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Hellhound
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For other uses, see Hellhound (disambiguation).



 Goddess Hel and the hound Garmr by Johannes Gehrts, 1889
A hellhound is a supernatural dog in folklore. A wide variety of ominous or hellish supernatural dogs occur in mythologies around the world, similar to the oft-seen dragon. Features that have been attributed to hellhounds include black fur, glowing red - or sometimes yellow - eyes, super strength or speed, ghostly or phantom characteristics, foul odor, and sometimes even the ability to talk. Certain European legends state that if someone stares into a hellhound's eyes three times or more, that person will surely die. In cultures that associate the afterlife with fire, hellhounds may have fire-based abilities and appearance. They are often assigned to guard the entrances to the world of the dead, such as graveyards and burial grounds, or undertake other duties related to the afterlife or the supernatural, such as hunting lost souls or guarding a supernatural treasure. In European legends, seeing a hellhound or hearing it howl may be an omen or even a cause of death.
Some supernatural dogs, such as the Welsh Cŵn Annwn, were actually believed to be benign. However, encountering them was still considered a sign of imminent death.


Contents  [hide]
1 Examples from folklore
2 Barghest
3 Bearer of Death
4 Black Shuck 4.1 Appearance in Bungay and Blythburgh
5 Dip
6 Cŵn Annwn
7 Moddy Dhoo
8 Gwyllgi
9 Yeth Hound
10 Church Grim 10.1 Church Grim in Fiction
11 Gytrash
12 Fiction 12.1 In anime and manga
12.2 In film
12.3 In games
12.4 In literature
12.5 In television
12.6 In internet phenomena
13 See also
14 References
15 External links

Examples from folklore[edit]
The most famous hellhound is probably Cerberus from Greek mythology. Hellhounds are also famous for appearing in Northern European mythology and folklore as a part of the Wild Hunt. These hounds are given several different names in local folklore, but they display typical hellhound characteristics. The myth is common across Great Britain, and many names are given to the apparitions: Moddey Dhoo of the Isle of Man, Gwyllgi of Wales, and so on (see Black dog (ghost)). The earliest mention of these myths are in both Walter Map's De Nugis Curianium (1190) and the Welsh myth cycle of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi (ca. tenth to thirteenth century)[citation needed].
In southern Mexican and Central American folklore, the Cadejo is a big black dog that haunts travellers who walk late at night on rural roads. The term is also common in American blues music, such as in Robert Johnson's "Hellhound on my Trail"
In Greek mythology the hellhound belonged to Hades, the Greek god of death and the underworld, its name in Greek mythology is Cerberus, it has three heads but is still black with razor sharp teeth and super strength, it is used to guard the gates of hell.
Barghest[edit]
Main article: Barghest
Barghest, Bargtjest, Bo-guest, Bargest or Barguest is the name often given in the north of England, especially in Yorkshire, to a legendary monstrous black dog with huge teeth and claws, though in other cases the name can refer to a ghost or Household elf, especially in Northumberland and Durham (see Cauld Lad of Hylton). One is said to frequent a remote gorge named Troller's Gill. There is also a story of a Barghest entering the city of York occasionally, where, according to legend, it preys on lone travellers in the city's narrow Snickelways. Whitby is also associated with the spectre.[1] A famous Barghest was said to live near Darlington who was said to take the form of a headless man (who would vanish in flames), a headless lady, a white cat, a dog, rabbit and black dog. Another was said to live in an "uncannie-looking" dale between Darlington and Houghton, near Throstlenest.[2]
The derivation of the word barghest is disputed. Ghost in the north of England was once pronounced guest, and the name is thought to be burh-ghest: town-ghost. Others explain it as German Berg-geist (mountain spirit), or Bär-geist (bear-spirit), in allusion to its alleged appearance at times as a bear. Another mooted derivation is 'Bier-Geist', the 'spirit of the funeral bier'.
Bearer of Death[edit]
The Bearer of Death is a term used in describing the Hellhound. Hellhounds have been said to be as black as coal and smell of burning brimstone. They tend to leave behind a burned area wherever they go. Their eyes are a deep, bright, and almost glowing red. They have razor sharp teeth, super strength and speed, and are commonly associated with graveyards and the underworld. Hellhounds are called The Bearers of Death because they were supposedly created by ancient demons to serve as heralds of death. According to legend, seeing one leads to a person's death. Sometimes it is said to be once; other times it requires three sightings for the curse to take effect and kill the victim. These factors make the Hellhound a feared symbol and worthy of the name “Bearer of Death”. The Hellhound has been seen several times throughout history, and it is not specific to any one place. The most recent sightings occurred in Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, and Vilseck, Germany, in or near cemeteries.[3]
Black Shuck[edit]
Main article: Black Shuck
Black Shuck or Old Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog said to roam the Norfolk, Essex, and Suffolk coastline. Black Shuck is sometimes referred to as the Doom Dog.
For centuries, inhabitants of England have told tales of a large black dog with malevolent flaming eyes (or in some variants of the legend a single eye) that are red or alternatively green. They are described as being 'like saucers'. According to reports, the beast varies in size and stature from that of simply a large dog to being the size of a horse.
There are legends of Black Shuck roaming the Anglian countryside since before Vikings. His name may derive from the Old English word scucca meaning "demon", or possibly from the local dialect word shucky meaning "shaggy" or "hairy". The legend may have been part of the inspiration for the Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.
It is said that his appearance bodes ill to the beholder, although not always. More often than not, stories tell of Black Shuck terrifying his victims, but leaving them alone to continue living normal lives; in some cases it has supposedly happened before close relatives to the observer die or become ill. In other tales he's considered relatively benign, and said to accompany women on their way home in the role of protector rather than a portent of ill omen.[4]
Sometimes Black Shuck has appeared headless, and at other times he appears to float on a carpet of mist. According to folklore, the spectre often haunts graveyards, sideroads, crossroads and dark forests. Black Shuck is also said to haunt the coast road between West Runton and Overstrand.
Appearance in Bungay and Blythburgh[edit]
One of the most notable reports of Black Shuck is of his appearance at the churches of Bungay and Blythburgh in Suffolk. On 4 August 1577, at Blythburgh, Black Shuck is said to have burst in through the church doors. He ran up the nave, past a large congregation, killing a man and boy and causing the church tower to collapse through the roof. As the dog departed, he left scorch marks on the north door that remain to this day. Two men were touched by the beast and fell down dead
The encounter on the same day at Bungay was described in "A Strange and Terrible Wonder" by the Reverend Abraham Fleming in 1577:

This black dog, or the devil in such a linenesse (God hee knoweth al who worketh all,) running all along down the body of the church with great swiftness, and incredible haste, among the people, in a visible forum and shape, passed between two persons, as they were kneeling uppon their knees, and occupied in prayer as it seemed, wrung the necks of them both at one instant clene backward, in so much that even at a moment where they knelled, they strangely died.
Other accounts attribute the event to lightning or the Devil. The scorch marks on the door are referred to by the locals as "the devil’s fingerprints", and the event is remembered in this verse:

All down the church in midst of fire, the hellish monster flew, and, passing onward to the quire, he many people slew.
The appearance in Chignal St James/Chignal Smealy, small villages near Chelmsford, Essex are said to have occurred many years ago. All those said to have seen the red-eyed devil dog are rumored to have met an untimely end within a year, matching the legend that all that see Black Shuck perish within a year of looking into his eyes. These are, of course, all rumors and superstition—however, many websites provide directories of Black Shuck sightings. In recent times, Black Shuck sightings in the Chignal area have been put down to sightings of roaming black dogs that belong to residents, such as The Three Elms pub's large black labradoodle and the Gardening Express nursery terrier cross.
Dip[edit]
In Catalan myth, Dip is an evil, black, hairy dog, an emissary of the Devil, who sucks people's blood. Like other figures associated with demons in Catalan myth, he is lame in one leg. Dip is pictured on the escutcheon of Pratdip.
Cŵn Annwn[edit]
In Welsh mythology and folklore, Cŵn Annwn (/ˌkuːn ˈænʊn/; "hounds of Annwn") were the spectral hounds of Annwn, the otherworld of Welsh myth. They were associated with a form of the Wild Hunt, presided over by Gwynn ap Nudd (rather than Arawn, king of Annwn in the First Branch of the Mabinogi). Christians came to dub these mythical creatures as "The Hounds of Hell" or "Dogs of Hell" and theorised they were therefore owned by Satan.[5][6] However, the Annwn of medieval Welsh tradition is an otherworldly paradise and not a hell or abode of dead souls.
In Wales, they were associated with migrating geese, supposedly because their honking in the night is reminiscent of barking dogs. They are supposed to hunt on specific nights (the eves of St. John, St. Martin, Saint Michael the Archangel, All Saints, Christmas, New Year, Saint Agnes, Saint David, and Good Friday), or just in the autumn and winter. Some say Arawn only hunts from Christmas to Twelfth Night.[citation needed] The Cŵn Annwn also came to be regarded as the escorts of souls on their journey to the Otherworld. The hounds are sometimes accompanied by a fearsome hag called Mallt-y-Nos, "Matilda of the Night". An alternative name in Welsh folklore is Cŵn Mamau ("Hounds of the Mothers").
In other traditions similar spectral hounds are found, e.g., Gabriel Hounds (England), Ratchets (England), Yell Hounds (Isle of Man), related to Herne the Hunter's hounds, which form part of the Wild Hunt.
Hunting grounds for the Cŵn Annwn are said to include the mountain of Cadair Idris, where it is believed "the howling of these huge dogs foretold death to anyone who heard them".[citation needed]
According to Welsh folklore, their growling is loudest when they are at a distance, and as they draw nearer, it grows softer and softer. Their coming is generally seen as a death portent.
Moddy Dhoo[edit]
The Moddy Dhoo, also referred to as Mauthe Dhoog, is known to inhabit only one locale; Peel Castle on the Isle of Man. The most famous interaction occurred between the dog and a guard. The guard, emboldened by alcohol, determined that he would find and deal with this haunter. So off he went alone down the corridors of the castle. Shortly thereafter, his screams were heard. When he was found, he mentioned only the dog. Several days later he died.[7]
Gwyllgi[edit]
The gwyllgi (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈɡwɪɬɡi]; compound noun of either gwyllt "wild" or gwyll "twilight" + ci "dog"[1]) is a mythical dog from Wales that appears as a frightful apparition of a mastiff with baleful breath and blazing red eyes.
It is referred to as "The Dog of Darkness" or "The Black Hound of Destiny",[citation needed] the apparition's favourite haunt being lonely roads at night. It is said to resemble a mastiff.
Yeth Hound[edit]
The yeth hound, also called the yell hound is a Black dog found in Devon folklore. According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, the yeth hound is a headless dog, said to be the spirit of an unbaptised child, which rambles through the woods at night making wailing noises. The yeth hound is also mentioned in The Denham Tracts.
Church Grim[edit]
The Church Grim, Kirk Grim, Kyrkogrim (Swedish) or Kirkonväki (Finnish) is a figure from English and Scandinavian folklore. They are said to be the attendant spirits of churches, overseeing the welfare of their particular church. English Church Grims are said to enjoy loudly ringing the bells. They may appear as black dogs or as small, misshapen, dark-skinned people.[8]
The Swedish Kyrkogrim are said to be the spirits of animals sacrificed by early Christians at the building of a new church.[9] In parts of Europe, including Britain and Scandinavia, a completely black dog would be buried alive on the north side of the grounds of a newly built church, creating a guardian spirit, the church grim, to protect the church from the devil.[8]
Church Grim in Fiction[edit]
The Church-grim by Eden Philpotts is a short story published in the September 1914 edition of The Century Magazine, New York.
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Sybill Trelawney, the divination teacher, associates Harry's tea leaves with the Grim, which she calls "...a black dog who haunts churchyards." The Church Grim inspired the creation of the Grim, which the book depicts as an omen of death.
Gytrash[edit]



 The title character in Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre is reminded of a Gytrash when she first sees Mr Rochester's black horse Mesrour and his black and white dog Pilot. Illustration by F. H. Townsend for the second edition of the book.
The Gytrash /ɡaɪˈtræʃ/, a legendary black dog known in northern England, was said to haunt lonely roads awaiting travellers.[10] Appearing in the shape of horses, mules, or dogs, the Gytrash haunt solitary ways and lead people astray. They are usually feared, but they can also be benevolent, guiding lost travelers to the right road.
In some parts of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire the gytrash was known as the 'Shagfoal' and took the form of a spectral mule or donkey with eyes that glowed like burning coals. In this form the beast was believed to be purely malevolent.

As this horse approached, and as I watched for it to appear through the dusk, I remembered certain of Bessie's tales, wherein figured a North-of-England spirit called a "Gytrash," which, in the form of horse, mule, or large dog, haunted solitary ways, and sometimes came upon belated travellers, as this horse was now coming upon me.
It was very near, but not yet in sight; when, in addition to the tramp, tramp, I heard a rush under the hedge, and close down by the hazel stems glided a great dog, whose black and white colour made him a distinct object against the trees. It was exactly one form of Bessie's Gytrash – a lion-like creature with long hair and a huge head [...], with strange pretercanine eyes [...]. The horse followed, – a tall steed [...]. Nothing ever rode the Gytrash: it was always alone [...].
— Excerpt from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, chapter xii[11]
The Gytrash's emergence as Rochester's innocuous dog Pilot has been interpreted as a subtle mockery of the mysteriousness and romanticism that surrounds his character and clouds Jane's perception.[12] Brontë's reference in 1847 is probably the earliest reference to the beast and forms the basis for subsequent citations.[13]
Fiction[edit]
Hellhounds are a common monstrous creature in fantasy fiction and horror fiction, though they sometimes appear in other genres such as detective novels, or other uses.
In anime and manga[edit]
In the Berserk manga, the dark side or shadow of Guts's personality is represented as a hellhound or black dog.
Alucard of the manga series Hellsing can transform into a Hellhound.
In the Japanese manga One Piece, the Marine Admiral Akainu can use a magma-based ability called Meigou. Meigou translates to Dark Dog, but the official English translation calls it Hellhound.
In the anime/ manga Kuroshitsuji or "Black Butler" there is a hellhound named Pluto. He can turn into a human, but cannot talk.
In Beyblade: Metal (series), Myreille Psychiokieus has a bey was know Hellhound who was a spirit of bey like Doji or Ryuga.
In film[edit]
A Hellhound named Sammael is one of the main antagonists in the first Hellboy film.
Hellhounds appear in the motion picture The Omen.
Hellhounds appear in the movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief as pets of Persephone and Hades, differing from the books' portrayal of them.
A Hellhound named Thorn is the guardian of the vampire Max in The Lost Boys.
In games[edit]
In "Call of Duty: World at War," "Call Of Duty: Black Ops," and "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" in Zombies mode.
In Heroes of Might and Magic III, the hell hound is a recruit-able 3rd-level unit from the Inferno town that can be upgraded into a Cerberus.
Hellhound is also a creature of chaos in the game Master of Magic.
In Neverwinter Nights, the hellhound is available as a familiar for wizards and sorcerers.
In the video game NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, one of the bosses for Will's dream is called Cerberus and is, as stated by Reala, a hellhound
Houndour and Houndoom, two of the Pokémon creatures, are based on the concept of a hellhound.
In the MMORPG RuneScape, there are many Hellhounds.
In the video game The Witcher the Hellhound is a boss monster.
Hellhounds are creatures that appear in The Elder Scrolls: Arena
Hellhounds are minions of the Burning Legion in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
Hellhounds called Skinned Hound appear in The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles, a DLC for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Hellhounds called Death Hound appear in Dawnguard, the first DLC for Skyrim.
In War Commander (Real-Time-Strategy-Game) on Facebook, Hellhounds refers to a rogue faction (computer AI).
In Dungeon Keeper, Hellhounds are a species of creature that can be attracted to your dungeon by means of the Scavenger Room. They are said to be useful guards and good at locating enemies. They are interpreted as having two heads and the ability to breathe fire.
In Dragon's Dogma, Fire-breathing Hellhounds start to appear on land after you defeat the dragon.
In Ultima Online, Hellhounds are a type of hostile creature spawn that appear in a few dungeon areas.
In Don't Starve,Hounds a wolf like enemy are based on Hellhounds
In Age of Mythology Hellhounds come out of Hekate's god power Tartarian, which creates a gate to tartarus, in addition the Greek titan is a three-headed Hellhound resembling Cerberus, the Hellhound that guards the greek underworld. [14]
In literature[edit]
In Rick Riordan's book Percy Jackson, the inventor Daedalus has a pet hellhound called Mrs.O'Leary,who later becomes Percy's pet.
In Piers Anthony's fantasy novel On A Pale Horse, Satan sends hellhounds to attack Zane (Death) and bring him back to hell. The hounds are immortal but are dispatched by Death's magical scythe.
Hellhounds are the pets of Harpies in Anne Bishop's The Black Jewels Series, and hellhounds (called Shadow Hounds) appear in Anne Bishop's Tir Alainn trilogy.
The Witches has barghests being demonic creatures along with the Witches. Barghests, however, are always male and Witches are always female. Barghests are never described, but could be seen as dogs.
Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles
Hellhounds feature in Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series.
In Anthony Horowitz's book Raven's Gate, the protagonist, Matt, is pursued through a forest by demonic canines, after being discovered eavesdropping on a witchcraft ritual. The dogs are described as having rotten flesh, and emerge from the witch's bonfire.
Hellhounds (called darkhounds) appear several times in Robert Jordan's fantasy book series The Wheel of Time. Darkhounds are a particularly nasty form of Shadowspawn. They look like very large dogs or wolves. Their saliva is deadly poison – a single drop on the skin can kill. They are extremely difficult to kill and once they sense their prey they never give up. The only thing that stops them is rain or running water. They leave footprints in stone but none in soft ground.
Frank Belknap Long's Cthulhu Mythos-related short story "Hounds of Tindalos".
Hellhounds appear in Roger Zelazny's 1970 new wave fantasy novel Nine Princes in Amber.
Hellhounds appear in Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job.
In Neil Gaiman's and Terry Pratchet's novel Good Omens, Adam (The Antichrist) receives a hellhound companion that he simply names "Dog."
In television[edit]
In the animated television series League of Super Evil, the League has a pet hellhound (usually referred to as a Doom Hound) named Doomageddon who is usually chaotically evil and disobedient, sometimes becoming a cause of, though at times a solution to, their problems.
Hellhounds appear in the television show Supernatural (e.g., in episode 5.10 "Abandon All Hope"). They are used and controlled by demons to drag souls to hell (usually after a deal for the victim's soul has accrued). Only the person being attacked can see or hear the hellhound. They are usually never shown, until the eighth season as dark shadows with red eyes.
In "Haunted Highway" two investigators search for cryptids/spirits that locals call "Hellhounds".
Hellhounds appeared in the twentieth episode of season three of Buffy the Vampire Slyer - "The Prom". They have a more human-like appearance and feed on the brains of their victims.
In internet phenomena[edit]
Creepypasta has the image "Smile.jpg" or Smile Dog, a picture of a demonic-looking husky with human teeth. It's said to incite insanity or death, and while it is unknown whether the picture is associated with the Devil or not, the dog seems to share similar characteristics of the hellhound. It is unknown if the dog is really a hellhound or not.
See also[edit]
Barghest
Black dog (ghost)
Black Shuck
Cadejo
Cerberus
Devil Dog (Teufelhunde)
Fenrir
Garmr
Warg
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Jeffrey Shaw, Whitby Lore and Legend, (1923)
2.Jump up ^ Henderson, William (1879). "Ch. 7". Notes on the folk-lore of the northern counties of England and the borders (2nd ed.). Folk-Lore Society. p. 275.
3.Jump up ^ Hellhound. animal.discovery.com
4.Jump up ^ The Tollesbury Midwife
5.Jump up ^ Pugh, Jane (1990). Welsh Ghostly Encounters. Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. ISBN 0-86381-791-2.
6.Jump up ^ Celtic Mythology. Geddes and Grosset. 1999. ISBN 1-85534-299-5.
7.Jump up ^ Rose, Carol. Giants, Monsters & Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth. New York: Norton, 2000. Print
8.^ Jump up to: a b Arrowsmith, Nancy A Field Guide to the Little People, London:Pan 1978 ISBN 0-330-25425-1
9.Jump up ^ Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend, Reimund Kvideland, Henning K. Sehmsdorf, p247, 1991, ISBN 0-8166-1967-0 accessed 2008-10-20
10.Jump up ^ Brewer, E. Cobham (1894) [First Published in 1870]. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
11.Jump up ^ Brontë, Charlotte (1847) [First Published in 1847]. "Chapter XII". Jane Eyre. London, England: Smith, Elder & Co. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
12.Jump up ^ Dr. Sally Minogue (1999). "Introduction". Jane Eyre. p. xv. ISBN 978-1-85326-020-9.
13.Jump up ^ Wood, Dr. Juliette. Gytrash (PDF). p. 2. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
14.Jump up ^ http://aom.heavengames.com/gameinfo/atlanteans/powers/godpowers/
External links[edit]
Hellhounds, Werewolves, Trolls and the Germanic Underworld
 


Categories: European legendary creatures
Mythological dogs
Greek legendary creatures
Greek mythology








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Hellhound
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see Hellhound (disambiguation).



 Goddess Hel and the hound Garmr by Johannes Gehrts, 1889
A hellhound is a supernatural dog in folklore. A wide variety of ominous or hellish supernatural dogs occur in mythologies around the world, similar to the oft-seen dragon. Features that have been attributed to hellhounds include black fur, glowing red - or sometimes yellow - eyes, super strength or speed, ghostly or phantom characteristics, foul odor, and sometimes even the ability to talk. Certain European legends state that if someone stares into a hellhound's eyes three times or more, that person will surely die. In cultures that associate the afterlife with fire, hellhounds may have fire-based abilities and appearance. They are often assigned to guard the entrances to the world of the dead, such as graveyards and burial grounds, or undertake other duties related to the afterlife or the supernatural, such as hunting lost souls or guarding a supernatural treasure. In European legends, seeing a hellhound or hearing it howl may be an omen or even a cause of death.
Some supernatural dogs, such as the Welsh Cŵn Annwn, were actually believed to be benign. However, encountering them was still considered a sign of imminent death.


Contents  [hide]
1 Examples from folklore
2 Barghest
3 Bearer of Death
4 Black Shuck 4.1 Appearance in Bungay and Blythburgh
5 Dip
6 Cŵn Annwn
7 Moddy Dhoo
8 Gwyllgi
9 Yeth Hound
10 Church Grim 10.1 Church Grim in Fiction
11 Gytrash
12 Fiction 12.1 In anime and manga
12.2 In film
12.3 In games
12.4 In literature
12.5 In television
12.6 In internet phenomena
13 See also
14 References
15 External links

Examples from folklore[edit]
The most famous hellhound is probably Cerberus from Greek mythology. Hellhounds are also famous for appearing in Northern European mythology and folklore as a part of the Wild Hunt. These hounds are given several different names in local folklore, but they display typical hellhound characteristics. The myth is common across Great Britain, and many names are given to the apparitions: Moddey Dhoo of the Isle of Man, Gwyllgi of Wales, and so on (see Black dog (ghost)). The earliest mention of these myths are in both Walter Map's De Nugis Curianium (1190) and the Welsh myth cycle of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi (ca. tenth to thirteenth century)[citation needed].
In southern Mexican and Central American folklore, the Cadejo is a big black dog that haunts travellers who walk late at night on rural roads. The term is also common in American blues music, such as in Robert Johnson's "Hellhound on my Trail"
In Greek mythology the hellhound belonged to Hades, the Greek god of death and the underworld, its name in Greek mythology is Cerberus, it has three heads but is still black with razor sharp teeth and super strength, it is used to guard the gates of hell.
Barghest[edit]
Main article: Barghest
Barghest, Bargtjest, Bo-guest, Bargest or Barguest is the name often given in the north of England, especially in Yorkshire, to a legendary monstrous black dog with huge teeth and claws, though in other cases the name can refer to a ghost or Household elf, especially in Northumberland and Durham (see Cauld Lad of Hylton). One is said to frequent a remote gorge named Troller's Gill. There is also a story of a Barghest entering the city of York occasionally, where, according to legend, it preys on lone travellers in the city's narrow Snickelways. Whitby is also associated with the spectre.[1] A famous Barghest was said to live near Darlington who was said to take the form of a headless man (who would vanish in flames), a headless lady, a white cat, a dog, rabbit and black dog. Another was said to live in an "uncannie-looking" dale between Darlington and Houghton, near Throstlenest.[2]
The derivation of the word barghest is disputed. Ghost in the north of England was once pronounced guest, and the name is thought to be burh-ghest: town-ghost. Others explain it as German Berg-geist (mountain spirit), or Bär-geist (bear-spirit), in allusion to its alleged appearance at times as a bear. Another mooted derivation is 'Bier-Geist', the 'spirit of the funeral bier'.
Bearer of Death[edit]
The Bearer of Death is a term used in describing the Hellhound. Hellhounds have been said to be as black as coal and smell of burning brimstone. They tend to leave behind a burned area wherever they go. Their eyes are a deep, bright, and almost glowing red. They have razor sharp teeth, super strength and speed, and are commonly associated with graveyards and the underworld. Hellhounds are called The Bearers of Death because they were supposedly created by ancient demons to serve as heralds of death. According to legend, seeing one leads to a person's death. Sometimes it is said to be once; other times it requires three sightings for the curse to take effect and kill the victim. These factors make the Hellhound a feared symbol and worthy of the name “Bearer of Death”. The Hellhound has been seen several times throughout history, and it is not specific to any one place. The most recent sightings occurred in Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, and Vilseck, Germany, in or near cemeteries.[3]
Black Shuck[edit]
Main article: Black Shuck
Black Shuck or Old Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog said to roam the Norfolk, Essex, and Suffolk coastline. Black Shuck is sometimes referred to as the Doom Dog.
For centuries, inhabitants of England have told tales of a large black dog with malevolent flaming eyes (or in some variants of the legend a single eye) that are red or alternatively green. They are described as being 'like saucers'. According to reports, the beast varies in size and stature from that of simply a large dog to being the size of a horse.
There are legends of Black Shuck roaming the Anglian countryside since before Vikings. His name may derive from the Old English word scucca meaning "demon", or possibly from the local dialect word shucky meaning "shaggy" or "hairy". The legend may have been part of the inspiration for the Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.
It is said that his appearance bodes ill to the beholder, although not always. More often than not, stories tell of Black Shuck terrifying his victims, but leaving them alone to continue living normal lives; in some cases it has supposedly happened before close relatives to the observer die or become ill. In other tales he's considered relatively benign, and said to accompany women on their way home in the role of protector rather than a portent of ill omen.[4]
Sometimes Black Shuck has appeared headless, and at other times he appears to float on a carpet of mist. According to folklore, the spectre often haunts graveyards, sideroads, crossroads and dark forests. Black Shuck is also said to haunt the coast road between West Runton and Overstrand.
Appearance in Bungay and Blythburgh[edit]
One of the most notable reports of Black Shuck is of his appearance at the churches of Bungay and Blythburgh in Suffolk. On 4 August 1577, at Blythburgh, Black Shuck is said to have burst in through the church doors. He ran up the nave, past a large congregation, killing a man and boy and causing the church tower to collapse through the roof. As the dog departed, he left scorch marks on the north door that remain to this day. Two men were touched by the beast and fell down dead
The encounter on the same day at Bungay was described in "A Strange and Terrible Wonder" by the Reverend Abraham Fleming in 1577:

This black dog, or the devil in such a linenesse (God hee knoweth al who worketh all,) running all along down the body of the church with great swiftness, and incredible haste, among the people, in a visible forum and shape, passed between two persons, as they were kneeling uppon their knees, and occupied in prayer as it seemed, wrung the necks of them both at one instant clene backward, in so much that even at a moment where they knelled, they strangely died.
Other accounts attribute the event to lightning or the Devil. The scorch marks on the door are referred to by the locals as "the devil’s fingerprints", and the event is remembered in this verse:

All down the church in midst of fire, the hellish monster flew, and, passing onward to the quire, he many people slew.
The appearance in Chignal St James/Chignal Smealy, small villages near Chelmsford, Essex are said to have occurred many years ago. All those said to have seen the red-eyed devil dog are rumored to have met an untimely end within a year, matching the legend that all that see Black Shuck perish within a year of looking into his eyes. These are, of course, all rumors and superstition—however, many websites provide directories of Black Shuck sightings. In recent times, Black Shuck sightings in the Chignal area have been put down to sightings of roaming black dogs that belong to residents, such as The Three Elms pub's large black labradoodle and the Gardening Express nursery terrier cross.
Dip[edit]
In Catalan myth, Dip is an evil, black, hairy dog, an emissary of the Devil, who sucks people's blood. Like other figures associated with demons in Catalan myth, he is lame in one leg. Dip is pictured on the escutcheon of Pratdip.
Cŵn Annwn[edit]
In Welsh mythology and folklore, Cŵn Annwn (/ˌkuːn ˈænʊn/; "hounds of Annwn") were the spectral hounds of Annwn, the otherworld of Welsh myth. They were associated with a form of the Wild Hunt, presided over by Gwynn ap Nudd (rather than Arawn, king of Annwn in the First Branch of the Mabinogi). Christians came to dub these mythical creatures as "The Hounds of Hell" or "Dogs of Hell" and theorised they were therefore owned by Satan.[5][6] However, the Annwn of medieval Welsh tradition is an otherworldly paradise and not a hell or abode of dead souls.
In Wales, they were associated with migrating geese, supposedly because their honking in the night is reminiscent of barking dogs. They are supposed to hunt on specific nights (the eves of St. John, St. Martin, Saint Michael the Archangel, All Saints, Christmas, New Year, Saint Agnes, Saint David, and Good Friday), or just in the autumn and winter. Some say Arawn only hunts from Christmas to Twelfth Night.[citation needed] The Cŵn Annwn also came to be regarded as the escorts of souls on their journey to the Otherworld. The hounds are sometimes accompanied by a fearsome hag called Mallt-y-Nos, "Matilda of the Night". An alternative name in Welsh folklore is Cŵn Mamau ("Hounds of the Mothers").
In other traditions similar spectral hounds are found, e.g., Gabriel Hounds (England), Ratchets (England), Yell Hounds (Isle of Man), related to Herne the Hunter's hounds, which form part of the Wild Hunt.
Hunting grounds for the Cŵn Annwn are said to include the mountain of Cadair Idris, where it is believed "the howling of these huge dogs foretold death to anyone who heard them".[citation needed]
According to Welsh folklore, their growling is loudest when they are at a distance, and as they draw nearer, it grows softer and softer. Their coming is generally seen as a death portent.
Moddy Dhoo[edit]
The Moddy Dhoo, also referred to as Mauthe Dhoog, is known to inhabit only one locale; Peel Castle on the Isle of Man. The most famous interaction occurred between the dog and a guard. The guard, emboldened by alcohol, determined that he would find and deal with this haunter. So off he went alone down the corridors of the castle. Shortly thereafter, his screams were heard. When he was found, he mentioned only the dog. Several days later he died.[7]
Gwyllgi[edit]
The gwyllgi (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈɡwɪɬɡi]; compound noun of either gwyllt "wild" or gwyll "twilight" + ci "dog"[1]) is a mythical dog from Wales that appears as a frightful apparition of a mastiff with baleful breath and blazing red eyes.
It is referred to as "The Dog of Darkness" or "The Black Hound of Destiny",[citation needed] the apparition's favourite haunt being lonely roads at night. It is said to resemble a mastiff.
Yeth Hound[edit]
The yeth hound, also called the yell hound is a Black dog found in Devon folklore. According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, the yeth hound is a headless dog, said to be the spirit of an unbaptised child, which rambles through the woods at night making wailing noises. The yeth hound is also mentioned in The Denham Tracts.
Church Grim[edit]
The Church Grim, Kirk Grim, Kyrkogrim (Swedish) or Kirkonväki (Finnish) is a figure from English and Scandinavian folklore. They are said to be the attendant spirits of churches, overseeing the welfare of their particular church. English Church Grims are said to enjoy loudly ringing the bells. They may appear as black dogs or as small, misshapen, dark-skinned people.[8]
The Swedish Kyrkogrim are said to be the spirits of animals sacrificed by early Christians at the building of a new church.[9] In parts of Europe, including Britain and Scandinavia, a completely black dog would be buried alive on the north side of the grounds of a newly built church, creating a guardian spirit, the church grim, to protect the church from the devil.[8]
Church Grim in Fiction[edit]
The Church-grim by Eden Philpotts is a short story published in the September 1914 edition of The Century Magazine, New York.
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Sybill Trelawney, the divination teacher, associates Harry's tea leaves with the Grim, which she calls "...a black dog who haunts churchyards." The Church Grim inspired the creation of the Grim, which the book depicts as an omen of death.
Gytrash[edit]



 The title character in Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre is reminded of a Gytrash when she first sees Mr Rochester's black horse Mesrour and his black and white dog Pilot. Illustration by F. H. Townsend for the second edition of the book.
The Gytrash /ɡaɪˈtræʃ/, a legendary black dog known in northern England, was said to haunt lonely roads awaiting travellers.[10] Appearing in the shape of horses, mules, or dogs, the Gytrash haunt solitary ways and lead people astray. They are usually feared, but they can also be benevolent, guiding lost travelers to the right road.
In some parts of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire the gytrash was known as the 'Shagfoal' and took the form of a spectral mule or donkey with eyes that glowed like burning coals. In this form the beast was believed to be purely malevolent.

