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123-680: The Chaldean Oracles show an affinity with gnostic teachings of their time. They describe the transcendent First Paternal Intellect which includes the mediating World-Soul, a female Power Hecate similar to Sophia . Fiery emanations from the First Intellect produce the Second Intellect, the Demiurge , who comprehends the cosmos as well as himself, and creates Matter. Farthest from the Highest God (First Father / Intellect)

246-516: A Great Goddess into historical times, at her unrivalled cult site in Lagina . In particular, there is some evidence that she might be derived from the local sun goddesses (see also Arinna ) based on similar attributes. The monuments to Hecate in Phrygia and Caria are numerous but of late date. If Hecate's cult spread from Anatolia into Greece, then it possibly presented a conflict, as her role

369-504: 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", 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...". Thanks to her association with boundaries and

492-510: A Latin translation, and this is the basis of most later scholarly work, including the study by Hans Lewy (1956), a Greek-French edition of the Oracles by Edouard des Places in 1971 and the currently standard (though not critical) edition in Greek and English by Ruth Majercik in 1989. None of these purport to be a reconstruction of the original poem but only of the surviving fragments. Summaries of

615-476: 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. "In Byzantium small temples in her honour were placed close to

738-439: A different story of a woman transformed into a polecat: I have heard that the polecat was once a human being. 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 lascivious, 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

861-467: A foreign origin for the name may be Heqet ( ḥqt ), a frog-headed Egyptian goddess of fertility and childbirth, who, like Hecate, was also associated with ḥqꜣ , ruler. The word heka in the Egyptian language is also both the word for "magic" and the name of the god of magic and medicine, Heka . Hecate was generally represented as three-formed or triple-bodied, though the earliest known images of

984-411: A fragment of verse: O mistress Hecate, Trioditis With three forms and three faces Propitiated with mullets. In relation to Greek concepts of pollution, Parker observes, The fish that was most commonly banned was the red mullet ( trigle ), which fits neatly into the pattern. It 'delighted in polluted things', and 'would eat the corpse of a fish or a man'. Blood-coloured itself, it was sacred to

1107-413: 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

1230-451: A lunar aspect of Hecate. Fowler also noted that the pairing (i. e. Helios and Perse) made sense given Hecate's association with the Moon. Mooney however notes that when it comes to the nymph Perse herself, there's no evidence of her actually being a moon goddess on her own right. Worship of Hecate existed alongside other deities in major public shrines and temples in antiquity, and she had

1353-465: A number of her cult titles: Apotropaia (that turns away/protects); Enodia (on the way); Propulaia / Propylaia (before the gate); Triodia / Trioditis (who frequents crossroads ); Klêidouchos (holding the keys), etc. 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

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1476-547: A pair of torches, a key, or snakes, or accompanied by dogs, and in later periods depicted as three-formed or triple-bodied. She is variously associated with crossroads , night, light, magic , protection from witchcraft , drugs, and the Moon . Her earliest appearance in literature was in Hesiod 's Theogony in the 8th century BCE as a goddess of great honour with domains in sky, earth, and sea. She had popular followings amongst

1599-528: A reasonably common adjective in Classical Greek. By the Hellenistic period , it began also to be associated with Greco-Roman mysteries , becoming synonymous with the Greek term mysterion . Consequentially, Gnosis often refers to knowledge based on personal experience or perception. In a religious context, gnosis is mystical or esoteric knowledge based on direct participation with

1722-522: A significant role as household deity. Shrines to Hecate were often placed at doorways to homes, temples, and cities with the belief that it would protect from restless dead and other spirits. Home shrines often took the form of a small Hekataion , a shrine centred on a wood or stone carving of a triple Hecate facing in three directions on three sides of a central pillar. Larger Hekataions, often enclosed within small walled areas, were sometimes placed at public crossroads near important sites – for example, there

1845-426: A totality constitute the pleroma , the "region of light". The lowest regions of the pleroma are closest to the darkness; that is, the physical world. Two of the most commonly paired æons were Christ and Sophia (Greek: "Wisdom"); the latter refers to Christ as her "consort" in A Valentinian Exposition . In Gnostic tradition, the name Sophia (Σοφία, Greek for "wisdom") refers to the final emanation of God, and

1968-485: A trance, suggesting divine inspiration. No original documents containing the Oracles are extant, and what we know of the text has been reconstructed from fragments and quotes by later neoplatonist philosophers, as well as Christian philosophers influenced by Platonism. Neoplatonists including Porphyry , Iamblichus , and Proclus wrote extensive commentaries on the Oracles, all lost. The most extensive surviving commentary

2091-504: A votive sculpture from Attica of the 3rd century BCE, include additional dancing figures identified as the Charites circling the triple Hecate and her central column. It is possible that the representation of a triple Hecate surrounding a central pillar was originally derived from poles set up at three-way crossroads with masks hung on them, facing in each road direction. In the 1st century CE, Ovid wrote: "Look at Hecate, standing guard at

2214-873: Is "learned" or "intellectual", such as used by Plato in the comparison of "practical" ( praktikos ) and "intellectual" ( gnostikos ). Plato's use of "learned" is fairly typical of Classical texts. Sometimes employed in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible , the adjective is not used in the New Testament, but Clement of Alexandria who speaks of the "learned" ( gnostikos ) Christian quite often, uses it in complimentary terms. The use of gnostikos in relation to heresy originates with interpreters of Irenaeus . Some scholars consider that Irenaeus sometimes uses gnostikos to simply mean "intellectual", whereas his mention of "the intellectual sect"

