Editing Hecate (section)

===Archaic period===
[[File:Hécate - Mallarmé.png|thumb|''Hecate'', ''[[Ancient Greece|Greek]] goddess of the crossroads''; drawing by [[Stéphane Mallarmé]] in ''Les Dieux Antiques, nouvelle mythologie illustrée'' in Paris, 1880]]
Hecate has been characterized as a pre-Olympian [[chthonic]] goddess. The earliest literary source to mention Hecate is the ''[[Theogony]]'' (c.&nbsp;700 BCE) of [[Hesiod]]:<ref>Richardson, p. 33.</ref>
{{blockquote|text=And [Asteria] conceived and bore Hecate whom Zeus the son of Cronos honored above all. He gave her splendid gifts, to have a share of the earth and the unfruitful sea. She received honor also in starry heaven, and is honored exceedingly by the deathless gods. For to this day, whenever any one of men on earth offers rich sacrifices and prays for favor according to custom, he calls upon Hecate. Great honor comes full easily to him whose prayers the goddess receives favorably, and she bestows wealth upon him; for the power surely is with her. For as many as were born of Earth and Ocean amongst all these she has her due portion. The son of Cronos did her no wrong nor took anything away of all that was her portion among the former Titan gods: but she holds, as the division was at the first from the beginning, privilege both in earth, and in heaven, and in sea.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:404-452 411–425].</ref>}}

According to Hesiod, she held sway over many things:
{{blockquote|text=Whom she will she greatly aids and advances: she sits by worshipful kings in judgement, and in the assembly whom she will is distinguished among the people. And when men arm themselves for the battle that destroys men, then the goddess is at hand to give victory and grant glory readily to whom she will. Good is she also when men contend at the games, for there too the goddess is with them and profits them: and he who by might and strength gets the victory wins the rich prize easily with joy, and brings glory to his parents. And she is good to stand by horsemen, whom she will: and to those whose business is in the grey discomfortable sea, and who pray to Hecate and the loud-crashing Earth-Shaker, easily the glorious goddess gives great catch, and easily she takes it away as soon as seen, if so she will. She is good in the byre with Hermes to increase the stock. The droves of kine and wide herds of goats and flocks of fleecy sheep, if she will, she increases from a few, or makes many to be less. So, then, albeit her mother's only child, she is honored amongst all the deathless gods. And the son of Cronos made her a nurse of the young who after that day saw with their eyes the light of all-seeing Dawn. So from the beginning she is a nurse of the young, and these are her honours.<ref name=Hesiod>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:404-452 429–452].</ref>}}

[[File:Coin of the Bactrian king Agathokles.jpg|thumb|The coins of [[Agathocles of Bactria]] (ruled 190–180 BCE) show [[Zeus]] holding Hecate in his hand.<ref>Foreign Influence on Ancient India, Krishna Chandra Sagar, Northern Book Centre, 1992 [https://books.google.com/books?id=0UA4rkm9MgkC&pg=PA103]</ref>]]
Hesiod's inclusion and praise of Hecate in the ''[[Theogony]]'' has been troublesome for scholars, in that he seems to hold her in high regard, while the testimony of other writers, and surviving evidence, suggests that this may have been the exception. One theory is that [[Hesiod]]'s original village had a substantial Hecate following and that his inclusion of her in the ''Theogony'' was a way of adding to her prestige by spreading word of her among his readers.<ref name="Restless_Dead">Johnston, Sarah Iles, (1991). ''Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece''. {{ISBN|0-520-21707-1}}</ref> Another theory is that Hecate was mainly a household god and humble household worship could have been more pervasive and yet not mentioned as much as temple worship.<ref>Household and Family Religion in Antiquity by John Bodel and Saul M. Olyan, page 221, published by John Wiley & Sons, 2009</ref> In Athens, Hecate, along with Zeus, Hermes, Athena, Hestia, and Apollo, were very important in daily life as they were the main gods of the household.<ref name=":0" /> However, it is clear that the special position given to Hecate by Zeus is upheld throughout her history by depictions found on coins of Hecate on the hand of Zeus<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/baktria/kings/agathokles/t.html |title=Baktria, Kings, Agathokles, ancient coins index with thumbnails |publisher=WildWinds.com |access-date=24 September 2012}}</ref> as highlighted in more recent research presented by d'Este and Rankine.<ref>d'Este & Rankine, Hekate Liminal Rites, Avalonia, 2009</ref>

In the [[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]] to [[Demeter]] (composed c.&nbsp;600 BCE), Hecate is called "tender-hearted", an [[epithet]] perhaps intended to emphasize her concern with the disappearance of [[Persephone]], when she assisted [[Demeter]] with her search for Persephone following her abduction by Hades, suggesting that Demeter should speak to the god of the Sun, [[Helios]]. Subsequently, Hecate became Persephone's companion on her yearly journey to and from the realms of Hades, serving as a [[psychopomp]]. Because of this association, Hecate was one of the chief goddesses of the Eleusinian Mysteries, alongside Demeter and Persephone,<ref name="Charles M 1986 pp. 307–318" /> and there was a temple dedicated to her near the main sanctuary at [[Eleusis]].<ref name=rotting>Rabinowitz, Jacob. ''The Rotting Goddess: The origin of the witch in classical antiquity's demonization of fertility religion.'' Autonomedia, 1998.</ref>