As this horse approached, and as I watched for it to appear through the dusk, I remembered certain of Bessie's tales, wherein figured a North-of-England spirit called a "Gytrash," which, in the form of horse, mule, or large dog, haunted solitary ways, and sometimes came upon belated travellers, as this horse was now coming upon me.
It was very near, but not yet in sight; when, in addition to the tramp, tramp, I heard a rush under the hedge, and close down by the hazel stems glided a great dog, whose black and white colour made him a distinct object against the trees. It was exactly one form of Bessie's Gytrash – a lion-like creature with long hair and a huge head [...], with strange pretercanine eyes [...]. The horse followed, – a tall steed [...]. Nothing ever rode the Gytrash: it was always alone [...].
— Excerpt from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, chapter xii[11]
The Gytrash's emergence as Rochester's innocuous dog Pilot has been interpreted as a subtle mockery of the mysteriousness and romanticism that surrounds his character and clouds Jane's perception.[12] Brontë's reference in 1847 is probably the earliest reference to the beast and forms the basis for subsequent citations.[13]
Fiction[edit]
Hellhounds are a common monstrous creature in fantasy fiction and horror fiction, though they sometimes appear in other genres such as detective novels, or other uses.
In anime and manga[edit]
In the Berserk manga, the dark side or shadow of Guts's personality is represented as a hellhound or black dog.
Alucard of the manga series Hellsing can transform into a Hellhound.
In the Japanese manga One Piece, the Marine Admiral Akainu can use a magma-based ability called Meigou. Meigou translates to Dark Dog, but the official English translation calls it Hellhound.
In the anime/ manga Kuroshitsuji or "Black Butler" there is a hellhound named Pluto. He can turn into a human, but cannot talk.
In Beyblade: Metal (series), Myreille Psychiokieus has a bey was know Hellhound who was a spirit of bey like Doji or Ryuga.
In film[edit]
A Hellhound named Sammael is one of the main antagonists in the first Hellboy film.
Hellhounds appear in the motion picture The Omen.
Hellhounds appear in the movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief as pets of Persephone and Hades, differing from the books' portrayal of them.
A Hellhound named Thorn is the guardian of the vampire Max in The Lost Boys.
In games[edit]
In "Call of Duty: World at War," "Call Of Duty: Black Ops," and "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" in Zombies mode.
In Heroes of Might and Magic III, the hell hound is a recruit-able 3rd-level unit from the Inferno town that can be upgraded into a Cerberus.
Hellhound is also a creature of chaos in the game Master of Magic.
In Neverwinter Nights, the hellhound is available as a familiar for wizards and sorcerers.
In the video game NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, one of the bosses for Will's dream is called Cerberus and is, as stated by Reala, a hellhound
Houndour and Houndoom, two of the Pokémon creatures, are based on the concept of a hellhound.
In the MMORPG RuneScape, there are many Hellhounds.
In the video game The Witcher the Hellhound is a boss monster.
Hellhounds are creatures that appear in The Elder Scrolls: Arena
Hellhounds are minions of the Burning Legion in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
Hellhounds called Skinned Hound appear in The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles, a DLC for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Hellhounds called Death Hound appear in Dawnguard, the first DLC for Skyrim.
In War Commander (Real-Time-Strategy-Game) on Facebook, Hellhounds refers to a rogue faction (computer AI).
In Dungeon Keeper, Hellhounds are a species of creature that can be attracted to your dungeon by means of the Scavenger Room. They are said to be useful guards and good at locating enemies. They are interpreted as having two heads and the ability to breathe fire.
In Dragon's Dogma, Fire-breathing Hellhounds start to appear on land after you defeat the dragon.
In Ultima Online, Hellhounds are a type of hostile creature spawn that appear in a few dungeon areas.
In Don't Starve,Hounds a wolf like enemy are based on Hellhounds
In Age of Mythology Hellhounds come out of Hekate's god power Tartarian, which creates a gate to tartarus, in addition the Greek titan is a three-headed Hellhound resembling Cerberus, the Hellhound that guards the greek underworld. [14]
In literature[edit]
In Rick Riordan's book Percy Jackson, the inventor Daedalus has a pet hellhound called Mrs.O'Leary,who later becomes Percy's pet.
In Piers Anthony's fantasy novel On A Pale Horse, Satan sends hellhounds to attack Zane (Death) and bring him back to hell. The hounds are immortal but are dispatched by Death's magical scythe.
Hellhounds are the pets of Harpies in Anne Bishop's The Black Jewels Series, and hellhounds (called Shadow Hounds) appear in Anne Bishop's Tir Alainn trilogy.
The Witches has barghests being demonic creatures along with the Witches. Barghests, however, are always male and Witches are always female. Barghests are never described, but could be seen as dogs.
Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles
Hellhounds feature in Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series.
In Anthony Horowitz's book Raven's Gate, the protagonist, Matt, is pursued through a forest by demonic canines, after being discovered eavesdropping on a witchcraft ritual. The dogs are described as having rotten flesh, and emerge from the witch's bonfire.
Hellhounds (called darkhounds) appear several times in Robert Jordan's fantasy book series The Wheel of Time. Darkhounds are a particularly nasty form of Shadowspawn. They look like very large dogs or wolves. Their saliva is deadly poison – a single drop on the skin can kill. They are extremely difficult to kill and once they sense their prey they never give up. The only thing that stops them is rain or running water. They leave footprints in stone but none in soft ground.
Frank Belknap Long's Cthulhu Mythos-related short story "Hounds of Tindalos".
Hellhounds appear in Roger Zelazny's 1970 new wave fantasy novel Nine Princes in Amber.
Hellhounds appear in Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job.
In Neil Gaiman's and Terry Pratchet's novel Good Omens, Adam (The Antichrist) receives a hellhound companion that he simply names "Dog."
In television[edit]
In the animated television series League of Super Evil, the League has a pet hellhound (usually referred to as a Doom Hound) named Doomageddon who is usually chaotically evil and disobedient, sometimes becoming a cause of, though at times a solution to, their problems.
Hellhounds appear in the television show Supernatural (e.g., in episode 5.10 "Abandon All Hope"). They are used and controlled by demons to drag souls to hell (usually after a deal for the victim's soul has accrued). Only the person being attacked can see or hear the hellhound. They are usually never shown, until the eighth season as dark shadows with red eyes.
In "Haunted Highway" two investigators search for cryptids/spirits that locals call "Hellhounds".
Hellhounds appeared in the twentieth episode of season three of Buffy the Vampire Slyer - "The Prom". They have a more human-like appearance and feed on the brains of their victims.
In internet phenomena[edit]
Creepypasta has the image "Smile.jpg" or Smile Dog, a picture of a demonic-looking husky with human teeth. It's said to incite insanity or death, and while it is unknown whether the picture is associated with the Devil or not, the dog seems to share similar characteristics of the hellhound. It is unknown if the dog is really a hellhound or not.
See also[edit]
Barghest
Black dog (ghost)
Black Shuck
Cadejo
Cerberus
Devil Dog (Teufelhunde)
Fenrir
Garmr
Warg
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Jeffrey Shaw, Whitby Lore and Legend, (1923)
2.Jump up ^ Henderson, William (1879). "Ch. 7". Notes on the folk-lore of the northern counties of England and the borders (2nd ed.). Folk-Lore Society. p. 275.
3.Jump up ^ Hellhound. animal.discovery.com
4.Jump up ^ The Tollesbury Midwife
5.Jump up ^ Pugh, Jane (1990). Welsh Ghostly Encounters. Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. ISBN 0-86381-791-2.
6.Jump up ^ Celtic Mythology. Geddes and Grosset. 1999. ISBN 1-85534-299-5.
7.Jump up ^ Rose, Carol. Giants, Monsters & Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth. New York: Norton, 2000. Print
8.^ Jump up to: a b Arrowsmith, Nancy A Field Guide to the Little People, London:Pan 1978 ISBN 0-330-25425-1
9.Jump up ^ Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend, Reimund Kvideland, Henning K. Sehmsdorf, p247, 1991, ISBN 0-8166-1967-0 accessed 2008-10-20
10.Jump up ^ Brewer, E. Cobham (1894) [First Published in 1870]. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
11.Jump up ^ Brontë, Charlotte (1847) [First Published in 1847]. "Chapter XII". Jane Eyre. London, England: Smith, Elder & Co. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
12.Jump up ^ Dr. Sally Minogue (1999). "Introduction". Jane Eyre. p. xv. ISBN 978-1-85326-020-9.
13.Jump up ^ Wood, Dr. Juliette. Gytrash (PDF). p. 2. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
14.Jump up ^ http://aom.heavengames.com/gameinfo/atlanteans/powers/godpowers/
External links[edit]
Hellhounds, Werewolves, Trolls and the Germanic Underworld
 


Categories: European legendary creatures
Mythological dogs
Greek legendary creatures
Greek mythology








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Angelus
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This article is about the religious devotion. For other uses, see Angelus (disambiguation).
A series of articles on
Mariology
Fra Angelico 046.jpg
General perspective
Mother of Jesus
 
Specific views
Eastern Orthodox
 Marian veneration ·
 Protestant  (Anglican ·
 Lutheran)
 
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Prayers and devotions
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The Angelus (Latin for "angel") is a Christian devotion in memory of the Incarnation. As with many Catholic prayers, the name Angelus is derived from its incipit: Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ ("... the Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary ...") and is practised by reciting as versicle and response three Biblical verses describing the mystery; alternating with the salutation "Hail Mary!" The Angelus exemplifies a species of prayers called the prayer of the devotee.[1][2]
The devotion was traditionally recited in Roman Catholic churches, convents, and monasteries three times daily: 6:00 am, noon, and 6:00 pm (many churches still follow the devotion, and some practice it at home). The devotion is also used by some Anglican and Lutheran churches.
The Angelus is usually accompanied by the ringing of the Angelus bell, which is a call to prayer and to spread good-will to everyone on Earth. The angel referred to in the prayer is Gabriel, a messenger of God who revealed to Mary that she would conceive a child to be born the Son of God. (Luke 1:26-38).


Contents  [hide]
1 History
2 In poetry
3 Modern usage
4 Anglican usage
5 Angelus bell
6 Usage 6.1 Latin text
6.2 English text
6.3 Basic English text
7 See also
8 References 8.1 Notes
8.2 Sources
9 External links

History[edit]
The Catholic Encyclopedia states that "The history of the Angelus is by no means easy to trace with confidence, and it is well to distinguish in this matter between what is certain and what is in some measure conjectural."[3] This is an old devotion which was already well established 700 years ago. The Angelus originated with the 11th-century monastic custom of reciting three Hail Marys during the evening bell. The first written documentation stems from Italian Franciscan monk Sinigardi di Arezzo (died 1282).[4] Franciscan monasteries in Italy document the use in 1263 and 1295. The Angelus is included in a Venetian Catechism from 1560.[4] The older usages seem to have commemorated the resurrection of Christ in the morning, his suffering at noon and the annunciation in the evening.[4] In 1269, St Bonaventure urged the faithful to adopt the custom of the Franciscans of saying three Hail Marys as the evening bell was rung.[5]



The Angelus (1857–59) by Jean-François Millet is one of the most celebrated and reproduced images of prayer. [1]
The Angelus is not identical to the "Turkish bell" ordered by Pope Calixtus III (1455–58) in 1456, who asked for a long midday bell ringing and prayer for protection against the Turkish invasions of his time. In his 1956 Apostolic Letter Dum Maerenti Animo about the persecution of the Catholic church in Eastern Europe and China, Pope Pius XII recalls the 500th anniversary of the "Turkish bell", a prayer crusade ordered by his predecessors against what they considered to be dangers from the East. He again asks the faithful throughout the World, to pray for the persecuted Church in the East during the mid-day Angelus.[6]
The custom of reciting it in the morning apparently grew from the monastic custom of saying three Hail Marys while a bell rang at Prime. The noon time custom apparently arose from the noon time commemoration of the Passion on Fridays. The institution of the Angelus is by some ascribed to Pope Urban II, by some to Pope John XXII for the year 1317.[5] The triple recitation is ascribed to Louis XI of France, who in 1472 ordered it to be said three times daily. The form of the prayer was standardized by the 17th century.[5]
The manner of ringing the Angelus—the triple stroke repeated three times, with a pause between each set of three (a total of nine strokes), sometimes followed by a longer peal as at curfew—seems to have been long established. The 15th-century constitutions of Syon monastery dictate that the lay brother "shall toll the Ave bell nine strokes at three times, keeping the space of one Pater and Ave between each three tollings".[7] The pattern of ringing on Irish radio and television consists of six groups of three peals, each group separated by a pause, for a total of eighteen rings.[8]
In his Apostolic Letter Marialis Cultus (1974), Pope Paul VI encouraged the praying of the Angelus considering it important and a reminder to faithful Catholics of a paschal mystery, in which recalling the incarnation of the son of God they pray that they may be led "through his passion and cross to the glory of his resurrection."[9]
In poetry[edit]
[icon] This section requires expansion. (January 2014)
The poem "The Irish Unionist's Farewell" by Sir John Betjeman has this line "-and the Angelus is calling".
Modern usage[edit]
Roman Catholic Mariology
 A series of articles on
Marian Prayers
Magnificatio.jpg
Alma Redemptoris Mater
Angelus
As a Child I Loved You
Ave Maris Stella
Ave Regina Caelorum
Fatima Prayers
Flos Carmeli
Hail Mary
Hail Mary of Gold
Immaculata prayer
Immaculate Mary
Magnificat
Mary, Mother of Grace
Mary Our Queen
Memorare
Regina Coeli
Rosary
Salve Regina
Stabat Mater
Sub tuum praesidium
Three Hail Marys

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In most Franciscan and contemplative monasteries, the Angelus continues to be prayed three times a day.
In Italy since Pope John XXIII, every Sunday at noon the pope has an address broadcast by public television (Rai Uno) and Eurovision Network. At the end of the address the Pope recites the Angelus.
In Germany, particular dioceses and their radio stations ring the Angelus. In addition, Roman Catholic churches (and some Protestant ones) ring the Angelus bell thrice daily.[7]
In Ireland, the Angelus is broadcast every night before the main evening news at 6:00 pm on the main national TV channel, RTÉ One, and on the broadcaster's sister radio station, Radio 1, at noon and 6:00 pm. There is debate about whether to end the Angelus broadcasts on RTÉ since the broadcaster is funded and run by an authority appointed by the Irish Government. Consequently, the practice may constitute state support of one faith over others.
The Angelus is broadcast daily on radio in the city of Monterrey, Mexico at 6:00 am, noon, and 6:00 pm.
In the Philippines, radio and television stations run by the Catholic Church and some religious orders broadcast the Angelus at 6:00 am, noon, and 6:00 pm. The devotion is also broadcast over the public address system at noon and 6:00 pm in some shopping malls, and in many Catholic educational institutions mostly at noon on schooldays (some only ring bells at 6 pm).
In the United States and Canada, some Catholic radio stations run by laity broadcast the Angelus daily. American Trappist monasteries and convents often combine the Angelus with midday prayers or Vespers and prayed together in the Church.
It is common practice that during the recital of the Angelus prayer, for the lines "And the Word was made flesh/And dwelt among us", those reciting the prayer bow or genuflect. Either of these actions draws attention to the moment of the Incarnation of Christ into human flesh.
Anglican usage[edit]
The Angelus is found in two popular twentieth century Anglo-Catholic manuals of devotion. The Practice of Religion: A Short Manual of Instructions and Devotions by Archibald Campbell Knowles, first published in 1908, refers to the Angelus as "the memorial of the Incarnation" and notes that "In the Mystery of the Incarnation we worship and adore Our Lord as God of God, we honour and reverence Saint Mary as 'Blessed among women.' In honouring Mary, the Instrument of the Incarnation, we really honour Christ, Who became Incarnate."[10]
The Angelus is also found in Saint Augustine's Prayer Book: A Book of Devotion for members of the Episcopal Church, first published in 1947 (Revised Edition, 1967).[11]
Angelus bell[edit]



Pope Benedict XVI reciting the weekly Angelus prayer whilst overlooking Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City.
The Angelus, in all its stages of development, was closely associated with the ringing of a church bell. The bell is still rung in some English country churches and has often been mistaken for, and alleged to be a remnant of, the curfew bell. The Angelus is replaced by Regina Coeli during Eastertide, and is not said on Good Friday or Holy Saturday.
Where the town bell and the bells of the principal church or monastery were distinct, the curfew was generally rung upon the town bell. Where the church bell served for both purposes, the Ave and the curfew were probably rung upon the same bell at different hours.
The ringing of the Angelus in the 14th century and even in the 13th century must have been very general.[12] The number of bells belonging to these two centuries which still survive is relatively low, but a considerable proportion bear inscriptions which suggest that they were originally intended to serve as Ave bells. Many bear the words Ave Maria; or, as in the case of a bell at Helfta, near Eisleben, in Germany, dated 1234, the whole sentence: Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.[13]
Bells inscribed with Ave Maria are also numerous in England, but there the Angelus bells seem in a very large number of instances to have been dedicated to St Gabriel, the angel mentioned in the prayer (Luke 1:26-27). In the Diocese of Lincoln alone there are nineteen surviving medieval bells bearing the name of Gabriel, while only six bear the name of Michael, a much more popular patron in other respects.
In France, the Ave Maria seems to have been the ordinary label for Angelus bells; but in Germany the most common inscription of all, even in the case of many bells of the 13th century, the words O Rex Gloriæ Veni Cum Pace ("O King of Glory, Come with Peace"). In Germany, the Netherlands, and in some parts of France, the Angelus bell was regularly known as the Peace bell, and pro pace schlagen (to toll for peace) was a phrase popularly used for ringing the Angelus.
Usage[edit]


 This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)
Latin text[edit]
V. Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ,
 R. Et conceptit de Spiritu Sancto.
V: Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
 R: Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.
V. Ecce Ancilla Domini.
 R. Fiat mihi secundum Verbum tuum.
V: Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
 R: Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.
V. Et Verbum caro factum est.
 R. Et habitavit in nobis.
V: Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
 R: Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.
V. Ora pro nobis, Sancta Dei Genetrix.
 R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.
Oremus: Gratiam tuam quæsumus, Domine,
 mentibus nostris infunde;
 ut qui, angelo nuntiante,
 Christi Filii tui Incarnationem cognovimus,
 per passionem eius et crucem,
 ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur.
 Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum.
R: Amen.
English text[edit]
V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary,
 R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
 R. Be it done unto me according to thy Word.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. And the Word was made flesh.
 R. And dwelt amongst us.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
 R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we to whom the incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His resurrection; through the same Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.
Basic English text[edit]
V. The Angel of the Lord brought the message to Mary,
 R. And she conceived from the Holy Spirit.
V. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. R. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. See the servant of the Lord;
 R. Do to me according to your Word.
V. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
 R. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. And the Word was made flesh,
 R. And lived among us.
V. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
R. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Pray for us, holy Mother of God.
 R. So that we will be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray: Lord, through the angel's message we have come to know that Christ your Son became human. We pray to You, pour Your grace into our hearts so that by His cross and suffering we will be brought to the glory of His rising from the dead, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
R.Amen.
See also[edit]

Portal icon Catholicism portal
Annunciation
Blessed Virgin Mary
Catholic devotions
Gabriel
Marialis Cultus
Rosary
Seven Joys of Mary
Seven Sorrows of Mary
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Prayer: a history by Philip Zaleski, 2005 ISBN 0-618-15288-1 p. 128
2.Jump up ^ EWTN [1]
3.Jump up ^ Angelus, Catholic Encyclopedia
4.^ Jump up to: a b c Schauerle 218
5.^ Jump up to: a b c Schauerle 220
6.Jump up ^ see Dum Maerenti Animo,
7.^ Jump up to: a b Schauerle 221
8.Jump up ^ Recording of the Angelus on Irish television 2007-01-02.
9.Jump up ^ Pope Paul VI's Apostolic Letter Marialis Cultus http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19740202_marialis-cultus_en.html
10.Jump up ^ Knowles, Archibald Campbell, The Practice of Religion: A Short Manual of Instructions and Devotions, New York: Morehouse-Gorham Co., 7th ed., 1935. p. 183.
11.Jump up ^ Gavitt, Loren, ed., Saint Augustine's Prayer Book: A Book of Devotion for members of the Episcopal Church, West Park, New York: Holy Cross Publications, Revised Edition, 1967. p. 18.
12.Jump up ^ "Angelus Bell". Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
13.Jump up ^ Griffin, Emilie (10 March 2003). "The Angelus". America Magazine. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
Sources[edit]
H Schauerle, Angelus Domini, in Lexikon der Marienkunde, Regensburg, 1967 pp. 217–21
Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Angelus". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
External links[edit]
 Look up Angelus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Angelus.
Catholic Encyclopedia "Angelus"
Catholic Encyclopedia "Angelus Bell"


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Angelus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about the religious devotion. For other uses, see Angelus (disambiguation).
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The Angelus (Latin for "angel") is a Christian devotion in memory of the Incarnation. As with many Catholic prayers, the name Angelus is derived from its incipit: Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ ("... the Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary ...") and is practised by reciting as versicle and response three Biblical verses describing the mystery; alternating with the salutation "Hail Mary!" The Angelus exemplifies a species of prayers called the prayer of the devotee.[1][2]
The devotion was traditionally recited in Roman Catholic churches, convents, and monasteries three times daily: 6:00 am, noon, and 6:00 pm (many churches still follow the devotion, and some practice it at home). The devotion is also used by some Anglican and Lutheran churches.
The Angelus is usually accompanied by the ringing of the Angelus bell, which is a call to prayer and to spread good-will to everyone on Earth. The angel referred to in the prayer is Gabriel, a messenger of God who revealed to Mary that she would conceive a child to be born the Son of God. (Luke 1:26-38).


Contents  [hide]
1 History
2 In poetry
3 Modern usage
4 Anglican usage
5 Angelus bell
6 Usage 6.1 Latin text
6.2 English text
6.3 Basic English text
7 See also
8 References 8.1 Notes
8.2 Sources
9 External links

History[edit]
The Catholic Encyclopedia states that "The history of the Angelus is by no means easy to trace with confidence, and it is well to distinguish in this matter between what is certain and what is in some measure conjectural."[3] This is an old devotion which was already well established 700 years ago. The Angelus originated with the 11th-century monastic custom of reciting three Hail Marys during the evening bell. The first written documentation stems from Italian Franciscan monk Sinigardi di Arezzo (died 1282).[4] Franciscan monasteries in Italy document the use in 1263 and 1295. The Angelus is included in a Venetian Catechism from 1560.[4] The older usages seem to have commemorated the resurrection of Christ in the morning, his suffering at noon and the annunciation in the evening.[4] In 1269, St Bonaventure urged the faithful to adopt the custom of the Franciscans of saying three Hail Marys as the evening bell was rung.[5]



The Angelus (1857–59) by Jean-François Millet is one of the most celebrated and reproduced images of prayer. [1]
The Angelus is not identical to the "Turkish bell" ordered by Pope Calixtus III (1455–58) in 1456, who asked for a long midday bell ringing and prayer for protection against the Turkish invasions of his time. In his 1956 Apostolic Letter Dum Maerenti Animo about the persecution of the Catholic church in Eastern Europe and China, Pope Pius XII recalls the 500th anniversary of the "Turkish bell", a prayer crusade ordered by his predecessors against what they considered to be dangers from the East. He again asks the faithful throughout the World, to pray for the persecuted Church in the East during the mid-day Angelus.[6]
The custom of reciting it in the morning apparently grew from the monastic custom of saying three Hail Marys while a bell rang at Prime. The noon time custom apparently arose from the noon time commemoration of the Passion on Fridays. The institution of the Angelus is by some ascribed to Pope Urban II, by some to Pope John XXII for the year 1317.[5] The triple recitation is ascribed to Louis XI of France, who in 1472 ordered it to be said three times daily. The form of the prayer was standardized by the 17th century.[5]
The manner of ringing the Angelus—the triple stroke repeated three times, with a pause between each set of three (a total of nine strokes), sometimes followed by a longer peal as at curfew—seems to have been long established. The 15th-century constitutions of Syon monastery dictate that the lay brother "shall toll the Ave bell nine strokes at three times, keeping the space of one Pater and Ave between each three tollings".[7] The pattern of ringing on Irish radio and television consists of six groups of three peals, each group separated by a pause, for a total of eighteen rings.[8]
In his Apostolic Letter Marialis Cultus (1974), Pope Paul VI encouraged the praying of the Angelus considering it important and a reminder to faithful Catholics of a paschal mystery, in which recalling the incarnation of the son of God they pray that they may be led "through his passion and cross to the glory of his resurrection."[9]
In poetry[edit]
[icon] This section requires expansion. (January 2014)
The poem "The Irish Unionist's Farewell" by Sir John Betjeman has this line "-and the Angelus is calling".
Modern usage[edit]
Roman Catholic Mariology
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As a Child I Loved You
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In most Franciscan and contemplative monasteries, the Angelus continues to be prayed three times a day.
In Italy since Pope John XXIII, every Sunday at noon the pope has an address broadcast by public television (Rai Uno) and Eurovision Network. At the end of the address the Pope recites the Angelus.
In Germany, particular dioceses and their radio stations ring the Angelus. In addition, Roman Catholic churches (and some Protestant ones) ring the Angelus bell thrice daily.[7]
In Ireland, the Angelus is broadcast every night before the main evening news at 6:00 pm on the main national TV channel, RTÉ One, and on the broadcaster's sister radio station, Radio 1, at noon and 6:00 pm. There is debate about whether to end the Angelus broadcasts on RTÉ since the broadcaster is funded and run by an authority appointed by the Irish Government. Consequently, the practice may constitute state support of one faith over others.
The Angelus is broadcast daily on radio in the city of Monterrey, Mexico at 6:00 am, noon, and 6:00 pm.
In the Philippines, radio and television stations run by the Catholic Church and some religious orders broadcast the Angelus at 6:00 am, noon, and 6:00 pm. The devotion is also broadcast over the public address system at noon and 6:00 pm in some shopping malls, and in many Catholic educational institutions mostly at noon on schooldays (some only ring bells at 6 pm).
In the United States and Canada, some Catholic radio stations run by laity broadcast the Angelus daily. American Trappist monasteries and convents often combine the Angelus with midday prayers or Vespers and prayed together in the Church.
It is common practice that during the recital of the Angelus prayer, for the lines "And the Word was made flesh/And dwelt among us", those reciting the prayer bow or genuflect. Either of these actions draws attention to the moment of the Incarnation of Christ into human flesh.
Anglican usage[edit]
The Angelus is found in two popular twentieth century Anglo-Catholic manuals of devotion. The Practice of Religion: A Short Manual of Instructions and Devotions by Archibald Campbell Knowles, first published in 1908, refers to the Angelus as "the memorial of the Incarnation" and notes that "In the Mystery of the Incarnation we worship and adore Our Lord as God of God, we honour and reverence Saint Mary as 'Blessed among women.' In honouring Mary, the Instrument of the Incarnation, we really honour Christ, Who became Incarnate."[10]
The Angelus is also found in Saint Augustine's Prayer Book: A Book of Devotion for members of the Episcopal Church, first published in 1947 (Revised Edition, 1967).[11]
Angelus bell[edit]



Pope Benedict XVI reciting the weekly Angelus prayer whilst overlooking Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City.
The Angelus, in all its stages of development, was closely associated with the ringing of a church bell. The bell is still rung in some English country churches and has often been mistaken for, and alleged to be a remnant of, the curfew bell. The Angelus is replaced by Regina Coeli during Eastertide, and is not said on Good Friday or Holy Saturday.
Where the town bell and the bells of the principal church or monastery were distinct, the curfew was generally rung upon the town bell. Where the church bell served for both purposes, the Ave and the curfew were probably rung upon the same bell at different hours.
The ringing of the Angelus in the 14th century and even in the 13th century must have been very general.[12] The number of bells belonging to these two centuries which still survive is relatively low, but a considerable proportion bear inscriptions which suggest that they were originally intended to serve as Ave bells. Many bear the words Ave Maria; or, as in the case of a bell at Helfta, near Eisleben, in Germany, dated 1234, the whole sentence: Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.[13]
Bells inscribed with Ave Maria are also numerous in England, but there the Angelus bells seem in a very large number of instances to have been dedicated to St Gabriel, the angel mentioned in the prayer (Luke 1:26-27). In the Diocese of Lincoln alone there are nineteen surviving medieval bells bearing the name of Gabriel, while only six bear the name of Michael, a much more popular patron in other respects.
In France, the Ave Maria seems to have been the ordinary label for Angelus bells; but in Germany the most common inscription of all, even in the case of many bells of the 13th century, the words O Rex Gloriæ Veni Cum Pace ("O King of Glory, Come with Peace"). In Germany, the Netherlands, and in some parts of France, the Angelus bell was regularly known as the Peace bell, and pro pace schlagen (to toll for peace) was a phrase popularly used for ringing the Angelus.
Usage[edit]


 This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)
Latin text[edit]
V. Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ,
 R. Et conceptit de Spiritu Sancto.
V: Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
 R: Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.
V. Ecce Ancilla Domini.
 R. Fiat mihi secundum Verbum tuum.
V: Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
 R: Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.
V. Et Verbum caro factum est.
 R. Et habitavit in nobis.
V: Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
 R: Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.
V. Ora pro nobis, Sancta Dei Genetrix.
 R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.
Oremus: Gratiam tuam quæsumus, Domine,
 mentibus nostris infunde;
 ut qui, angelo nuntiante,
 Christi Filii tui Incarnationem cognovimus,
 per passionem eius et crucem,
 ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur.
 Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum.
R: Amen.
English text[edit]
V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary,
 R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
 R. Be it done unto me according to thy Word.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. And the Word was made flesh.
 R. And dwelt amongst us.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
 R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we to whom the incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His resurrection; through the same Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.
Basic English text[edit]
V. The Angel of the Lord brought the message to Mary,
 R. And she conceived from the Holy Spirit.
V. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. R. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. See the servant of the Lord;
 R. Do to me according to your Word.
V. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
 R. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. And the Word was made flesh,
 R. And lived among us.
V. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
R. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Pray for us, holy Mother of God.
 R. So that we will be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray: Lord, through the angel's message we have come to know that Christ your Son became human. We pray to You, pour Your grace into our hearts so that by His cross and suffering we will be brought to the glory of His rising from the dead, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
R.Amen.
See also[edit]

Portal icon Catholicism portal
Annunciation
Blessed Virgin Mary
Catholic devotions
Gabriel
Marialis Cultus
Rosary
Seven Joys of Mary
Seven Sorrows of Mary
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Prayer: a history by Philip Zaleski, 2005 ISBN 0-618-15288-1 p. 128
2.Jump up ^ EWTN [1]
3.Jump up ^ Angelus, Catholic Encyclopedia
4.^ Jump up to: a b c Schauerle 218
5.^ Jump up to: a b c Schauerle 220
6.Jump up ^ see Dum Maerenti Animo,
7.^ Jump up to: a b Schauerle 221
8.Jump up ^ Recording of the Angelus on Irish television 2007-01-02.
9.Jump up ^ Pope Paul VI's Apostolic Letter Marialis Cultus http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19740202_marialis-cultus_en.html
10.Jump up ^ Knowles, Archibald Campbell, The Practice of Religion: A Short Manual of Instructions and Devotions, New York: Morehouse-Gorham Co., 7th ed., 1935. p. 183.
11.Jump up ^ Gavitt, Loren, ed., Saint Augustine's Prayer Book: A Book of Devotion for members of the Episcopal Church, West Park, New York: Holy Cross Publications, Revised Edition, 1967. p. 18.
12.Jump up ^ "Angelus Bell". Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
13.Jump up ^ Griffin, Emilie (10 March 2003). "The Angelus". America Magazine. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
Sources[edit]
H Schauerle, Angelus Domini, in Lexikon der Marienkunde, Regensburg, 1967 pp. 217–21
Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Angelus". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
External links[edit]
 Look up Angelus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Angelus.
Catholic Encyclopedia "Angelus"
Catholic Encyclopedia "Angelus Bell"


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Count Dracula
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Count Dracula
Dracula character
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Count Dracula as portrayed by Béla Lugosi in 1931's Dracula
Created by
Bram Stoker
Portrayed by
Bela Lugosi (Dracula, 1931)
Lon Chaney, Jr. ("Son of Dracula")
Christopher Lee (Dracula, 1958)
Louis Jourdan (Count Dracula, 1977)
Frank Langella (Dracula, 1979)
Duncan Regehr (The Monster Squad)
George Hamilton (actor) (Love at First Bite, 1979)
Gary Oldman (Dracula, 1992)
Leslie Nielsen (Dracula, 1995)
Gerard Butler (Dracula, 2000)
Richard Roxburgh (Van Helsing)
Langley Kirkwood (Dracula 3000)
Thomas Kretschmann (Dracula 3D)
Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Dracula TV series)
Dominic Purcell (Blade:Trinity)
Adam Sandler (Hotel Transylvania, 2012)
Luke Evans (Dracula Untold)
Information

Species
Vampire
Gender
Male
Spouse(s)
Brides of Dracula
Nationality
Székely
Count Dracula is the title character and primary antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. He is considered thus to be both the prototypical and the archetypical vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Some aspects of the character are believed to have been inspired by the 15th-century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler, who was also known as Dracula. Other character aspects have been added or altered in subsequent popular media fictional works. The character has subsequently appeared frequently in popular culture, from films to animated media to breakfast cereals.


