Post #443

The connection between the daemons and the souls of the dead is further exemplified by means of the goddess Hecate, in her guises as the queen both of daemons and the dead. Hecate’s position in relation to the daemons is revealed most clearly by Eusebius. In Praeparatio evangelica, he twice describes her as the ἄρχων (ruler) of the “πονηρῶν δαιμόνων” (malicious daemons). As ruler of the dead, Hecate is described in Apollonius of Rhodes’ (third century BC) Argonautica both as “χθονίην” (chthonic) and as the “ἐνέροισιν ἄνασσαν” (queen of those below), denoting her rulership over the dead. This connection is strengthened by a passage from the Orphici hymni describing Hecate in connection with “ψυχαῖς νεκύων” (souls of the dead). – Christopher A. Plaisance, Evocating the Gods (Triple-formed representation of Hecate. Marble, Roman copy after an original of the Hellenistic period.)