Editing Hecate (section)

===Late Antiquity===
[[File:Altar Pérgamo Ártemis 01.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|right|Hecate battles Clytius next to Artemis, Gigantomachy frieze, [[Pergamon Altar]], [[Pergamon Museum]], [[Berlin]].]]
During the [[Giants (Greek mythology)|Gigantomachy]], Hecate fought by the side of the Olympian gods, and slew the giant [[Clytius]] using her torches.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D6%3Asection%3D2 1.6.2]</ref> Hecate is depicted fighting Clytius in the east frieze of the Gigantomachy, in the [[Pergamon Altar]] next to [[Artemis]];<ref>''The J. Paul Getty Museum'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=l20mAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 101]</ref> she appears with a different weapon in each of her three right hands, a torch, a sword and a lance.<ref name=":seyf"/> Her fight with the Giant appears in a number of ancient vase paintings and other artwork.<ref name="s.v. Hecate"/><ref>A collection of vase-paintings of Hecate fighting Clytius can be seen [https://www.theoi.com/gallery-vase-paintings-7.html here].</ref>

Hecate is the primary feminine figure in the ''[[Chaldean Oracles]]'' (2nd–3rd century CE),<ref>The ''Chaldean Oracles'' is a collection of literature that date from somewhere between the 2nd century and the late 3rd century, the recording of which is traditionally attributed to Julian the Chaldaean or his son, Julian the Theurgist. The material seems to have provided background and explanation related to the meaning of these pronouncements, and appear to have been related to the practice of theurgy, pagan magic that later became closely associated with Neoplatonism, see{{cite book |editor1-last=Hornblower |editor1-first=Simon |editor2-last=Spawforth |editor2-first=Antony |title=The Oxford Classical Dictionary |edition=Third |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198661726/page/316 316] |isbn=0-19-866172-X |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198661726/page/316 }}</ref> where she is associated in fragment 194 with a ''strophalos'' (usually translated as a spinning top, or wheel, used in magic) "Labour thou around the Strophalos of Hecate."<ref>English translation used here from: William Wynn Wescott (tr.), ''The Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster'', 1895.</ref> This appears to refer to a variant of the device mentioned by Psellus.<ref>"A top of Hekate is a golden sphere enclosing a lapis lazuli in its middle that is twisted through a cow-hide leather thong and having engraved letters all over it. [Diviners] spin this sphere and make invocations. Such things they call charms, whether it is the matter of a spherical object, or a triangular one, or some other shape. While spinning them, they call out unintelligible or beast-like sounds, laughing and flailing at the air. [Hekate] teaches the ''taketes'' to operate, that is the movement of the top, as if it had an ineffable power. It is called the top of Hekate because it is dedicated to her. In her right hand she held the source of the virtues. But it is all nonsense." As quoted in Frank R. Trombley, ''Hellenic Religion and Christianization, C. 370–529'', Brill, 1993, p. 319.</ref>

In Hellenistic [[syncretism]], Hecate also became closely associated with [[Isis]]. [[Lucius Apuleius]] in ''[[The Golden Ass]]'' (2nd century) equates [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], [[Bellona (goddess)|Bellona]], Hecate and Isis:
{{blockquote|Some call me Juno, others Bellona of the Battles, and still others Hecate. Principally the Ethiopians which dwell in the Orient, and the Egyptians which are excellent in all kind of ancient doctrine, and by their proper ceremonies accustomed to worship me, do call me Queen Isis.<ref>[[Apuleius]], ''[[The Golden Ass]]'' 11.47.</ref>}}

In the [[syncretism]] during [[Late Antiquity]] of Hellenistic and late Babylonian ("[[Chaldean mythology|Chaldean]]") elements, Hecate was identified with [[Ereshkigal]], the underworld counterpart of [[Inanna]] in the Babylonian cosmography. In the Michigan magical papyrus (inv. 7), dated to the late 3rd or early 4th century CE, ''Hecate Erschigal'' is invoked against fear of punishment in the afterlife.<ref>[[Hans Dieter Betz]], "Fragments from a Catabasis Ritual in a Greek Magical Papyrus", ''History of Religions'' '''19''',4 (May 1980):287–295). The goddess appears as ''Hecate Erschigal'' only in the heading: in the spell itself only ''Erschigal'' is called upon with protective magical words and gestures.</ref> Schwemer believes that this use of Ereshkigal's name merely furnished "the Greek Netherworld goddess with a mysterious-sounding, foreign name".{{sfn|Schwemer|2019|pp=66-67}}

Hecate is also referenced in the [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] text [[Pistis Sophia]].<ref>{{cite book|author=George R. S. Mead|url=http://gnosis.org/library/pistis-sophia/ps145.htm|title=Pistis Sophia|publisher=Jazzybee Verlag|year=1963|isbn=9783849687090|chapter=140|author-link=G. R. S. Mead|access-date=2021-11-02}}</ref>