Hecate

Hecate ( HEK-ə-tee; Ancient Greek: Ἑκάτη) is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Variously associated with crossroads, night, light, magic, witchcraft, and the Moon, she is most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, or snakes, or accompanied by dogs, and in later periods she is typically depicted as three-formed or triple-bodied. Her earliest appearance in literature was in Hesiod's Theogony in the 8th century BCE, where she is described as a goddess of great honour with domains in sky, earth, and sea. She had popular followings among the witches of Thessaly, and an important sanctuary among the Carians of Asia Minor in Lagina. The earliest evidence for Hecate's cult comes from Selinunte, in Sicily.

Hecate was one of several deities worshipped in ancient Athens as a protector of the oikos (household), alongside Zeus, Hestia, Hermes, and Apollo. In the Chaldean Oracles of the 2nd–3rd century CE, she was also regarded with some rulership over earth, sea, and sky, as well as a more universal role as Savior (Soteira), Mother of Angels, and the anima mundi. Regarding the nature of her cult, it has been remarked: "she is more at home on the fringes than in the centre of Greek polytheism. Intrinsically ambivalent and polymorphous, she straddles conventional boundaries and eludes definition."

The Romans often knew her by the epithet of Trivia, an epithet she shares with Diana, each in their roles as protectress of travel and of the crossroads (trivia, "three ways"). Hecate was closely identified with Diana and Artemis in the Roman era.