2337-446: Is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge ( gnosis ) above the proto-orthodox teachings, traditions, and authority of religious institutions. Gnostic cosmogony generally presents a distinction between a supreme, hidden God and a malevolent lesser divinity (sometimes associated with

2460-471: Is a dense shell of matter from which the enlightened soul must emerge, shedding its bodily garments. A combination of ascetic conduct and correct ritual are recommended to free the soul from the confines of matter, and to defend it against the demonic powers lurking in the realms between Gods and mortals. The exact origins of the Chaldean Oracles are unknown, but are usually attributed to Julian

2583-569: Is a specific designation. The term "Gnosticism" does not appear in ancient sources, and was first coined in the 17th century by Henry More in a commentary on the seven letters of the Book of Revelation , where More used the term "Gnosticisme" to describe the heresy in Thyatira . The term Gnosticism was derived from the use of the Greek adjective gnostikos (Greek γνωστικός, "learned", "intellectual") by St. Irenaeus (c. 185 AD) to describe

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2706-399: Is a valid or useful historical term, or if it was an artificial category framed by proto-orthodox theologians to target miscellaneous Christian heretics . Gnosis is a feminine Greek noun which means "knowledge" or "awareness." It is often used for personal knowledge compared with intellectual knowledge ( εἴδειν eídein ). A related term is the adjective gnostikos , "cognitive",

2829-681: Is achieved by an ascent through the planetary spheres, casting off the various baser aspects to become pure intellect. Beneath the Intelligible Triad of Father, Magna Mater or Hecate, and Intellect lie the three successively descending worlds, Empyrean, Ethereal, and Elemental, respectively governed by a Second, Third, and Fourth Demiurgic Intellect. An additional Elemental World is ruled by Hypezokos or Flower of Fire. The Chaldean Oracles were first translated into English by Thomas Stanley in 1662, and popularized by Thomas Taylor in 1797 and Isaac Preston Cory in 1832. They were taken up in

2952-526: Is also associated with Hecate. Antoninus Liberalis used a myth to explain this association: At Thebes Proetus had a daughter Galinthias . This maiden was playmate and companion of Alcmene , daughter of Electryon . As the birth throes for Herakles were pressing on Alcmene, the Moirai (fates) and Eileithyia (birth-goddess), as a favour to Hera, kept Alcmene in continuous birth pangs. They remained seated, each keeping their arms crossed. Galinthias, fearing that

3075-561: Is also the name of one of the Oceanid nymphs , Helios’ wife and Circe's mother in other versions. In one version of Hecate's parentage, she is the daughter of Perses not the son of Crius but the son of Helios, whose mother is the Oceanid Perse. Karl Kerenyi noted the similarity between the names, perhaps denoting a chthonic connection among the two and the goddess Persephone; it is possible that this epithet gives evidence of

3198-521: Is commissioned by the Father] And I heard the voice of the Most High, the father of my LORD as he said to my LORD Christ who will be called Jesus, 'Go out and descend through all the heavens... The Shepherd of Hermas is a Christian literary work considered as canonical scripture by some of the early Church fathers such as Irenaeus. Jesus is identified with angel Christology in parable 5, when

3321-572: Is identified with the anima mundi or world-soul. She is occasionally referred to by the Hebrew equivalent of Achamoth (this is a feature of Ptolemy's version of the Valentinian gnostic myth). Jewish Gnosticism with a focus on Sophia was active by 90 AD. In most, if not all, versions of the gnostic myth, Sophia births the demiurge, who in turn brings about the creation of materiality. The positive and negative depictions of materiality depend on

3444-586: Is interpreted as an intermediary aeon who was sent from the pleroma, with whose aid humanity can recover the lost knowledge of the divine origins of humanity. The term is thus a central element of Gnostic cosmology . Pleroma is also used in the general Greek language, and is used by the Greek Orthodox church in this general form, since the word appears in the Epistle to the Colossians . Proponents of

3567-419: Is sometimes ignorant of the superior god, and sometimes opposed to it; thus in the latter case he is correspondingly malevolent. Other names or identifications are Ahriman , El , Satan , and Yahweh . This image of this particular creature is again identified in the Book of Revelation as such: Now in my vision this is how I saw the horses and their riders. They wore red, blue, and yellow breastplates, and

3690-583: Is still being explored. The very few women in most Gnostic literature are portrayed as chaotic, disobedient, and enigmatic. However, the Nag Hammadi texts place women in roles of leadership and heroism. In many Gnostic systems, God is known as the Monad , the One . God is the high source of the pleroma , the region of light. The various emanations of God are called æons. According to Hippolytus , this view

3813-704: 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." Hecate was said to favour offerings of garlic , which was closely associated with her cult. She is also sometimes associated with cypress , a tree symbolic of death and the underworld, and hence sacred to a number of chthonic deities. A number of other plants (often poisonous, medicinal and/or psychoactive) are associated with Hecate. These include aconite (also called hecateis ), belladonna , dittany , and mandrake . It has been suggested that

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3936-478: The Chaldean Oracles , coinage, and reliefs from Asia Minor. In artwork, she is often portrayed in three statues standing back to back, each with its own special attributes (torch, keys, daggers, snakes, dogs). The 2nd-century travel writer Pausanias stated that Hecate was first depicted in triplicate by the sculptor Alcamenes in the Greek Classical period of the late 5th century BCE, whose sculpture

