Hécateorigen, desarrollo, pervivencia y recepción

Resum

Why did we choose Hecate as a matter of research? As a matter of fact, we consider that there was a gap about this goddess in the Spanish language, a monograph that would combine, in the most complete possible way, all the literary, iconographic and epigraphic elements around her figure throughout the centuries. We aimed as well to offer a historical contextualization, in order to achieve a greater understanding of its cult. Only then, we think, one can get an overview of the mysterious personality of this elusive goddess. We also wanted to make a tour around the Aegean sea in person, to see exactly what traces remain of its cult, and especially in the part of ancient Asia Minor, where Hecate had its biggest sanctuaries. Lately, the figure of Hecate has regained some prominence. Researchers such as Athanassia Zografou or Nicola Serafini have devoted themselves to the study of the goddess, very useful studies to deepen the knowledge on its figure. All are complementary to try to apprehend Hecate’s identity, whose meaning even today we are not able to grasp entirely, probably due to the secrecy that accompanied many of its ceremonies. We are aware that, in this millennial journey through the Hecate cult, on some occasions we will not be able to dig into all aspects of her figure, due to lack of space. By methodology, and by that effort to cover its entire historical journey, we have also added its appearance in literature from the fifteenth century on. Back then, for the first time since its appearance, nobody believed in its power anymore, neither as a goddess nor as a demon. We have included the resurgence of its cult as well in the twentieth century, hand in hand with Wicca or Neopaganism. That is, although for three or four centuries Hecate became a consciously fictional character, the belief in her was reborn with the abolition of the Witchcraft Act in the United Kingdom. The fact that the goddess Hecate has become trendy again indicates a growing interest on its figure, both for researchers and believers in Wicca. New aspects about the goddess continue to appear and we consider that they prove that its cult was greater than it was thought at first. This monograph aims to attest so, as well as complete the already existing ones.