Patreon: The Classical Academic: Instagram: Sign up for my newsletter, Confessions of a Bibliophile: Goodreads: Video Request form: DISCLAIMER I am just a random student on the internet who loves reading, especially about ancient history and classics. The purpose of my videos is to make classics and ancient history interesting and accessible to everyone. I am not a professional or qualified educator, “expert”, historian or classicist. However, I ensure that all the information I use in my video scripts has been collated from numerous credible sources. Additionally, I am dyslexic, and I will mispronounce words. This does not stem from willful ignorance, and I do make an effort to research how to pronounce words before I start filming, but I often misread my phonetic spelling. In light of this, please do not rely on my video for an authoritative or reliable source of how to pronounce certain words. However, I would like to stress that dyslexia is a disability, and mocking people for their disability (such as mispronouncing words or misreading things) is never acceptable. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:39 Hecate and Macbeth 2:40 The Moirai 6:00 What was Hecate to the Ancient Greeks? 7:00 Hecate’s origin story 9:00 Hecate in the Homeric Hymn of Demeter 12:07 What Hecate looked like 12:50 The three faces of Hecate 14:53 Dogs and Hecate 17:37 Hecate’s Polecat 19:37 The evolution of Hecate 22:51 Hecate and the Moon 26:17 Etymology - was she Greek or Anatolian? 30:45 The Sanctuary of Hecate 33:00 Worshipping Hecate 35:38 Hecate’s supper (Hekate’s Deipnon) Resources used: “A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, He’cate.” n.d. . Accessed May 26, 2023. Education, Academus. 2021. “The Functions of the Greek Goddess Hecate.” Academus Education. March 1, 2021. Fisher, Martini. 2019. “The Horse, the Snake and the Dog: The Three Heads of the Real Queen of the Night.” Martini Fisher. April 12, 2019. “HECATE (Hekate) - Greek Goddess of Witchcraft, Magic & Ghosts.” n.d. . Accessed May 26, 2023. #:~:text=HECATE & QUEEN HECUBA. “HECATE CULT - Ancient Greek Religion.” n.d. . Herring, Amanda. 2022. “Hekate of Lagina: a Goddess Performing Her Civic Duty.” Anatolian Studies 72. Cambridge University Press: 141–65. doi: 2022. “Hekate: The Triple-Faceted Goddess of Witchcraft and Ghosts.” HowStuffWorks. August 22, 2022. Mackay, Danielle. 2021. “Maiden, Mother, Crone: Everything You Need to Know about Hecate.” TheCollector. June 27, 2021. “Persephone and Hecate: The Maiden and the Crone.” 2022. COMMON ERA. October 18, 2022.