4059-538: The Elizabethan - Jacobean period. Webster's Dictionary of 1866 particularly credits the influence of Shakespeare for the then-predominant disyllabic pronunciation of the name. Evidence suggests that Hecate originated among the Carians of Anatolia , the region where most theophoric names invoking Hecate, such as Hecataeus or Hecatomnus , the father of Mausolus , are attested, and where Hecate remained

4182-596: The Oracles as "the Bible of the Neoplatonists". Hellenistic civilization fused a Hellenic core of religious belief and social organization with Persian-Babylonian (" Chaldean "), Israelite and Egyptian cultures, including their mystery cults and wisdom-traditions. Hellenistic thinkers philosophized and harmonized this polyglot mythology, cult tradition, oracular utterance, and initiatory lore. The philosophy attributed to these Babylonian, Persian, and Semitic cultures

4305-744: The Synoptics . Gnosticism was a mix of Jewish and early Christian religious ideas. Gnostic writings flourished among certain Christian groups in the Mediterranean world around the second century, when the Fathers of the early Church denounced them as heresy . Efforts to destroy these texts proved largely successful, resulting in the survival of very little writing by Gnostic theologians. Nonetheless, early Gnostic teachers such as Valentinus saw their beliefs as aligned with Christianity. In

4428-485: The Thessalian goddess Enodia (meaning "traveller"), who travelled the earth with a retinue of ghosts and was depicted on coinage wearing a leafy crown and holding torches, iconography strongly associated with Hecate. By the 1st century CE, Hecate's chthonic and nocturnal character had led to her transformation into a goddess heavily associated with witchcraft, witches, magic, and sorcery. In Lucan 's Pharsalia ,

4551-431: The biblical deity Yahweh ) who is responsible for creating the material universe . Consequently, Gnostics considered material existence flawed or evil, and held the principal element of salvation to be direct knowledge of the hidden divinity, attained via mystical or esoteric insight. Many Gnostic texts deal not in concepts of sin and repentance , but with illusion and enlightenment . According to James Dunn ,

4674-452: The epithet of Trivia , an epithet she shares with Diana , each in their roles as protector of travel and of the crossroads (trivia, "three ways"). Hecate was closely identified with Diana and Artemis in the Roman era. Potential Greek source words have been suggested for the goddess's name. The word ἑκών, meaning "willing" (thus, "she who works her will" or similar), may be related to

4797-489: The gnostikos Valentinus (c.   170) or the Nag Hammadi texts (3rd century) is not supported by modern scholarship, although Elaine Pagels called it a "possibility". The Syrian–Egyptian traditions postulate a remote, supreme Godhead, the Monad . From this highest divinity emanate lower divine beings, known as Aeons . The Demiurge arises among the Aeons and creates the physical world. Divine elements "fall" into

4920-401: The horses’ heads were like heads of lions , and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. By these three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that came out of their mouths a third of the human race was killed. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like snakes , with heads that inflict harm." This is corroborated in the article above quoting

5043-468: The 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and North America, including some that explicitly identify themselves as revivals or even continuations of earlier gnostic groups. Dillon notes that Gnosticism raises questions about the development of early Christianity . The Christian heresiologists , most notably Irenaeus , regarded Gnosticism as a Christian heresy. Modern scholarship notes that early Christianity

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5166-665: The 19th-century esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn , which in 1895 published Taylor's translation in William Wynn Westcott 's edition under the title 'The Chaldaean Oracles of Zoroaster', as part of the Golden Dawn's 'Collectanea Hermetica' series. The original poem has not come down to us in any connected form, and is known through quotations in the works of the neoplatonists, especially Damascius . Wilhelm Kroll published an edition, De oraculis Chadaicis in 1894 arranging all known fragments in order of subject with

5289-571: The Church administered and prescribed the correct behavior for Christians, while in Gnosticism it was the internalised motivation that was important. Ptolemy's Epistle to Flora describes a general asceticism, based on the moral inclination of the individual. For example, ritualistic behavior was not seen to possess as much importance as any other practice, unless it was based on a personal, internal motivation. The role women played in Gnosticism

5412-537: The Father from the material fire of the cosmos, and mediates all divine influence upon the lower realm. From Hecate is derived the World-Soul , which in turn emanates Nature, the governor of the sub-lunar realm . From Nature is derived Fate, which can enslave the baser human soul. The goal of existence is to purify the baser soul from all contact with Nature and Fate by a life of austerity and contemplation. Salvation

5535-468: The Father, whose Power produces Intellect. This Intellect contemplates purely intellectual Forms in the realm of the Father, and dually creates and governs the material realm. This dual aspect of Intellect is the Demiurge. The Oracles further posit a boundary between the intellectual and the material realms, personified as Hecate . As a barrier or membrane, Hecate separates the purely intellectual fire of

5658-569: The Gnostic Christian tradition, Christ is seen as a divine being which has taken human form in order to lead humanity back to recognition of its own divine nature. However, Gnosticism is not a single standardized system, and the emphasis on direct experience allows for a wide variety of teachings, including distinct currents such as Valentinianism and Sethianism . In the Persian Empire , Gnostic ideas spread as far as China via

5781-586: The Gnostic emphasis on an inherent difference between flesh and spirit represented a significant departure from the teachings of the Historical Jesus and his earliest followers. Some scholars say Gnosticism may contain historical information about Jesus from the Gnostic viewpoint, though the majority predominantly conclude that apocryphal sources, Gnostic or not, are later than the canonical ones and that many, such as Thomas , depends on or harmonizes