Contents  [hide]
1 Stoker's creation 1.1 Characteristics
1.2 Powers and weaknesses
2 Character development subsequent to the novel
3 Modern and postmodern analyses of the character
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

Stoker's creation[edit]
Bram Stoker's novel takes the form of an epistolary tale, in which Count Dracula's characteristics, powers, abilities and weaknesses are narrated by multiple narrators, from different perspectives.[1] The most informative of these narrators are Jonathan Harker, John Seward, and Mina Harker.
Count Dracula is a centuries-old vampire, sorcerer, and Transylvanian nobleman, who claims to be a Székely descended from Attila the Hun. He inhabits a decaying castle in the Carpathian Mountains near the Borgo Pass. Unlike the vampires of Eastern European folklore, which are portrayed as repulsive, corpse-like creatures, Dracula exudes a veneer of aristocratic charm. In his conversations with Jonathan Harker, he reveals himself as deeply proud of his boyar heritage and nostalgic for the past times, which he admits have become only a memory of heroism, honor and valor in modern times.
Details of his early life are obscure, but it seems that Dracula studied the black arts at the academy of Scholomance in the Carpathian Mountains, overlooking the town of Sibiu (also known as Hermannstadt) and became proficient in alchemy and magic.[2] Taking up arms, as befitting his rank and status as a voivode, he led troops against the Turks across the Danube. According to Van Helsing: "He must indeed have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land. If it be so, then was he no common man: for in that time, and for centuries after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and the most cunning, as well as the bravest of the sons of the land beyond the forest."[3] Dead and buried in a great tomb in the chapel of his castle, Dracula returns from death as a vampire and lives for several centuries in his castle with three beautiful female vampires beside him.[4] They seem to bear a possible family resemblance [5] though whether they be his lovers, sisters, daughters, or vampires made by him is not made clear in the narrative.



Max Schreck as Count Orlok, the first confirmed cinematic representation of Dracula.
As the novel begins in the late 19th century, Dracula acts on a long contemplated plan for world domination, and infiltrates London to begin his reign of terror. He summons Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English solicitor, to provide legal support for a real estate transaction overseen by Harker's employer. Dracula at first charms Harker with his cordiality and historical knowledge, and even rescues him from the clutches of the three female vampires in the castle. In truth, however, Dracula wishes to keep Harker alive long enough to complete the legal transaction and to learn as much as possible about England.
Dracula leaves his castle and boards a Russian ship, the Demeter, taking along with him boxes of Transylvanian soil, which he needs in order to regain his strength. During the voyage to Whitby, a coastal town in northern England, he sustains himself on the ship's crew members. Only one body is later found, that of the captain, who is found tied up to the ship's helm. The captain's log is recovered and tells of strange events that had taken place during the ship's journey. Dracula leaves the ship in the form of a dog.
Soon the Count is menacing Harker's fiancée, Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray, and her friend, Lucy Westenra. There is also a notable link between Dracula and Renfield, a patient in an insane asylum compelled to consume insects, spiders, birds, and other creatures—in ascending order of size—in order to absorb their "life force". Renfield acts as a kind of sensor, reacting to Dracula's proximity and supplying clues accordingly. Dracula begins to visit Lucy's bed chamber on a nightly basis, draining her of blood while simultaneously infecting her with the curse of vampirism. Not knowing the cause for Lucy's deterioration, her three suitors call upon John Seward's mentor, the Dutch doctor Abraham Van Helsing. Van Helsing soon deduces her condition's supernatural origins, but does not speak out. Despite an attempt at keeping the vampire at bay with garlic, Dracula attacks Lucy's house one final time, leaving her mother dead and transforming Lucy herself into one of the undead.
After Lucy attacks several children, Van Helsing and Lucy's former suitors John Seward, Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris enter her crypt and kill her to save her soul. Later, Harker joins them and they enter Dracula's residences at Carfax and Piccadilly, destroying his boxes of earth, depriving the Count of his ability to rest. Dracula leaves England to return to his homeland, but not before biting Mina.
The final section of the novel details the heroes racing Dracula back to Transylvania, and in a climactic battle with Dracula's gypsy bodyguards, finally destroying him. Despite the popular image of Dracula having a stake driven through his heart to kill him, Mina's narrative describes his throat being cut through by Jonathan Harker's kukri and his heart pierced by Morris' Bowie knife (Mina Harker's Journal, 6 November, Dracula Chapter 27). His body then turns into dust, but not before Mina Harker sees an expression of peace on Dracula's face.
Characteristics[edit]
Although early in the novel Dracula dons a mask of cordiality, he often flies into fits of rage when his plans are interfered with. When the three vampire women who live in his castle attempt to seduce Jonathan Harker, Dracula physically assaults one and ferociously berates them for their insubordination. He then relents and talks to them more kindly, telling them that he does indeed love each of them.
Dracula is very passionate about his warrior heritage, emotionally proclaiming his pride to Harker on how the Székely people are infused with the blood of heroes. He does express an interest in the history of the British Empire, speaking admiringly of its people. He has a somewhat primal and predatory worldview; he pities ordinary humans for their revulsion to their darker impulses.
Though usually portrayed as having a strong Eastern European accent, the original novel only specifies that his spoken English is excellent, though strangely toned.
His appearance varies in age. He is described early in the novel as thin, with a long white mustache, pointed ears and sharp teeth. It is also noted later in the novel (Chapter 11 subsection "The Escaped Wolf") by a zookeeper that sees him that he has a hooked nose and a pointed beard with a streak of white in it. He is dressed all in black and has hair on his palms. Jonathan Harker described him as an old man; "cruel looking" and giving an effect of "extraordinary pallor".[6] When angered the Count showed his true bestial nature, his blue eyes flaming red.

I saw... Count Dracula... with red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that Judas in hell might be proud of.
— Jonathan Harker's Journal, Dracula, Chapter 4
As the novel progresses, Dracula is described as taking on a more and more youthful appearance.
Powers and weaknesses[edit]
Count Dracula is portrayed in the novel using many different supernatural abilities. He has superhuman strength which, according to Van Helsing, is equivalent to that of 20 strong men. Being undead, he is immune to conventional means of attack. Like all undead, he is immortal, though he can be killed by the traditional vampire methods (wooden stakes, iron and/or steel weapons, wild rose, holy water, etc.)[citation needed] The only definite way to kill him is by decapitating him preceded by impalement through the heart. The Count does not have to seek victims regularly, and has the ability to remain inactive for centuries. The Count can defy gravity to a certain extent and possesses superhuman agility; being able to climb upside down vertical surfaces in a reptilian manner. He has powerful hypnotic and telepathic abilities, and is also able to command nocturnal animals such as bats and rats. Dracula can also manipulate the weather, usually creating mists to hide his presence, but also storms such as in his voyage in the Demeter. He can travel onto "unhallowed" ground such as the graves of suicides and those of his victims. He can shapeshift at will, his featured forms in the novel being that of a bat, a wolf, a large dog and fog. He is able to pass through tiny cracks or crevices while retaining his human form, described by Van Helsing as the ability to become "so small". He also has the ability to vanish and reappear somewhere else. He requires no other sustenance but fresh blood, which has the effect of rejuvenating him.[7]
According to Van Helsing:

The Nosferatu do not die like the bees when they sting once. He is only stronger, and being stronger, have yet more power to work evil.
—Mina Harker's journal, Dracula, Chapter 18
One of Dracula's most mysterious powers is the ability to transfer his vampiric condition by biting others, who become the vampires after death. According to Van Helsing:

They cannot die, but must go on age after age adding new victims and multiplying the evils of the world. For all that die from the preying of the Un-dead become themselves Un-dead, and prey on their kind. And so the circle goes on ever widening, like as the ripples from a stone thrown in the water. Friend Arthur, if you had met that kiss which you know of before poor Lucy die, or again, last night when you open your arms to her, you would in time, when you had died, have become nosferatu, as they call it in Eastern europe, and would for all time make more of those Un-Deads that so have filled us with horror.
He slowly transforms Lucy into a vampire and, following her destruction, sets his sights on Mina. To punish Mina he forces her to drink his blood; this act gives him telepathic link to her thoughts, however this link is used against him, as Mina is able to predict his movements.

The sun that rose on our sorrow this morning guards us in its course. Until it sets to-night, that monster must retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within the limitations of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin air nor disappear through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go through a doorway, he must open the door like a mortal.
—Johnathan Harker's journal, Dracula, Chapter 22
Dracula's powers are not unlimited, however. He is much less powerful in daylight and is only able to shift his form at dawn, noon, and dusk (he can shift freely at night). The sun is not fatal to him, though, as sunlight does not burn and destroy him upon contact.
He is repulsed by garlic, crucifixes, and sacramental bread, and he can only cross running water at low or high tide. He is also unable to enter a place unless invited to do so; once invited, however, he can approach and leave the premises at will.
While universally feared by the local people of Transylvania and even beyond, he somehow commands the loyalty of gypsies and a band of Slovaks who transport his boxes on their way to London and to serve as an armed convoy bringing his coffin back to the Castle. The Slovaks and gypsies appear to know his true nature, for they laugh at Jonathan Harker, who tries to communicate his plight, and betray Harker's attempt to send a letter through them by giving it to the Count.
Count Dracula is depicted as the "King Vampire", and can control other vampires who were his own victims but also, as per the story "Dracula's Guest", those in farther away lands such as Styria who may or may not have been Dracula's victims. His death can release the curse on any living victim of eventual transformation into vampire. But Van Helsing reveals that were he to successfully escape, his continued existence would ensure that even if he did not victimize Mina Harker further, she would transform into a vampire upon her eventual natural death.
He also requires Transylvanian soil to be nearby to him in order to successfully rest; otherwise, he will not be able to recover his strength. Dracula's powers and weaknesses vary greatly in the many adaptations. Previous and subsequent vampires from different legends have had similar vampire characteristics.
Character development subsequent to the novel[edit]
Main article: Dracula in popular culture



 Statue of Béla Lugosi as Count Dracula, at the Hollywood Wax Museum
Dracula is arguably one of the most famous characters in popular culture. He has been portrayed by more actors in more visual media adaptations of the novel than any other horror character.[8] Actors who have played him include Max Schreck, Béla Lugosi, John Carradine, Christopher Lee, Francis Lederer, Denholm Elliott, Jack Palance, Louis Jourdan, Frank Langella, Klaus Kinski, Gary Oldman, Leslie Nielsen, George Hamilton, Keith-Lee Castle, Gerard Butler, Richard Roxburgh, Marc Warren, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Billington, Thomas Kretschmann and Dominic Purcell. Lon Chaney Jr. played either Dracula or his progeny in the Universal film, "Son of Dracula." Of all the foregoing, it is generally conceded that actor Bela Lugosi's stage and 1931 movie portrayal of Dracula has, in appearance, speech, public personality, mannerisms and dress, overshadowed Stoker's original conception of these character aspects.
The character is closely associated with the western cultural archetype of the vampire, and remains a popular Halloween costume.
Count Dracula appears in Mad Monster Party? voiced by Allen Swift. This version is shown to be wearing a monocle. Count Dracula is among the monsters that Baron Boris von Frankenstein invites to the Isle of Evil in order to show off the secret of total destruction and announce his retirement from the Worldwide Organization of Monsters.
In Sesame Street there is a character called Count von Count who was based on Bela Lugosi's interpretation of Count Dracula.
Count Dracula appears in Mad Mad Mad Monsters (a "prequel of sorts" to Mad Monster Party?) voiced again by Allen Swift. He and his son are invited by Baron Henry von Frankenstein to attend the wedding of Frankenstein's Monster and it's mate at the Transylvania Astoria Hotel.
Count Dracula is the primary antagonist of the Castlevania video game series.
In 2003, Count Dracula, as portrayed by Lugosi in the 1931 film, was named as the 33rd greatest movie villain by the American Film Institute.
Dracula appears as the lead character of Dracula the Un-dead, a novel by Stoker's great-grand nephew Dacre presented as a sequel to the original. Set twenty-five years after the original novel, Dracula has gone to Paris as an actor with the name Vladimir Basarab. He appears to be an anti-hero as he tries to protect his and Mina's son Quincey Harker against another vampire Elizabeth Bathory. At the end of the novel he was able to kill Bathory but was wounded by her and falls down a cliff with Mina, presumably dying. Sometime later Quincey went on a ship to America, hoping for a better life. Unknown to him, boxes labeled as property of Vladimir Basarab are also loaded on board. The ocean liner is later revealed to be the RMS Titanic.
Count Dracula appears in the 2012 CGI animated comedy film Hotel Transylvania voiced by Adam Sandler. Here, he has a daughter named Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez) and a deceased wife named Martha (voiced by Jackie Sandler). Count Dracula is good friends with Frankenstein (voiced by Kevin James) and his wife Eunice (voiced by Fran Drescher), Wayne and Wanda Werewolf (voiced by Steve Buscemi and Molly Shannon), Murray the Mummy (voiced by Cee Lo Green) and Griffin the Invisible Man (voiced by David Spade). To keep his daughter and the world's monsters safe from humans following Martha's death at the hands of an angry mob, Dracula has a hotel built called Hotel Transylvania as a haven which is surrounded by a graveyard and a spooky forest as a way to keep humans out. Once the construction is finished, Count Dracula gets all of the world's most famous monsters to go check into Hotel Transylvania, a safe haven for all of the famous monsters to get away from humankind. When a human named Jonathan (voiced by Andy Samberg) stumbles onto Hotel Transylvania, Dracula works to attempt to get him away from the hotel, keep him disguised as a way to keep the monsters from finding out, and keeping him from being made into a delicacy by Chef Quasimodo (voiced by Jon Lovitz). By the end of the movie, Dracula ends up accepting that Mavis is in love with Jonathan while seeing that not all humans are bad like the ones that he had previously encountered in the past.
Modern and postmodern analyses of the character[edit]



 Portrait of Vlad III Dracula.
Already in 1958, Cecil Kirtly proposed that Count Dracula shared his personal past with the historical Transylvanian-born Voivode Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia, also known as Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Țepeș. Following the publication of In Search of Dracula by Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally in 1972, this supposed connection attracted much popular attention.
Historically, the name "Dracula" is the given name of Vlad Ṭepeș' family, a name derived from a secret fraternal order of knights called the Order of the Dragon, founded by Sigismund of Luxembourg (king of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, and Holy Roman Emperor) to uphold Christianity and defend the Empire against the Ottoman Turks. Vlad II Dracul, father of Vlad III, was admitted to the order around 1431 because of his bravery in fighting the Turks and was dubbed Dracul (Dragon) thus his son became Dracula (son of the dragon). From 1431 onward, Vlad II wore the emblem of the order and later, as ruler of Wallachia, his coinage bore the dragon symbol.[9]
Stoker came across the name Dracula in his reading on Romanian history, and chose this to replace the name (Count Wampyr) that he had originally intended to use for his villain. However, some Dracula scholars, led by Elizabeth Miller, have questioned the depth of this connection as early as 1998. They argue that Stoker in fact knew little of the historic Vlad III except for the name "Dracula". While having a conversation with Jonathan Harker in Chapter 3, Dracula refers to his own background, and these speeches show elements which Stoker directly copied from Wilkinson's book. Stoker mentions the Voivode of the Dracula race who fought against the Turks after the defeat of Cossova, and was later betrayed by his brother, historical facts which unequivocally point to Vlad III, described as "Voïvode Dracula" by Wilkinson:

Who was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and again brought his forces over the great river into Turkey-land; who, when he was beaten back, came again, and again, though he had to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph! (Chapter 3, pp 19)
The Count's intended identity is later commented by Professor Van Helsing, referring to a letter from his friend Arminius:

He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land. (Chapter 18, pp 145)
This indeed encourages the reader to identify the Count with the Voivode Dracula first mentioned by him in Chapter 3, the one betrayed by his brother: Vlad III Dracula, betrayed by his brother Radu the Handsome, who had chosen the side of the Turks. But as noted by the Dutch author Hans Corneel de Roos, in Chapter 25, Van Helsing and Mina drop this rudimentary connection to Vlad III and instead describe the Count's personal past as that of "that other of his race" who lived "in a later age". By smoothly exchanging Vlad III for a nameless double, Stoker avoided that his main character could be unambiguously linked to a historical person traceable in any history book.
Similarly, the novelist did not want to disclose the precise site of the Count's residence, Castle Dracula. As confirmed by Stoker's own handwritten research notes, the novelist had a specific location for the Castle in mind while writing the narrative: an empty mountain top in the Transylvanian Kelemen Alps near the former border with Moldavia.[10] Efforts to promote the Poenari Castle (ca. 200 km away from the novel's place of action near the Borgo Pass) as the "real Castle Dracula" have no basis in Stoker’s writing; Stoker did not know this building. Regarding the Bran Castle near Brașov, Stoker possibly saw an illustration of Castle Bran (Törzburg) in Charles Boner's book on Transylvania.[11] Although Stoker may have been inspired by its romantic appearance, neither Boner, nor Mazuchelli nor Crosse (who also mention Terzburg or Törzburg) associate it with Vlad III; for the site of his fictitious Castle Dracula, Stoker preferred an empty mountain top.
Furthermore, Stoker's detailed notes reveal that the novelist was very well aware of the ethnic and geo-political differences between the "Roumanians" or "Wallachs"/"Wallachians", descendants of the Dacians on the one hand, and the Székelys or Szeklers, allies of the Magyars or Hungarians on the other hand, whose interests were opposed to that of the Wallachians. In the novel's original typewritten manuscript, the Count speaks of throwing off the "Austrian yoke", which corresponds to the Szekler political point of view. This expression is crossed out, however, and replaced by "Hungarian yoke" (as appearing in the printed version), which matches the historical perspective of the Wallachians. This has been interpreted by some to mean that Stoker opted for the Wallachian, not the Szekler interpretation, thus lending more consistency to the Romanian identity of his Count: although not identical with Vlad III, the Vampire is portrayed as one of the "Dracula race".[12]
It has been suggested by some that Stoker was influenced by the legend of Countess Elizabeth Báthory, who was born in the Kingdom of Hungary and accused of the murder of 80 young women.[13]
See also[edit]

Portal icon Novels portal
Dracula
Dracula in popular culture
Tables of vampire traits
Count Orlok
Carmilla
Varney the Vampire
Vlad III the Impaler
Elizabeth Báthory
Mina Harker
List of fictional vampires
Alucard (Hellsing)
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Carol N. Senf "Dracula: The Unseen Face in the Mirror" in the Norton Critical Edition of Dracula (1997) by Bram Stoker, edited by Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal: 421-31
2.Jump up ^ Dracula Chapter 18 and Chapter 23
3.Jump up ^ Mina Harker's Journal, 30 September, Dracula, Chapter 18
4.Jump up ^ Dracula Chapter 27
5.Jump up ^ Dracula Chapter 3
6.Jump up ^ Dracula, Chapter 2
7.Jump up ^ Dracula, Chapter 18
8.Jump up ^ Guinness World Records Experience
9.Jump up ^ Vlad III Encyclopedia Britannica
10.Jump up ^ Hans Corneel de Roos, The Dracula Maps, in: The Ultimate Dracula, Moonlake Editions, Munich, 2012.
11.Jump up ^ Charles Boner, Transylvania: Its Product and Its People. London: Longmans, 1865. Referred to by Marius Crişan, The Models for Castle Dracula in Stoker’s Sources on Transylvania, Journal of Dracula Studies Nr 10 (2008)
12.Jump up ^ Hans Corneel de Roos, Stoker's Vampire Trap: Vlad the Impaler and his Nameles Double, Linkoeping University Electronic Press, Linköping Electronic Articles in Computer and Information Science, ISSN 1401-9841, Vol. 15 (2012): no. 2. 2012, p. 7.
13.Jump up ^ bathory.org/miller02.html
References[edit]
Clive Leatherdale (1985) Dracula: the Novel and the Legend. Desert Island Books.
Bram Stoker (1897) Dracula. Norton Critical Edition (1997) edited by Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal.
Senf, Carol. Dracula: Between Tradition and Modernism (Twayne, 1998).
Senf, Carol A. Bram Stoker. University of Wales Press, 2010.
External links[edit]
Count Dracula at the Internet Movie Database
Bram Stoker Online Full text, PDF and audio versions of Dracula.


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Bram Stoker's Dracula


Characters



Original novel

Count Dracula  (Count Orlok)
   ·
 Abraham Van Helsing ·
 Jonathan Harker ·
 Mina Harker ·
 Lucy Westenra ·
 Arthur Holmwood ·
 Dr. John Seward ·
 Quincey Morris ·
 Renfield ·
 Brides
 


Other works

Adri Nital ·
 Alucard ·
 Count Alucard ·
 Count Orlok ·
 Count von Count ·
 Doctor Sun ·
 Draculaura ·
 Eva ·
 Hamilton Slade ·
 Janus ·
 Postmortem ·
 Turac
 


Historical

Vlad Călugărul ·
 Vlad the Impaler ·
 Vlad II Dracul
 


Films


Universal
 series
Dracula (1931) ·
 Drácula (1931 Spanish version) ·
 Dracula's Daughter (1936) ·
 Son of Dracula (1943) ·
 House of Frankenstein (1944) ·
 House of Dracula (1945) ·
 Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
 

Hammer
 series
Dracula (1958) ·
 The Brides of Dracula (1960) ·
 Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) ·
 Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) ·
 Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) ·
 Scars of Dracula (1970) ·
 Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) ·
 The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) ·
 The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
 

Dracula
 2000
Dracula 2000 (2000) ·
 Dracula II: Ascension (2003) ·
 Dracula III: Legacy (2005)
 

Parodies
Mad Monster Party? (1967) ·
 Blacula (1972) ·
 Mad Mad Mad Monsters (1972) ·
 Blood for Dracula (1974) ·
 Vampira (1974) ·
 Love at First Bite (1979) ·
 Fracchia contro Dracula (1985) ·
 The Monster Squad (1987) ·
 Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) ·
 Monster Mash (1995) ·
 Monster Mash (2000) ·
 Hotel Transylvania (2012)
 

Other
Dracula's Death (1921) ·
 Nosferatu (1922) ·
 The Return of the Vampire (1944) ·
 Drakula İstanbul'da (1953) ·
 Blood of Dracula (1957) ·
 The Return of Dracula (1958) ·
 Batman Dracula (1964) ·
 Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966) ·
 Batman Fights Dracula (1967) ·
 Dracula (1968) ·
 Blood of Dracula's Castle (1969) ·
 Count Dracula (1970) ·
 Los Monstruos del Terror (1970) ·
 Cuadecuc, vampir (1971) ·
 Vampyros Lesbos (1971) ·
 Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971) ·
 Bram Stoker's Dracula (1973) ·
 Count Dracula's Great Love (1974) ·
 Son of Dracula (1974) ·
 Dracula in the Provinces (1975) ·
 Dracula and Son (1976) ·
 Count Dracula (1977) ·
 Dracula's Dog (1978) ·
 Doctor Dracula (1978) ·
 Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) ·
 Dracula (1979) ·
 Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula (1979) ·
 The Halloween That Almost Wasn't (1979) ·
 The Monster Squad (1987) ·
 Dracula's Widow (1988) ·
 Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988) ·
 Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) ·
 Shadow of the Vampire (2000) ·
 Zora the Vampire (2000) ·
 Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2002) ·
 Dracula (2002) ·
 Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula (2002) ·
 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) ·
 Van Helsing (2004) ·
 Van Helsing: The London Assignment (2004) ·
 Dracula 3000 (2004) ·
 The Vulture's Eye (2004) ·
 Blade: Trinity (2004) ·
 The Batman vs. Dracula (2005) ·
 Bram Stoker's Dracula's Curse (2006) ·
 Dracula (2006) ·
 Bram Stoker's Dracula's Guest (2008) ·
 The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice (2008) ·
 House of the Wolf Man (2009) ·
 Young Dracula (2011) ·
 Dracula Reborn (2012) ·
 Dracula 3D (2012) ·
 Saint Dracula 3D (2012) ·
 Hotel Transylvania (2012) ·
 Dracula 2012 (2013) ·
 Dracula: The Dark Prince (2013) ·
 Dracula Untold (2014)
 


Television


Series
Draculas ring (1978) ·
 Drak Pack (1980) ·
 Count Duckula (1988–1993) ·
 Dracula: The Series (1990–1991) ·
 Little Dracula (1991–1999) ·
 Ace Kilroy (2011-2012) ·
 Young Dracula (2011-2014)  (characters ·
 episodes)
   ·
 Dracula (2013-2014) ·
 Penny Dreadful (2014)
 

Episodes
"Treehouse of Horror IV" (1993) ·
 "Treehouse of Horror XXI" (2010) ·
 "Buffy vs. Dracula" (2000)
 


Other
 novels
The Dracula Tape and sequels (1975–2002) ·
 Anno Dracula series (1992–present)  (Anno Dracula ·
 The Bloody Red Baron ·
 Dracula Cha Cha Cha)
   ·
 Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories (1914) ·
 The Revenge of Dracula (1978) ·
 Little Dracula (1986) ·
 Dracula the Undead (1997) ·
 The Historian (2005) ·
 The Book of Renfield (2005) ·
 Bloodline (2005) ·
 Young Dracula and Young Monsters (2006) ·
 Fangland (2007) ·
 Dracula the Un-dead (2009)
 

Plays
Dracula (1924) ·
 Dracula (1977) ·
 Dracula (1995) ·
 Dracula (1996)
 

Musicals
Dracula (Czech musical) (1995) ·
 Dracula: A Chamber Musical (1997) ·
 Dracula, the Musical (2004) ·
 Dracula – Entre l'amour et la mort (2006) ·
 Dracula: the Musical (2010) ·
 Dracula – L'amour plus fort que la mort (2011)
 

Comics
The Tomb of Dracula ·
 Dracula (Marvel Comics) ·
 Dracula (Dell Comics) ·
 Dracula Lives ·
 Hellsing ·
 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ·
 Sword of Dracula ·
 Batman & Dracula: Red Rain ·
 Victorian Undead ·
 Wolves at the Gate ·
 X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula ·
 Purgatori
 

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Count Dracula
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Count Dracula
Dracula character
Bela lugosi dracula.jpg
Count Dracula as portrayed by Béla Lugosi in 1931's Dracula
Created by
Bram Stoker
Portrayed by
Bela Lugosi (Dracula, 1931)
Lon Chaney, Jr. ("Son of Dracula")
Christopher Lee (Dracula, 1958)
Louis Jourdan (Count Dracula, 1977)
Frank Langella (Dracula, 1979)
Duncan Regehr (The Monster Squad)
George Hamilton (actor) (Love at First Bite, 1979)
Gary Oldman (Dracula, 1992)
Leslie Nielsen (Dracula, 1995)
Gerard Butler (Dracula, 2000)
Richard Roxburgh (Van Helsing)
Langley Kirkwood (Dracula 3000)
Thomas Kretschmann (Dracula 3D)
Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Dracula TV series)
Dominic Purcell (Blade:Trinity)
Adam Sandler (Hotel Transylvania, 2012)
Luke Evans (Dracula Untold)
Information

Species
Vampire
Gender
Male
Spouse(s)
Brides of Dracula
Nationality
Székely
Count Dracula is the title character and primary antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. He is considered thus to be both the prototypical and the archetypical vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Some aspects of the character are believed to have been inspired by the 15th-century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler, who was also known as Dracula. Other character aspects have been added or altered in subsequent popular media fictional works. The character has subsequently appeared frequently in popular culture, from films to animated media to breakfast cereals.


Contents  [hide]
1 Stoker's creation 1.1 Characteristics
1.2 Powers and weaknesses
2 Character development subsequent to the novel
3 Modern and postmodern analyses of the character
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

Stoker's creation[edit]
Bram Stoker's novel takes the form of an epistolary tale, in which Count Dracula's characteristics, powers, abilities and weaknesses are narrated by multiple narrators, from different perspectives.[1] The most informative of these narrators are Jonathan Harker, John Seward, and Mina Harker.
Count Dracula is a centuries-old vampire, sorcerer, and Transylvanian nobleman, who claims to be a Székely descended from Attila the Hun. He inhabits a decaying castle in the Carpathian Mountains near the Borgo Pass. Unlike the vampires of Eastern European folklore, which are portrayed as repulsive, corpse-like creatures, Dracula exudes a veneer of aristocratic charm. In his conversations with Jonathan Harker, he reveals himself as deeply proud of his boyar heritage and nostalgic for the past times, which he admits have become only a memory of heroism, honor and valor in modern times.
Details of his early life are obscure, but it seems that Dracula studied the black arts at the academy of Scholomance in the Carpathian Mountains, overlooking the town of Sibiu (also known as Hermannstadt) and became proficient in alchemy and magic.[2] Taking up arms, as befitting his rank and status as a voivode, he led troops against the Turks across the Danube. According to Van Helsing: "He must indeed have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land. If it be so, then was he no common man: for in that time, and for centuries after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and the most cunning, as well as the bravest of the sons of the land beyond the forest."[3] Dead and buried in a great tomb in the chapel of his castle, Dracula returns from death as a vampire and lives for several centuries in his castle with three beautiful female vampires beside him.[4] They seem to bear a possible family resemblance [5] though whether they be his lovers, sisters, daughters, or vampires made by him is not made clear in the narrative.



