Editing Hecate (section)

==Possible origins==

===Anatolian===
Evidence suggests that Hecate originated among the [[Carians]] of [[Anatolia]],<ref>Burkert, p. 171 ("Hecate seems to have roots among the Carians of Asia Minor"); Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA193 p. 193] ("To judge by the spread of related place-names and other evidence, Hekate originated in Caria in the south-western corner of Asia Minor, where she would have been worshipped as a principal goddess"); Johnston 2006, s.v. Hecate (Hecate "probably stems from Caria and came to Greece around the archaic age"); Henrichs, [https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2957 s.v. Hecate] (Hecate's "Greek etymology is no guarantee that her name or cult originated in Greece. Possibly of Carian origin ... she is more at home on the fringes than in the centre of Greek polytheism."). For an opposing view see [[William Berg (classicist)|Berg]] 1974.</ref> the region where most [[theophoric name]]s invoking Hecate, such as [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]] or [[Hecatomnus]], the father of [[Mausolus]], are attested,<ref>{{cite book |first=Theodor |last=Kraus |title=Hekate: Studien zu Wesen u. Bilde der Göttin in Kleinasien u. Griechenland |language=de |place=Heidelberg, DE |publisher=Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg|year=1960}}</ref> and where Hecate remained a [[Magna Dea|Great Goddess]] into historical times, at her unrivalled{{efn|
Berg 1974, p. 128: Berg comments on Hecate's endorsement of Roman hegemony in her representation on the pediment at Lagina solemnising a pact between a warrior (Rome) and an [[Amazons|amazon]] (Asia).
}} cult site in [[Lagina]]. In particular, there is some evidence that she might be derived from the local [[solar deity|sun goddesses]] (see also [[Arinna]]) based on similar attributes.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Mary |last=Bachvarova |date=May 2010 |title=Hecate: An Anatolian sun-goddess of the underworld |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |doi=10.2139/ssrn.1608145}}</ref> The monuments to Hecate in [[Phrygia]] and Caria are numerous but of late date.<ref>Kraus 1960, p. 52; list pp. 166 ff.</ref>

If Hecate's cult spread from Anatolia into Greece, then it possibly presented a conflict, as her role 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.

===Egyptian===
A possible theory of a foreign origin for the name may be [[Heqet]] (''ḥqt''), a frog-headed [[ancient Egyptian deities|Egyptian goddess]] of fertility and childbirth, who, like Hecate, was also associated with ''[[:wikt:ḥqꜣ|ḥqꜣ]]'', ruler.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McKechnie|first1=Paul R. |author-link1=Paul R. McKechnie|last2=Guillaume|first2=Philippe|author-link2=Philippe Guillaume|title=Ptolemy the second Philadelphus and his world|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dLr7rXZB35cC&pg=PA133|year=2008|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-17089-6|page=133}}</ref> 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 (god)|Heka]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Heka/|title=Heka|first=Joshua J.|last=Mark|website=World History Encyclopedia|accessdate=16 January 2023}}</ref>