5904-677: The Godhead emanates two savior aeons, Christ and the Holy Spirit ; Christ then embodies itself in the form of Jesus, in order to be able to teach humans how to achieve gnosis, by which they may return to the pleroma. The term demiurge derives from the Latinized form of the Greek term dēmiourgos , δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker". This figure is also called "Yaldabaoth", Samael ( Aramaic : sæmʻa-ʼel , "blind god"), or "Saklas" ( Syriac : sækla , "the foolish one"), who

6027-833: The Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples. Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic , finds Palestinian and Samaritan Aramaic influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews". In 1966, at the Congress of Median, Buddhologist Edward Conze noted phenomenological commonalities between Mahayana Buddhism and Gnosticism, in his paper Buddhism and Gnosis , following an early suggestion put forward by Isaac Jacob Schmidt . The influence of Buddhism in any sense on either

6150-431: The Nag Hammadi texts. Since the 1990s, the category of "Gnosticism" has come under increasing scrutiny from scholars. One such issue is whether Gnosticism ought to be considered one form of early Christianity , an interreligious phenomenon, or an independent religion. Going further than this, other contemporary scholars such as Michael Allen Williams, Karen Leigh King , and David G. Robertson contest whether "Gnosticism"

6273-511: The Roman period connecting Hecate to the Moon exists. Nevertheless, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter shows Helios and Hecate informing Demeter of Persephone 's abduction, a common theme found in many parts of the world where the Sun and the Moon are questioned concerning events that happen on earth based on their ability to witness everything and implies Hecate's capacity as a moon goddess in

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6396-591: The Theurgist and/or his father, Julian the Chaldean. Chaldea is the classical Greek term for Babylon , transliterating Assyrian Kaldū , which referred to an area southeast of Babylonia near the Persian Gulf . It is not known whether Julian the Chaldean was actually of Eastern descent, or whether the term "Chaldean" had by his time come to mean "magician" or practitioner of mysterious arts. His son, Julian

6519-477: The Theurgist, served in the Roman army during Marcus Aurelius ' campaign against the Quadi . Julian claimed to have saved the Roman camp from a severe drought by causing a rainstorm. At least four other religious groups also claimed credit for this rainstorm. The circumstances surrounding the writing of the Oracles are also mysterious, the most likely explanation being that Julian uttered them in poetic stanzas during

6642-497: The aeons are the various emanations of the superior God or Monad. Beginning in certain Gnostic texts with the hermaphroditic aeon Barbelo , the first emanated being, various interactions with the Monad occur which result in the emanation of successive pairs of aeons, often in male–female pairings called syzygies . The numbers of these pairings varied from text to text, though some identify their number as being thirty. The aeons as

6765-531: The angel Christology of some early Christians, Darrell Hannah notes: [Some] early Christians understood the pre-incarnate Christ, ontologically, as an angel. This "true" angel Christology took many forms and may have appeared as early as the late First Century, if indeed this is the view opposed in the early chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Elchasaites , or at least Christians influenced by them, paired

6888-910: The author mentions a Son of God, as a virtuous man filled with a Holy "pre-existent spirit". In the 1880s Gnostic connections with neo-Platonism were proposed. Ugo Bianchi, who organised the Congress of Messina of 1966 on the origins of Gnosticism, also argued for Orphic and Platonic origins. Gnostics borrowed significant ideas and terms from Platonism, using Greek philosophical concepts throughout their text, including such concepts as hypostasis (reality, existence), ousia (essence, substance, being), and demiurge (creator God). Both Sethian Gnostics and Valentinian Gnostics seem to have been influenced by Plato , Middle Platonism , and Neo-Pythagoreanism academies or schools of thought. Both schools attempted "an effort towards conciliation, even affiliation" with late antique philosophy, and were rebuffed by some Neoplatonists , including Plotinus. Early research into

7011-437: The blood-eating goddess Hecate. It seems a symbolic summation of all the negative characteristics of the creatures of the deep. At Athens, it is said there stood a statue of Hecate Triglathena , to whom the red mullet was offered in sacrifice. After mentioning that this fish was sacred to Hecate, Alan Davidson writes, Cicero, Horace, Juvenal, Martial, Pliny, Seneca, and Suetonius have left abundant and interesting testimony to

7134-487: The broad category of Gnosticism, viewing materiality as being inherently evil, or as merely flawed and as good as its passive constituent matter allows. In late antiquity some variants of Gnosticism used the term archon to refer to several servants of the demiurge. According to Origen 's Contra Celsum , a sect called the Ophites posited the existence of seven archons, beginning with Iadabaoth or Ialdabaoth, who created

7257-612: The capricious nature of the form (calling itself many different names) and of Gnosticism founder, Simon Magus, whom in the Biblical Narrative the Acts of the Apostles is quoted as being a magician or sorcerer able to perform great tasks with his mouth but not with the Holy Spirit of YHWH the same Spirit of Yeshuah of Nazareth and Simon Peter, Simon Magus' opponent. Moral judgements of the demiurge vary from group to group within

7380-550: The classical world. Supporters of this etymology suggest that Hecate was originally considered an aspect of Artemis prior to the latter's adoption into the Olympian pantheon. Artemis would have, at that point, become more strongly associated with purity and maidenhood, on the one hand, while her originally darker attributes like her association with magic, the souls of the dead, and the night would have continued to be worshipped separately under her title Hecate. Though often considered