Max Schreck as Count Orlok, the first confirmed cinematic representation of Dracula.
As the novel begins in the late 19th century, Dracula acts on a long contemplated plan for world domination, and infiltrates London to begin his reign of terror. He summons Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English solicitor, to provide legal support for a real estate transaction overseen by Harker's employer. Dracula at first charms Harker with his cordiality and historical knowledge, and even rescues him from the clutches of the three female vampires in the castle. In truth, however, Dracula wishes to keep Harker alive long enough to complete the legal transaction and to learn as much as possible about England.
Dracula leaves his castle and boards a Russian ship, the Demeter, taking along with him boxes of Transylvanian soil, which he needs in order to regain his strength. During the voyage to Whitby, a coastal town in northern England, he sustains himself on the ship's crew members. Only one body is later found, that of the captain, who is found tied up to the ship's helm. The captain's log is recovered and tells of strange events that had taken place during the ship's journey. Dracula leaves the ship in the form of a dog.
Soon the Count is menacing Harker's fiancée, Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray, and her friend, Lucy Westenra. There is also a notable link between Dracula and Renfield, a patient in an insane asylum compelled to consume insects, spiders, birds, and other creatures—in ascending order of size—in order to absorb their "life force". Renfield acts as a kind of sensor, reacting to Dracula's proximity and supplying clues accordingly. Dracula begins to visit Lucy's bed chamber on a nightly basis, draining her of blood while simultaneously infecting her with the curse of vampirism. Not knowing the cause for Lucy's deterioration, her three suitors call upon John Seward's mentor, the Dutch doctor Abraham Van Helsing. Van Helsing soon deduces her condition's supernatural origins, but does not speak out. Despite an attempt at keeping the vampire at bay with garlic, Dracula attacks Lucy's house one final time, leaving her mother dead and transforming Lucy herself into one of the undead.
After Lucy attacks several children, Van Helsing and Lucy's former suitors John Seward, Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris enter her crypt and kill her to save her soul. Later, Harker joins them and they enter Dracula's residences at Carfax and Piccadilly, destroying his boxes of earth, depriving the Count of his ability to rest. Dracula leaves England to return to his homeland, but not before biting Mina.
The final section of the novel details the heroes racing Dracula back to Transylvania, and in a climactic battle with Dracula's gypsy bodyguards, finally destroying him. Despite the popular image of Dracula having a stake driven through his heart to kill him, Mina's narrative describes his throat being cut through by Jonathan Harker's kukri and his heart pierced by Morris' Bowie knife (Mina Harker's Journal, 6 November, Dracula Chapter 27). His body then turns into dust, but not before Mina Harker sees an expression of peace on Dracula's face.
Characteristics[edit]
Although early in the novel Dracula dons a mask of cordiality, he often flies into fits of rage when his plans are interfered with. When the three vampire women who live in his castle attempt to seduce Jonathan Harker, Dracula physically assaults one and ferociously berates them for their insubordination. He then relents and talks to them more kindly, telling them that he does indeed love each of them.
Dracula is very passionate about his warrior heritage, emotionally proclaiming his pride to Harker on how the Székely people are infused with the blood of heroes. He does express an interest in the history of the British Empire, speaking admiringly of its people. He has a somewhat primal and predatory worldview; he pities ordinary humans for their revulsion to their darker impulses.
Though usually portrayed as having a strong Eastern European accent, the original novel only specifies that his spoken English is excellent, though strangely toned.
His appearance varies in age. He is described early in the novel as thin, with a long white mustache, pointed ears and sharp teeth. It is also noted later in the novel (Chapter 11 subsection "The Escaped Wolf") by a zookeeper that sees him that he has a hooked nose and a pointed beard with a streak of white in it. He is dressed all in black and has hair on his palms. Jonathan Harker described him as an old man; "cruel looking" and giving an effect of "extraordinary pallor".[6] When angered the Count showed his true bestial nature, his blue eyes flaming red.

I saw... Count Dracula... with red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that Judas in hell might be proud of.
— Jonathan Harker's Journal, Dracula, Chapter 4
As the novel progresses, Dracula is described as taking on a more and more youthful appearance.
Powers and weaknesses[edit]
Count Dracula is portrayed in the novel using many different supernatural abilities. He has superhuman strength which, according to Van Helsing, is equivalent to that of 20 strong men. Being undead, he is immune to conventional means of attack. Like all undead, he is immortal, though he can be killed by the traditional vampire methods (wooden stakes, iron and/or steel weapons, wild rose, holy water, etc.)[citation needed] The only definite way to kill him is by decapitating him preceded by impalement through the heart. The Count does not have to seek victims regularly, and has the ability to remain inactive for centuries. The Count can defy gravity to a certain extent and possesses superhuman agility; being able to climb upside down vertical surfaces in a reptilian manner. He has powerful hypnotic and telepathic abilities, and is also able to command nocturnal animals such as bats and rats. Dracula can also manipulate the weather, usually creating mists to hide his presence, but also storms such as in his voyage in the Demeter. He can travel onto "unhallowed" ground such as the graves of suicides and those of his victims. He can shapeshift at will, his featured forms in the novel being that of a bat, a wolf, a large dog and fog. He is able to pass through tiny cracks or crevices while retaining his human form, described by Van Helsing as the ability to become "so small". He also has the ability to vanish and reappear somewhere else. He requires no other sustenance but fresh blood, which has the effect of rejuvenating him.[7]
According to Van Helsing:

The Nosferatu do not die like the bees when they sting once. He is only stronger, and being stronger, have yet more power to work evil.
—Mina Harker's journal, Dracula, Chapter 18
One of Dracula's most mysterious powers is the ability to transfer his vampiric condition by biting others, who become the vampires after death. According to Van Helsing:

They cannot die, but must go on age after age adding new victims and multiplying the evils of the world. For all that die from the preying of the Un-dead become themselves Un-dead, and prey on their kind. And so the circle goes on ever widening, like as the ripples from a stone thrown in the water. Friend Arthur, if you had met that kiss which you know of before poor Lucy die, or again, last night when you open your arms to her, you would in time, when you had died, have become nosferatu, as they call it in Eastern europe, and would for all time make more of those Un-Deads that so have filled us with horror.
He slowly transforms Lucy into a vampire and, following her destruction, sets his sights on Mina. To punish Mina he forces her to drink his blood; this act gives him telepathic link to her thoughts, however this link is used against him, as Mina is able to predict his movements.

The sun that rose on our sorrow this morning guards us in its course. Until it sets to-night, that monster must retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within the limitations of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin air nor disappear through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go through a doorway, he must open the door like a mortal.
—Johnathan Harker's journal, Dracula, Chapter 22
Dracula's powers are not unlimited, however. He is much less powerful in daylight and is only able to shift his form at dawn, noon, and dusk (he can shift freely at night). The sun is not fatal to him, though, as sunlight does not burn and destroy him upon contact.
He is repulsed by garlic, crucifixes, and sacramental bread, and he can only cross running water at low or high tide. He is also unable to enter a place unless invited to do so; once invited, however, he can approach and leave the premises at will.
While universally feared by the local people of Transylvania and even beyond, he somehow commands the loyalty of gypsies and a band of Slovaks who transport his boxes on their way to London and to serve as an armed convoy bringing his coffin back to the Castle. The Slovaks and gypsies appear to know his true nature, for they laugh at Jonathan Harker, who tries to communicate his plight, and betray Harker's attempt to send a letter through them by giving it to the Count.
Count Dracula is depicted as the "King Vampire", and can control other vampires who were his own victims but also, as per the story "Dracula's Guest", those in farther away lands such as Styria who may or may not have been Dracula's victims. His death can release the curse on any living victim of eventual transformation into vampire. But Van Helsing reveals that were he to successfully escape, his continued existence would ensure that even if he did not victimize Mina Harker further, she would transform into a vampire upon her eventual natural death.
He also requires Transylvanian soil to be nearby to him in order to successfully rest; otherwise, he will not be able to recover his strength. Dracula's powers and weaknesses vary greatly in the many adaptations. Previous and subsequent vampires from different legends have had similar vampire characteristics.
Character development subsequent to the novel[edit]
Main article: Dracula in popular culture



 Statue of Béla Lugosi as Count Dracula, at the Hollywood Wax Museum
Dracula is arguably one of the most famous characters in popular culture. He has been portrayed by more actors in more visual media adaptations of the novel than any other horror character.[8] Actors who have played him include Max Schreck, Béla Lugosi, John Carradine, Christopher Lee, Francis Lederer, Denholm Elliott, Jack Palance, Louis Jourdan, Frank Langella, Klaus Kinski, Gary Oldman, Leslie Nielsen, George Hamilton, Keith-Lee Castle, Gerard Butler, Richard Roxburgh, Marc Warren, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Billington, Thomas Kretschmann and Dominic Purcell. Lon Chaney Jr. played either Dracula or his progeny in the Universal film, "Son of Dracula." Of all the foregoing, it is generally conceded that actor Bela Lugosi's stage and 1931 movie portrayal of Dracula has, in appearance, speech, public personality, mannerisms and dress, overshadowed Stoker's original conception of these character aspects.
The character is closely associated with the western cultural archetype of the vampire, and remains a popular Halloween costume.
Count Dracula appears in Mad Monster Party? voiced by Allen Swift. This version is shown to be wearing a monocle. Count Dracula is among the monsters that Baron Boris von Frankenstein invites to the Isle of Evil in order to show off the secret of total destruction and announce his retirement from the Worldwide Organization of Monsters.
In Sesame Street there is a character called Count von Count who was based on Bela Lugosi's interpretation of Count Dracula.
Count Dracula appears in Mad Mad Mad Monsters (a "prequel of sorts" to Mad Monster Party?) voiced again by Allen Swift. He and his son are invited by Baron Henry von Frankenstein to attend the wedding of Frankenstein's Monster and it's mate at the Transylvania Astoria Hotel.
Count Dracula is the primary antagonist of the Castlevania video game series.
In 2003, Count Dracula, as portrayed by Lugosi in the 1931 film, was named as the 33rd greatest movie villain by the American Film Institute.
Dracula appears as the lead character of Dracula the Un-dead, a novel by Stoker's great-grand nephew Dacre presented as a sequel to the original. Set twenty-five years after the original novel, Dracula has gone to Paris as an actor with the name Vladimir Basarab. He appears to be an anti-hero as he tries to protect his and Mina's son Quincey Harker against another vampire Elizabeth Bathory. At the end of the novel he was able to kill Bathory but was wounded by her and falls down a cliff with Mina, presumably dying. Sometime later Quincey went on a ship to America, hoping for a better life. Unknown to him, boxes labeled as property of Vladimir Basarab are also loaded on board. The ocean liner is later revealed to be the RMS Titanic.
Count Dracula appears in the 2012 CGI animated comedy film Hotel Transylvania voiced by Adam Sandler. Here, he has a daughter named Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez) and a deceased wife named Martha (voiced by Jackie Sandler). Count Dracula is good friends with Frankenstein (voiced by Kevin James) and his wife Eunice (voiced by Fran Drescher), Wayne and Wanda Werewolf (voiced by Steve Buscemi and Molly Shannon), Murray the Mummy (voiced by Cee Lo Green) and Griffin the Invisible Man (voiced by David Spade). To keep his daughter and the world's monsters safe from humans following Martha's death at the hands of an angry mob, Dracula has a hotel built called Hotel Transylvania as a haven which is surrounded by a graveyard and a spooky forest as a way to keep humans out. Once the construction is finished, Count Dracula gets all of the world's most famous monsters to go check into Hotel Transylvania, a safe haven for all of the famous monsters to get away from humankind. When a human named Jonathan (voiced by Andy Samberg) stumbles onto Hotel Transylvania, Dracula works to attempt to get him away from the hotel, keep him disguised as a way to keep the monsters from finding out, and keeping him from being made into a delicacy by Chef Quasimodo (voiced by Jon Lovitz). By the end of the movie, Dracula ends up accepting that Mavis is in love with Jonathan while seeing that not all humans are bad like the ones that he had previously encountered in the past.
Modern and postmodern analyses of the character[edit]



 Portrait of Vlad III Dracula.
Already in 1958, Cecil Kirtly proposed that Count Dracula shared his personal past with the historical Transylvanian-born Voivode Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia, also known as Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Țepeș. Following the publication of In Search of Dracula by Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally in 1972, this supposed connection attracted much popular attention.
Historically, the name "Dracula" is the given name of Vlad Ṭepeș' family, a name derived from a secret fraternal order of knights called the Order of the Dragon, founded by Sigismund of Luxembourg (king of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, and Holy Roman Emperor) to uphold Christianity and defend the Empire against the Ottoman Turks. Vlad II Dracul, father of Vlad III, was admitted to the order around 1431 because of his bravery in fighting the Turks and was dubbed Dracul (Dragon) thus his son became Dracula (son of the dragon). From 1431 onward, Vlad II wore the emblem of the order and later, as ruler of Wallachia, his coinage bore the dragon symbol.[9]
Stoker came across the name Dracula in his reading on Romanian history, and chose this to replace the name (Count Wampyr) that he had originally intended to use for his villain. However, some Dracula scholars, led by Elizabeth Miller, have questioned the depth of this connection as early as 1998. They argue that Stoker in fact knew little of the historic Vlad III except for the name "Dracula". While having a conversation with Jonathan Harker in Chapter 3, Dracula refers to his own background, and these speeches show elements which Stoker directly copied from Wilkinson's book. Stoker mentions the Voivode of the Dracula race who fought against the Turks after the defeat of Cossova, and was later betrayed by his brother, historical facts which unequivocally point to Vlad III, described as "Voïvode Dracula" by Wilkinson:

Who was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and again brought his forces over the great river into Turkey-land; who, when he was beaten back, came again, and again, though he had to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph! (Chapter 3, pp 19)
The Count's intended identity is later commented by Professor Van Helsing, referring to a letter from his friend Arminius:

He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land. (Chapter 18, pp 145)
This indeed encourages the reader to identify the Count with the Voivode Dracula first mentioned by him in Chapter 3, the one betrayed by his brother: Vlad III Dracula, betrayed by his brother Radu the Handsome, who had chosen the side of the Turks. But as noted by the Dutch author Hans Corneel de Roos, in Chapter 25, Van Helsing and Mina drop this rudimentary connection to Vlad III and instead describe the Count's personal past as that of "that other of his race" who lived "in a later age". By smoothly exchanging Vlad III for a nameless double, Stoker avoided that his main character could be unambiguously linked to a historical person traceable in any history book.
Similarly, the novelist did not want to disclose the precise site of the Count's residence, Castle Dracula. As confirmed by Stoker's own handwritten research notes, the novelist had a specific location for the Castle in mind while writing the narrative: an empty mountain top in the Transylvanian Kelemen Alps near the former border with Moldavia.[10] Efforts to promote the Poenari Castle (ca. 200 km away from the novel's place of action near the Borgo Pass) as the "real Castle Dracula" have no basis in Stoker’s writing; Stoker did not know this building. Regarding the Bran Castle near Brașov, Stoker possibly saw an illustration of Castle Bran (Törzburg) in Charles Boner's book on Transylvania.[11] Although Stoker may have been inspired by its romantic appearance, neither Boner, nor Mazuchelli nor Crosse (who also mention Terzburg or Törzburg) associate it with Vlad III; for the site of his fictitious Castle Dracula, Stoker preferred an empty mountain top.
Furthermore, Stoker's detailed notes reveal that the novelist was very well aware of the ethnic and geo-political differences between the "Roumanians" or "Wallachs"/"Wallachians", descendants of the Dacians on the one hand, and the Székelys or Szeklers, allies of the Magyars or Hungarians on the other hand, whose interests were opposed to that of the Wallachians. In the novel's original typewritten manuscript, the Count speaks of throwing off the "Austrian yoke", which corresponds to the Szekler political point of view. This expression is crossed out, however, and replaced by "Hungarian yoke" (as appearing in the printed version), which matches the historical perspective of the Wallachians. This has been interpreted by some to mean that Stoker opted for the Wallachian, not the Szekler interpretation, thus lending more consistency to the Romanian identity of his Count: although not identical with Vlad III, the Vampire is portrayed as one of the "Dracula race".[12]
It has been suggested by some that Stoker was influenced by the legend of Countess Elizabeth Báthory, who was born in the Kingdom of Hungary and accused of the murder of 80 young women.[13]
See also[edit]

Portal icon Novels portal
Dracula
Dracula in popular culture
Tables of vampire traits
Count Orlok
Carmilla
Varney the Vampire
Vlad III the Impaler
Elizabeth Báthory
Mina Harker
List of fictional vampires
Alucard (Hellsing)
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Carol N. Senf "Dracula: The Unseen Face in the Mirror" in the Norton Critical Edition of Dracula (1997) by Bram Stoker, edited by Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal: 421-31
2.Jump up ^ Dracula Chapter 18 and Chapter 23
3.Jump up ^ Mina Harker's Journal, 30 September, Dracula, Chapter 18
4.Jump up ^ Dracula Chapter 27
5.Jump up ^ Dracula Chapter 3
6.Jump up ^ Dracula, Chapter 2
7.Jump up ^ Dracula, Chapter 18
8.Jump up ^ Guinness World Records Experience
9.Jump up ^ Vlad III Encyclopedia Britannica
10.Jump up ^ Hans Corneel de Roos, The Dracula Maps, in: The Ultimate Dracula, Moonlake Editions, Munich, 2012.
11.Jump up ^ Charles Boner, Transylvania: Its Product and Its People. London: Longmans, 1865. Referred to by Marius Crişan, The Models for Castle Dracula in Stoker’s Sources on Transylvania, Journal of Dracula Studies Nr 10 (2008)
12.Jump up ^ Hans Corneel de Roos, Stoker's Vampire Trap: Vlad the Impaler and his Nameles Double, Linkoeping University Electronic Press, Linköping Electronic Articles in Computer and Information Science, ISSN 1401-9841, Vol. 15 (2012): no. 2. 2012, p. 7.
13.Jump up ^ bathory.org/miller02.html
References[edit]
Clive Leatherdale (1985) Dracula: the Novel and the Legend. Desert Island Books.
Bram Stoker (1897) Dracula. Norton Critical Edition (1997) edited by Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal.
Senf, Carol. Dracula: Between Tradition and Modernism (Twayne, 1998).
Senf, Carol A. Bram Stoker. University of Wales Press, 2010.
External links[edit]
Count Dracula at the Internet Movie Database
Bram Stoker Online Full text, PDF and audio versions of Dracula.


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Bram Stoker's Dracula


Characters



Original novel

Count Dracula  (Count Orlok)
   ·
 Abraham Van Helsing ·
 Jonathan Harker ·
 Mina Harker ·
 Lucy Westenra ·
 Arthur Holmwood ·
 Dr. John Seward ·
 Quincey Morris ·
 Renfield ·
 Brides
 


Other works

Adri Nital ·
 Alucard ·
 Count Alucard ·
 Count Orlok ·
 Count von Count ·
 Doctor Sun ·
 Draculaura ·
 Eva ·
 Hamilton Slade ·
 Janus ·
 Postmortem ·
 Turac
 


Historical

Vlad Călugărul ·
 Vlad the Impaler ·
 Vlad II Dracul
 


Films


Universal
 series
Dracula (1931) ·
 Drácula (1931 Spanish version) ·
 Dracula's Daughter (1936) ·
 Son of Dracula (1943) ·
 House of Frankenstein (1944) ·
 House of Dracula (1945) ·
 Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
 

Hammer
 series
Dracula (1958) ·
 The Brides of Dracula (1960) ·
 Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) ·
 Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) ·
 Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) ·
 Scars of Dracula (1970) ·
 Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) ·
 The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) ·
 The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
 

Dracula
 2000
Dracula 2000 (2000) ·
 Dracula II: Ascension (2003) ·
 Dracula III: Legacy (2005)
 

Parodies
Mad Monster Party? (1967) ·
 Blacula (1972) ·
 Mad Mad Mad Monsters (1972) ·
 Blood for Dracula (1974) ·
 Vampira (1974) ·
 Love at First Bite (1979) ·
 Fracchia contro Dracula (1985) ·
 The Monster Squad (1987) ·
 Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) ·
 Monster Mash (1995) ·
 Monster Mash (2000) ·
 Hotel Transylvania (2012)
 

Other
Dracula's Death (1921) ·
 Nosferatu (1922) ·
 The Return of the Vampire (1944) ·
 Drakula İstanbul'da (1953) ·
 Blood of Dracula (1957) ·
 The Return of Dracula (1958) ·
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 The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice (2008) ·
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 Vampire Season Monster Defense (2012) ·
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Pinball
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 Lugosi v. Universal Pictures
 

 


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Hecate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other uses, see Hecate (disambiguation).

Hecate
Goddess of magic, crossroads, moon, ghosts and necromancy
Hecate Chiaramonti Inv1922.jpg
The Hecate Chiaramonti, a Roman sculpture of triple Hecate, after a Hellenistic original (Museo Chiaramonti, Vatican Museums)

Abode
Underworld
Symbol
Paired torches, dogs and keys, and daggers
Parents
Perses and Asteria
Roman equivalent
Trivia
Hecate or Hekate (English pronunciation /ˈhɛkətiː/ or /ˈhɛkət/; Greek Ἑκάτη, Hekátē) was a goddess in Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding two torches or a key[1] and in later periods depicted in triple form. She was variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, fire, light, the Moon, magic, witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, necromancy, and sorcery.[2][3] She had rulership over earth, sea and sky, as well as a more universal role as Saviour (Soteira), Mother of Angels and the Cosmic World Soul.[4][5] She was one of the main deities worshiped in Athenian households as a protective goddess and one who bestowed prosperity and daily blessings on the family.[6]
Hecate may have originated among the Carians of Anatolia, where variants of her name are found as names given to children. William Berg observes, "Since children are not called after spooks, it is safe to assume that Carian theophoric names involving hekat- refer to a major deity free from the dark and unsavoury ties to the underworld and to witchcraft associated with the Hecate of classical Athens."[7] She also closely parallels the Roman goddess Trivia, with whom she was identified in Rome.


Contents  [hide]
1 Name
2 Representations
3 Mythology
4 Other names and epithets 4.1 Goddess of the crossroads
5 Animals
6 Plants
7 Places
8 Festivals 8.1 The Deipnon
9 Modern expressions
10 Survival in pre-modern folklore
11 Cross-cultural parallels
12 Nature of her cult
13 See also
14 Notes
15 References 15.1 Primary sources
15.2 Secondary sources
16 External links

Name[edit]
The etymology of the name Hecate (Ἑκάτη, Hekátē) is not known . Suggested derivations include:
##From the Greek word for 'will'.[8]
##From Ἑκατός Hekatos, an obscure epithet of Apollo.[9] This has been translated as "she that operates from afar", "she that removes or drives off",[10] "the far reaching one" or "the far-darter".[11]
##the name of the Egyptian goddess of childbirth, Heqet, has been compared.[12]
In Early Modern English, the name was also pronounced disyllabic and sometimes spelled Hecat. It remained common practice in English to pronounce her name in two syllables, even when spelled with final e, well into the 19th century.
The spelling Heact is due to Arthur Golding's 1567 translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses.[13] and this spelling without the final E later appears in plays of the Elizabethan-Jacobean period.[14] Noah Webster in 1866 particularly credits the influence of Shakespeare for the then-predominant disyllabic pronunciation of the name.[15]
Representations[edit]

Greek deities
 series

Primordial deities
Titans and Olympian deities
Mycenaean deities
Aquatic deities
Personified concepts
Other deities

Chthonic deities

##Demeter
##Erinyes
##Gaia
##Hades
##Hecate
  ##Iacchus
##Melinoe
##Persephone
##Triptolemus
##Trophonius


v ·
 t ·
 e
   



 Statuette of Triple-bodied Hekate. Pen, ink and light brown and grey wash.
The earliest Greek depictions of Hecate are single faced, not three-formed. Farnell states: "The evidence of the monuments as to the character and significance of Hecate is almost as full as that of the literature. But it is only in the later period that they come to express her manifold and mystic nature."[16]
The earliest known monument is a small terracotta found in Athens, with a dedication to Hecate, in writing of the style of the 6th century. The goddess is seated on a throne with a chaplet bound round her head; she is altogether without attributes and character, and the only value of this work, which is evidently of quite a general type and gets a special reference and name merely from the inscription, is that it proves the single shape to be her earlier form, and her recognition at Athens to be earlier than the Persian invasion.[16]



 Triple Hecate and the Charites, Attic, 3rd century BCE (Glyptothek, Munich)
The 2nd-century travel writer Pausanias stated that Hecate was first depicted in triplicate by the sculptor Alkamenes in the Greek Classical period of the late 5th century BCE [3] which was placed before the temple of the Wingless Nike in Athens. Greek anthropomorphic conventions of art resisted representing her with three faces: a votive sculpture from Attica of the 3rd century BCE (illustration, left), shows three single images against a column; round the column of Hecate dance the Charites. Some classical portrayals show her as a triplicate goddess holding a torch, a key, serpents, daggers and numerous other items.[17] Depictions of both a single form Hekate and triple formed, as well as occasional four headed descriptions continued throughout her history.
In Egyptian-inspired Greek esoteric writings connected with Hermes Trismegistus, and in magical papyri of Late Antiquity she is described as having three heads: one dog, one serpent, and one horse. In other representations her animal heads include those of a cow and a boar.[18] Hecate's triplicity is elsewhere expressed in a more Hellenic fashion in the vast frieze of the great Pergamon Altar, now in Berlin, wherein she is shown with three bodies, taking part in the battle with the Titans. In the Argolid, near the shrine of the Dioscuri, Pausanias saw the temple of Hecate opposite the sanctuary of Eileithyia; He reported the image to be the work of Scopas, stating further, "This one is of stone, while the bronze images opposite, also of Hecate, were made respectively by Polycleitus and his brother Naucydes, son of Mothon." (Description of Greece 2.22.7)
A 4th century BCE marble relief from Crannon in Thessaly was dedicated by a race-horse owner.[19] It shows Hecate, with a hound beside her, placing a wreath on the head of a mare. She is commonly attended by a dog or dogs, and the most common form of offering was to leave meat at a crossroads. Images of her attended by a dog [20] are also found at times when she is shown as in her role as mother goddess with child, and when she is depicted alongside the god Hermes and the goddess Kybele in reliefs.[21]
In the Argonautica, a 3rd-century BCE Alexandrian epic based on early material,[22] Jason placates Hecate in a ritual prescribed by Medea, her priestess: bathed at midnight in a stream of flowing water, and dressed in dark robes, Jason is to dig a round pit and over it cut the throat of a ewe, sacrificing it and then burning it whole on a pyre next to the pit as a holocaust. He is told to sweeten the offering with a libation of honey, then to retreat from the site without looking back, even if he hears the sound of footsteps or barking dogs.[23] All these elements betoken the rites owed to a chthonic deity.
Mythology[edit]
Hecate has been characterized as a pre-Olympian chthonic goddess. She appears in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and in Hesiod's Theogony, where she is promoted strongly as a great goddess. The place of origin of her following is uncertain, but it is thought that she had popular followings in Thrace.[24] Her most important sanctuary was Lagina, a theocratic city-state in which the goddess was served by eunuchs.[24] Lagina, where the famous temple of Hecate drew great festal assemblies every year, lay close to the originally Macedonian colony of Stratonikeia, where she was the city's patroness.[25] In Thrace she played a role similar to that of lesser-Hermes, namely a governess of liminal regions (particularly gates) and the wilderness.



 Hecate, Greek goddess of the crossroads; drawing by Stéphane Mallarmé in Les Dieux Antiques, nouvelle mythologie illustrée in Paris, 1880
The first literature mentioning Hecate is the Theogony by Hesiod:
[...] Hecate whom Zeus the son of Cronos honored above all. He gave her splendid gifts, to have a share of the earth and the unfruitful sea. She received honor also in starry heaven, and is honored exceedingly by the deathless gods. For to this day, whenever any one of men on earth offers rich sacrifices and prays for favor according to custom, he calls upon Hecate. Great honor comes full easily to him whose prayers the goddess receives favorably, and she bestows wealth upon him; for the power surely is with her. For as many as were born of Earth and Ocean amongst all these she has her due portion. The son of Cronos did her no wrong nor took anything away of all that was her portion among the former Titan gods: but she holds, as the division was at the first from the beginning, privilege both in earth, and in heaven, and in sea.[26]
According to Hesiod, she held sway over many things:
Whom she will she greatly aids and advances: she sits by worshipful kings in judgement, and in the assembly whom she will is distinguished among the people. And when men arm themselves for the battle that destroys men, then the goddess is at hand to give victory and grant glory readily to whom she will. Good is she also when men contend at the games, for there too the goddess is with them and profits them: and he who by might and strength gets the victory wins the rich prize easily with joy, and brings glory to his parents. And she is good to stand by horsemen, whom she will: and to those whose business is in the grey discomfortable sea, and who pray to Hecate and the loud-crashing Earth-Shaker, easily the glorious goddess gives great catch, and easily she takes it away as soon as seen, if so she will. She is good in the byre with Hermes to increase the stock. The droves of kine and wide herds of goats and flocks of fleecy sheep, if she will, she increases from a few, or makes many to be less. So, then, albeit her mother's only child, she is honored amongst all the deathless gods. And the son of Cronos made her a nurse of the young who after that day saw with their eyes the light of all-seeing Dawn. So from the beginning she is a nurse of the young, and these are her honours.[26]
Hesiod emphasizes that Hecate was an only child, the daughter of Perses and Asteria, a star-goddess who was the sister of Leto (the mother of Artemis and Apollo). Grandmother of the three cousins was Phoebe the ancient Titaness who personified the moon.
Hesiod's inclusion and praise of Hecate in the Theogony has been troublesome for scholars, in that he seems to hold her in high regard, while the testimony of other writers, and surviving evidence, suggests that this may have been exceptional. One theory is that Hesiod's original village had a substantial Hecate following and that his inclusion of her in the Theogony was a way of adding to her prestige by spreading word of her among his readers.[27] Another theory is that Hekate was mainly a household god and humble household worship could have been more pervasive and yet not mentioned as much as temple worship.[28] In Athens Hecate, along with Zeus, Hermes, Hestia, and Apollo, were very important in daily life as they were the main gods of the household.[29] However, it is clear that the special position given to Hecate by Zeus is upheld throughout her history by depictions found on coins depicting Hecate on the hand of Zeus [30] as highlighted in more recent research presented by d'Este and Rankine.[31]
Hecate possibly originated among the Carians of Anatolia,[24] the region where most theophoric names invoking Hecate, such as Hecataeus or Hecatomnus, the father of Mausolus, are attested,[32] and where Hecate remained a Great Goddess into historical times, at her unrivalled[33] cult site in Lagina. While many researchers favor the idea that she has Anatolian origins, it has been argued that "Hecate must have been a Greek goddess."[34] The monuments to Hecate in Phrygia and Caria are numerous but of late date.[35]



 Hecate by Richard Cosway
If Hecate's cult spread from Anatolia into Greece, it is possible it 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: sometimes Hecate is related as a Titaness, and a mighty helper and protector of humans. Her continued presence was explained by asserting that, because she was the only Titan who aided Zeus in the battle of gods and Titans, she was not banished into the underworld realms after their defeat by the Olympians.[citation needed]
One surviving group of stories suggests how Hecate might have come to be incorporated into the Greek pantheon without affecting the privileged position of Artemis.[27] Here, Hecate is a mortal priestess often associated with Iphigeneia. She scorns and insults Artemis, who in retribution eventually brings about the mortal's suicide. There was an area sacred to Hecate in the precincts of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, where the priests, megabyzi, officiated.[36]
Hecate also came to be associated with ghosts, infernal spirits, the dead and sorcery. Shrines to Hecate were placed at doorways to both homes and cities with the belief that it would protect from restless dead and other spirits. Likewise, shrines to Hecate at three way crossroads were created where food offerings were left at the new moon to protect those who did so from spirits and other evils.[37]
One interesting passage exists suggesting that the word "jinx" might have originated in a cult object associated with Hecate. "The Byzantine polymath Michael Psellus [...] speaks of a bullroarer, consisting of a golden sphere, decorated throughout with symbols and whirled on an oxhide thong. He adds that such an instrument is called a iunx (hence "jinx"), but as for the significance says only that it is ineffable and that the ritual is sacred to Hecate."[38]
Hecate is the primary feminine figure in the Chaldean Oracles (2nd-3rd century CE),[39] 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."[40] This appears to refer to a variant of the device mentioned by Psellus.[41]
Variations in interpretations of Hecate's role or roles can be traced in 5th-century Athens. In two fragments of Aeschylus she appears as a great goddess. In Sophocles and Euripides she is characterized as the mistress of witchcraft and the Keres.
In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hecate is called the "tender-hearted", a euphemism perhaps intended to emphasize her concern with the disappearance of Persephone, when she assisted Demeter with her search for Persephone following her abduction by Hades, suggesting that Demeter should speak to the god of the sun, Helios. Subsequently she became Persephone's companion on her yearly journey to and from the realms of Hades. Because of this association, Hecate was one of the chief goddesses of the Eleusinian Mysteries, alongside Demeter and Persephone.[1]
The modern understanding of Hecate has been strongly influenced by syncretic Hellenistic interpretations. Many of the attributes she was assigned in this period appear to have an older basis. For example, in the magical papyri of Ptolemaic Egypt, she is called the 'she-dog' or 'bitch', and her presence is signified by the barking of dogs. In late imagery she also has two ghostly dogs as servants by her side. However, her association with dogs predates the conquests of Alexander the Great and the emergence of the Hellenistic world. When Philip II laid siege to Byzantium she had already been associated with dogs for some time; the light in the sky and the barking of dogs that warned the citizens of a night time attack, saving the city, were attributed to Hecate Lampadephoros (the tale is preserved in the Suda). In gratitude the Byzantines erected a statue in her honor.[42]
As a virgin goddess, she remained unmarried and had no regular consort, though some traditions named her as the mother of Scylla.[43]



