Hekate

[Phil Anthos]

I just added this provincial bronze of Gordian III from Phrygia. The obverse is pretty rough, although the green spots look to be stable.
I generally don't collect Roman's, however I bought this one for the reverse, an image of Hecate standing on a globe and very different from the usual renderings of the goddess (Triformis, etc).

This depiction doesn't occur often on coins and is peculiar to Asia Minor, which suggests to me that this reverse shows Hecate in Her role as the 'Cosmic Soul' of the Chaldean oracles, a cosmological system of the late Babylonians. For more on this system see Prof. Sarah Iles Johnston's excellent book 'Hekate Soteira: A Study of Hekate's Roles in the Chaldean Oracles and Related Literature' (1990).

~ Peter

Gordian III

Bruzus, Phrygia 238-244 AD Ae 25 (25mm, 8.06g) O: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian III right; AYT K M AN[TΩ]. R: Hecate facing, standing on globe, torch in each hand; BPOYZANΩN. RPC VII, 712 ex Nvmismad So let's see your Hekate/Hecate coins. Greek, Roman, Ennodia, Brimo, watcha got?

Edited November 7, 2024 by Phil Anthos
spulling

[ominus1]

..Hecate...the god of mischief ....one of my fav TOZ's, 'Of late i think of Cliffordville'...has Wright King playiing Hecate, who comes in as the 33 year janitor and ends up as the owner of the company in the end...:)

tz.jfif

[Phil Anthos]

Here's one from Pherai in Thessaly, a center of Hekate's cult in the Greek mainland...

Pherai, Thessaly

404-369 BC AE 13 (13.4mm, 1.85g) O: Wreathed head of Hekate left, wearing triangular pendant earring. R: Lion head fountain right, spouting water; ΦEPAIOYN around to right. Rogers 516; BCD Thessaly II 691.2 ex Savoca Coin "Tender-hearted Hekate, bright coiffed, the daughter of Persaios." ~ Homeric Hymn to Demeter (2)

[Phil Anthos]

Okay, well here's another, this one a provincial from Lydia with Hecate depicted triformis. This image first appears in history as the propylaia statue on the Acropolis in Athens, a statue by the artist Alkamenes and probably meant to show the goddess as Enodia (Roman 'Trivia'), or "of the crossroads", symbolizing Her limnal nature.

Nero / Hekate

Philadelphia, Lydia 54-59 AD (19mm, 4.99g) O: Bare headed and draped bust right; NEPΩN ΣEBACTOC. R: Hekate standing facing, wearing polos and holding two torches; TI NEIKANOP ΦIΛAΔEΛΦEΩN. RPC 3041 "Torch-bearing Hekate holy daughter of great-bosomed Nyx." ~ Bacchylides, Fragment 1B

~ Peter 

Edited November 13, 2024 by Phil Anthos

[Ed Snible]

Here is one from Lydia:

LYDIA, Thyatira. Elagabalus, 218-222 AD, AE27. 9.10g
Obv: ΑΝΤΩΝƐΙΝΟϹ; laureate and cuirassed bust of Elagabalus, r., seen from rear
Rev: ΘΥΑΤƐΙΡΗΝΩΝ; Selene-Hecate advancing, r., looking back, wearing crescent on shoulders, holding torch in each hand, one upwards the other downwards.
Ref: RPC VI 4310 (temp), BMC 118 var.
From Nick Economopoulos, Westchester Coin Show, 2021

It seems to be rare; there are only 5 examples with this inscription in RPC, and 7 with the other inscription (#4328).  I figured the torches relate to the story that during Demeter's search for her daughter Persephone, Hecate helped by using her torches to light the goddess' journey through the night.

[Phil Anthos]

Your coin is definitely Hecate as Propolos, or guide and companion, especially to the Underworld. I have never seen that type before!

Here is a coin of the sweet and innocent Livia also depicting Hecate as Propolos. This image with Her torches before is probably taken from a vase painting which I have seen but couldn't find on the 'net...

Here is an interesting depiction of the goddess in Propolos mode, a reconstruction of a statue found at Eleusis known as "the Running Maiden", which likely shows Hekate as guide to the underworld. However the original is missing its arms so the attribution is speculative...

Livia / Hekate

Koinon, Thessaly Pseudo-autonomous 41-54 AD (Time of Claudius) AE Assarion (17.5mm, 4.18g) Antigonos (Strategos) O: Draped bust of Livia right; ΘEΣΣ-AΛΩN around. R: Hekate advancing right, holding torch in each hand; monogram to right, ΣTPATHΓANTIΓON-OY around. RPC I, 1438; BCD Thessaly II, 928 ex Frank Kovacs; ex Mark Breitsprecher ... Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected, With Hecate' s ban thrice blasted, thrice infected, Thy natural magic and dire property, On wholesome life usurp immediately." ~ William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

Edited November 14, 2024 by Phil Anthos

[Phil Anthos]

Since I seem to be the only person who owns any coins depicting Hekate they must be rare, so I should sell them and buy more Taras. Oh well, here's another one anyway...

Hekate's worship in this region was primarily as a moon goddess, often conflated with Selene. This association with the moon was not typical in earlier 'Greek' times, and seems to be centered in Asia Minor. Here we see Hekate wearing a crescent moon crown... 

Stratonikeia, Caria

circa 100 BC AE 20 (20mm, 6.38g) O: Lareate head of Hekate right, wearing crescent moon crown. R: Nike advancing right, holding palm and wreath; ΣTPATO above, [NIK]EΩN below. cf SNG Cop 489; cf Sear 4942; BMC 151,31 Scarce ex Aegean Numismatics

Edited November 17, 2024 by Phil Anthos
spelling

[Deinomenid]

1 hour ago, Phil Anthos said:

Since I seem to be the only person who owns any coins depicting Hekate

I find her unnerving at best. Downright terrifying in some aspects. I can cope with her ~psychopomp role (Hermes hello etc), witchcraft, Thessalian sorcery, dogs and the liminal, but the ambivalence and duality make me want to hide away, so  her coins are off my list! (With a due nod to Hesiod, who uniquely found her a thoroughly nice lady.) 

For "fun" here's a curse tablet, or magic spell from Selinus (one of the few Western Greek places with an early close cultic link to her)  that specifically calls  on her, using her Einodia epithet. It's an  unnerving read on a good day, but I highlighted a reference to her as Hekate Einodia. There's lots of "mumbojumbo" in  this too, aka spells  in a semi-foreign language, closely related to the Ephesia Grammata, that's itself attracted all sorts of cranks and scholars.  ASKI KATASKI ASIA ASIA ENDASIA.  And she-goats argh!

 

I refuse to believe my coins of Metapontum quite possibly showing Hekate with a torch helping Demeter/Persephone are actually her, and go with the usual  -easier- explanation that they are of Artemis.

 

[Phil Anthos]

And that is exactly why some coins are, imo, misattributed to Artemis, a easier and more benevolent deity. Victorian prudery slanted many an attribution all across ancient numismatics. Again, imo.

In fact Hesiod was not alone in his view, but the further we get from his era the more 'wicked' she seems to become become, especially in the Roman era. Ovid, and particularly Seneca were obviously not fans. And the weird incantations of the PGM are, well, weird. This later Hecate is the goddess of the witches in Macbeth. Shakespeare did her no favors either.

But the variety of iconography we see on coins show this evolution well I think. The psychopomp of the Eleusinian Mysteries is definitely not the goddess invoked in I Clavdivs or the defixionis in HBOs Rome. So your Metapontum didrachm with Hekate as Propolos is probably safe in your collection. 

But still, don't look back just in case!  

~ Peter