7503-625: The crossroads, one face looking in each direction." Apart from traditional hekataia , Hecate's triplicity is depicted in the vast frieze of the great Pergamon Altar , now in Berlin, wherein she is shown with three bodies, taking part in the battle with the Titans. In the Argolid , near the shrine of the Dioscuri , Pausanias saw the temple of Hecate opposite the sanctuary of Eileithyia ; He reported

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7626-601: The development of Gnosticism: During the first period, three types of tradition developed: The movement spread in areas controlled by the Roman Empire and Arian Goths, and the Persian Empire . It continued to develop in the Mediterranean and Middle East before and during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, but decline also set in during the third century, due to a growing aversion from the Nicene Church, and

7749-481: The divine. In most Gnostic systems, the sufficient cause of salvation is this "knowledge of" ("acquaintance with") the divine. It is an inward "knowing", comparable to that encouraged by Plotinus ( neoplatonism ), and differs from proto-orthodox Christian views. Gnostics are "those who are oriented toward knowledge and understanding – or perception and learning – as a particular modality for living". The usual meaning of gnostikos in Classical Greek texts

7872-497: The dog was sacred to Eileithyia , Genetyllis, and other birth goddesses. Images of her attended by a dog are also found when she is depicted alongside the god Hermes and the goddess Cybele in reliefs. Although in later times Hecate's dog came to be thought of as a manifestation of restless souls or daemons 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

7995-600: The dying fish change. In her three-headed representations, discussed above, Hecate often has one or more animal heads, including cow, dog, boar, serpent, and horse. Lions are associated with Hecate in early artwork from Asia Minor, as well as later coins and literature, including the Chaldean Oracles . The frog , which was also the symbol of the similarly named Egyptian goddess Heqet , has also become sacred to Hecate in modern pagan literature, possibly due in part to its ability to cross between two elements. Comparative mythologist Alexander Haggerty Krappe cited that Hecate

8118-648: The economic and cultural deterioration of the Roman Empire. Conversion to Islam, and the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229), greatly reduced the remaining number of Gnostics throughout the Middle Ages, though Mandaean communities still exist in Iraq, Iran and diaspora communities. Gnostic and pseudo-gnostic ideas became influential in some of the philosophies of various esoteric mystical movements of

8241-583: The form we now call Gnostic, and it may well have existed some time before the Christian era." Many heads of Gnostic schools were identified as Jewish Christians by Church Fathers, and Hebrew words and names of God were applied in some gnostic systems. The cosmogonic speculations among Christian Gnostics had partial origins in Maaseh Breshit and Maaseh Merkabah . This thesis is most notably put forward by Gershom Scholem (1897–1982) and Gilles Quispel (1916–2006). Scholem detected Jewish gnosis in

8364-481: 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 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

8487-738: The gates of the city. 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." This suggests that Hecate's close association with dogs derived in part from the use of watchdogs, who, particularly at night, raised an alarm when intruders approached. 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

8610-479: The goddess are singular. Her earliest known representation is a small terracotta statue found in Athens . An inscription on the statue is a dedication to Hecate, in writing of the style of the 6th century, but it otherwise lacks any other symbols typically associated with the goddess. She is seated on a throne, with a chaplet around her head; the depiction is otherwise relatively generic. Farnell states: "The evidence of

8733-402: The goddess be gracious to me: Fables and their telling I leave to others. 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 . He goes on to quote

8856-508: The goddess with a single body, but three faces. In Egyptian-inspired Greek esoteric writings connected with Hermes Trismegistus , and in the Greek Magical Papyri of Late Antiquity , Hecate is described as having three heads: one dog, one serpent , and one horse. In other representations, her animal heads include those of a cow and a boar. The east frieze of a Hellenistic temple of hers at Lagina shows her helping protect

8979-514: The highest and most important of the first created archangels, a view similar in many respects to Hermas' equation of Christ with Michael. Finally, a possible exegetical tradition behind the Ascension of Isaiah and attested by Origen's Hebrew master, may witness to yet another angel Christology, as well as an angel Pneumatology. The pseudepigraphical Christian text Ascension of Isaiah identifies Jesus with angel Christology: [The Lord Christ

9102-400: The holder of the keys to Tartaros . Like Hermes , Hecate takes on the role of guardian not just of roads, but of all journeys, including the journey to the afterlife. In art and myth, she is shown, along with Hermes, guiding Persephone back from the underworld with her torches. By the 5th century BCE, Hecate had come to be strongly associated with ghosts , possibly due to conflation with

9225-492: The hymn. Another work connecting Hecate to Helios possibly as a moon goddess is Sophocles 's lost play The Root Cutters , where Helios is described as Hecate's spear: O Sun our lord and sacred fire, the spear of Hecate of the roads, which she carries as she attends her mistress in the sky This speech from the Root Cutters may or may not be an intentional association of Hecate with the Moon. In Seneca 's Medea ,

9348-408: 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." While Greek anthropomorphic conventions of art generally represented Hecate's triple form as three separate bodies, the iconography of the triple Hecate eventually evolved into representations of