 Triple Hecate
Although associated with other moon goddesses such as Selene, she ruled over three kingdoms; the earth, the sea, and the sky. She had the power to create or hold back storms, which influenced her patronage of shepherds and sailors.[44]
Other names and epithets[edit]
##Apotropaia (that turns away/protects)[45]
##Chthonia (of the earth/underworld)[46]
##Enodia (on the way)[47]
##Klêidouchos (holding the keys)[48]
##Kourotrophos (nurse of children)[48]
##Melinoe[49]
##Phosphoros (bringing or giving light)[48]
##Propolos (who serves/attends)[48]
##Propulaia/Propylaia (before the gate)[50]
##Soteira (savior)[51]
##Trimorphe (three-formed)[48]
##Triodia/Trioditis (who frequents crossroads)[48]
Goddess of the crossroads[edit]
Cult images and altars of Hecate in her triplicate or trimorphic form were placed at three-way crossroads (though they also appeared before private homes and in front of city gates).[9] In this form she came to be known as the goddess Trivia "the three ways" in Roman mythology. In what appears to be a 7th-century indication of the survival of cult practices of this general sort, Saint Eligius, in his Sermo warns the sick among his recently converted flock in Flanders against putting "devilish charms at springs or trees or crossroads",[52] and, according to Saint Ouen would urge them "No Christian should make or render any devotion to the deities of the trivium, where three roads meet...".[53]
Animals[edit]



The Triple Hecate, 1795
William Blake


 A goddess, probably Hekate or else Artemis, is depicted with a bow, dog and twin torches.
Dogs were closely associated with Hecate in the Classical world. "In art and in literature Hecate is constantly represented as dog-shaped or as accompanied by a dog. Her approach was heralded by the howling of a dog. The dog was Hecate's regular sacrificial animal, and was often eaten in solemn sacrament."[54] The sacrifice of dogs to Hecate is attested for Thrace, Samothrace, Colophon, and Athens.[9]
It has been claimed that her association with dogs is "suggestive of her connection with birth, for the dog was sacred to Eileithyia, Genetyllis, and other birth goddesses. Although in later times Hecate's dog came to be thought of as a manifestation of restless souls or demons who accompanied her, its docile appearance and its accompaniment of a Hecate who looks completely friendly in many pieces of ancient art suggests that its original signification was positive and thus likelier to have arisen from the dog's connection with birth than the dog's underworld associations."[55] The association with dogs, particularly female dogs, could be explained by a metamorphosis myth. The friendly looking female dog accompanying Hecate was originally the Trojan Queen Hekabe, who leapt into the sea after the fall of Troy and was transformed by Hecate into her familiar.[56]
Another metamorphosis myth explains why the polecat is also associated with Hecate. From Antoninus Liberalis: "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 (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 labour 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 (or 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."[57]
Aelian told a different story of a woman transformed into a polecat: ""I have heard that the 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."[58]
Athenaeus (writing in the 1st or 2nd century BCE, and drawing on the etymological speculation of Apollodorus of Athens) notes that the red mullet is sacred to Hecate, "on account of the resemblance of their names; for that the goddess is trimorphos, of a triple form". The Greek word for mullet was trigle and later trigla. He goes on to quote a fragment of verse "O mistress Hecate, Trioditis / With three forms and three faces / Propitiated with mullets".[59] In relation to Greek concepts of pollution, Parker observes, "The fish that was most commonly banned was the red mullet (trigle), which fits neatly into the pattern. It 'delighted in polluted things,' and 'would eat the corpse of a fish or a man'. Blood-coloured itself, it was sacred to the blood-eating goddess Hecate. It seems a symbolic summation of all the negative characteristics of the creatures of the deep."[60] At Athens, it is said there stood a statue of Hecate Triglathena, to whom the red mullet was offered in sacrifice.[61] After mentioning that this fish was sacred to Hecate, Alan Davidson writes, "Cicero, Horace, Juvenal, Martial, Pliny, Seneca and Suetonius have left abundant and interesting testimony to the red mullet fever which began to affect wealthy Romans during the last years of the Republic and really gripped them in the early Empire. The main symptoms were a preoccupation with size, the consequent rise to absurd heights of the prices of large specimens, a habit of keeping red mullet in captivity, and the enjoyment of the highly specialized aesthetic experience induced by watching the color of the dying fish change." [62]
The frog, significantly a creature that can cross between two elements, also has become sacred to Hecate in modern Pagan literature.[63]
In her three-headed representations, discussed above, Hecate often has one or more animal heads, including cow, dog, boar, serpent and horse.[64]
Plants[edit]
Hecate was closely associated with plant lore and the concoction of medicines and poisons. In particular she was thought to give instruction in these closely related arts. Apollonius of Rhodes, in the Argonautica mentions that Medea was taught by Hecate, "I have mentioned to you before a certain young girl whom Hecate, daughter of Perses, has taught to work in drugs."[65]
The goddess is described as wearing oak in fragments of Sophocles' lost play The Root Diggers (or The Root Cutters), and an ancient commentary on Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica (3.1214) describes her as having a head surrounded by serpents, twining through branches of oak.[66]
The yew in particular was sacred to Hecate.

"Greeks held the yew to be sacred to Hecate... Her attendants draped wreathes of yew around the necks of black bulls which they slaughtered in her honor and yew boughs were burned on funeral pyres. The yew was associated with the alphabet and the scientific name for yew today, taxus, was probably derived from the Greek word for yew, toxos, which is hauntingly similar to toxon, their word for bow and toxicon, their word for poison. It is presumed that the latter were named after the tree because of its superiority for both bows and poison."[67]
Hecate was said to favor offerings of garlic, which was closely associated with her cult.[68] She is also sometimes associated with cypress, a tree symbolic of death and the underworld, and hence sacred to a number of chthonic deities.[69]
A number of other plants (often poisonous, medicinal and/or psychoactive) are associated with Hecate.[70] These include aconite (also called hecateis),[71] belladonna, dittany, and mandrake. It has been suggested that the use of dogs for digging up mandrake is further corroboration of the association of this plant with Hecate; indeed, since at least as early as the 1st century CE, there are a number of attestations to the apparently widespread practice of using dogs to dig up plants associated with magic.[72]
Places[edit]
Hecate was associated with borders, city walls, doorways, crossroads and, by extension, with realms outside or beyond the world of the living. She appears to have been particularly associated with being 'between' and hence is frequently characterized as a "liminal" goddess. "Hecate mediated between regimes — Olympian and Titan —, but also between mortal and divine spheres."[73] This liminal role is reflected in a number of her cult titles: Apotropaia (that turns away/protects); Enodia (on the way); Propulaia/Propylaia (before the gate); Triodia/Trioditis (who frequents crossroads); Klêidouchos (holding the keys), etc.

As a goddess expected to avert harmful or destructive spirits from the house or city over which she stood guard and to protect the individual as she or he passed through dangerous liminal places, Hecate would naturally become known as a goddess who could also refuse to avert the demons, or even drive them on against unfortunate individuals.[74]

It was probably her role as guardian of entrances that led to Hecate's identification by the mid fifth century with Enodia, a Thessalian goddess. Enodia's very name ("In-the-Road") suggests that she watched over entrances, for it expresses both the possibility that she stood on the main road into a city, keeping an eye on all who entered, and in the road in front of private houses, protecting their inhabitants.[75]
This function would appear to have some relationship with the iconographic association of Hecate with keys, and might also relate to her appearance with two torches, which when positioned on either side of a gate or door illuminated the immediate area and allowed visitors to be identified. "In Byzantium small temples in her honor were placed close to the gates of the city. Hecate's importance to Byzantium was above all as a deity of protection. When Philip of Macedon was about to attack the city, according to the legend she alerted the townspeople with her ever present torches, and with her pack of dogs, which served as her constant companions."[76] This suggests that Hecate's close association with dogs derived in part from the use of watchdogs, who, particularly at night, raised an alarm when intruders approached. Watchdogs were used extensively by Greeks and Romans.[77]
Like Hecate, "[t]he dog is a creature of the threshold, the guardian of doors and portals, and so it is appropriately associated with the frontier between life and death, and with demons and ghosts which move across the frontier. The yawning gates of Hades were guarded by the monstrous watchdog Cerberus, whose function was to prevent the living from entering the underworld, and the dead from leaving it."[78]
Festivals[edit]
Hecate was worshipped by both the Greeks and the Romans who had their own festivals dedicated to her.
The Deipnon[edit]
The Athenian Greeks honored Hekate during the Deipnon. In Greek, deipnon means the evening meal, usually the largest meal of the day. Hekate's Deipnon is, at its most basic, a meal served to Hekate and the restless dead once a lunar month on the night when there is no visible moon, usually noted on modern calendars as the new moon.[79] The Deipnon is always followed the next day by the Noumenia,[80] when the first sliver of moon is visible, and then the Agathos Diamon the day after that.
The main purpose of the Deipnon was to honor Hekate and to placate the souls in her wake who “longed for vengeance.”[81] A secondary purpose was to purify the household and to atone for bad deeds a household member may have committed that offended Hekate, causing her to withhold her favor from them. The Deipnon consists of three main parts: 1) the meal that was set out at a crossroads, usually in a shrine outside the entryway to the home [82] 2) an expiation sacrifice,[83] and 3) purification of the household.[84]
According to Ruickbie (2004, p. 19) the Greeks observed two days sacred to Hecate, one on the 13th of August and one on the 30th of November, whilst the Romans observed the 29th of every month as her sacred day.
Sorita d'Este observes that it is also important to give consideration to the difference between the modern calendar and the lunisolar calendars which would have been in use when these dates were set, giving us a full moon date around the 13th of each month and the date for the August festival originating with the festival of Nemoralia held in honour of Diana.[85]
Modern expressions[edit]
Today Hecate is worshipped by people who have reconstructed and revived the indigenous religions of Greece, such as Hellenic polytheist groups like Hellenion and YSEE.[86]
Hecate is also one of the "patron" goddesses of many Wiccans, who in some traditions identify her with the Triple Goddess' aspect of the "Crone". In other circles Wiccan witches associate her with the "Maiden", or the "Mother" aspects as well, for Hecate has three faces, or phases. Her role as a tripartite goddess, which many modern-day Wiccans associate with the concept of "the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone",[87] was made popular in modern times by writers such as Robert Graves in The White Goddess, and many others, such as the 20th century occultist and author, Aleister Crowley. Historical depictions and descriptions show her facing in three different directions, a clear and precise reference to the tripartite nature of this ancient Goddess; the later Greek Magical Papyri sometimes refer to her as also having the heads of animals, and this can be seen as a reference to her aspect of Motherhood; in this portrayal she is known as "Mistress of Animals". Modern Hellenic polytheists honor Hekate during the Deipnon.[88]
Survival in pre-modern folklore[edit]
Hecate has survived in folklore as a 'hag' figure associated with witchcraft. Strmiska notes that Hecate, conflated with the figure of Diana, appears in late antiquity and in the early medieval period as part of an "emerging legend complex" associated with gatherings of women, the moon, and witchcraft that eventually became established "in the area of Northern Italy, southern Germany, and the western Balkans."[89] This theory of the Roman origins of many European folk traditions related to Diana or Hecate was explicitly advanced at least as early as 1807[90] and is reflected in numerous etymological claims by lexicographers from the 17th to the 19th century, deriving "hag" and/or "hex" from Hecate by way of haegtesse (Anglo-Saxon) and hagazussa (Old High German).[91] Such derivations are today proposed only by a minority[92] since being refuted by Grimm, who was skeptical of theories proposing non-Germanic origins for German folklore traditions.[93]
Modern etymology reconstructs Proto-Germanic *hagatusjon- from haegtesse and hagazussa;[94] the first element is probably cognate with hedge, which derives from PIE *kagh- "hedge, enclosure",[95] and the second perhaps from *dhewes- "fly about, be smoke, vanish."[94]
Whatever the precise nature of Hecate's transition into folklore in late Antiquity, she is now firmly established as a figure in Neopaganism,[96] which draws heavily on folkloric traditions[97] associating Hecate with 'The Wild Hunt',[98] witches, hedges and 'hedge-riding',[99] and other themes that parallel, but are not explicitly attested in, Classical sources.
Cross-cultural parallels[edit]



 Isis and her various other names and symbols from The Golden Ass.
The figure of Hecate can often be associated with the figure of Isis in Egyptian myth. Lucius Apuleius (c. 123—c. 170 CE) in his work The Golden Ass associates Hecate with Isis:

'I am she that is the natural mother of all things, mistress and governess of all the elements, the initial progeny of worlds, chief of powers divine, Queen of heaven, the principal of the Gods celestial, the light of the goddesses: at my will the planets of the air, the wholesome winds of the Seas, and the silences of hell be disposed; my name, my divinity is adored throughout all the world in divers manners, in variable customs and in many names, [...] 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.[...]'[100]
In the syncretism during Late Antiquity of Hellenistic and late Babylonian ("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 Ereschigal is invoked against fear of punishment in the afterlife.[101]
Before she became associated with Greek mythology, she had many similarities with Artemis (wilderness, and watching over wedding ceremonies)[102]
Dogs were sacred to Hecate and associated with roads, domestic spaces, purification, and spirits of the dead. They played a similar symbolic role in ancient China, where dogs were conceived as representative of the household sphere, and as protective spirits appropriate when transcending geographic and spatial boundaries. Dogs were also sacrificed to the road. As Roel Sterckx observes, "The use of dog sacrifices at the gates and doors of the living and the dead as well as its use in travel sacrifices suggest that dogs were perceived as daemonic animals operating in the liminal or transitory realm between the domestic and the unknown, danger-stricken outside world".[103]
This can be compared to Pausanias' report that in the Ionaian city of Colophon in Asia Minor a sacrifice of a black female puppy was made to Hecate as "the wayside goddess", and Plutarch's observation that in Boeotia dogs were killed in purificatory rites. Dogs, with puppies often mentioned, were offered to Hecate at crossroads, which were sacred to the goddess.[104]
Nature of her cult[edit]
Regarding the nature of her cult, it has been remarked, "she is more at home on the fringes than in the center of Greek polytheism. Intrinsically ambivalent and polymorphous, she straddles conventional boundaries and eludes definition."[9]

See also[edit]
##Asura (Buddhism)
##Janus
##Amphisbaena
Notes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b The Running Maiden from Eleusis and the Early Classical Image of Hekate by Charles M. Edwards in the American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 90, No. 3 (Jul., 1986), pp. 307-318
2.Jump up ^ "HECATE : Greek goddess of witchcraft, ghosts & magic ; mythology ; pictures : HEKATE". Theoi.com. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
3.^ Jump up to: a b d'Este, Sorita & Rankine, David, Hekate Liminal Rites, Avalonia, 2009.
4.Jump up ^ "Bryn Mawr Classical Review 02.06.11". Bmcr.brynmawr.edu. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
5.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Hekate Soteira, Scholars Press, 1990.
6.Jump up ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, Hecate, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/259138/Hecate
7.Jump up ^ Berg 1974, p. 129.
8.Jump up ^ At least in the case of Hesiod's use, see Clay, Jenny Strauss (2003). Hesiod's Cosmos. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 135. ISBN 0-521-82392-7. Clay lists a number of researchers who have advanced some variant of the association between Hecate's name and will (e.g. Walcot (1958), Neitzel (1975), Derossi (1975)). The researcher is led to identify "the name and function of Hecate as the one 'by whose will' prayers are accomplished and fulfilled." This interpretation also appears in Liddell-Scott, A Greek English Lexicon, in the entry for Hecate, which is glossed as "lit. 'she who works her will'"
9.^ Jump up to: a b c d Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony, eds. (1996). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Third ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 671. ISBN 0-19-866172-X.
10.Jump up ^ Anthon, Charles (1869). A Classical Dictionary. Harper & Brothers. p. 579.
11.Jump up ^ Wheelwright, P. E. (1975). Metaphor and Reality. Bloomington. p. 144. ISBN 0-253-20122-5.
12.Jump up ^ McKechnie, Paul; Guillaume, Philippe (2008). Ptolemy II Philadelphus and His World. Leiden: Brill. p. 133. ISBN 978-90-04-17089-6.
13.Jump up ^ Golding, Arthur (1567). Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book Seven.
14.Jump up ^ Marlowe, Christopher (first published 1604; performed earlier). Doctor Faustus, Act III, Scene 2, line 21: "Pluto's blue fire and Hecat's tree".
Shakespeare, William (ca. 1594-96). A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act V, Scene 1, line 384: "By the triple Hecat's team".
 Shakespeare, William (ca.1603-07). Macbeth, Act III, Scene 5, line 1: "Why, how now, Hecat!"
Jonson, Ben (ca. 1637, printed 1641). The Sad Shepherd, Act II, Scene 3, line 668: "our dame Hecat".
15.Jump up ^ Webster, Noah (1866). A Dictionary of the English Language (10th ed.). "Rules for pronouncing the vowels of Greek and Latin proper names", p.9: "Hecate..., pronounced in three syllables when in Latin, and in the same number in the Greek word Ἑκάτη, in English is universally contracted into two, by sinking the final e. Shakespeare seems to have begun, as he has now confirmed, this pronunciation, by so adapting the word in Macbeth.... And the play-going world, who form no small portion of what is called the better sort of people, have followed the actors in this world, and the rest of the world have followed them."
 Cf. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1894): "Hec'ate (3 syl. in Greek, 2 in Eng.)"
16.^ Jump up to: a b Lewis Richard Farnell, (1896). "Hecate in Art", The Cults of the Greek States. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
17.Jump up ^ Hekate Her Sacred Fires, ed. Sorita d'Este, Avalonia, 2010
18.Jump up ^ Yves Bonnefoy, Wendy Doniger, Roman and European Mythologies, University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 195.
19.Jump up ^ This statue is in the British Museum, inventory number 816.
20.Jump up ^ [1][dead link]
21.Jump up ^ "Images". Eidola.eu. 2010-02-28. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
22.Jump up ^ "The legend of the Argonauts is among the earliest known to the Greeks," observes Peter Green, The Argonautika, 2007, Introduction, p. 21.
23.Jump up ^ Apollonios Rhodios (tr. Peter Green), The Argonautika, University of California Press, 2007, p140
24.^ Jump up to: a b c Walter Burkert, (1987) Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical, p. 171. Oxford, Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-15624-0.
25.Jump up ^ Strabo, Geography 14.2.25; Kraus 1960.
26.^ Jump up to: a b Hesiod, Theogony, (English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White)
27.^ Jump up to: a b Johnston, Sarah Iles, (1991). Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece. ISBN 0-520-21707-1
28.Jump up ^ Household and Family Religion in Antiquity by John Bodel and Saul M. Olyan, page 221, published by John Wiley & Sons, 2009
29.Jump up ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, Hecate, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/259138/Hecate also Hellenic Household Worship by Christos Pandion Panopoulos, edited and translated by Lesley Madytinou & Rathamanthys Madytinos http://www.labrys.gr/index.php?l=householdworship#1
30.Jump up ^ "Baktria, Kings, Agathokles, ancient coins index with thumbnails". WildWinds.com. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
31.Jump up ^ d'Este & Rankine, Hekate Liminal Rites, Avalonia, 2009
32.Jump up ^ Theodor Kraus, Hekate: Studien zu Wesen u. Bilde der Göttin in Kleinasien u. Griechenland (Heidelberg) 1960.
33.Jump up ^ 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 amazon (Asia)
34.Jump up ^ Berg 1974, p. 134. Berg's argument for a Greek origin rests on three main points: 1. Almost all archaeological and literary evidence for her cult comes from the Greek mainland, and especially from Attica—all of which dates earlier than the 2nd century BCE. 2. In Asia Minor only one monument can be associated with Hecate prior to the 2nd century BCE. 3. The supposed connection between Hecate and attested "Carian theophoric names" is not convincing, and instead suggests an aspect of the process of her Hellenization. He concludes, "Arguments for Hecate's "Anatolian" origin are not in accord with evidence."
35.Jump up ^ Kraus 1960, p. 52; list pp.166ff.
36.Jump up ^ Strabo, Geography, 14.1.23
37.Jump up ^ "CULT OF HEKATE : Ancient Greek religion". Theoi.com. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
38.Jump up ^ Mark Edwards, Neoplatonic saints: the Lives of Plotinus and Proclus by their Students, Liverpool University Press, 2000, p. 100.
39.Jump up ^ 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, seeHornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony, eds. (1996). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Third ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 316. ISBN 0-19-866172-X.
40.Jump up ^ English translation used here from: William Wynn Wescott (tr.), The Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster, 1895.
41.Jump up ^ "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.
42.Jump up ^ "In 340 B.C., however, the Byzantines, with the aid of the Athenians, withstood a siege successfully, an occurrence the more remarkable as they were attacked by the greatest general of the age, Philip of Macedon. In the course of this beleaguerment, it is related, on a certain wet and moonless night the enemy attempted a surprise, but were foiled by reason of a bright light which, appearing suddenly in the heavens, startled all the dogs in the town and thus roused the garrison to a sense of their danger. To commemorate this timely phenomenon, which was attributed to Hecate, they erected a public statue to that goddess [...]" William Gordon Holmes, The Age of Justinian and Theodora, 2003, pp. 5-6; "If any goddess had a connection with the walls in Constantinople, it was Hecate. Hecate had a cult in Byzantium from the time of its founding. Like Byzas in one legend, she had her origins in Thrace. Since Hecate was the guardian of "liminal places", in Byzantium small temples in her honor were placed close to the gates of the city. Hecate's importance to Byzantium was above all as deity of protection. When Philip of Macedon was about to attack the city, according to he legend she alerted the townspeople with her ever-present torches, and with her pack of dogs, which served as her constant companions. Her mythic qualities thenceforth forever entered the fabric of Byzantine history. A statue known as the 'Lampadephoros' was erected on the hill above the Bosphorous to commemorate Hecate's defensive aid." Vasiliki Limberis, Divine Heiress, Routledge, 1994, pp. 126-127; this story apparently survived in the works Hesychius of Miletus, who in all probability lived in the time of Justinian. His works survive only in fragments preserved in Photius and the Suda, a Byzantine lexicon of the 10th century CE. The tale is also related by Stephanus of Byzantium and Eustathius.
43.Jump up ^ Joseph Eddy Fontenrose, Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins, Biblo & Tannen Publishers, 1974, p. 96.
44.Jump up ^ "Hecate, Greek Goddess of the Crossroads". Goddess Gift: Meet the Goddesses Here. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
45.Jump up ^ Alberta Mildred Franklin, The Lupercalia, Columbia University, 1921, p. 68.
46.Jump up ^ Jon D. Mikalson, Athenian Popular Religion, UNC Press, 1987, p. 76.
47.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece, University of California Press, 1999, pp. 208-209.
48.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Liddell-Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon.
49.Jump up ^ Ivana Petrovic, Von den Toren des Hades zu den Hallen des Olymp (Brill, 2007), p. 94; W. Schmid and O. Stählin, Geschichte der griechischen Literatur (C.H. Beck, 1924, 1981), vol. 2, pt. 2, p. 982; W.H. Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (Leipzig: Teubner, 1890–94), vol. 2, pt. 2, p. 16.
50.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece, University of California Press, 1999, p. 207.
51.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Hekate Soteira, Scholars Press, 1990.
52.Jump up ^ Amanda Porterfield, Healing in the history of Christianity, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 72.
53.Jump up ^ Saint Ouen, Vita Eligii book II.16.
54.Jump up ^ Alberta Mildred Franklin, The Lupercalia, Columbia University, 1921, p67
55.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Restless Dead, University of California Press, 1999, pp. 211-212.
56.Jump up ^ The poem Alexandra by Lycophron 1174 ff, translation by Mair. Lycophron of Chalcis was a Greek poet in the 3rd century BCE The poem can be read here: http://www.theoi.com/Text/LycophronAlexandra.html
57.Jump up ^ Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 29, translation by Francis Celoria, Psychology Press, 1992
58.Jump up ^ On the Characteristics of Animals by Aelian, translated by Alwyn Faber Scholfield, Harvard University Press, 1958
59.Jump up ^ Charles Duke Yonge, tr.), The Learned Banqueters, H.G. Bohn, 1854.
60.Jump up ^ Robert Parker, Miasma: Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion, Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 362-363.
61.Jump up ^ William Martin Leake, The Topography of Athens, London, 1841, p. 492.
62.Jump up ^ Alan Davidson, Mediterranean Seafood, Ten Speed Press, 2002, p. 92.
63.Jump up ^ Varner, Gary R. (2007). Creatures in the Mist: Little People, Wild Men and Spirit Beings Around the World: A Study in Comparative Mythology, p. 135. New York: Algora Publishing. ISBN 0-87586-546-1.
64.Jump up ^ Yves Bonnefoy, Wendy Doniger, Roman and European Mythologies, University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 195; "Hecate" article, Encyclopædia Britannica, 1823.
65.Jump up ^ R. L. Hunter, The Argonautica of Apollonius, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 142, citing Apollonius of Rhodes.
66.Jump up ^ Daniel Ogden, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds, Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 82-83.
67.Jump up ^ Matthew Suffness (Ed.), Taxol: Science and Applications, CRC Press, 1995, p. 28.
68.Jump up ^ Frederick J. Simoons, Plants of Life, Plants of Death, University of Wisconsin Press, 1998, p. 143; Fragkiska Megaloudi, Plants and Diet in Greece From Neolithic to Classic Periods, Archaeopress, 2006, p. 71.
69.Jump up ^ Freize, Henry; Dennison, Walter (1902). Virgil's Aeneid. New York: American Book Company. pp. N111.
70.Jump up ^ "Hecate had a "botanical garden" on the island of Colchis where the following alkaloid plants were kept: Akoniton (Aconitum napellus), Diktamnon (Dictamnus albus), Mandragores (Mandragora officinarum), Mekon (Papaver somniferum), Melaina (Claviceps pupurea), Thryon (Atropa belladona), and Cochicum [...]" Margaret F. Roberts, Michael Wink, Alkaloids: Biochemistry, Ecology, and Medicinal Applications, Springer, 1998, p. 16.
71.Jump up ^ Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, Penguin Books, 1977, p. 154.
72.Jump up ^ Frederick J. Simoons, Plants of Life, Plants of Death, University of Wisconsin Press, 1998, pp. 121-124.
73.Jump up ^ Bonnie MacLachlan, Judith Fletcher, Virginity Revisited: Configurations of The Unpossessed Body, University of Toronto Press, 2007, p. 14.
74.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece, University of California Press, 1999, p. 209.
75.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece, University of California Press, 1999, p. 208.
76.Jump up ^ Vasiliki Limberis, Divine Heiress: The Virgin Mary And The Creation of Christian Constantinople, Routledge, 1994, pp. 126-127.
77.Jump up ^ Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony, eds. (1996). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Third ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 490. ISBN 0-19-866172-X.
78.Jump up ^ Richard Cavendish, The Powers of Evil in Western Religion, Magic and Folk Belief, Routledge, 1975, p. 62.
79.Jump up ^ [5] The play Plutus by Aristophanes (388BCE), line 594 any translation will do or Benjamin Bickley Rogers is fine
80.Jump up ^ Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 65, No.2, 1972 pages 291-297
81.Jump up ^ These are the biaiothanatoi, aoroi and ataphoi (cf. Rohde, i. 264 f., and notes, 275-277, ii. 362, and note, 411-413, 424-425), whose enthumion, the quasi-technical word designating their longing for vengeance, was much dreaded. See Heckenbach, p. 2776 and references.
82.Jump up ^ Antiphanes, in Athenaeus, 313 B (2. 39 K), and 358 F; Melanthius, in Athenaeus, 325 B. Plato, Com. (i. 647. 19 K), Apollodorus, Melanthius, Hegesander, Chariclides (iii. 394 K), Antiphanes, in Athenaeus, 358 F; Aristophanes, Plutus, 596.
83.Jump up ^ Hekate's Suppers, by K. F. Smith. Chapter in the book The Goddess Hekate: Studies in Ancient Pagan and Christian Philosophy edited by Stephen Ronan. Pages 57 to 64
84.Jump up ^ Roscher, 1889; Heckenbach, 2781; Rohde, ii. 79, n. 1. also Ammonius (p. 79, Valckenaer)
85.Jump up ^ "What is the Hekate Festival 13 August ? | Sorita d'Este". Sorita.co.uk. 2012-03-20. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
86.Jump up ^ Hellenion is a 501c3 religious organization based in the USA dedicated to reviving the religions indigenous to Greece. http://hellenion.org/ The Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes is an umbrella group based in Greece that is a legally recognized Non Profit Organization (NPO) and was "founded in June of 1997 aiming to the morale and physical protection and restoration of the Polytheistic, Ethnic Hellenic religion, tradition and way of life in the "modern" Greek Society from which is oppressed due to its institutional intolerance and theocracy".
87.Jump up ^ E.g. Wilshire, Donna (1994). Virgin mother crone: myths and mysteries of the triple goddess. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International. p. 213. ISBN 0-89281-494-2.
88.Jump up ^ https://sites.google.com/site/hellenionstemenos/Home/festivals/hekatesdeipnon
89.Jump up ^ Michael Strmiska, Modern paganism in world cultures, ABC-CLIO, 2005, p. 68.
90.Jump up ^ Francis Douce, Illustrations of Shakspeare, and of Ancient Manners, 1807, p. 235-243.
91.Jump up ^ John Minsheu and William Somner (17th century), Edward Lye of Oxford (1694-1767), Johann Georg Wachter, Glossarium Germanicum (1737), Walter Whiter, Etymologicon Universale (1822)
92.Jump up ^ e.g. Gerald Milnes, Signs, Cures, & Witchery, Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2007, p. 116; Samuel X. Radbill, "The Role of Animals in Infant Feeding", in American Folk Medicine: A Symposium Ed. Wayland D. Hand. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.
93.Jump up ^ "Many have been caught by the obvious resemblance of the Gr. Hecate, but the letters agree to closely, contrary to the laws of change, and the Mid. Ages would surely have had an unaspirated Ecate handed down to them; no Ecate or Hecate appears in the M. Lat. or Romance writings in the sense of witch, and how should the word have spread through all German lands?" Jacob Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, 1835, (English translation 1900)
94.^ Jump up to: a b Etymology Online, entry 'hag', accessed 8/23/09
95.Jump up ^ Mallory, J.P, Adams, D.Q. The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. Oxford University Press, 2006. p. 223
96.Jump up ^ For Hecate as a protector deity of a contemporary (mid-nineties) neopagan coven see: Sabina Magliocco, Witching Culture: Folklore and Neopaganism in America, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, p79
97.Jump up ^ "Neo-paganism/witchcraft is a spiritual orientation and a variety of ritual practices using reconstructed mythological structures and pre-Christian rites primarily from ancient European and Mediterranean sources. […] most see in goddess worship a rediscovery of folk practices that persisted in rural Europe throughout the Christian era and up to recent times." Timothy Miller (Ed.), America's Alternative Religions, State University of New York Press, 1995, p339; "Neopaganism sees itself as a revival of ancient pre-Christian religion: the old nature religions of Greece and Rome, of the wandering Teutonic tribes and of others as well." Gaustad, Noll (Eds.),A Documentary History of Religion In America Since 1877, Eerdmans, 2003, p603; "A second theme in the Neo-Pagan combination is the pre-Christian European folk religion or Paganism." James R. Lewis, Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft, State University of New York Press, 1996, p303
98.Jump up ^ For a summary of the wild hunt as a neopagan 'tradition' see the entry in James R. Lewis, Witchcraft Today: An Encyclopedia of Wiccan and Neopagan Traditions, 1999, pp 303-304; For a 'moon magick' reference to Hecate as "Lady of the Wild Hunt and witchcraft" see: D. J. Conway, Moon Magick: Myth & Magic, Crafts & Recipes, Rituals & Spells, Llewellyn, 1995, p157
99.Jump up ^ For an extensive discussion of the symbolism of the hedge and hedge-riding as it relates to contemporary witchcraft see: Eric De Vries, Hedge-Rider: Witches and the Underworld, Pendraig Publishing, 2008, pp 10-23 (De Vries also mentions Hecate in this liminal context); and for the relation between hedges, hedge-riding and witches in German folklore see: C. R. Bilardi, The Red Church or The Art of Pennsylvania German Braucherei, Pendraig Publishing, 2009, pp 127-129; As a general indicator of the currency of the association of hedge and witch see titles such as: Silver Ravenwolf, Hedge Witch: Spells, Crafts & Rituals for Natural Magick, Llewellyn, 2008 and Rae Beth, Hedge Witch: Guide To Solitary Witchcraft", Hale, 1992
100.Jump up ^ Apuleius, The Golden Ass 11.47.
101.Jump up ^ 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 Ereschigal only in the heading: in the spell itself only Erschigal is called upon with protective magical words and gestures.
102.Jump up ^ Heidel, William Arthur (1929). The Day of Yahweh: A Study of Sacred Days and Ritual Forms in the Ancient Near East, p. 514. American Historical Association.
103.Jump up ^ Roel Sterckx, The Animal and The Daemon In Early China, State University of New York Press, 2002, pp 232-233. Sterckx explicitly recognizes the similarities between these ancient Chinese views of dogs and those current in Greek and Roman antiquity, and goes on to note "Dog sacrifice was also a common practice among the Greeks where the dog figured prominently as a guardian of the underworld." (Footnote 113, p318)
104.Jump up ^ Frederick J. Simoons, Eat Not This Flesh: Food Avoidances from Prehistory to the Present, University of Wisconsin Press, 1994, pp 233-234
References[edit]
Primary sources[edit]
##Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days. An English translation is available online
##Pausanias, Description of Greece
##Ovid, Metamorphoses, VI 140, VII 74, 94, 174, 177, 194, 241, XIV 44, 405.
##Strabo, Geography
Secondary sources[edit]
##Berg, William, "Hecate: Greek or "Anatolian"?", Numen 21.2 (August 1974:128-40)
##Burkert, Walter, 1985. Greek Religion (Cambridge: Harvard University Press) Published in the UK as Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical, 1987. (Oxford: Blackwell) ISBN 0-631-15624-0.
##Lewis Richard Farnell, (1896). "Hecate in Art", The Cults of the Greek States. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
##Johnston, Sarah Iles, (1990). Hekate Soteira: A Study of Hekate's Role in the Chaldean Oracles and Related Literature.
##Johnston, Sarah Iles, (1991). Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece. ISBN 0-520-21707-1
##Mallarmé, Stéphane, (1880). Les Dieux Antiques, nouvelle mythologie illustrée.
##Kerenyi, Karl. The Gods of the Greeks. 1951.
##Rabinovich, Yakov. The Rotting Goddess. 1990. A work which views Hekate from the perspective of Mircea Eliade's archetypes and substantiates its claims through cross-cultural comparisons. The work has been sharply criticized by Classics scholars, some dismissing Rabinowitz as a neo-pagan.
##Ruickbie, Leo. Witchcraft Out of the Shadows: A Complete History. Robert Hale, 2004.
##Von Rudloff, Robert. Hekate in Early Greek Religion. Horned Owl Publishing (July 1999)
External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hecate.
 Look up Hecate or Ἑκάτη in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
##Myths of the Greek Goddess Hecate
##Encyclopædia Britannica 1911: "Hecate"
##The Rotting Goddess by Yakov Rabinovich, complete book included in the anthology "Junkyard of the Classics" published under the pseudonym Ellipsis Marx.
##Theoi Project, Hecate Classical literary sources and art
##Hekate in Greek esotericism: Ptolemaic and Gnostic transformations of Hecate
##The Covenant of Hekate
##Cast of the Crannon statue, at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
##The Hekate/Iphigenia Myth


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Hecate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other uses, see Hecate (disambiguation).

