epithet of Apollo ; and though the word warr] is never used exactly as an epithet of Artemis, yet this suggests a close relationship between the two goddesses, which an examination of their functions fully confirms. Their character and attributes stamp both as moon-goddesses. In fact, though often distinguished from Artemis, yet at other times Hecate is identified with her. The worship of Hecate seems to have flourished especially among the wilder tribes of Greek nationality, in Samothrace, Thessaly, and elsewhere ; she has, however, been received into the Pantheon of the more civilized Greek races, probably on account of her close resemblance to Artemis ; and this is doubtless the meaning of Hesiod’s statement (Theog., 423) that she alone of all the Titanic powers was left undisturbed in her honours by Zeus. The parentage of Hecate is variously given. Hesiod names her father Perses (a word connected with Perseus, Persephone, &c., all of which denote powers of light) and her mother Asteria, the starry sky of night. Zeus and Demeter, Zeus and Hera, &c., are also named as her parents. Her chief
prerogatives or functions are the following.(1) She is the chief goddess who presides over magic arts and spells, for all incantations naturally were performed by the light of the moon. Medea is in this respect closely as sociated with her worship. See her prayer in Sophocles, Rkizot.fr. In Theocr., Id. ii., where a woman s incantation to bring back her faithless lover is given, Hecate is constantly invoked. (2) She is a Chthonian power, and is worshipped at the Simothracian mysteries. She is then closely connected with Demeter. Alone of the gods besides Helios, she witnessed the abduction of Persephone, and, torch in hand (a natural symbol for the moon s light), she assisted Demeter in the search for her daughter (llym. Dem., 45 //.). She is obviously a by-form of Persephone, who as queen of the lower world is also the moon, the bride of the sun, when at setting he has gone to the lower world. She rules as a terrible power, Kratai s, among the shades (Orph., 48, &c.). (3) As SaScn^o?, (cocr</>: pos, vTroAa/ATrreipa, she lights wanderers on their way by night, and is therefore, along with Hermes, worshipped as patron of roads under the name eVoS a. At cross-roads she was the director, hence her name rpioSm?, and probably also Tpt/x.op0os, rptTrpoo-wTro?, &c. Pillars callel Hecatae.1, like the Herman, stood, especially in Athens, at cross-roads and door-ways. (4) She is the goddess of fertility, and, like Artemis, presides especially over the birth and the youth of wild animals. As the moon measures the months, the moon-goddess in all forms, as Artemis, Helena, &e., presides over birth. (5) It follows easily from the last that she should be the goddess who gives wealth and power. Thus she is celebrated by Hesiod (I.e.). On the Acropolis at Athens Hecate Epipyrgidia, as protectress of the citadel, had a shrine beside the temple of Victory. To Hecate dogs were offered, also honey and black she-lambs, as black victims were offered to other Chthonian deities. She was represented generally as a triple form, holding in the six hands torches, with some times a snake, a key, a whip, or a dagger, often with dogs standing beside her. The three heads support a basket, " kalathos," such as often adorns the statues of Artemis and Hera. The Hecatsea also generally represent her with three heads j occasionally, however, a single-formed Hecate is found, still with torch or key in hand, and sometimes with crescent moon on head.
HECKMONDWYKE, a town of England, in the West Riding of Yorkshire,, on the Huddersfield and Bradford Railway, 2 miles N.W. of Dewsbury and 10 miles S.W. of Leeds. It occupies a gradually sloping site, and is some what irregularly built, although latterly it has assumed a more town-like appearance. It possesses a church dedicated to St James erected in 1831, a market-house erected in 1863, a working men s club established in 1868, a mechanics institute founded in 1873, a chamber of commerce dating from the same year, and a literary institute established in 1878. There are three board schools, a national school, and a Roman Catholic school, the whole affording accommodation for 1600 scholars. Much has been done for the improvement of the tow-n by draining, and iinder the provisions of the Dewsbury and Heckmondwyke Waterworks Act of 1876 an ample supply of water has been obtained for domestic and manufactur ing purposes. A cemetery with chapels for churchmen and dissenters was formed in 1860. The chief manu facture is blankets, and there are also carpet factories, machine shops, dye works, and iron foundries. Coal is extensively wrought in the vicinity. The town is under the government of a local board of health established in 1853. The area of the township is about 700 acres. The population of the town, which iu 1801 was only 1742, had in 1871 reached 8300, and is now estimated at 10,000.
HECLA. See Iceland.
HECTOR, son of Priam and Hecuba, the champion of the Trojans and the mainstay of their city. Like Paris and other Trojans, he had an Oriental name, Darius, as well as a Greek one, an interesting fact on which many fanciful theories have been founded. He was married to Andromache, daughter of Eetion, king in the Cilician Thebe. By Homer his character is drawn in most favourable colours as a good son, a loving husband and father, and a trusty friend, religious without superstition, tenderhearted yet courageous. The one blemish apparent in some parts of the Iliad (see Geddes s Homeric Problem) is a tendency to presumptuous and boastful confidence. He is an especial favourite of Apollo; and later poets even describe him as son of that god. When Achilles, enraged with Agamemnon, deserted the Greeks, Hector drove them back to their ships, which he almost succeeded in burning. Patroclus, the friend of Achilles, who came to the help of the Greeks, was slain by Hector with the help of Apollo. Then Achilles, to revenge his friend s death, returned to the war, slew Hector, dragged his body behind his chariot to the camp, and afterwards dragged it round the tomb of Patroclus. Priam, guarded by Hermes, went to Achilles and prevailed on him to give back the dead body, which was buried with great honour (II., xxiv.). Hector was worshipped in the Troad by the Boeotian tribe Gephyraei ; and he is, like other heroes, probably an ancient god. It would require an inquiry into the whole Trojan legend to determine the conception involved : it is impossible to do more in this place than refer to Ruckert s essay in this direction.
Scenes from the life of Hector are favourite subjects in vase paintings. A very ancient pinax from Camirus represents his fight with Menelaus over the dead Euphorbus ; and on an amphora, also from Camirus, of not later date than 450 B.C., he is represented starting for battle, standing beside the quadriga into which his charioteer Cebriones has already mounted. Both vases are now in the British Museum. Though many of the subjects in which he was supposed to appear have now been assigned to other heroes, for example, the frequently occurring Parting of Hector and Andromache is by a more searching criticism generally trans formed into a scene from the life of Amphiaraus, yet many undoubted examples remain. We find such scenes as the parting cup given by Hecuba to her son as he departs to the battle, his battle with Achilles in presence of Apollo and Athene, or the dragging of his corpse round the tomb of Patroclus.
of Priam, is in Homer daughter of the Phrygian king Dymas, who dwelt on the bank of the Sangarius ; but according to Euripides, Virgil, &c., her father was named Cisseus. According to Homer she was mother of nineteen
of Priam s fifty sons . When Troy was captured and Priam