9471-740: The imagery of merkabah mysticism , which can also be found in certain Gnostic documents. Quispel sees Gnosticism as an independent Jewish development, tracing its origins to Alexandrian Jews , to which group Valentinus was also connected. Many of the Nag Hammadi texts make reference to Judaism, in some cases with a violent rejection of the Jewish God. Gershom Scholem once described Gnosticism as "the Greatest case of metaphysical anti-Semitism". Professor Steven Bayme said gnosticism would be better characterized as anti-Judaism . Research into

9594-503: The liminal spaces between worlds, Hecate is also recognized as a chthonic (underworld) goddess. As the holder of the keys that can unlock the gates between realms, she can unlock the gates of death, as described in a 3rd-century BCE poem by Theocritus. In the 1st century CE, Virgil described the entrance to hell as "Hecate's Grove", though he says that Hecate is equally "powerful in Heaven and Hell." The Greek Magical Papyri describe Hecate as

9717-490: The lunar goddesses Diana (the huntress), Luna (the Moon) and Hecate (the underworld) became a ubiquitous feature in depictions of sacred groves, where Hecate/Trivia marked intersections and crossroads along with other liminal deities. The Romans celebrated enthusiastically the multiple identities of Diana as Hecate, Luna and Trivia. From her father Perses, Hecate is often called "Perseis" (meaning "daughter of Perses") which

9840-526: The male Christ with the female Holy Spirit, envisioning both as two gigantic angels. Some Valentinian Gnostics supposed that Christ took on an angelic nature and that he might be the Saviour of angels. The author of the Testament of Solomon held Christ to be a particularly effective "thwarting" angel in the exorcism of demons. The author of De Centesima and Epiphanius' " Ebionites " held Christ to have been

9963-513: The material realm, and are latent in human beings. Redemption from the fall occurs when the humans obtain Gnosis, esoteric or intuitive knowledge of the divine. Gnostic systems postulate a dualism between God and the world, varying from the "radical dualist" systems of Manichaeism to the "mitigated dualism" of classic gnostic movements. Radical dualism, or absolute dualism, posits two co-equal divine forces, while in mitigated dualism one of

10086-459: The monuments as to the character and significance of Hecate is almost as full as that of to express her manifold and mystic nature." A 6th century fragment of pottery from Boetia depicts a goddess which may be Hecate in a maternal or fertility mode. Crowned with leafy branches as in later descriptions, she is depicted offering a "maternal blessing" to two maidens who embrace her. The figure is flanked by lions, an animal associated with Hecate both in

10209-487: The most likely Greek origin of the name, the Ἑκατός theory does not account for her worship in Asia Minor, where her association with Artemis seems to have been a late development, and the competing theories that the attribution of darker aspects and magic to Hecate were themselves not originally part of her cult. R. S. P. Beekes rejected a Greek etymology and suggested a Pre-Greek origin. In Early Modern English ,

10332-470: The myth's depictions of Sophia's actions. Sophia in this highly patriarchal narrative is described as unruly and disobedient, which is due to her bringing a creation of chaos into the world. The creation of the Demiurge was an act done without her counterpart's consent and because of the predefined hierarchy between the two of them, this action contributed to the narrative that she was unruly and disobedient. Sophia , emanating without her partner, resulted in

10455-476: The name Hecate. However, no sources suggested list will or willingness as a major attribute of Hecate, which calls this assertion into question. Another Greek word suggested as the origin of the name Hecate is Ἑκατός Hekatos , an obscure epithet of Apollo interpreted as "the far-reaching one" or "the far-darter". This has been suggested in comparison with the attributes of the goddess Artemis , strongly associated with Apollo and frequently equated with Hecate in

10578-471: The name was also pronounced disyllabically (as / ˈ h ɛ k . ɪ t / ) and sometimes spelled Hecat . 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 1567 translation of Ovid 's Metamorphoses , and this spelling without the final E later appears in plays of

10701-413: 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

10824-458: The newborn Zeus from his father Cronus ; this frieze is the only evidence of Hecate's involvement in the myth of his birth. Dogs were closely associated with Hecate in the Classical world. "In art and in literature Hecate is constantly represented as dog-shaped or as accompanied by a dog. Her approach was heralded by the howling of a dog. The dog was Hecate's regular sacrificial animal, and

10947-617: The origin of Mandaean Gnosticism in Mazdean (Zoroastrianism) Zurvanism , in conjunction with ideas from the Aramaic Mesopotamian world. However, scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as Kurt Rudolph , Mark Lidzbarski , Rudolf Macúch , Ethel S. Drower , James F. McGrath , Charles G. Häberl , Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley , and Şinasi Gündüz argue for a Judean–Israelite origin. The majority of these scholars believe that

11070-628: The origins of Gnosticism proposed Persian origins or influences, spreading to Europe and incorporating Jewish elements. According to Wilhelm Bousset (1865–1920), Gnosticism was a form of Iranian and Mesopotamian syncretism , and Richard August Reitzenstein (1861–1931) situated the origins of Gnosticism in Persia. Carsten Colpe (b. 1929) has analyzed and criticised the Iranian hypothesis of Reitzenstein, showing that many of his hypotheses are untenable. Nevertheless, Geo Widengren (1907–1996) argued for

11193-571: The origins of Gnosticism shows a strong Jewish influence, particularly from Hekhalot literature . Within early Christianity, the teachings of Paul the Apostle and John the Evangelist may have been a starting point for Gnostic ideas, with a growing emphasis on the opposition between flesh and spirit, the value of charisma, and the disqualification of the Jewish law. The mortal body belonged to

