Family Tree

Hesiod, in his Theogony, gives us the following account of Hekate's parentage. The Titan couple Phoibe and Koios had two daughters: Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis, and Asteria, a star goddess. Asteria mated with Perses, both symbols of shining light, and she gave birth to Hekate, "Most Lovely One," a title of the moon. He portrays Hekate is a torch-bearing Moon Goddess, wearing a gleaming headdress of stars that light the way into the darkness of both the past and the depths of our inner-selves. Hesiod considered her to be a bestower of wealth and blessings, and attributed to her the rulership of the three great mysteries of birth, life, and death.

On the other hand, In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter she is the daughter of Persaios (possibly an alternate spelling of Perses). But then according to The Eumolpia by Mousaios her parents are given as Zeus and Asteria. On the other hand Pherekydes tells us Aristaios was her mother and Paion her father. Yet Bacchylides says that her mother is Nyx, the ancient Mother Night from which all creation sprang. If you were to turn to the Orphic tradition you would learn that Hekate is instead the daughter of Demeter. Kallimachos agrees with this, and adds that Zeus is her father.

In deed, Hekate's family tree can be likened to a smorgasbord of possibilities, where one chooses which they prefer. In such a case my own personal favorite (given her modern interpretations) is that of a daughter of of Nyx (Mother Night), making her one of the earliest beings in existence. Among her siblings are the Moirae (or Fates), the Erinyes (or the Furies), the Hesperides, Nemesis, Thanatos, and Hypnos. She sided with Zeus in his war against his father Kronos and the other Titans, and for her part she was honored above all others by him, and afterward he confirmed her dominion over the earth, the seas, and the starry heavens.

Generally the more recent the tales become, the more they reduce Hekate in power and influence. In one tale where Hekate is described as a daughter of Hera, it is said that she incurred her mother's wrath by stealing a pot of rouge to give to Europa, one of Zeus' many illicit lovers. Hekate then fled to the Earth and hid in the home of a woman who had just given birth. By this time the growing patriarchy in Ancient Greece had impressed upon society that contact with childbirth rendered a person unclean. So to wash away the impurity, in spite of her being a patron of midwives, the Cabiri plunged Hekate into the Acheron -a river within the Underworld - where she remained since.

So one can see that the ancient Greeks had some difficulties fitting her into their cosmology. This is not an uncommon occurrence in Greek mythology, as one must remember that Greece is a land divided by many mountains, with civilization flourishing in the valleys between them. This separated the ancient Greeks from one another, and among other things led to a dizzying array of local dialects to their otherwise common language. Likewise, it also let a wide array of sects to their common religion, in which deities might have very different myths associated with them from one city to the next, or were even merged with one another and their dominions co-mingled as well. However, the case of Hekate this is taken to an extreme, which is also attributable to her not being part of the formal establishment of religion, but rather being on the edge of Greek society. A goddess that encouraged women and the transgendered to be powerful and independent, she was a threat to the patriarchal religion and society of the Ancient Greeks, and so she was gradually devalued and reduced in power and prestige. It also must be taken into consideration that Hekate was not truly a Greek deity, but rather was a pre-Greek goddess absorbed into their culture. That she even survived the transition from one society to the other is unusual (and is further evidence of her experience with transitional states).

Whomever her parents may have been, she herself was the mother of several beings, perhaps most notably the god Museus - The Muse Man - and the Witch Medeia. Likewise she was said to be the lover of Hermes, and by him gave birth to her daughter Kirke (Circe). The latter assertion is supported by the fact that often his statues (known as herms) stood with hers (known as hektarion) at crossroads, and the two were worshiped as Lord and Lady of the Crossroads. It was also Hermes who carried Hekate's predictions from the Underworld, and like her he is a psychopomp, leading the souls of the dead on their journey into the afterlife. According to some myths,  Hekate also had a daughter named Skylla (meaning "She Who Rends" or "Puppy") by the primordial sea god Phorkys. Skylla ruled over the prophetic seabirds and could take the form of a bird herself. She allowed none to enter the Underworld except those her mother deemed worthy, and usually performed her task as guardian in the form of a three-headed dog with fiery eyes. So here we see her associated with Kerberos (Cerberus) as well.