Hecate
Goddess of magic, crossroads, moon, ghosts and necromancy
Hecate Chiaramonti Inv1922.jpg
The Hecate Chiaramonti, a Roman sculpture of triple Hecate, after a Hellenistic original (Museo Chiaramonti, Vatican Museums)

Abode
Underworld
Symbol
Paired torches, dogs and keys, and daggers
Parents
Perses and Asteria
Roman equivalent
Trivia
Hecate or Hekate (English pronunciation /ˈhɛkətiː/ or /ˈhɛkət/; Greek Ἑκάτη, Hekátē) was a goddess in Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding two torches or a key[1] and in later periods depicted in triple form. She was variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, fire, light, the Moon, magic, witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, necromancy, and sorcery.[2][3] She had rulership over earth, sea and sky, as well as a more universal role as Saviour (Soteira), Mother of Angels and the Cosmic World Soul.[4][5] She was one of the main deities worshiped in Athenian households as a protective goddess and one who bestowed prosperity and daily blessings on the family.[6]
Hecate may have originated among the Carians of Anatolia, where variants of her name are found as names given to children. William Berg observes, "Since children are not called after spooks, it is safe to assume that Carian theophoric names involving hekat- refer to a major deity free from the dark and unsavoury ties to the underworld and to witchcraft associated with the Hecate of classical Athens."[7] She also closely parallels the Roman goddess Trivia, with whom she was identified in Rome.


Contents  [hide]
1 Name
2 Representations
3 Mythology
4 Other names and epithets 4.1 Goddess of the crossroads
5 Animals
6 Plants
7 Places
8 Festivals 8.1 The Deipnon
9 Modern expressions
10 Survival in pre-modern folklore
11 Cross-cultural parallels
12 Nature of her cult
13 See also
14 Notes
15 References 15.1 Primary sources
15.2 Secondary sources
16 External links

Name[edit]
The etymology of the name Hecate (Ἑκάτη, Hekátē) is not known . Suggested derivations include:
##From the Greek word for 'will'.[8]
##From Ἑκατός Hekatos, an obscure epithet of Apollo.[9] This has been translated as "she that operates from afar", "she that removes or drives off",[10] "the far reaching one" or "the far-darter".[11]
##the name of the Egyptian goddess of childbirth, Heqet, has been compared.[12]
In Early Modern English, the name was also pronounced disyllabic and sometimes spelled Hecat. It remained common practice in English to pronounce her name in two syllables, even when spelled with final e, well into the 19th century.
The spelling Heact is due to Arthur Golding's 1567 translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses.[13] and this spelling without the final E later appears in plays of the Elizabethan-Jacobean period.[14] Noah Webster in 1866 particularly credits the influence of Shakespeare for the then-predominant disyllabic pronunciation of the name.[15]
Representations[edit]

Greek deities
 series

Primordial deities
Titans and Olympian deities
Mycenaean deities
Aquatic deities
Personified concepts
Other deities

Chthonic deities

##Demeter
##Erinyes
##Gaia
##Hades
##Hecate
  ##Iacchus
##Melinoe
##Persephone
##Triptolemus
##Trophonius


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 Statuette of Triple-bodied Hekate. Pen, ink and light brown and grey wash.
The earliest Greek depictions of Hecate are single faced, not three-formed. Farnell states: "The evidence of the monuments as to the character and significance of Hecate is almost as full as that of the literature. But it is only in the later period that they come to express her manifold and mystic nature."[16]
The earliest known monument is a small terracotta found in Athens, with a dedication to Hecate, in writing of the style of the 6th century. The goddess is seated on a throne with a chaplet bound round her head; she is altogether without attributes and character, and the only value of this work, which is evidently of quite a general type and gets a special reference and name merely from the inscription, is that it proves the single shape to be her earlier form, and her recognition at Athens to be earlier than the Persian invasion.[16]



 Triple Hecate and the Charites, Attic, 3rd century BCE (Glyptothek, Munich)
The 2nd-century travel writer Pausanias stated that Hecate was first depicted in triplicate by the sculptor Alkamenes in the Greek Classical period of the late 5th century BCE [3] which was placed before the temple of the Wingless Nike in Athens. Greek anthropomorphic conventions of art resisted representing her with three faces: a votive sculpture from Attica of the 3rd century BCE (illustration, left), shows three single images against a column; round the column of Hecate dance the Charites. Some classical portrayals show her as a triplicate goddess holding a torch, a key, serpents, daggers and numerous other items.[17] Depictions of both a single form Hekate and triple formed, as well as occasional four headed descriptions continued throughout her history.
In Egyptian-inspired Greek esoteric writings connected with Hermes Trismegistus, and in magical papyri of Late Antiquity she is described as having three heads: one dog, one serpent, and one horse. In other representations her animal heads include those of a cow and a boar.[18] Hecate's triplicity is elsewhere expressed in a more Hellenic fashion in the vast frieze of the great Pergamon Altar, now in Berlin, wherein she is shown with three bodies, taking part in the battle with the Titans. In the Argolid, near the shrine of the Dioscuri, Pausanias saw the temple of Hecate opposite the sanctuary of Eileithyia; He reported the image to be the work of Scopas, stating further, "This one is of stone, while the bronze images opposite, also of Hecate, were made respectively by Polycleitus and his brother Naucydes, son of Mothon." (Description of Greece 2.22.7)
A 4th century BCE marble relief from Crannon in Thessaly was dedicated by a race-horse owner.[19] It shows Hecate, with a hound beside her, placing a wreath on the head of a mare. She is commonly attended by a dog or dogs, and the most common form of offering was to leave meat at a crossroads. Images of her attended by a dog [20] are also found at times when she is shown as in her role as mother goddess with child, and when she is depicted alongside the god Hermes and the goddess Kybele in reliefs.[21]
In the Argonautica, a 3rd-century BCE Alexandrian epic based on early material,[22] Jason placates Hecate in a ritual prescribed by Medea, her priestess: bathed at midnight in a stream of flowing water, and dressed in dark robes, Jason is to dig a round pit and over it cut the throat of a ewe, sacrificing it and then burning it whole on a pyre next to the pit as a holocaust. He is told to sweeten the offering with a libation of honey, then to retreat from the site without looking back, even if he hears the sound of footsteps or barking dogs.[23] All these elements betoken the rites owed to a chthonic deity.
Mythology[edit]
Hecate has been characterized as a pre-Olympian chthonic goddess. She appears in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and in Hesiod's Theogony, where she is promoted strongly as a great goddess. The place of origin of her following is uncertain, but it is thought that she had popular followings in Thrace.[24] Her most important sanctuary was Lagina, a theocratic city-state in which the goddess was served by eunuchs.[24] Lagina, where the famous temple of Hecate drew great festal assemblies every year, lay close to the originally Macedonian colony of Stratonikeia, where she was the city's patroness.[25] In Thrace she played a role similar to that of lesser-Hermes, namely a governess of liminal regions (particularly gates) and the wilderness.



 Hecate, Greek goddess of the crossroads; drawing by Stéphane Mallarmé in Les Dieux Antiques, nouvelle mythologie illustrée in Paris, 1880
The first literature mentioning Hecate is the Theogony by Hesiod:
[...] Hecate whom Zeus the son of Cronos honored above all. He gave her splendid gifts, to have a share of the earth and the unfruitful sea. She received honor also in starry heaven, and is honored exceedingly by the deathless gods. For to this day, whenever any one of men on earth offers rich sacrifices and prays for favor according to custom, he calls upon Hecate. Great honor comes full easily to him whose prayers the goddess receives favorably, and she bestows wealth upon him; for the power surely is with her. For as many as were born of Earth and Ocean amongst all these she has her due portion. The son of Cronos did her no wrong nor took anything away of all that was her portion among the former Titan gods: but she holds, as the division was at the first from the beginning, privilege both in earth, and in heaven, and in sea.[26]
According to Hesiod, she held sway over many things:
Whom she will she greatly aids and advances: she sits by worshipful kings in judgement, and in the assembly whom she will is distinguished among the people. And when men arm themselves for the battle that destroys men, then the goddess is at hand to give victory and grant glory readily to whom she will. Good is she also when men contend at the games, for there too the goddess is with them and profits them: and he who by might and strength gets the victory wins the rich prize easily with joy, and brings glory to his parents. And she is good to stand by horsemen, whom she will: and to those whose business is in the grey discomfortable sea, and who pray to Hecate and the loud-crashing Earth-Shaker, easily the glorious goddess gives great catch, and easily she takes it away as soon as seen, if so she will. She is good in the byre with Hermes to increase the stock. The droves of kine and wide herds of goats and flocks of fleecy sheep, if she will, she increases from a few, or makes many to be less. So, then, albeit her mother's only child, she is honored amongst all the deathless gods. And the son of Cronos made her a nurse of the young who after that day saw with their eyes the light of all-seeing Dawn. So from the beginning she is a nurse of the young, and these are her honours.[26]
Hesiod emphasizes that Hecate was an only child, the daughter of Perses and Asteria, a star-goddess who was the sister of Leto (the mother of Artemis and Apollo). Grandmother of the three cousins was Phoebe the ancient Titaness who personified the moon.
Hesiod's inclusion and praise of Hecate in the Theogony has been troublesome for scholars, in that he seems to hold her in high regard, while the testimony of other writers, and surviving evidence, suggests that this may have been exceptional. One theory is that Hesiod's original village had a substantial Hecate following and that his inclusion of her in the Theogony was a way of adding to her prestige by spreading word of her among his readers.[27] Another theory is that Hekate was mainly a household god and humble household worship could have been more pervasive and yet not mentioned as much as temple worship.[28] In Athens Hecate, along with Zeus, Hermes, Hestia, and Apollo, were very important in daily life as they were the main gods of the household.[29] However, it is clear that the special position given to Hecate by Zeus is upheld throughout her history by depictions found on coins depicting Hecate on the hand of Zeus [30] as highlighted in more recent research presented by d'Este and Rankine.[31]
Hecate possibly originated among the Carians of Anatolia,[24] the region where most theophoric names invoking Hecate, such as Hecataeus or Hecatomnus, the father of Mausolus, are attested,[32] and where Hecate remained a Great Goddess into historical times, at her unrivalled[33] cult site in Lagina. While many researchers favor the idea that she has Anatolian origins, it has been argued that "Hecate must have been a Greek goddess."[34] The monuments to Hecate in Phrygia and Caria are numerous but of late date.[35]



 Hecate by Richard Cosway
If Hecate's cult spread from Anatolia into Greece, it is possible it 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: sometimes Hecate is related as a Titaness, and a mighty helper and protector of humans. Her continued presence was explained by asserting that, because she was the only Titan who aided Zeus in the battle of gods and Titans, she was not banished into the underworld realms after their defeat by the Olympians.[citation needed]
One surviving group of stories suggests how Hecate might have come to be incorporated into the Greek pantheon without affecting the privileged position of Artemis.[27] Here, Hecate is a mortal priestess often associated with Iphigeneia. She scorns and insults Artemis, who in retribution eventually brings about the mortal's suicide. There was an area sacred to Hecate in the precincts of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, where the priests, megabyzi, officiated.[36]
Hecate also came to be associated with ghosts, infernal spirits, the dead and sorcery. Shrines to Hecate were placed at doorways to both homes and cities with the belief that it would protect from restless dead and other spirits. Likewise, shrines to Hecate at three way crossroads were created where food offerings were left at the new moon to protect those who did so from spirits and other evils.[37]
One interesting passage exists suggesting that the word "jinx" might have originated in a cult object associated with Hecate. "The Byzantine polymath Michael Psellus [...] speaks of a bullroarer, consisting of a golden sphere, decorated throughout with symbols and whirled on an oxhide thong. He adds that such an instrument is called a iunx (hence "jinx"), but as for the significance says only that it is ineffable and that the ritual is sacred to Hecate."[38]
Hecate is the primary feminine figure in the Chaldean Oracles (2nd-3rd century CE),[39] 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."[40] This appears to refer to a variant of the device mentioned by Psellus.[41]
Variations in interpretations of Hecate's role or roles can be traced in 5th-century Athens. In two fragments of Aeschylus she appears as a great goddess. In Sophocles and Euripides she is characterized as the mistress of witchcraft and the Keres.
In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hecate is called the "tender-hearted", a euphemism perhaps intended to emphasize her concern with the disappearance of Persephone, when she assisted Demeter with her search for Persephone following her abduction by Hades, suggesting that Demeter should speak to the god of the sun, Helios. Subsequently she became Persephone's companion on her yearly journey to and from the realms of Hades. Because of this association, Hecate was one of the chief goddesses of the Eleusinian Mysteries, alongside Demeter and Persephone.[1]
The modern understanding of Hecate has been strongly influenced by syncretic Hellenistic interpretations. Many of the attributes she was assigned in this period appear to have an older basis. For example, in the magical papyri of Ptolemaic Egypt, she is called the 'she-dog' or 'bitch', and her presence is signified by the barking of dogs. In late imagery she also has two ghostly dogs as servants by her side. However, her association with dogs predates the conquests of Alexander the Great and the emergence of the Hellenistic world. When Philip II laid siege to Byzantium she had already been associated with dogs for some time; the light in the sky and the barking of dogs that warned the citizens of a night time attack, saving the city, were attributed to Hecate Lampadephoros (the tale is preserved in the Suda). In gratitude the Byzantines erected a statue in her honor.[42]
As a virgin goddess, she remained unmarried and had no regular consort, though some traditions named her as the mother of Scylla.[43]



 Triple Hecate
Although associated with other moon goddesses such as Selene, she ruled over three kingdoms; the earth, the sea, and the sky. She had the power to create or hold back storms, which influenced her patronage of shepherds and sailors.[44]
Other names and epithets[edit]
##Apotropaia (that turns away/protects)[45]
##Chthonia (of the earth/underworld)[46]
##Enodia (on the way)[47]
##Klêidouchos (holding the keys)[48]
##Kourotrophos (nurse of children)[48]
##Melinoe[49]
##Phosphoros (bringing or giving light)[48]
##Propolos (who serves/attends)[48]
##Propulaia/Propylaia (before the gate)[50]
##Soteira (savior)[51]
##Trimorphe (three-formed)[48]
##Triodia/Trioditis (who frequents crossroads)[48]
Goddess of the crossroads[edit]
Cult images and altars of Hecate in her triplicate or trimorphic form were placed at three-way crossroads (though they also appeared before private homes and in front of city gates).[9] In this form she came to be known as the goddess Trivia "the three ways" in Roman mythology. In what appears to be a 7th-century indication of the survival of cult practices of this general sort, Saint Eligius, in his Sermo warns the sick among his recently converted flock in Flanders against putting "devilish charms at springs or trees or crossroads",[52] and, according to Saint Ouen would urge them "No Christian should make or render any devotion to the deities of the trivium, where three roads meet...".[53]
Animals[edit]



The Triple Hecate, 1795
William Blake


 A goddess, probably Hekate or else Artemis, is depicted with a bow, dog and twin torches.
Dogs were closely associated with Hecate in the Classical world. "In art and in literature Hecate is constantly represented as dog-shaped or as accompanied by a dog. Her approach was heralded by the howling of a dog. The dog was Hecate's regular sacrificial animal, and was often eaten in solemn sacrament."[54] The sacrifice of dogs to Hecate is attested for Thrace, Samothrace, Colophon, and Athens.[9]
It has been claimed that her association with dogs is "suggestive of her connection with birth, for the dog was sacred to Eileithyia, Genetyllis, and other birth goddesses. Although in later times Hecate's dog came to be thought of as a manifestation of restless souls or demons who accompanied her, its docile appearance and its accompaniment of a Hecate who looks completely friendly in many pieces of ancient art suggests that its original signification was positive and thus likelier to have arisen from the dog's connection with birth than the dog's underworld associations."[55] The association with dogs, particularly female dogs, could be explained by a metamorphosis myth. The friendly looking female dog accompanying Hecate was originally the Trojan Queen Hekabe, who leapt into the sea after the fall of Troy and was transformed by Hecate into her familiar.[56]
Another metamorphosis myth explains why the polecat is also associated with Hecate. From Antoninus Liberalis: "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 (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 labour 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 (or 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."[57]
Aelian told a different story of a woman transformed into a polecat: ""I have heard that the 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."[58]
Athenaeus (writing in the 1st or 2nd century BCE, and drawing on the etymological speculation of Apollodorus of Athens) notes that the red mullet is sacred to Hecate, "on account of the resemblance of their names; for that the goddess is trimorphos, of a triple form". The Greek word for mullet was trigle and later trigla. He goes on to quote a fragment of verse "O mistress Hecate, Trioditis / With three forms and three faces / Propitiated with mullets".[59] In relation to Greek concepts of pollution, Parker observes, "The fish that was most commonly banned was the red mullet (trigle), which fits neatly into the pattern. It 'delighted in polluted things,' and 'would eat the corpse of a fish or a man'. Blood-coloured itself, it was sacred to the blood-eating goddess Hecate. It seems a symbolic summation of all the negative characteristics of the creatures of the deep."[60] At Athens, it is said there stood a statue of Hecate Triglathena, to whom the red mullet was offered in sacrifice.[61] After mentioning that this fish was sacred to Hecate, Alan Davidson writes, "Cicero, Horace, Juvenal, Martial, Pliny, Seneca and Suetonius have left abundant and interesting testimony to the red mullet fever which began to affect wealthy Romans during the last years of the Republic and really gripped them in the early Empire. The main symptoms were a preoccupation with size, the consequent rise to absurd heights of the prices of large specimens, a habit of keeping red mullet in captivity, and the enjoyment of the highly specialized aesthetic experience induced by watching the color of the dying fish change." [62]
The frog, significantly a creature that can cross between two elements, also has become sacred to Hecate in modern Pagan literature.[63]
In her three-headed representations, discussed above, Hecate often has one or more animal heads, including cow, dog, boar, serpent and horse.[64]
Plants[edit]
Hecate was closely associated with plant lore and the concoction of medicines and poisons. In particular she was thought to give instruction in these closely related arts. Apollonius of Rhodes, in the Argonautica mentions that Medea was taught by Hecate, "I have mentioned to you before a certain young girl whom Hecate, daughter of Perses, has taught to work in drugs."[65]
The goddess is described as wearing oak in fragments of Sophocles' lost play The Root Diggers (or The Root Cutters), and an ancient commentary on Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica (3.1214) describes her as having a head surrounded by serpents, twining through branches of oak.[66]
The yew in particular was sacred to Hecate.

"Greeks held the yew to be sacred to Hecate... Her attendants draped wreathes of yew around the necks of black bulls which they slaughtered in her honor and yew boughs were burned on funeral pyres. The yew was associated with the alphabet and the scientific name for yew today, taxus, was probably derived from the Greek word for yew, toxos, which is hauntingly similar to toxon, their word for bow and toxicon, their word for poison. It is presumed that the latter were named after the tree because of its superiority for both bows and poison."[67]
Hecate was said to favor offerings of garlic, which was closely associated with her cult.[68] She is also sometimes associated with cypress, a tree symbolic of death and the underworld, and hence sacred to a number of chthonic deities.[69]
A number of other plants (often poisonous, medicinal and/or psychoactive) are associated with Hecate.[70] These include aconite (also called hecateis),[71] belladonna, dittany, and mandrake. It has been suggested that the use of dogs for digging up mandrake is further corroboration of the association of this plant with Hecate; indeed, since at least as early as the 1st century CE, there are a number of attestations to the apparently widespread practice of using dogs to dig up plants associated with magic.[72]
Places[edit]
Hecate was associated with borders, city walls, doorways, crossroads and, by extension, with realms outside or beyond the world of the living. She appears to have been particularly associated with being 'between' and hence is frequently characterized as a "liminal" goddess. "Hecate mediated between regimes — Olympian and Titan —, but also between mortal and divine spheres."[73] This liminal role is reflected in a number of her cult titles: Apotropaia (that turns away/protects); Enodia (on the way); Propulaia/Propylaia (before the gate); Triodia/Trioditis (who frequents crossroads); Klêidouchos (holding the keys), etc.

As a goddess expected to avert harmful or destructive spirits from the house or city over which she stood guard and to protect the individual as she or he passed through dangerous liminal places, Hecate would naturally become known as a goddess who could also refuse to avert the demons, or even drive them on against unfortunate individuals.[74]

It was probably her role as guardian of entrances that led to Hecate's identification by the mid fifth century with Enodia, a Thessalian goddess. Enodia's very name ("In-the-Road") suggests that she watched over entrances, for it expresses both the possibility that she stood on the main road into a city, keeping an eye on all who entered, and in the road in front of private houses, protecting their inhabitants.[75]
This function would appear to have some relationship with the iconographic association of Hecate with keys, and might also relate to her appearance with two torches, which when positioned on either side of a gate or door illuminated the immediate area and allowed visitors to be identified. "In Byzantium small temples in her honor were placed close to the gates of the city. Hecate's importance to Byzantium was above all as a deity of protection. When Philip of Macedon was about to attack the city, according to the legend she alerted the townspeople with her ever present torches, and with her pack of dogs, which served as her constant companions."[76] This suggests that Hecate's close association with dogs derived in part from the use of watchdogs, who, particularly at night, raised an alarm when intruders approached. Watchdogs were used extensively by Greeks and Romans.[77]
Like Hecate, "[t]he dog is a creature of the threshold, the guardian of doors and portals, and so it is appropriately associated with the frontier between life and death, and with demons and ghosts which move across the frontier. The yawning gates of Hades were guarded by the monstrous watchdog Cerberus, whose function was to prevent the living from entering the underworld, and the dead from leaving it."[78]
Festivals[edit]
Hecate was worshipped by both the Greeks and the Romans who had their own festivals dedicated to her.
The Deipnon[edit]
The Athenian Greeks honored Hekate during the Deipnon. In Greek, deipnon means the evening meal, usually the largest meal of the day. Hekate's Deipnon is, at its most basic, a meal served to Hekate and the restless dead once a lunar month on the night when there is no visible moon, usually noted on modern calendars as the new moon.[79] The Deipnon is always followed the next day by the Noumenia,[80] when the first sliver of moon is visible, and then the Agathos Diamon the day after that.
The main purpose of the Deipnon was to honor Hekate and to placate the souls in her wake who “longed for vengeance.”[81] A secondary purpose was to purify the household and to atone for bad deeds a household member may have committed that offended Hekate, causing her to withhold her favor from them. The Deipnon consists of three main parts: 1) the meal that was set out at a crossroads, usually in a shrine outside the entryway to the home [82] 2) an expiation sacrifice,[83] and 3) purification of the household.[84]
According to Ruickbie (2004, p. 19) the Greeks observed two days sacred to Hecate, one on the 13th of August and one on the 30th of November, whilst the Romans observed the 29th of every month as her sacred day.
Sorita d'Este observes that it is also important to give consideration to the difference between the modern calendar and the lunisolar calendars which would have been in use when these dates were set, giving us a full moon date around the 13th of each month and the date for the August festival originating with the festival of Nemoralia held in honour of Diana.[85]
Modern expressions[edit]
Today Hecate is worshipped by people who have reconstructed and revived the indigenous religions of Greece, such as Hellenic polytheist groups like Hellenion and YSEE.[86]
Hecate is also one of the "patron" goddesses of many Wiccans, who in some traditions identify her with the Triple Goddess' aspect of the "Crone". In other circles Wiccan witches associate her with the "Maiden", or the "Mother" aspects as well, for Hecate has three faces, or phases. Her role as a tripartite goddess, which many modern-day Wiccans associate with the concept of "the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone",[87] was made popular in modern times by writers such as Robert Graves in The White Goddess, and many others, such as the 20th century occultist and author, Aleister Crowley. Historical depictions and descriptions show her facing in three different directions, a clear and precise reference to the tripartite nature of this ancient Goddess; the later Greek Magical Papyri sometimes refer to her as also having the heads of animals, and this can be seen as a reference to her aspect of Motherhood; in this portrayal she is known as "Mistress of Animals". Modern Hellenic polytheists honor Hekate during the Deipnon.[88]
Survival in pre-modern folklore[edit]
Hecate has survived in folklore as a 'hag' figure associated with witchcraft. Strmiska notes that Hecate, conflated with the figure of Diana, appears in late antiquity and in the early medieval period as part of an "emerging legend complex" associated with gatherings of women, the moon, and witchcraft that eventually became established "in the area of Northern Italy, southern Germany, and the western Balkans."[89] This theory of the Roman origins of many European folk traditions related to Diana or Hecate was explicitly advanced at least as early as 1807[90] and is reflected in numerous etymological claims by lexicographers from the 17th to the 19th century, deriving "hag" and/or "hex" from Hecate by way of haegtesse (Anglo-Saxon) and hagazussa (Old High German).[91] Such derivations are today proposed only by a minority[92] since being refuted by Grimm, who was skeptical of theories proposing non-Germanic origins for German folklore traditions.[93]
Modern etymology reconstructs Proto-Germanic *hagatusjon- from haegtesse and hagazussa;[94] the first element is probably cognate with hedge, which derives from PIE *kagh- "hedge, enclosure",[95] and the second perhaps from *dhewes- "fly about, be smoke, vanish."[94]
Whatever the precise nature of Hecate's transition into folklore in late Antiquity, she is now firmly established as a figure in Neopaganism,[96] which draws heavily on folkloric traditions[97] associating Hecate with 'The Wild Hunt',[98] witches, hedges and 'hedge-riding',[99] and other themes that parallel, but are not explicitly attested in, Classical sources.
Cross-cultural parallels[edit]



 Isis and her various other names and symbols from The Golden Ass.
The figure of Hecate can often be associated with the figure of Isis in Egyptian myth. Lucius Apuleius (c. 123—c. 170 CE) in his work The Golden Ass associates Hecate with Isis:

'I am she that is the natural mother of all things, mistress and governess of all the elements, the initial progeny of worlds, chief of powers divine, Queen of heaven, the principal of the Gods celestial, the light of the goddesses: at my will the planets of the air, the wholesome winds of the Seas, and the silences of hell be disposed; my name, my divinity is adored throughout all the world in divers manners, in variable customs and in many names, [...] 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.[...]'[100]
In the syncretism during Late Antiquity of Hellenistic and late Babylonian ("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 Ereschigal is invoked against fear of punishment in the afterlife.[101]
Before she became associated with Greek mythology, she had many similarities with Artemis (wilderness, and watching over wedding ceremonies)[102]
Dogs were sacred to Hecate and associated with roads, domestic spaces, purification, and spirits of the dead. They played a similar symbolic role in ancient China, where dogs were conceived as representative of the household sphere, and as protective spirits appropriate when transcending geographic and spatial boundaries. Dogs were also sacrificed to the road. As Roel Sterckx observes, "The use of dog sacrifices at the gates and doors of the living and the dead as well as its use in travel sacrifices suggest that dogs were perceived as daemonic animals operating in the liminal or transitory realm between the domestic and the unknown, danger-stricken outside world".[103]
This can be compared to Pausanias' report that in the Ionaian city of Colophon in Asia Minor a sacrifice of a black female puppy was made to Hecate as "the wayside goddess", and Plutarch's observation that in Boeotia dogs were killed in purificatory rites. Dogs, with puppies often mentioned, were offered to Hecate at crossroads, which were sacred to the goddess.[104]
Nature of her cult[edit]
Regarding the nature of her cult, it has been remarked, "she is more at home on the fringes than in the center of Greek polytheism. Intrinsically ambivalent and polymorphous, she straddles conventional boundaries and eludes definition."[9]

