/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Because Hecatia is so amazing, there's just about nothing Hecatia can't do.

Hecatia's parentage differs from telling to telling throughout the countless millennia, but her parentage in Hesiod's Theogony is the most famous. Her mother is Asteria, the Titan of oneiromancy and astrology, and her father is Perses, the Titan of Destruction. Her mother Asteria is the sister of the Titan Leto, who (after being raped by Zeus), gave birth to Artemis and Apollo, making Hecatia the cousin of Artemis and Apollo.

Hecatia, who was granted honor not only by the Titans and was given a share of the earth, sea and sky, was not only awarded these honors again (and more) by Zeus after the Titanomachy, but her great-grandparents are Gaia (the Earth), Ouranos (the Heavens), and Pontos (the Seas) who aren't just divine entities but the very earth, seas and skies themselves.

Despite being a virgin goddess and never having had any children (except by religious proxy through worship as is the case of Medea and Kirke, who were called daughters to Hecatia), she has a really strange, close relationship with Zeus where she is sometimes worshiped at his side in a Consort-like manner, such as in Panamoros where the two were worshiped together, only for Hecatia to eventually be replaced by Hera centuries later. In Chalke and Rhodes, the two were worshiped together in adjoining empty stone thrones. Though nothing conclusive can be said about the nature of their relationship, Hecatia and Zeus were particularly close, especially in the eastern regions of Greece and Anatolia where they were worshiped side by side.

Hecatia, especially in the Eleusinian Mysteries, was depicted as being fairly young, compared to Demeter. While both had been described as being maidenly, it's notable that Persephone is depicted as a young woman while Hecatia wears clothing suitable for young girls, an open ungirt peplos, as can be seen in the statue called The Running Maiden of Eleusis, which is believed to be a depiction of Hecatia. She precedes and follows Persephone as she travels to and from the world of the dead on her yearly travels, and it is Hecatia who persaudes Demeter to speak with Helios to discover the fate of Persephone, and provides Persephone with company in the land of the dead during her stay there.

Hecatia in the Chaldean Oracles is an extremely important figure and is of great significance as she is the Savior and the benevolent source of souls and virtue. In the Chaldean Oracles, Soul is in and wraps around all of creation, and Soul is found in Hecatia, bestowing upon all of existence with portions of Soul as it flows from her right flank and the source of Virtue is found in her left flank, which remains within, not sending forth its virginity. Also in the Chaldean Oracles, Hecatia is the ruler of angels, which are separated into three orders: the Iynges, the Synochesis, and the Teletarchai. Hecatia's hierarchy of angels would eventually provide inspiration to Pseudo-Dionysus I in the 6th Century in his work Celestial Hierarchy and Divine Names, which would form the basis for the hierarchy of angelic orders still employed in Christianity today.

Why is Hecatia such an amazing, powerful, and benevolent goddess?

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