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Proclus Diadochus (410-485 AD)
Hymn VI: To Hekate and Janus
(Text: E. Vogt Procli Hymni Weisbaden 1957)
Hail, many-named
Mother of the Gods, whose children are fair
Hail, mighty
Hekate of the Threshold
And hail to you
also Forefather Janus, Imperishable Zeus
Hail to you Zeus
most high.
Shape the course
of my life with luminous Light
And make it laden
with good things,
Drive sickness and
evil from my limbs.
And when my soul
rages about worldly things,
Deliver me
purified by your soul-stirring rituals.
Yes, give me your
hand I pray
And reveal to me
the pathways of divine guidance that I long for,
Then shall I gaze
upon that precious Light
Whence I can flee
the evil of our dark origin.
Yes, give me your
hand I pray,
And when I am
weary bring me to the haven of piety with your winds.
Hail, many-named
mother of the Gods, whose children are fair
Hail, mighty
Hekate of the Threshold
And hail to you
also Forefather Janus, Imperishable Zeus,
Hail to you Zeus
most high.
NOTES: The
pairing of Hekate with Janus (as Demiurge) is very unusual, and is one piece
of evidence which indicates that there was a link between Chaldean
traditions and the Syrian sanctuary on the Janiculum. This is
discussed in Chaldean Hekate on pp 126-8 below.
The
Orphic Hymns (1st-3rd c. AD?)
Hymn I: To Hekate
(text: w. Quant Orphei hymni Berlin 1962)
I invoke you,
beloved Hekate of the Crossroads and the Three Ways
Saffron-cloaked
Goddess of the Heavens, the Underworld and the Sea
Tomb-frequenter,
mystery-raving with the souls of the dead
Daughter of Perses,
Lover of the Wilderness who exults among the deer
Nightgoing One,
Protectress of dogs, Unconquerable Queen
Beast-roarer,
Dishevelled One of compelling countenance
Tauropolos,
Keyholding Mistress of the whole world
Ruler, Nymph,
Mountain-wandering Nurturer of youth.
Maiden, I beg you
to be present at these sacred rites
Ever with a
gladsome heart and ever gracious to the Oxherd.
Line 7)
tauropolos An epithet of Artemis, variously interpreted to mean
worshipped at Tauris, or drawn by a yoke of bulls, or hunting
bulls (LSJ), or herder of bulls (Athanassakis tr.)
Line 10) Oxherd (boukolos)
This seems to have been an officer in an Orphic group (Athanassakis p.113)
Sophocles (496-406 BC)
Hymn to Helios and Hekate
(fragment from the play the Rhizotomoi)
(Text: S. Nauck, Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta 2 vols. [Leipzig
1889]. Fr 492; cf. T. Kraus Hekate Heidelberg 1960, p. 87.)
O Master Helios
and Sacred Fire
O spear of
Hekate of the Crossroads
Which she bears
as she travels Olympus
And dwells in
the holy triple-ways of the Earth
She who is
crowned with oak-leaves
And the coils of
wild snakes.
NOTES: Reading naiousa 'dwells' in line 4 with Nauck, rather
than the aniousa 'returns' of Wilamowitz (U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
Der Glaube der Hellenen 2 vols. [Berlin 1931-2] I. p 173), through
it is not perhaps of vital importance which we read. Farnell (pp
26-8) was keen to read this hymn as evidence for a lunar dimension to
Hekate at this time, but it seems very hard to understand how the sun
(Helios) would be seen as the 'spear' of the Moon-Goddess, and thus it
appears to be better to take this as another piece of evidence of an early
solar connection to Hekate which we discuss in Chaldean Hekate on
p.116 below.
Taken Verbatim
From: "The Goddess Hekate: Studies in Ancient Pagan and Christian
Religion & Philosophy Volume I." Edited by Stephen Ronan.
Chthonios Books. Hastings, UK.
©1992
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