See also[edit]
##Asura (Buddhism)
##Janus
##Amphisbaena
Notes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b The Running Maiden from Eleusis and the Early Classical Image of Hekate by Charles M. Edwards in the American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 90, No. 3 (Jul., 1986), pp. 307-318
2.Jump up ^ "HECATE : Greek goddess of witchcraft, ghosts & magic ; mythology ; pictures : HEKATE". Theoi.com. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
3.^ Jump up to: a b d'Este, Sorita & Rankine, David, Hekate Liminal Rites, Avalonia, 2009.
4.Jump up ^ "Bryn Mawr Classical Review 02.06.11". Bmcr.brynmawr.edu. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
5.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Hekate Soteira, Scholars Press, 1990.
6.Jump up ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, Hecate, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/259138/Hecate
7.Jump up ^ Berg 1974, p. 129.
8.Jump up ^ At least in the case of Hesiod's use, see Clay, Jenny Strauss (2003). Hesiod's Cosmos. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 135. ISBN 0-521-82392-7. Clay lists a number of researchers who have advanced some variant of the association between Hecate's name and will (e.g. Walcot (1958), Neitzel (1975), Derossi (1975)). The researcher is led to identify "the name and function of Hecate as the one 'by whose will' prayers are accomplished and fulfilled." This interpretation also appears in Liddell-Scott, A Greek English Lexicon, in the entry for Hecate, which is glossed as "lit. 'she who works her will'"
9.^ Jump up to: a b c d Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony, eds. (1996). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Third ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 671. ISBN 0-19-866172-X.
10.Jump up ^ Anthon, Charles (1869). A Classical Dictionary. Harper & Brothers. p. 579.
11.Jump up ^ Wheelwright, P. E. (1975). Metaphor and Reality. Bloomington. p. 144. ISBN 0-253-20122-5.
12.Jump up ^ McKechnie, Paul; Guillaume, Philippe (2008). Ptolemy II Philadelphus and His World. Leiden: Brill. p. 133. ISBN 978-90-04-17089-6.
13.Jump up ^ Golding, Arthur (1567). Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book Seven.
14.Jump up ^ Marlowe, Christopher (first published 1604; performed earlier). Doctor Faustus, Act III, Scene 2, line 21: "Pluto's blue fire and Hecat's tree".
Shakespeare, William (ca. 1594-96). A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act V, Scene 1, line 384: "By the triple Hecat's team".
 Shakespeare, William (ca.1603-07). Macbeth, Act III, Scene 5, line 1: "Why, how now, Hecat!"
Jonson, Ben (ca. 1637, printed 1641). The Sad Shepherd, Act II, Scene 3, line 668: "our dame Hecat".
15.Jump up ^ Webster, Noah (1866). A Dictionary of the English Language (10th ed.). "Rules for pronouncing the vowels of Greek and Latin proper names", p.9: "Hecate..., pronounced in three syllables when in Latin, and in the same number in the Greek word Ἑκάτη, in English is universally contracted into two, by sinking the final e. Shakespeare seems to have begun, as he has now confirmed, this pronunciation, by so adapting the word in Macbeth.... And the play-going world, who form no small portion of what is called the better sort of people, have followed the actors in this world, and the rest of the world have followed them."
 Cf. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1894): "Hec'ate (3 syl. in Greek, 2 in Eng.)"
16.^ Jump up to: a b Lewis Richard Farnell, (1896). "Hecate in Art", The Cults of the Greek States. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
17.Jump up ^ Hekate Her Sacred Fires, ed. Sorita d'Este, Avalonia, 2010
18.Jump up ^ Yves Bonnefoy, Wendy Doniger, Roman and European Mythologies, University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 195.
19.Jump up ^ This statue is in the British Museum, inventory number 816.
20.Jump up ^ [1][dead link]
21.Jump up ^ "Images". Eidola.eu. 2010-02-28. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
22.Jump up ^ "The legend of the Argonauts is among the earliest known to the Greeks," observes Peter Green, The Argonautika, 2007, Introduction, p. 21.
23.Jump up ^ Apollonios Rhodios (tr. Peter Green), The Argonautika, University of California Press, 2007, p140
24.^ Jump up to: a b c Walter Burkert, (1987) Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical, p. 171. Oxford, Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-15624-0.
25.Jump up ^ Strabo, Geography 14.2.25; Kraus 1960.
26.^ Jump up to: a b Hesiod, Theogony, (English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White)
27.^ Jump up to: a b Johnston, Sarah Iles, (1991). Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece. ISBN 0-520-21707-1
28.Jump up ^ Household and Family Religion in Antiquity by John Bodel and Saul M. Olyan, page 221, published by John Wiley & Sons, 2009
29.Jump up ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, Hecate, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/259138/Hecate also Hellenic Household Worship by Christos Pandion Panopoulos, edited and translated by Lesley Madytinou & Rathamanthys Madytinos http://www.labrys.gr/index.php?l=householdworship#1
30.Jump up ^ "Baktria, Kings, Agathokles, ancient coins index with thumbnails". WildWinds.com. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
31.Jump up ^ d'Este & Rankine, Hekate Liminal Rites, Avalonia, 2009
32.Jump up ^ Theodor Kraus, Hekate: Studien zu Wesen u. Bilde der Göttin in Kleinasien u. Griechenland (Heidelberg) 1960.
33.Jump up ^ 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 amazon (Asia)
34.Jump up ^ Berg 1974, p. 134. Berg's argument for a Greek origin rests on three main points: 1. Almost all archaeological and literary evidence for her cult comes from the Greek mainland, and especially from Attica—all of which dates earlier than the 2nd century BCE. 2. In Asia Minor only one monument can be associated with Hecate prior to the 2nd century BCE. 3. The supposed connection between Hecate and attested "Carian theophoric names" is not convincing, and instead suggests an aspect of the process of her Hellenization. He concludes, "Arguments for Hecate's "Anatolian" origin are not in accord with evidence."
35.Jump up ^ Kraus 1960, p. 52; list pp.166ff.
36.Jump up ^ Strabo, Geography, 14.1.23
37.Jump up ^ "CULT OF HEKATE : Ancient Greek religion". Theoi.com. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
38.Jump up ^ Mark Edwards, Neoplatonic saints: the Lives of Plotinus and Proclus by their Students, Liverpool University Press, 2000, p. 100.
39.Jump up ^ 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, seeHornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony, eds. (1996). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Third ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 316. ISBN 0-19-866172-X.
40.Jump up ^ English translation used here from: William Wynn Wescott (tr.), The Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster, 1895.
41.Jump up ^ "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.
42.Jump up ^ "In 340 B.C., however, the Byzantines, with the aid of the Athenians, withstood a siege successfully, an occurrence the more remarkable as they were attacked by the greatest general of the age, Philip of Macedon. In the course of this beleaguerment, it is related, on a certain wet and moonless night the enemy attempted a surprise, but were foiled by reason of a bright light which, appearing suddenly in the heavens, startled all the dogs in the town and thus roused the garrison to a sense of their danger. To commemorate this timely phenomenon, which was attributed to Hecate, they erected a public statue to that goddess [...]" William Gordon Holmes, The Age of Justinian and Theodora, 2003, pp. 5-6; "If any goddess had a connection with the walls in Constantinople, it was Hecate. Hecate had a cult in Byzantium from the time of its founding. Like Byzas in one legend, she had her origins in Thrace. Since Hecate was the guardian of "liminal places", in Byzantium small temples in her honor were placed close to the gates of the city. Hecate's importance to Byzantium was above all as deity of protection. When Philip of Macedon was about to attack the city, according to he legend she alerted the townspeople with her ever-present torches, and with her pack of dogs, which served as her constant companions. Her mythic qualities thenceforth forever entered the fabric of Byzantine history. A statue known as the 'Lampadephoros' was erected on the hill above the Bosphorous to commemorate Hecate's defensive aid." Vasiliki Limberis, Divine Heiress, Routledge, 1994, pp. 126-127; this story apparently survived in the works Hesychius of Miletus, who in all probability lived in the time of Justinian. His works survive only in fragments preserved in Photius and the Suda, a Byzantine lexicon of the 10th century CE. The tale is also related by Stephanus of Byzantium and Eustathius.
43.Jump up ^ Joseph Eddy Fontenrose, Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins, Biblo & Tannen Publishers, 1974, p. 96.
44.Jump up ^ "Hecate, Greek Goddess of the Crossroads". Goddess Gift: Meet the Goddesses Here. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
45.Jump up ^ Alberta Mildred Franklin, The Lupercalia, Columbia University, 1921, p. 68.
46.Jump up ^ Jon D. Mikalson, Athenian Popular Religion, UNC Press, 1987, p. 76.
47.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece, University of California Press, 1999, pp. 208-209.
48.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Liddell-Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon.
49.Jump up ^ Ivana Petrovic, Von den Toren des Hades zu den Hallen des Olymp (Brill, 2007), p. 94; W. Schmid and O. Stählin, Geschichte der griechischen Literatur (C.H. Beck, 1924, 1981), vol. 2, pt. 2, p. 982; W.H. Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (Leipzig: Teubner, 1890–94), vol. 2, pt. 2, p. 16.
50.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece, University of California Press, 1999, p. 207.
51.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Hekate Soteira, Scholars Press, 1990.
52.Jump up ^ Amanda Porterfield, Healing in the history of Christianity, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 72.
53.Jump up ^ Saint Ouen, Vita Eligii book II.16.
54.Jump up ^ Alberta Mildred Franklin, The Lupercalia, Columbia University, 1921, p67
55.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Restless Dead, University of California Press, 1999, pp. 211-212.
56.Jump up ^ The poem Alexandra by Lycophron 1174 ff, translation by Mair. Lycophron of Chalcis was a Greek poet in the 3rd century BCE The poem can be read here: http://www.theoi.com/Text/LycophronAlexandra.html
57.Jump up ^ Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 29, translation by Francis Celoria, Psychology Press, 1992
58.Jump up ^ On the Characteristics of Animals by Aelian, translated by Alwyn Faber Scholfield, Harvard University Press, 1958
59.Jump up ^ Charles Duke Yonge, tr.), The Learned Banqueters, H.G. Bohn, 1854.
60.Jump up ^ Robert Parker, Miasma: Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion, Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 362-363.
61.Jump up ^ William Martin Leake, The Topography of Athens, London, 1841, p. 492.
62.Jump up ^ Alan Davidson, Mediterranean Seafood, Ten Speed Press, 2002, p. 92.
63.Jump up ^ Varner, Gary R. (2007). Creatures in the Mist: Little People, Wild Men and Spirit Beings Around the World: A Study in Comparative Mythology, p. 135. New York: Algora Publishing. ISBN 0-87586-546-1.
64.Jump up ^ Yves Bonnefoy, Wendy Doniger, Roman and European Mythologies, University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 195; "Hecate" article, Encyclopædia Britannica, 1823.
65.Jump up ^ R. L. Hunter, The Argonautica of Apollonius, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 142, citing Apollonius of Rhodes.
66.Jump up ^ Daniel Ogden, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds, Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 82-83.
67.Jump up ^ Matthew Suffness (Ed.), Taxol: Science and Applications, CRC Press, 1995, p. 28.
68.Jump up ^ Frederick J. Simoons, Plants of Life, Plants of Death, University of Wisconsin Press, 1998, p. 143; Fragkiska Megaloudi, Plants and Diet in Greece From Neolithic to Classic Periods, Archaeopress, 2006, p. 71.
69.Jump up ^ Freize, Henry; Dennison, Walter (1902). Virgil's Aeneid. New York: American Book Company. pp. N111.
70.Jump up ^ "Hecate had a "botanical garden" on the island of Colchis where the following alkaloid plants were kept: Akoniton (Aconitum napellus), Diktamnon (Dictamnus albus), Mandragores (Mandragora officinarum), Mekon (Papaver somniferum), Melaina (Claviceps pupurea), Thryon (Atropa belladona), and Cochicum [...]" Margaret F. Roberts, Michael Wink, Alkaloids: Biochemistry, Ecology, and Medicinal Applications, Springer, 1998, p. 16.
71.Jump up ^ Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, Penguin Books, 1977, p. 154.
72.Jump up ^ Frederick J. Simoons, Plants of Life, Plants of Death, University of Wisconsin Press, 1998, pp. 121-124.
73.Jump up ^ Bonnie MacLachlan, Judith Fletcher, Virginity Revisited: Configurations of The Unpossessed Body, University of Toronto Press, 2007, p. 14.
74.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece, University of California Press, 1999, p. 209.
75.Jump up ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece, University of California Press, 1999, p. 208.
76.Jump up ^ Vasiliki Limberis, Divine Heiress: The Virgin Mary And The Creation of Christian Constantinople, Routledge, 1994, pp. 126-127.
77.Jump up ^ Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony, eds. (1996). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Third ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 490. ISBN 0-19-866172-X.
78.Jump up ^ Richard Cavendish, The Powers of Evil in Western Religion, Magic and Folk Belief, Routledge, 1975, p. 62.
79.Jump up ^ [5] The play Plutus by Aristophanes (388BCE), line 594 any translation will do or Benjamin Bickley Rogers is fine
80.Jump up ^ Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 65, No.2, 1972 pages 291-297
81.Jump up ^ These are the biaiothanatoi, aoroi and ataphoi (cf. Rohde, i. 264 f., and notes, 275-277, ii. 362, and note, 411-413, 424-425), whose enthumion, the quasi-technical word designating their longing for vengeance, was much dreaded. See Heckenbach, p. 2776 and references.
82.Jump up ^ Antiphanes, in Athenaeus, 313 B (2. 39 K), and 358 F; Melanthius, in Athenaeus, 325 B. Plato, Com. (i. 647. 19 K), Apollodorus, Melanthius, Hegesander, Chariclides (iii. 394 K), Antiphanes, in Athenaeus, 358 F; Aristophanes, Plutus, 596.
83.Jump up ^ Hekate's Suppers, by K. F. Smith. Chapter in the book The Goddess Hekate: Studies in Ancient Pagan and Christian Philosophy edited by Stephen Ronan. Pages 57 to 64
84.Jump up ^ Roscher, 1889; Heckenbach, 2781; Rohde, ii. 79, n. 1. also Ammonius (p. 79, Valckenaer)
85.Jump up ^ "What is the Hekate Festival 13 August ? | Sorita d'Este". Sorita.co.uk. 2012-03-20. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
86.Jump up ^ Hellenion is a 501c3 religious organization based in the USA dedicated to reviving the religions indigenous to Greece. http://hellenion.org/ The Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes is an umbrella group based in Greece that is a legally recognized Non Profit Organization (NPO) and was "founded in June of 1997 aiming to the morale and physical protection and restoration of the Polytheistic, Ethnic Hellenic religion, tradition and way of life in the "modern" Greek Society from which is oppressed due to its institutional intolerance and theocracy".
87.Jump up ^ E.g. Wilshire, Donna (1994). Virgin mother crone: myths and mysteries of the triple goddess. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International. p. 213. ISBN 0-89281-494-2.
88.Jump up ^ https://sites.google.com/site/hellenionstemenos/Home/festivals/hekatesdeipnon
89.Jump up ^ Michael Strmiska, Modern paganism in world cultures, ABC-CLIO, 2005, p. 68.
90.Jump up ^ Francis Douce, Illustrations of Shakspeare, and of Ancient Manners, 1807, p. 235-243.
91.Jump up ^ John Minsheu and William Somner (17th century), Edward Lye of Oxford (1694-1767), Johann Georg Wachter, Glossarium Germanicum (1737), Walter Whiter, Etymologicon Universale (1822)
92.Jump up ^ e.g. Gerald Milnes, Signs, Cures, & Witchery, Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2007, p. 116; Samuel X. Radbill, "The Role of Animals in Infant Feeding", in American Folk Medicine: A Symposium Ed. Wayland D. Hand. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.
93.Jump up ^ "Many have been caught by the obvious resemblance of the Gr. Hecate, but the letters agree to closely, contrary to the laws of change, and the Mid. Ages would surely have had an unaspirated Ecate handed down to them; no Ecate or Hecate appears in the M. Lat. or Romance writings in the sense of witch, and how should the word have spread through all German lands?" Jacob Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, 1835, (English translation 1900)
94.^ Jump up to: a b Etymology Online, entry 'hag', accessed 8/23/09
95.Jump up ^ Mallory, J.P, Adams, D.Q. The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. Oxford University Press, 2006. p. 223
96.Jump up ^ For Hecate as a protector deity of a contemporary (mid-nineties) neopagan coven see: Sabina Magliocco, Witching Culture: Folklore and Neopaganism in America, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, p79
97.Jump up ^ "Neo-paganism/witchcraft is a spiritual orientation and a variety of ritual practices using reconstructed mythological structures and pre-Christian rites primarily from ancient European and Mediterranean sources. […] most see in goddess worship a rediscovery of folk practices that persisted in rural Europe throughout the Christian era and up to recent times." Timothy Miller (Ed.), America's Alternative Religions, State University of New York Press, 1995, p339; "Neopaganism sees itself as a revival of ancient pre-Christian religion: the old nature religions of Greece and Rome, of the wandering Teutonic tribes and of others as well." Gaustad, Noll (Eds.),A Documentary History of Religion In America Since 1877, Eerdmans, 2003, p603; "A second theme in the Neo-Pagan combination is the pre-Christian European folk religion or Paganism." James R. Lewis, Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft, State University of New York Press, 1996, p303
98.Jump up ^ For a summary of the wild hunt as a neopagan 'tradition' see the entry in James R. Lewis, Witchcraft Today: An Encyclopedia of Wiccan and Neopagan Traditions, 1999, pp 303-304; For a 'moon magick' reference to Hecate as "Lady of the Wild Hunt and witchcraft" see: D. J. Conway, Moon Magick: Myth & Magic, Crafts & Recipes, Rituals & Spells, Llewellyn, 1995, p157
99.Jump up ^ For an extensive discussion of the symbolism of the hedge and hedge-riding as it relates to contemporary witchcraft see: Eric De Vries, Hedge-Rider: Witches and the Underworld, Pendraig Publishing, 2008, pp 10-23 (De Vries also mentions Hecate in this liminal context); and for the relation between hedges, hedge-riding and witches in German folklore see: C. R. Bilardi, The Red Church or The Art of Pennsylvania German Braucherei, Pendraig Publishing, 2009, pp 127-129; As a general indicator of the currency of the association of hedge and witch see titles such as: Silver Ravenwolf, Hedge Witch: Spells, Crafts & Rituals for Natural Magick, Llewellyn, 2008 and Rae Beth, Hedge Witch: Guide To Solitary Witchcraft", Hale, 1992
100.Jump up ^ Apuleius, The Golden Ass 11.47.
101.Jump up ^ 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 Ereschigal only in the heading: in the spell itself only Erschigal is called upon with protective magical words and gestures.
102.Jump up ^ Heidel, William Arthur (1929). The Day of Yahweh: A Study of Sacred Days and Ritual Forms in the Ancient Near East, p. 514. American Historical Association.
103.Jump up ^ Roel Sterckx, The Animal and The Daemon In Early China, State University of New York Press, 2002, pp 232-233. Sterckx explicitly recognizes the similarities between these ancient Chinese views of dogs and those current in Greek and Roman antiquity, and goes on to note "Dog sacrifice was also a common practice among the Greeks where the dog figured prominently as a guardian of the underworld." (Footnote 113, p318)
104.Jump up ^ Frederick J. Simoons, Eat Not This Flesh: Food Avoidances from Prehistory to the Present, University of Wisconsin Press, 1994, pp 233-234
References[edit]
Primary sources[edit]
##Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days. An English translation is available online
##Pausanias, Description of Greece
##Ovid, Metamorphoses, VI 140, VII 74, 94, 174, 177, 194, 241, XIV 44, 405.
##Strabo, Geography
Secondary sources[edit]
##Berg, William, "Hecate: Greek or "Anatolian"?", Numen 21.2 (August 1974:128-40)
##Burkert, Walter, 1985. Greek Religion (Cambridge: Harvard University Press) Published in the UK as Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical, 1987. (Oxford: Blackwell) ISBN 0-631-15624-0.
##Lewis Richard Farnell, (1896). "Hecate in Art", The Cults of the Greek States. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
##Johnston, Sarah Iles, (1990). Hekate Soteira: A Study of Hekate's Role in the Chaldean Oracles and Related Literature.
##Johnston, Sarah Iles, (1991). Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece. ISBN 0-520-21707-1
##Mallarmé, Stéphane, (1880). Les Dieux Antiques, nouvelle mythologie illustrée.
##Kerenyi, Karl. The Gods of the Greeks. 1951.
##Rabinovich, Yakov. The Rotting Goddess. 1990. A work which views Hekate from the perspective of Mircea Eliade's archetypes and substantiates its claims through cross-cultural comparisons. The work has been sharply criticized by Classics scholars, some dismissing Rabinowitz as a neo-pagan.
##Ruickbie, Leo. Witchcraft Out of the Shadows: A Complete History. Robert Hale, 2004.
##Von Rudloff, Robert. Hekate in Early Greek Religion. Horned Owl Publishing (July 1999)
External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hecate.
 Look up Hecate or Ἑκάτη in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
##Myths of the Greek Goddess Hecate
##Encyclopædia Britannica 1911: "Hecate"
##The Rotting Goddess by Yakov Rabinovich, complete book included in the anthology "Junkyard of the Classics" published under the pseudonym Ellipsis Marx.
##Theoi Project, Hecate Classical literary sources and art
##Hekate in Greek esotericism: Ptolemaic and Gnostic transformations of Hecate
##The Covenant of Hekate
##Cast of the Crannon statue, at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
##The Hekate/Iphigenia Myth


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Osiris
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For Osiris Boat Club, see Oxford University Boat Club and Oxford University Women's Boat Club. For other uses, see Osiris (disambiguation).

Osiris
God of the afterlife
Standing Osiris edit1.svg
Osiris, lord of the dead. His green skin symbolizes re-birth.

Name in hieroglyphs

Q1
D4 A40

 
Major cult center
Abydos
Symbol
Crook and flail
Consort
Isis and sometimes Nephthys
Parents
Geb and Nut
Siblings
Isis, Set, Nephthys, Haroeris
Offspring
Horus and sometimes Anubis
Osiris (/oʊˈsaɪərɨs/; also Usiris), is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He was classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and holding a symbolic crook and flail.
Osiris was at times considered the oldest son of the Earth god Geb,[1] and the sky goddess Nut, as well as being brother and husband of Isis, with Horus being considered his posthumously begotten son.[1] He was also associated with the epithet Khenti-Amentiu, which means "Foremost of the Westerners" — a reference to his kingship in the land of the dead.[2] As ruler of the dead, Osiris was also sometimes called "king of the living", since the Ancient Egyptians considered the blessed dead "the living ones".[3]
Osiris is first attested in the middle of the Fifth dynasty of Egypt, although it is likely that he was worshipped much earlier;[4] the term Khenti-Amentiu dates to at least the first dynasty, also as a pharaonic title. Most information available on the myths of Osiris is derived from allusions contained in the Pyramid Texts at the end of the Fifth Dynasty, later New Kingdom source documents such as the Shabaka Stone and the Contending of Horus and Seth, and much later, in narrative style from the writings of Greek authors including Plutarch[5] and Diodorus Siculus.[6]
Osiris was considered not only a merciful judge of the dead in the afterlife, but also the underworld agency that granted all life, including sprouting vegetation and the fertile flooding of the Nile River. He was described as the "Lord of love",[7] "He Who is Permanently Benign and Youthful"[8] and the "Lord of Silence".[9] The Kings of Egypt were associated with Osiris in death — as Osiris rose from the dead they would, in union with him, inherit eternal life through a process of imitative magic. By the New Kingdom all people, not just pharaohs, were believed to be associated with Osiris at death, if they incurred the costs of the assimilation rituals.[10]
Through the hope of new life after death, Osiris began to be associated with the cycles observed in nature, in particular vegetation and the annual flooding of the Nile, through his links with Orion and Sirius at the start of the new year.[8] Osiris was widely worshipped as Lord of the Dead until the suppression of the Egyptian religion during the Christian era.[11][12]


Contents  [hide]
1 Etymology of the name
2 Appearance
3 Early mythology

4 Mythology


5 Judgement
6 Greco-Roman era

7 See also
8 Notes
9 References
10 External links
Etymology of the name[edit]
Osiris is a Latin transliteration of the Ancient Greek: Ὄσιρις, which in turn is the Greek adaptation of the original theonym in the Egyptian language. In Egyptian hieroglyphs the name is written Wsjr, as the hieroglyphic writing does not restitute all the vowels, and Egyptologists transliterate the name variously as Asar, Asari, Aser, Ausar, Ausir, Wesir, Usir, Usire or Ausare.
Several proposals have been made for the etymology and meaning of the original name Wsjr. John Gwyn Griffiths (1980) proposed a derivation from wser signifying "the powerful". Moreover, one of the oldest attestations of the god Osiris appears in the mastaba of the deceased Netjer-wser (God Almighty).
David Lorton (1985) proposed that Wsjr is composed by the morphemes set-jret signifying "ritual activity", Osiris being the one who receives it. Wolfhart Westendorf (1987) proposed an etymology from Waset-jret "she who bears the eye".[13]
Appearance[edit]
Osiris is represented in his most developed form of iconography wearing the Atef crown, which is similar to the White crown of Upper Egypt, but with the addition of two curling ostrich feathers at each side (see also Atef crown (hieroglyph)). He also carries the crook and flail. The crook is thought to represent Osiris as a shepherd god. The symbolism of the flail is more uncertain with shepherds whip, fly-whisk, or association with the god Andjety of the ninth nome of Lower Egypt proposed.[8]
He was commonly depicted as a green (the color of rebirth) or black (alluding to the fertility of the Nile floodplain) complexioned pharaoh, in mummiform (wearing the trappings of mummification from chest downward).[14] He was also depicted rarely as a lunar god with a crown encompassing the moon.
Early mythology[edit]
The Pyramid Texts describe early conceptions of an afterlife in terms of eternal travelling with the sun god amongst the stars. Amongst these mortuary texts, at the beginning of the 4th dynasty, is found: "An offering the king gives and Anubis". By the end of the 5th dynasty, the formula in all tombs becomes "An offering the king gives and Osiris".[15]
Father of Horus[edit]



 The gods Osiris, Anubis, and Horus, from a tomb painting.
Osiris is the mythological father of the god Horus, whose conception is described in the Osiris myth, a central myth in ancient Egyptian belief. The myth described Osiris as having been killed by his brother Set, who wanted Osiris' throne. Isis joined the fragmented pieces of Osiris, but the only body part missing was the phallus. Isis fashioned a golden phallus, and briefly brought Osiris back to life by use of a spell that she learned from her father. This spell gave her time to become pregnant by Osiris before he again died. Isis later gave birth to Horus. As such, since Horus was born after Osiris' resurrection, Horus became thought of as a representation of new beginnings and the vanquisher of the evil Set.
Ptah-Seker (who resulted from the identification of Ptah with Seker), god of re-incarnation, thus gradually became identified with Osiris, the two becoming Ptah-Seker-Osiris. As the sun was thought to spend the night in the underworld, and was subsequently re-incarnated every morning, Ptah-Seker-Osiris was identified as both king of the underworld, and god of reincarnation.
Ram god[edit]


E10 nb Dd niwt Dd

 
Banebdjed
 (b3-nb-ḏd)
 in hieroglyphs

Osiris' soul, or rather his Ba, was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god, especially in the Delta city of Mendes. This aspect of Osiris was referred to as Banebdjedet, which is grammatically feminine (also spelt "Banebded" or "Banebdjed"), literally "the ba of the lord of the djed, which roughly means The soul of the lord of the pillar of continuity. The djed, a type of pillar, was usually understood as the backbone of Osiris, and, at the same time, as the Nile, the backbone of Egypt.
The Nile, supplying water, and Osiris (strongly connected to the vegetation) who died only to be resurrected, represented continuity and stability. As Banebdjed, Osiris was given epithets such as Lord of the Sky and Life of the (sun god) Ra, since Ra, when he had become identified with Atum, was considered Osiris' ancestor, from whom his regal authority is inherited. Ba does not mean "soul" in the western sense, and has to do with power, reputation, force of character, especially in the case of a god.
Since the ba was associated with power, and also happened to be a word for ram in Egyptian, Banebdjed was depicted as a ram, or as Ram-headed. A living, sacred ram, was kept at Mendes and worshipped as the incarnation of the god, and upon death, the rams were mummified and buried in a ram-specific necropolis. Banebdjed was consequently said to be Horus' father, as Banebdjed was an aspect of Osiris.
Regarding the association of Osiris with the ram, the god's traditional crook and flail are the instruments of the shepherd, which has suggested to some scholars also an origin for Osiris in herding tribes of the upper Nile. The crook and flail were originally symbols of the minor agricultural deity Andjety, and passed to Osiris later. From Osiris, they eventually passed to Egyptian kings in general as symbols of divine authority.
Mythology[edit]



 The family of Osiris. Osiris on a lapis lazuli pillar in the middle, flanked by Horus on the left and Isis on the right (22nd dynasty, Louvre, Paris)
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The cult of Osiris (who was a god chiefly of regeneration and rebirth) had a particularly strong interest in the concept of immortality. Plutarch recounts one version of the myth in which Set (Osiris' brother), along with the Queen of Ethiopia, conspired with 72 accomplices to plot the assassination of Osiris.[16] Set fooled Osiris into getting into a box, which Set then shut, sealed with lead, and threw into the Nile (sarcophagi were based on[citation needed] the box in this myth). Osiris' wife, Isis, searched for his remains until she finally found him embedded in a tamarind tree trunk, which was holding up the roof of a palace in Byblos on the Phoenician coast. She managed to remove the coffin and open it, but Osiris was already dead.
In one version of the myth, she used a spell learned from her father and brought him back to life so he could impregnate her. Afterwards he died again and she hid his body in the desert. Months later, she gave birth to Horus. While she raised Horus, Set was hunting one night and came across the body of Osiris.
Enraged, he tore the body into fourteen pieces and scattered them throughout the land. Isis gathered up all the parts of the body, less the phallus (which was eaten by a catfish) and bandaged them together for a proper burial. The gods were impressed by the devotion of Isis and resurrected Osiris as the god of the underworld. Because of his death and resurrection, Osiris was associated with the flooding and retreating of the Nile and thus with the crops along the Nile valley.
Diodorus Siculus gives another version of the myth in which Osiris was described as an ancient king who taught the Egyptians the arts of civilization, including agriculture, then travelled the world with his sister Isis, the satyrs, and the nine muses, before finally returning to Egypt. Osiris was then murdered by his evil brother Typhon, who was identified with Set. Typhon divided the body into twenty-six pieces, which he distributed amongst his fellow conspirators in order to implicate them in the murder. Isis and Hercules (Horus) avenged the death of Osiris and slew Typhon. Isis recovered all the parts of Osiris' body, except the phallus, and secretly buried them. She made replicas of them and distributed them to several locations, which then became centres of Osiris worship.[17][18]
Death and institution as god of the dead[edit]



 Osiris-Nepra, with wheat growing from his body. From a bas-relief at Philae.[19] The sprouting wheat implied resurrection.[20]


 Osiris "The God Of The Resurrection", rising from his bier.[21]
Plutarch and others have noted that the sacrifices to Osiris were "gloomy, solemn, and mournful..." (Isis and Osiris, 69) and that the great mystery festival, celebrated in two phases, began at Abydos commemorating the death of the god, on the same day that grain was planted in the ground (Isis and Osiris, 13). "The death of the grain and the death of the god were one and the same: the cereal was identified with the god who came from heaven; he was the bread by which man lives. The resurrection of the god symbolized the rebirth of the grain." (Larson 17) The annual festival involved the construction of "Osiris Beds" formed in shape of Osiris, filled with soil and sown with seed.[22]
The germinating seed symbolized Osiris rising from the dead. An almost pristine example was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter.[23]
The first phase of the festival was a public drama depicting the murder and dismemberment of Osiris, the search of his body by Isis, his triumphal return as the resurrected god, and the battle in which Horus defeated Set. This was all presented by skilled actors as a literary history, and was the main method of recruiting cult membership.
According to Julius Firmicus Maternus of the fourth century, this play was re-enacted each year by worshippers who "beat their breasts and gashed their shoulders.... When they pretend that the mutilated remains of the god have been found and rejoined...they turn from mourning to rejoicing." (De Errore Profanorum).
The passion of Osiris was reflected in his name 'Wenennefer" ("the one who continues to be perfect"), which also alludes to his post mortem power.[14]
Ikhernofret Stela[edit]
Much of the extant information about the Passion of Osiris can be found on the Ikhernofret Stela at Abydos erected in the 12th Dynasty by Ikhernofret (also I-Kher-Nefert), possibly a priest of Osiris or other official (the titles of Ikhernofret are described in his stela from Abydos) during the reign of Senwosret III (Pharaoh Sesostris, about 1875 BC). The Passion Plays were held in the last month of the inundation (the annual Nile flood, coinciding with Spring, and held at Abydos/Abedjou which was the traditional place where the body of Osiris/Wesir drifted ashore after having been drowned in the Nile.[24]
The part of the myth recounting the chopping up of the body into 14 pieces by Set is not recounted in this particular stela. Although it is attested to be a part of the rituals by a version of the Papyrus Jumilhac, in which it took Isis 12 days to reassemble the pieces, coinciding with the festival of ploughing.[25] Some elements of the ceremony were held in the temple, while others involved public participation in a form of theatre. The Stela of I-Kher-Nefert recounts the programme of events of the public elements over the five days of the Festival:
The First Day, The Procession of Wepwawet: A mock battle was enacted during which the enemies of Osiris are defeated. A procession was led by the god Wepwawet ("opener of the way").
The Second Day, The Great Procession of Osiris: The body of Osiris was taken from his temple to his tomb. The boat he was transported in, the "Neshmet" bark, had to be defended against his enemies.
The Third Day: Osiris is Mourned and the Enemies of the Land are Destroyed.
The Fourth Day, Night Vigil: Prayers and recitations are made and funeral rites performed.
The Fifth Day, Osiris is Reborn: Osiris is reborn at dawn and crowned with the crown of Ma'at. A statue of Osiris is brought to the temple.[24]
Wheat and clay rituals[edit]