11316-453: The pains of her labour would drive Alcmene mad, ran to the Moirai and Eileithyia and announced that by desire of Zeus a boy had been born to Alcmene and that their prerogatives had been abolished. At all this, consternation of course overcame the Moirai and they immediately let go their arms. Alcmene’s pangs ceased at once and Herakles was born. The Moirai were aggrieved at this and took away

11439-563: The poem (and of the related "Assyrian Oracles", not known from elsewhere) were composed by Michael Psellos , and attempts have been made to arrange the surviving fragments in accordance with these summaries: Westcott's translation (above) is an example of such an attempt. These reconstructions are not generally regarded as having scholarly value, but sometimes surface in theosophical or occult use. Gnosticism Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek : γνωστικός , romanized : gnōstikós , Koine Greek : [ɣnostiˈkos] , 'having knowledge')

11562-482: The principal features of "Chaldean philosophy". They were held in high esteem throughout Late Antiquity, and by the later followers of neoplatonism , although frequently disputed by Augustine of Hippo . Some doctrines of the Oracles have been attributed to Zoroaster . The Chaldean Oracles were considered to be a central text by many later neoplatonist philosophers, nearly equal in importance to Plato 's Timaeus . Scholars, beginning with F. Cumont, have described

11685-463: The production of the Demiurge (Greek: lit. "public builder"), who is also referred to as Yaldabaoth and variations thereof in some Gnostic texts. This creature is concealed outside the pleroma; in isolation, and thinking itself alone, it creates materiality and a host of co-actors, referred to as archons. The demiurge is responsible for the creation of humankind; trapping elements of the pleroma stolen from Sophia inside human bodies. In response,

11808-460: The red mullet fever which began to affect wealthy Romans during the last years of the Republic and really gripped them in the early Empire. 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

11931-461: The related movement Manichaeism , while Mandaeism , which is the only surviving Gnostic religion from antiquity, is found in Iraq , Iran and diaspora communities. Jorunn Buckley posits that the early Mandaeans may have been among the first to formulate what would go on to become Gnosticism within the community of early followers of Jesus. For centuries, most scholarly knowledge about Gnosticism

12054-499: The same. Others believed Jesus was divine, although did not have a physical body, reflected in the later Docetist movement. Among the Mandaeans , Jesus was considered a mšiha kdaba or " false messiah " who perverted the teachings entrusted to him by John the Baptist . Still other traditions identify Mani , the founder of Manichaeism, and Seth , third son of Adam and Eve , as salvific figures. Three periods can be discerned in

12177-794: The school of Valentinus as he legomene gnostike haeresis "the heresy called Learned (gnostic)". The origins of Gnosticism are obscure and still disputed. Gnosticism is largely influenced by platonism and its theory of forms . The proto-orthodox Christian groups called Gnostics a heresy of Christianity, but according to the modern scholars the theology's origin is closely related to Jewish sectarian milieus and early Christian sects. Some scholars debate Gnosticism's origins as having roots in Buddhism , due to similarities in beliefs, but ultimately, its origins are unknown. Some scholars prefer to speak of "gnosis" when referring to first-century ideas that later developed into Gnosticism, and to reserve

12300-465: The six that follow: Iao, Sabaoth , Adonaios, Elaios, Astaphanos, and Horaios. Ialdabaoth had a head of a lion. Other Gnostic concepts are: Jesus is identified by some Gnostics as an embodiment of the supreme being who became incarnate to bring gnōsis to the earth, while others adamantly denied that the supreme being came in the flesh, claiming Jesus to be merely a human who attained enlightenment through gnosis and taught his disciples to do

12423-640: The term "Gnosticism" for the synthesis of these ideas into a coherent movement in the second century. According to James M. Robinson , no gnostic texts clearly pre-date Christianity, and "pre-Christian Gnosticism as such is hardly attested in a way to settle the debate once and for all." Contemporary scholarship largely agrees that Gnosticism has Jewish Christian origins, originating in the late first century AD in nonrabbinical Jewish sects and early Christian sects. Ethel S. Drower adds, "heterodox Judaism in Galilee and Samaria appears to have taken shape in

12546-407: The titular Medea invokes her patron Hecate whom she addresses as "Moon, orb of the night" and "triple form". Hecate and the moon goddess Selene were frequently identified with each other and a number of Greek and non-Greek deities; the Greek Magical Papyri and other magical texts emphasize a syncretism between Selene-Hecate with Artemis and Persephone among others. In Italy, the triple unity of

12669-479: The tree because of its superiority for both bows and poison. Hecate was seen as a triple deity, identified with the goddesses Luna (Moon) in the sky and Diana (hunting) on the earth, while she represents the Underworld. Hecate's association with Helios in literary sources and especially in cursing magic has been cited as evidence for her lunar nature, although this evidence is pretty late; no artwork before

12792-475: The two principles is in some way inferior to the other. In qualified monism the second entity may be divine or semi-divine. Valentinian Gnosticism is a form of monism , expressed in terms previously used in a dualistic manner. Gnostics tended toward asceticism , especially in their sexual and dietary practice. In other areas of morality, Gnostics were less rigorously ascetic, and took a more moderate approach to correct behavior. In normative early Christianity,

12915-443: 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. The yew in particular was sacred to Hecate. Greeks held the yew to be sacred to Hecate ... Her attendants draped wreathes of yew around

