4. A favorite myth or myths of this deity.
Hekate, Hecuba and black dogs:
After the fall of Troy, Odysseus received Queen Hekabe/Hecuba as his captive. During the return voyage, Hekabe murdered a Thracian king and was stoned and the gods transformed her into a black dog, henceforth known as the the animal familiar of Bendis, the Thrakian Hekate who was in ancient times offered dogs as a sacrifice (particularly on/around Deipna/Deipnon if they wanted to please Hekate and bring good fortune back into their homes). Alternatively, it is said that Hecuba threw herself from a rock once the city was captured and Hekate took pity on her, thus turning her into a dog.
Hekate, Alkmene and Galinthias/Gale and the polecat:
There are at least two myths as to how the polecat became associated with Hekate. One, as the myth goes involves a witch named Gale. Gale was so full of greed and lust that the gods punished her by turning her into a black polecat, and Hekate welcomed her amongst her favorite animals. (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.): "I have heard that the land-marten (polecat) was once a human being. It has also reached my hearing that Gale was her name then; that she was a dealer in spells and a sorceress (Pharmakis); that she was extremely incontinent, and that she was afflicted with abnormal sexual desires. Nor has it escaped my notice that the anger of the goddess Hekate transformed it into this evil creature. May the goddess be gracious to me : fables and their telling I leave to others."
The second pertains to Alkmene and the birth of Herakles. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 29 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.): "At Thebes Proitos had a daughter Galinthias. This maiden was playmate and companion of Alkmene, daughter of Elektryon. As the birth throes for Herakles were pressing on Alkmene, the Moirai (the Fates) and Eileithyia (Birth-Goddess), as a favour to Hera, kept Alkmene in continuous birth pangs. They remained seated, each keeping their arms crossed. Galinthias, fearing that the pains of her labor would drive Alkmene mad, ran to the Moirai and Eleithyia and announced that by desire of Zeus a boy had been born to Alkmene and that their prerogatives had been abolished. At all this, consternation of course overcame the Moirai and they immediately let go their arms. Alkmene’s pangs ceased at once and Herakles was born. The Moirai were aggrieved at this and took away the womanly parts of Galinthias since, being but a mortal, she had deceived the gods. They turned her into a deceitful weasel (polecat), making her live in crannies and gave her a grotesque way of mating. She is mounted through the ears and gives birth by bringing forth her young through the throat. Hekate felt sorry for this transformation of her appearance and appointed her a sacred servant of herself."
Hekate, Demeter and Persephone:
A daughter, Persephone was born of Demeter, the goddes of the crops and harvest, and Zeus, the king of the gods. One day while Persephone was gathering wild flowers, she was abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld. Some say Zeus gave his daughter to his brother while others claim Cupid is responsible, having struck Hades with one of his arrows. Hekate and Helios hear Persephone’s please for help as does her mother, Demeter who is too far away to help. Demeter was distraught when she could not find her daughter and wandered over the face of the earth searching for her, neither eating nor bathing. Eventually she comes upon Hekate who tells her she heard the screams but does not know what happened and suggests she asks Helios, the Sun god, if he saw anything during his trek across the sky. Helios tells Demeter everything and tries to consol her by pointing out that Hades will make a wonderful husband for her daughter as he's an important and powerful god.
Furious with Zeus (who in one story is the cause, and another, refuses to intervene), Demeter withdraws from her role as agricultural goddess, vowing to not set foot on Mount Olympus again and to not allow anything to grow on earth until she gets her daughter back. The resulting famine threatened the extinction of the entire human race. Seeing this, Zeus sends Hermes to the underworld to tell Hades to release Persephone. Hades agrees but not before he tricks her into eating pomegranate seeds, the fruit of the dead (the number of which varies in the tellings).
Once Demeter is reunited with her daughter she asks if she had eaten anything in the underworld. Persephone admits that she has and so must remain in the underworld. Demeter, in a rage swears nothing will ever again grow on the earth and once again Zeus must intervene. Hekate arrives and consols Demeter and Persephone while Zeus sends his mother, Rhea to broker an agreement with Demeter. She reluctantly agrees to allow Persephone to spend part of the year in the underworld with Hades (how long varies in different tellings) but in mourning during this time, once again vows that so long as her daughter remains in the underworld, nothing will grow, only allowing life to take root in the earth once her daughter is once again returned to her.
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