 Rare sample of Egyptian terra cotta sculpture, could be Isis mourning Osiris, (raising her right arm over her head, a typical mourning sign). Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Contrasting with the public "theatrical" ceremonies sourced from the I-Kher-Nefert stele (from the Middle Kingdom), more esoteric ceremonies were performed inside the temples by priests witnessed only by chosen initiates. Plutarch mentions that (for much later period) two days after the beginning of the festival "the priests bring forth a sacred chest containing a small golden coffer, into which they pour some potable water...and a great shout arises from the company for joy that Osiris is found (or resurrected). Then they knead some fertile soil with the water...and fashion therefrom a crescent-shaped figure, which they cloth and adorn, this indicating that they regard these gods as the substance of Earth and Water." (Isis and Osiris, 39). Yet his accounts were still obscure, for he also wrote, "I pass over the cutting of the wood" - opting not to describe it, since he considered it as a most sacred ritual (Ibid. 21).
In the Osirian temple at Denderah, an inscription (translated by Budge, Chapter XV, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection) describes in detail the making of wheat paste models of each dismembered piece of Osiris to be sent out to the town where each piece is discovered by Isis. At the temple of Mendes, figures of Osiris were made from wheat and paste placed in a trough on the day of the murder, then water was added for several days, until finally the mixture was kneaded into a mold of Osiris and taken to the temple to be buried (the sacred grain for these cakes were grown only in the temple fields). Molds were made from the wood of a red tree in the forms of the sixteen dismembered parts of Osiris, the cakes of 'divine' bread were made from each mold, placed in a silver chest and set near the head of the god with the inward parts of Osiris as described in the Book of the Dead (XVII).
On the first day of the Festival of Ploughing, where the goddess Isis appeared in her shrine where she was stripped naked, paste made from the grain were placed in her bed and moistened with water, representing the fecund earth. All of these sacred rituals were "climaxed by the eating of sacramental god, the eucharist by which the celebrants were transformed, in their persuasion, into replicas of their god-man" (Larson 20).
Judgement[edit]
The idea of divine justice being exercised after death for wrongdoing during life is first encountered during the Old Kingdom, in a 6th dynasty tomb containing fragments of what would be described later as the Negative Confessions.[26]



 Judgment scene from the Book of the Dead. In the three scenes from the Book of the Dead (version from ~1375 BC) the dead man (Hunefer) is taken into the judgement hall by the jackal-headed Anubis. The next scene is the weighing of his heart against the feather of Ma'at, with Ammut waiting the result, and Thoth recording. Next, the triumphant Henefer, having passed the test, is presented by the falcon-headed Horus to Osiris, seated in his shrine with Isis and Nephthys. (British Museum)
With the rise of the cult of Osiris during the Middle Kingdom the “democratization of religion” offered to even his humblest followers the prospect of eternal life, with moral fitness becoming the dominant factor in determining a person's suitability.
At death a person faced judgment by a tribunal of forty-two divine judges. If they led a life in conformance with the precepts of the goddess Ma'at, who represented truth and right living, the person was welcomed into the kingdom of Osiris. If found guilty, the person was thrown to a "devourer" and didn't share in eternal life.[27]
The person who is taken by the devourer is subject first to terrifying punishment and then annihilated. These depictions of punishment may have influenced medieval perceptions of the inferno in hell via early Christian and Coptic texts.[28]
Purification for those who are considered justified may be found in the descriptions of "Flame Island", where they experience the triumph over evil and rebirth. For the damned, complete destruction into a state of non-being awaits, but there is no suggestion of eternal torture.[29][30]
Divine pardon at judgement was always a central concern for the Ancient Egyptians.[31]
During the reign of Seti I, Osiris was also invoked in royal decrees to pursue the living when wrongdoing was observed, but kept secret and not reported.[32]
Greco-Roman era[edit]
Hellenisation[edit]



 Bust of Serapis.
Eventually, in Egypt, the Hellenic pharaohs decided to produce a deity that would be acceptable to both the local Egyptian population, and the influx of Hellenic visitors, to bring the two groups together, rather than allow a source of rebellion to grow. Thus Osiris was identified explicitly with Apis, really an aspect of Ptah, who had already been identified as Osiris by this point, and a syncretism of the two was created, known as Serapis, and depicted as a standard Greek god.
Destruction of cult[edit]



Philae Island.
The cult of Osiris continued until the 6th century AD on the island of Philae in Upper Nile. The Theodosian decrees of the 390s, to destroy all pagan temples, were not enforced there. The worship of Isis and Osiris was allowed to continue at Philae until the time of Justinian, by treaty between the Blemmyes-Nobadae and Diocletian. Every year they visited Elephantine, and at certain intervals took the image of Isis up river to the land of the Blemmyes for oracular purposes. The practices ended when Justinian I sent Narses to destroy sanctuaries, arrest priests, and seize divine images, which were taken to Constantinople.[33]

See also[edit]
Aaru
Egyptian soul
Notes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 105. ISBN 0-500-05120-8.
2.Jump up ^ "How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs", Mark Collier & Bill Manley, British Museum Press, p. 41, 1998, ISBN 0-7141-1910-5
3.Jump up ^ "Conceptions of God In Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many", Erik Hornung (translated by John Baines), p. 233, Cornell University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-8014-1223-4
4.Jump up ^ Griffiths, John Gwyn (1980). The Origins of Osiris and His Cult. Brill. p. 44
5.Jump up ^ "Isis and Osiris", Plutarch, translated by Frank Cole Babbitt, 1936, vol. 5 Loeb Classical Library. Penelope.uchicago.edu
6.Jump up ^ "The Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus", vol. 1, translated by G. Booth, 1814. Google Books
7.Jump up ^ "The Gods of the Egyptians", E. A. Wallis Budge, p. 259, Dover 1969, org. pub. 1904, ISBN 0-486-22056-7
8.^ Jump up to: a b c The Oxford Guide: Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology, Edited by Donald B. Redford, p302-307, Berkley, 2003, ISBN 0-425-19096-X
9.Jump up ^ "The Burden of Egypt", J. A. Wilson, p. 302, University of Chicago Press, 4th imp 1963
10.Jump up ^ "Man, Myth and Magic", Osiris, vol. 5, p. 2087-2088, S.G.F. Brandon, BPC Publishing, 1971.
11.Jump up ^ "Catholic Encyclopedia: Theodosius I". Newadvent.org. 1912-07-01. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
12.Jump up ^ "History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I. to the Death of Justinian", The Suppression of Paganism – ch22, p371, John Bagnell Bury, Courier Dover Publications, 1958, ISBN 0-486-20399-9
13.Jump up ^ (Mathieu 2010, p. 79) : Les origines d'Osiris
14.^ Jump up to: a b "How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs", Mark Collier & Bill Manley, British Museum Press, p. 42, 1998, ISBN 0-7141-1910-5
15.Jump up ^ "Architecture of the Afterlife: Understanding Egypt’s pyramid tombs", Ann Macy Roth, Archaeology Odyssey, Spring 1998
16.Jump up ^ Plutarch's Moralia, On Isis and Osiris, ch. 12. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
17.Jump up ^ "Osiris", Man, Myth & Magic, S.G.F Brandon, Vol5 P2088, BPC Publishing.
18.Jump up ^ "The Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus", translated by George Booth 1814. retrieved 3 June 2007. Google Books
19.Jump up ^ "Egyptian ideas of the future life.", E. A Wallis Budge, chapter 1, E. A Wallis Budge, org pub 1900
20.Jump up ^ "Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses", George Hart, p119, Routledge, 2005 ISBN 0-415-34495-6
21.Jump up ^ "Egyptian ideas of the future life.", E. A Wallis Budge, chapter 2, E. A Wallis Budge, org pub 1900
22.Jump up ^ Teeter, Emily (2011). Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt. Cambridge University Press. pp. 58–66
23.Jump up ^ "Osiris Bed, Burton photograph p2024, The Griffith Institute". En.wikipedia.org. 1993-12-31. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
24.^ Jump up to: a b "The passion plays of osiris". ancientworlds.net.
25.Jump up ^ J. Vandier, "Le Papyrus Jumilhac", p.136-137, Paris, 1961
26.Jump up ^ "Studies in Comparative Religion", General editor, E. C Messenger, Essay by A. Mallon S. J, vol 2/5, p. 23, Catholic Truth Society, 1934
27.Jump up ^ Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt”, Rosalie David, p158-159, Penguin, 2002, ISBN 01402622520
28.Jump up ^ "The Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology: The Oxford Guide", "Hell", p161-162, Jacobus Van Dijk, Berkley Reference, 2003, ISBN 0-425-19096-X
29.Jump up ^ "The Divine Verdict", John Gwyn Griffiths, p233, Brill Publications, 1991, ISBN 90-04-09231-5
30.Jump up ^ "Letter: Hell in the ancient world. Letter by Professor J. Gwyn Griffiths". The Independent. December 31, 1993.
31.Jump up ^ "Egyptian Religion", Jan Assman, The Encyclopedia of Christianity, p77, vol2, Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing, 1999, ISBN 90-04-11695-8
32.Jump up ^ "The Burden of Egypt", J.A Wilson, p243, University of Chicago Press, 4th imp 1963
33.Jump up ^ "History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I. to the Death of Justinian", The Suppression of Paganism – ch. 22, p. 371, John Bagnell Bury, Courier Dover Publications, 1958, ISBN 0-486-20399-9
Freemasonry and its Ancient Mystic Rites. p. 35-36, by C. W. Leadbeater, Gramercy, 1998 ISBN 0-517-20267-0
References[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Osiris.
Martin A. Larson, The Story of Christian Origins (1977, 711 pp. ISBN 0-88331-090-2 ).
C. W. Leadbeater, Freemasonry and its Ancient Mystic Rites (Gramercy, 1998) ISBN 0-517-20267-0
External links[edit]
Ancient Egyptian God Osiris


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Osiris
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For Osiris Boat Club, see Oxford University Boat Club and Oxford University Women's Boat Club. For other uses, see Osiris (disambiguation).

Osiris
God of the afterlife
Standing Osiris edit1.svg
Osiris, lord of the dead. His green skin symbolizes re-birth.

Name in hieroglyphs

Q1
D4 A40

 
Major cult center
Abydos
Symbol
Crook and flail
Consort
Isis and sometimes Nephthys
Parents
Geb and Nut
Siblings
Isis, Set, Nephthys, Haroeris
Offspring
Horus and sometimes Anubis
Osiris (/oʊˈsaɪərɨs/; also Usiris), is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He was classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and holding a symbolic crook and flail.
Osiris was at times considered the oldest son of the Earth god Geb,[1] and the sky goddess Nut, as well as being brother and husband of Isis, with Horus being considered his posthumously begotten son.[1] He was also associated with the epithet Khenti-Amentiu, which means "Foremost of the Westerners" — a reference to his kingship in the land of the dead.[2] As ruler of the dead, Osiris was also sometimes called "king of the living", since the Ancient Egyptians considered the blessed dead "the living ones".[3]
Osiris is first attested in the middle of the Fifth dynasty of Egypt, although it is likely that he was worshipped much earlier;[4] the term Khenti-Amentiu dates to at least the first dynasty, also as a pharaonic title. Most information available on the myths of Osiris is derived from allusions contained in the Pyramid Texts at the end of the Fifth Dynasty, later New Kingdom source documents such as the Shabaka Stone and the Contending of Horus and Seth, and much later, in narrative style from the writings of Greek authors including Plutarch[5] and Diodorus Siculus.[6]
Osiris was considered not only a merciful judge of the dead in the afterlife, but also the underworld agency that granted all life, including sprouting vegetation and the fertile flooding of the Nile River. He was described as the "Lord of love",[7] "He Who is Permanently Benign and Youthful"[8] and the "Lord of Silence".[9] The Kings of Egypt were associated with Osiris in death — as Osiris rose from the dead they would, in union with him, inherit eternal life through a process of imitative magic. By the New Kingdom all people, not just pharaohs, were believed to be associated with Osiris at death, if they incurred the costs of the assimilation rituals.[10]
Through the hope of new life after death, Osiris began to be associated with the cycles observed in nature, in particular vegetation and the annual flooding of the Nile, through his links with Orion and Sirius at the start of the new year.[8] Osiris was widely worshipped as Lord of the Dead until the suppression of the Egyptian religion during the Christian era.[11][12]


Contents  [hide]
1 Etymology of the name
2 Appearance
3 Early mythology

4 Mythology


5 Judgement
6 Greco-Roman era

7 See also
8 Notes
9 References
10 External links
Etymology of the name[edit]
Osiris is a Latin transliteration of the Ancient Greek: Ὄσιρις, which in turn is the Greek adaptation of the original theonym in the Egyptian language. In Egyptian hieroglyphs the name is written Wsjr, as the hieroglyphic writing does not restitute all the vowels, and Egyptologists transliterate the name variously as Asar, Asari, Aser, Ausar, Ausir, Wesir, Usir, Usire or Ausare.
Several proposals have been made for the etymology and meaning of the original name Wsjr. John Gwyn Griffiths (1980) proposed a derivation from wser signifying "the powerful". Moreover, one of the oldest attestations of the god Osiris appears in the mastaba of the deceased Netjer-wser (God Almighty).
David Lorton (1985) proposed that Wsjr is composed by the morphemes set-jret signifying "ritual activity", Osiris being the one who receives it. Wolfhart Westendorf (1987) proposed an etymology from Waset-jret "she who bears the eye".[13]
Appearance[edit]
Osiris is represented in his most developed form of iconography wearing the Atef crown, which is similar to the White crown of Upper Egypt, but with the addition of two curling ostrich feathers at each side (see also Atef crown (hieroglyph)). He also carries the crook and flail. The crook is thought to represent Osiris as a shepherd god. The symbolism of the flail is more uncertain with shepherds whip, fly-whisk, or association with the god Andjety of the ninth nome of Lower Egypt proposed.[8]
He was commonly depicted as a green (the color of rebirth) or black (alluding to the fertility of the Nile floodplain) complexioned pharaoh, in mummiform (wearing the trappings of mummification from chest downward).[14] He was also depicted rarely as a lunar god with a crown encompassing the moon.
Early mythology[edit]
The Pyramid Texts describe early conceptions of an afterlife in terms of eternal travelling with the sun god amongst the stars. Amongst these mortuary texts, at the beginning of the 4th dynasty, is found: "An offering the king gives and Anubis". By the end of the 5th dynasty, the formula in all tombs becomes "An offering the king gives and Osiris".[15]
Father of Horus[edit]



 The gods Osiris, Anubis, and Horus, from a tomb painting.
Osiris is the mythological father of the god Horus, whose conception is described in the Osiris myth, a central myth in ancient Egyptian belief. The myth described Osiris as having been killed by his brother Set, who wanted Osiris' throne. Isis joined the fragmented pieces of Osiris, but the only body part missing was the phallus. Isis fashioned a golden phallus, and briefly brought Osiris back to life by use of a spell that she learned from her father. This spell gave her time to become pregnant by Osiris before he again died. Isis later gave birth to Horus. As such, since Horus was born after Osiris' resurrection, Horus became thought of as a representation of new beginnings and the vanquisher of the evil Set.
Ptah-Seker (who resulted from the identification of Ptah with Seker), god of re-incarnation, thus gradually became identified with Osiris, the two becoming Ptah-Seker-Osiris. As the sun was thought to spend the night in the underworld, and was subsequently re-incarnated every morning, Ptah-Seker-Osiris was identified as both king of the underworld, and god of reincarnation.
Ram god[edit]


E10 nb Dd niwt Dd

 
Banebdjed
 (b3-nb-ḏd)
 in hieroglyphs

Osiris' soul, or rather his Ba, was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god, especially in the Delta city of Mendes. This aspect of Osiris was referred to as Banebdjedet, which is grammatically feminine (also spelt "Banebded" or "Banebdjed"), literally "the ba of the lord of the djed, which roughly means The soul of the lord of the pillar of continuity. The djed, a type of pillar, was usually understood as the backbone of Osiris, and, at the same time, as the Nile, the backbone of Egypt.
The Nile, supplying water, and Osiris (strongly connected to the vegetation) who died only to be resurrected, represented continuity and stability. As Banebdjed, Osiris was given epithets such as Lord of the Sky and Life of the (sun god) Ra, since Ra, when he had become identified with Atum, was considered Osiris' ancestor, from whom his regal authority is inherited. Ba does not mean "soul" in the western sense, and has to do with power, reputation, force of character, especially in the case of a god.
Since the ba was associated with power, and also happened to be a word for ram in Egyptian, Banebdjed was depicted as a ram, or as Ram-headed. A living, sacred ram, was kept at Mendes and worshipped as the incarnation of the god, and upon death, the rams were mummified and buried in a ram-specific necropolis. Banebdjed was consequently said to be Horus' father, as Banebdjed was an aspect of Osiris.
Regarding the association of Osiris with the ram, the god's traditional crook and flail are the instruments of the shepherd, which has suggested to some scholars also an origin for Osiris in herding tribes of the upper Nile. The crook and flail were originally symbols of the minor agricultural deity Andjety, and passed to Osiris later. From Osiris, they eventually passed to Egyptian kings in general as symbols of divine authority.
Mythology[edit]



 The family of Osiris. Osiris on a lapis lazuli pillar in the middle, flanked by Horus on the left and Isis on the right (22nd dynasty, Louvre, Paris)
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The cult of Osiris (who was a god chiefly of regeneration and rebirth) had a particularly strong interest in the concept of immortality. Plutarch recounts one version of the myth in which Set (Osiris' brother), along with the Queen of Ethiopia, conspired with 72 accomplices to plot the assassination of Osiris.[16] Set fooled Osiris into getting into a box, which Set then shut, sealed with lead, and threw into the Nile (sarcophagi were based on[citation needed] the box in this myth). Osiris' wife, Isis, searched for his remains until she finally found him embedded in a tamarind tree trunk, which was holding up the roof of a palace in Byblos on the Phoenician coast. She managed to remove the coffin and open it, but Osiris was already dead.
In one version of the myth, she used a spell learned from her father and brought him back to life so he could impregnate her. Afterwards he died again and she hid his body in the desert. Months later, she gave birth to Horus. While she raised Horus, Set was hunting one night and came across the body of Osiris.
Enraged, he tore the body into fourteen pieces and scattered them throughout the land. Isis gathered up all the parts of the body, less the phallus (which was eaten by a catfish) and bandaged them together for a proper burial. The gods were impressed by the devotion of Isis and resurrected Osiris as the god of the underworld. Because of his death and resurrection, Osiris was associated with the flooding and retreating of the Nile and thus with the crops along the Nile valley.
Diodorus Siculus gives another version of the myth in which Osiris was described as an ancient king who taught the Egyptians the arts of civilization, including agriculture, then travelled the world with his sister Isis, the satyrs, and the nine muses, before finally returning to Egypt. Osiris was then murdered by his evil brother Typhon, who was identified with Set. Typhon divided the body into twenty-six pieces, which he distributed amongst his fellow conspirators in order to implicate them in the murder. Isis and Hercules (Horus) avenged the death of Osiris and slew Typhon. Isis recovered all the parts of Osiris' body, except the phallus, and secretly buried them. She made replicas of them and distributed them to several locations, which then became centres of Osiris worship.[17][18]
Death and institution as god of the dead[edit]



 Osiris-Nepra, with wheat growing from his body. From a bas-relief at Philae.[19] The sprouting wheat implied resurrection.[20]


 Osiris "The God Of The Resurrection", rising from his bier.[21]
Plutarch and others have noted that the sacrifices to Osiris were "gloomy, solemn, and mournful..." (Isis and Osiris, 69) and that the great mystery festival, celebrated in two phases, began at Abydos commemorating the death of the god, on the same day that grain was planted in the ground (Isis and Osiris, 13). "The death of the grain and the death of the god were one and the same: the cereal was identified with the god who came from heaven; he was the bread by which man lives. The resurrection of the god symbolized the rebirth of the grain." (Larson 17) The annual festival involved the construction of "Osiris Beds" formed in shape of Osiris, filled with soil and sown with seed.[22]
The germinating seed symbolized Osiris rising from the dead. An almost pristine example was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter.[23]
The first phase of the festival was a public drama depicting the murder and dismemberment of Osiris, the search of his body by Isis, his triumphal return as the resurrected god, and the battle in which Horus defeated Set. This was all presented by skilled actors as a literary history, and was the main method of recruiting cult membership.
According to Julius Firmicus Maternus of the fourth century, this play was re-enacted each year by worshippers who "beat their breasts and gashed their shoulders.... When they pretend that the mutilated remains of the god have been found and rejoined...they turn from mourning to rejoicing." (De Errore Profanorum).
The passion of Osiris was reflected in his name 'Wenennefer" ("the one who continues to be perfect"), which also alludes to his post mortem power.[14]
Ikhernofret Stela[edit]
Much of the extant information about the Passion of Osiris can be found on the Ikhernofret Stela at Abydos erected in the 12th Dynasty by Ikhernofret (also I-Kher-Nefert), possibly a priest of Osiris or other official (the titles of Ikhernofret are described in his stela from Abydos) during the reign of Senwosret III (Pharaoh Sesostris, about 1875 BC). The Passion Plays were held in the last month of the inundation (the annual Nile flood, coinciding with Spring, and held at Abydos/Abedjou which was the traditional place where the body of Osiris/Wesir drifted ashore after having been drowned in the Nile.[24]
The part of the myth recounting the chopping up of the body into 14 pieces by Set is not recounted in this particular stela. Although it is attested to be a part of the rituals by a version of the Papyrus Jumilhac, in which it took Isis 12 days to reassemble the pieces, coinciding with the festival of ploughing.[25] Some elements of the ceremony were held in the temple, while others involved public participation in a form of theatre. The Stela of I-Kher-Nefert recounts the programme of events of the public elements over the five days of the Festival:
The First Day, The Procession of Wepwawet: A mock battle was enacted during which the enemies of Osiris are defeated. A procession was led by the god Wepwawet ("opener of the way").
The Second Day, The Great Procession of Osiris: The body of Osiris was taken from his temple to his tomb. The boat he was transported in, the "Neshmet" bark, had to be defended against his enemies.
The Third Day: Osiris is Mourned and the Enemies of the Land are Destroyed.
The Fourth Day, Night Vigil: Prayers and recitations are made and funeral rites performed.
The Fifth Day, Osiris is Reborn: Osiris is reborn at dawn and crowned with the crown of Ma'at. A statue of Osiris is brought to the temple.[24]
Wheat and clay rituals[edit]



 Rare sample of Egyptian terra cotta sculpture, could be Isis mourning Osiris, (raising her right arm over her head, a typical mourning sign). Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Contrasting with the public "theatrical" ceremonies sourced from the I-Kher-Nefert stele (from the Middle Kingdom), more esoteric ceremonies were performed inside the temples by priests witnessed only by chosen initiates. Plutarch mentions that (for much later period) two days after the beginning of the festival "the priests bring forth a sacred chest containing a small golden coffer, into which they pour some potable water...and a great shout arises from the company for joy that Osiris is found (or resurrected). Then they knead some fertile soil with the water...and fashion therefrom a crescent-shaped figure, which they cloth and adorn, this indicating that they regard these gods as the substance of Earth and Water." (Isis and Osiris, 39). Yet his accounts were still obscure, for he also wrote, "I pass over the cutting of the wood" - opting not to describe it, since he considered it as a most sacred ritual (Ibid. 21).
In the Osirian temple at Denderah, an inscription (translated by Budge, Chapter XV, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection) describes in detail the making of wheat paste models of each dismembered piece of Osiris to be sent out to the town where each piece is discovered by Isis. At the temple of Mendes, figures of Osiris were made from wheat and paste placed in a trough on the day of the murder, then water was added for several days, until finally the mixture was kneaded into a mold of Osiris and taken to the temple to be buried (the sacred grain for these cakes were grown only in the temple fields). Molds were made from the wood of a red tree in the forms of the sixteen dismembered parts of Osiris, the cakes of 'divine' bread were made from each mold, placed in a silver chest and set near the head of the god with the inward parts of Osiris as described in the Book of the Dead (XVII).
On the first day of the Festival of Ploughing, where the goddess Isis appeared in her shrine where she was stripped naked, paste made from the grain were placed in her bed and moistened with water, representing the fecund earth. All of these sacred rituals were "climaxed by the eating of sacramental god, the eucharist by which the celebrants were transformed, in their persuasion, into replicas of their god-man" (Larson 20).
Judgement[edit]
The idea of divine justice being exercised after death for wrongdoing during life is first encountered during the Old Kingdom, in a 6th dynasty tomb containing fragments of what would be described later as the Negative Confessions.[26]



 Judgment scene from the Book of the Dead. In the three scenes from the Book of the Dead (version from ~1375 BC) the dead man (Hunefer) is taken into the judgement hall by the jackal-headed Anubis. The next scene is the weighing of his heart against the feather of Ma'at, with Ammut waiting the result, and Thoth recording. Next, the triumphant Henefer, having passed the test, is presented by the falcon-headed Horus to Osiris, seated in his shrine with Isis and Nephthys. (British Museum)
With the rise of the cult of Osiris during the Middle Kingdom the “democratization of religion” offered to even his humblest followers the prospect of eternal life, with moral fitness becoming the dominant factor in determining a person's suitability.
At death a person faced judgment by a tribunal of forty-two divine judges. If they led a life in conformance with the precepts of the goddess Ma'at, who represented truth and right living, the person was welcomed into the kingdom of Osiris. If found guilty, the person was thrown to a "devourer" and didn't share in eternal life.[27]
The person who is taken by the devourer is subject first to terrifying punishment and then annihilated. These depictions of punishment may have influenced medieval perceptions of the inferno in hell via early Christian and Coptic texts.[28]
Purification for those who are considered justified may be found in the descriptions of "Flame Island", where they experience the triumph over evil and rebirth. For the damned, complete destruction into a state of non-being awaits, but there is no suggestion of eternal torture.[29][30]
Divine pardon at judgement was always a central concern for the Ancient Egyptians.[31]
During the reign of Seti I, Osiris was also invoked in royal decrees to pursue the living when wrongdoing was observed, but kept secret and not reported.[32]
Greco-Roman era[edit]
Hellenisation[edit]



 Bust of Serapis.
Eventually, in Egypt, the Hellenic pharaohs decided to produce a deity that would be acceptable to both the local Egyptian population, and the influx of Hellenic visitors, to bring the two groups together, rather than allow a source of rebellion to grow. Thus Osiris was identified explicitly with Apis, really an aspect of Ptah, who had already been identified as Osiris by this point, and a syncretism of the two was created, known as Serapis, and depicted as a standard Greek god.
Destruction of cult[edit]



Philae Island.
The cult of Osiris continued until the 6th century AD on the island of Philae in Upper Nile. The Theodosian decrees of the 390s, to destroy all pagan temples, were not enforced there. The worship of Isis and Osiris was allowed to continue at Philae until the time of Justinian, by treaty between the Blemmyes-Nobadae and Diocletian. Every year they visited Elephantine, and at certain intervals took the image of Isis up river to the land of the Blemmyes for oracular purposes. The practices ended when Justinian I sent Narses to destroy sanctuaries, arrest priests, and seize divine images, which were taken to Constantinople.[33]

See also[edit]
Aaru
Egyptian soul
Notes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 105. ISBN 0-500-05120-8.
2.Jump up ^ "How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs", Mark Collier & Bill Manley, British Museum Press, p. 41, 1998, ISBN 0-7141-1910-5
3.Jump up ^ "Conceptions of God In Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many", Erik Hornung (translated by John Baines), p. 233, Cornell University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-8014-1223-4
4.Jump up ^ Griffiths, John Gwyn (1980). The Origins of Osiris and His Cult. Brill. p. 44
5.Jump up ^ "Isis and Osiris", Plutarch, translated by Frank Cole Babbitt, 1936, vol. 5 Loeb Classical Library. Penelope.uchicago.edu
6.Jump up ^ "The Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus", vol. 1, translated by G. Booth, 1814. Google Books
7.Jump up ^ "The Gods of the Egyptians", E. A. Wallis Budge, p. 259, Dover 1969, org. pub. 1904, ISBN 0-486-22056-7
8.^ Jump up to: a b c The Oxford Guide: Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology, Edited by Donald B. Redford, p302-307, Berkley, 2003, ISBN 0-425-19096-X
9.Jump up ^ "The Burden of Egypt", J. A. Wilson, p. 302, University of Chicago Press, 4th imp 1963
10.Jump up ^ "Man, Myth and Magic", Osiris, vol. 5, p. 2087-2088, S.G.F. Brandon, BPC Publishing, 1971.
11.Jump up ^ "Catholic Encyclopedia: Theodosius I". Newadvent.org. 1912-07-01. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
12.Jump up ^ "History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I. to the Death of Justinian", The Suppression of Paganism – ch22, p371, John Bagnell Bury, Courier Dover Publications, 1958, ISBN 0-486-20399-9
13.Jump up ^ (Mathieu 2010, p. 79) : Les origines d'Osiris
14.^ Jump up to: a b "How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs", Mark Collier & Bill Manley, British Museum Press, p. 42, 1998, ISBN 0-7141-1910-5
15.Jump up ^ "Architecture of the Afterlife: Understanding Egypt’s pyramid tombs", Ann Macy Roth, Archaeology Odyssey, Spring 1998
16.Jump up ^ Plutarch's Moralia, On Isis and Osiris, ch. 12. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
17.Jump up ^ "Osiris", Man, Myth & Magic, S.G.F Brandon, Vol5 P2088, BPC Publishing.
18.Jump up ^ "The Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus", translated by George Booth 1814. retrieved 3 June 2007. Google Books
19.Jump up ^ "Egyptian ideas of the future life.", E. A Wallis Budge, chapter 1, E. A Wallis Budge, org pub 1900
20.Jump up ^ "Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses", George Hart, p119, Routledge, 2005 ISBN 0-415-34495-6
21.Jump up ^ "Egyptian ideas of the future life.", E. A Wallis Budge, chapter 2, E. A Wallis Budge, org pub 1900
22.Jump up ^ Teeter, Emily (2011). Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt. Cambridge University Press. pp. 58–66
23.Jump up ^ "Osiris Bed, Burton photograph p2024, The Griffith Institute". En.wikipedia.org. 1993-12-31. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
24.^ Jump up to: a b "The passion plays of osiris". ancientworlds.net.
25.Jump up ^ J. Vandier, "Le Papyrus Jumilhac", p.136-137, Paris, 1961
26.Jump up ^ "Studies in Comparative Religion", General editor, E. C Messenger, Essay by A. Mallon S. J, vol 2/5, p. 23, Catholic Truth Society, 1934
27.Jump up ^ Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt”, Rosalie David, p158-159, Penguin, 2002, ISBN 01402622520
28.Jump up ^ "The Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology: The Oxford Guide", "Hell", p161-162, Jacobus Van Dijk, Berkley Reference, 2003, ISBN 0-425-19096-X
29.Jump up ^ "The Divine Verdict", John Gwyn Griffiths, p233, Brill Publications, 1991, ISBN 90-04-09231-5
30.Jump up ^ "Letter: Hell in the ancient world. Letter by Professor J. Gwyn Griffiths". The Independent. December 31, 1993.
31.Jump up ^ "Egyptian Religion", Jan Assman, The Encyclopedia of Christianity, p77, vol2, Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing, 1999, ISBN 90-04-11695-8
32.Jump up ^ "The Burden of Egypt", J.A Wilson, p243, University of Chicago Press, 4th imp 1963
33.Jump up ^ "History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I. to the Death of Justinian", The Suppression of Paganism – ch. 22, p. 371, John Bagnell Bury, Courier Dover Publications, 1958, ISBN 0-486-20399-9
Freemasonry and its Ancient Mystic Rites. p. 35-36, by C. W. Leadbeater, Gramercy, 1998 ISBN 0-517-20267-0
References[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Osiris.
Martin A. Larson, The Story of Christian Origins (1977, 711 pp. ISBN 0-88331-090-2 ).
C. W. Leadbeater, Freemasonry and its Ancient Mystic Rites (Gramercy, 1998) ISBN 0-517-20267-0
External links[edit]
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