13038-474: The view that Paul was actually a gnostic, such as Elaine Pagels, view the reference in Colossians as a term that has to be interpreted in a gnostic sense. The Supreme Light or Consciousness descends through a series of stages, gradations, worlds, or hypostases, becoming progressively more material and embodied. In time it will turn around to return to the One (epistrophe), retracing its steps through spiritual knowledge and contemplation. In many Gnostic systems,

13161-401: The witch Erichtho invokes Hecate as "Persephone, who is the third and lowest aspect of Hecate, the goddess we witches revere", and describes her as a "rotting goddess" with a "pallid decaying body", who has to "wear a mask when [she] visit[s] the gods in heaven." Like Hecate, "the dog is a creature of the threshold, the guardian of doors and portals, and so it is appropriately associated with

13284-578: The witches of Thessaly , and an important sanctuary among the Carians of Asia Minor in Lagina. Her oldest known representation was found in 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 post-Christian writings of the Chaldean Oracles (2nd–3rd century CE) she

13407-426: 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. Hecate felt sorry for this transformation of her appearance and appointed her a sacred servant of herself. Aelian told

13530-538: The world of inferior, worldly powers (the archons ), and only the spirit or soul could be saved. The term gnostikos may have acquired a deeper significance here. Alexandria was of central importance for the birth of Gnosticism. The Christian ecclesia (i. e. congregation, church) was of Jewish–Christian origin, but also attracted Greek members, and various strands of thought were available, such as "Judaic apocalypticism , speculation on divine wisdom , Greek philosophy, and Hellenistic mystery religions ." Regarding

13653-469: 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. A possible theory of

13776-411: Was also named ίππεύτρια ( hippeutria – 'the equestrienne'), since the horse was "the chthonic animal par excellence ". The goddess is described as wearing oak in fragments of Sophocles 's lost play The Root Diggers (or The Root Cutters ), and an ancient commentary on Apollonius's Argonautica (3.1214) describes her as having a head surrounded by serpents, twining through branches of oak. Hecate

13899-522: 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 Cosmic World Soul ( 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

14022-406: 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. "Hecate mediated between regimes— Olympian and Titan —but also between mortal and divine spheres." This liminal role is reflected in

14145-472: Was believed to preserve the most ancient traditional wisdom. Another Alexandrian attempt to philosophize and synthesize ancient religion produced the writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus . The Chaldean Oracles are a parallel endeavour on a smaller scale, to philosophize the wisdom of Chaldea. The metaphysical schema of the Chaldean Oracles begins with an absolute transcendent deity called

14268-432: Was diverse, and Christian orthodoxy only settled in the 4th   century, when the Roman Empire declined and Gnosticism lost its influence. Gnostics and proto-orthodox Christians shared some terminology. Initially, they were hard to distinguish from each other. Hecate Hecate ( / ˈ h ɛ k ə t i / HEK -ə-tee ) is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology , most often shown holding

14391-560: Was inspired by the Pythagoreans , who called the first thing that came into existence the Monad , which begat the dyad, which begat the numbers, which begat the point , begetting lines , etc. Pleroma (Greek πλήρωμα, "fullness") refers to the totality of God's powers. The heavenly pleroma is the center of divine life, a region of light "above" (the term is not to be understood spatially) our world, occupied by spiritual beings such as aeons (eternal beings) and sometimes archons . Jesus

14514-570: Was limited to the anti-heretical writings of early Christian figures such as Irenaeus of Lyons and Hippolytus of Rome . There was a renewed interest in Gnosticism after the 1945 discovery of Egypt's Nag Hammadi library , a collection of rare early Christian and Gnostic texts, including the Gospel of Thomas and the Apocryphon of John . Elaine Pagels has noted the influence of sources from Hellenistic Judaism , Zoroastrianism , and Platonism on

14637-468: Was often eaten in solemn sacrament." The sacrifice of dogs to Hecate is attested for Thrace, Samothrace, Colophon, and Athens. A 4th-century BCE marble relief from Crannon in Thessaly was dedicated by a race-horse owner. It shows Hecate, with a hound beside her, placing a wreath on the head of a mare. It has been claimed that her association with dogs is "suggestive of her connection with birth, for

14760-470: Was one on the road leading to the Acropolis . 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. In Zerynthus there was a cave dedicated to Hecate. Dogs were sacred to Hecate and associated with roads, domestic spaces, purification, and spirits of the dead. Dogs were also sacrificed to

14883-579: Was placed before the temple of the Wingless Nike in Athens. Though Alcamenes's original statue is lost, hundreds of copies exist, and the general motif of a triple Hecate situated around a central pole or column, known as a hekataion , was used both at crossroads shrines as well as at the entrances to temples and private homes. These typically depict her holding a variety of items, including torches, keys, serpents, and daggers. Some hekataia , including

15006-568: Was positive and thus likelier to have arisen from the dog's connection with birth than the dog's underworld associations." The association with dogs, particularly female dogs, could be explained by a metamorphosis myth in Lycophron : the friendly-looking female dog accompanying Hecate was originally the Trojan Queen Hecuba , who leapt into the sea after the fall of Troy and was transformed by Hecate into her familiar. The polecat

15129-399: Was written by the Christian philosopher Michael Psellus in the eleventh century, useful for interpreting the surviving excerpts from the Oracles. Whether or not they were composed by Julian himself, or whether Julian compiled them from actual Chaldean originals, the oracles are mainly a product of Hellenistic syncretism as practiced in the cultural melting-pot of Alexandria , embodying

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