The Mysterious Story Of The Goddess Hecate
The first written source mentioning Hecate is known as Hesiodos ' thegonia. MO. The Bard Hesiodos, the son of a family who migrated from the city of Kyme near Aliaga in Izmir to the city of Askra in Ancient Greece in the 700s, tells about the birth of Greek Gods, The Descendants and generations of Gods follow each other and develop. In thegonia, it is said that “above all there was chaos.” First, it is told that Gaia, i.e. Earth (Mother Earth), exists. Gaia creates Uranos, the sky, which surrounds itself equally, and then the high mountains and the sea. It merges with Uranos to give birth to male and female titans. Of the sun Noble Titans, KaiOS and Phoibe have twin daughters, Asteria and Leto. Leto, Asteria's twin brother, is the mother of Apollo and Artemis. In this chain of kinship, the goddess Hecate is the sister children of Apollo and Artemis. Hecate is the only goddess with powers on land, sea and Sky. Hecate is the guardian of all the gates on earth, just as he protects the gate of Hades. As a goddess who holds magic, fortune telling and revenge, she is also the mistress of cemeteries.
He surrenders the souls of the dead. Because of the protective Kerberos dog of the door of Hades, Hecate is the owner of all his dogs, so he mostly walks with a dog next to him. God Hecate, the ruler of nightmares, ghouls and Djinn, haunts people or protects people from them. As a goddess of the moon, she guides travelers on Dark Nights, is the assistant of hunters. The goddess, whose most obvious symbol is the female dog or wolf, is also depicted as a mare, axe, dagger, Torch, Key, dish and Crescent.
It is said that dog howls or prolonged dog barking on some nights are related to Hecate, dogs bark because they see the goddess and the dog next to her. Because the moon goddess Hecate was believed to wander during the full moon, doughnuts, eggs, fish and cheese were left at Road intersections, and ceremonies dedicated to the goddess were held in the Hecate sanctuary. Hecate, embodied in his sculptures as three heads, Lagina, the oldest temple Center in the region, was famous as the center of fortune telling.
It is assumed that the Hecate belief is a continuation of a tradition left over from the periods of the matriarchal order in Anatolia. Hecate is mentioned as one of the ‘Mother Goddesses ' in the book Metamorphoses by the Roman philosopher Lucius Apuleius, who lived between 125-180:
“I am the natural mother of all things, the mistress and Ruler of all things, the beginning of the human generation in all worlds, the head of the holy forces, the Queen of all things in hell, the leader of those who live in heaven. I am the only form in which all Gods and goddesses appear. The planets of the sky, all the winds of the seas, and the pathetic silence of hell are governed by my will. It is my name that is mentioned all over the world under different forms, different traditions and many names, it is my holy being that is worshipped.
People first the Phrygians Pessinus me of the mother of the gods, Minerva the Athenians from their own land surrounded by the sea, Cypriots, Venus, Sagittarius carrying Cretans Diana, who speaks three languages Sicilians terrible proserpin to elevsisli ancient goddess Ceres some Juno, others Bellona, others Hecate, Ramnusie all kinds of old ceremonies with the Egyptians who worshipped the doctrine of the proper master and me, me and my oldest correct name denote the case of Queen ISIS.”
Hekatesia ceremony performed for goddess Hecate MO. during periods, the Hekatesia-Romaia Festival is held in Lagina every 4 years, and the Hekatesia ceremony continued to be celebrated every year. At the festival of carrying the key, the key of the temple was marched in a procession and taken to Stratonikeia and brought back. This tradition stemmed from the belief that Hecate held the key to the underworld. Hecate altars were erected in front of the doors to keep trouble and disaster away from the houses.
Anatolia was home to many cults in antiquity. One of them is the sanctuary of Lagina Hecate. The mysterious goddess Hecate, who is believed to hold the key to Hades, the Lord of the dead and the home of the underworld, had an important place in Anatolian mythology. The word Hecate contains the meanings ‘who dominates his will’ and ‘who is far away, the brightest’. In modern paganism today, Hecate is quite important. The three witches seen in sheakspeare's Macbeth are interpreted into the triad form of Hecate. This triple form of Hecate, which is depicted in the early periods with one body and head, and later with three bodies, symbolizes the girl's childhood, motherhood and grandmother, which are the stages of a woman's life. Hecate's power gradually declined over time and in Roman mythology, becoming associated with death, evil spirits and magic. The male gods replaced the mother goddess, Hecate became feared, referred to as a sorcerer who was believed to rule evil and darkness.
Lagina Hecate ancient city is an ancient city of historical and tourist importance belonging to the Carian period in Yatatan District of Muğla. The sanctuary of Lagina Hecate was the cult site of the ancient city of Stratonikeia, also the religious center of the region. The ancient site, an important cult center of the Carians, dates from the ancient Bronze Age (c.He. 3000) a settlement with an uninterrupted settlement to the present day. It is the only building built in the name of the goddess Hecate, as well as the Second Temple built in the Corinthian order in Anatolia, which is of great archaeological importance. Hecate's thousands of years of silence and sadness today turns into enthusiasm with the Lagina Festival, which is held in cooperation with Turgut Municipality, the Ministry of Culture and Konya University. Almost, in the past, the festivities of Hekatesia, which were celebrated every year in a magnificent way in the Roman era, are being revived. Foreigners who believe in the goddess Hecate, which is identified with the concepts of paganism and witchcraft in the West and is considered a symbol, especially tourist cafes from Bodrum, curious tourists, archaeological enthusiasts and the surrounding people participate in the ceremonies with increasing interest. At the ceremony, which begins with a traditional drum zurna welcome, the region is visited, local music is listened to, food is eaten, information about excavations is given, film shows are organized. After the representative key carrying and sacrifice ceremonies organized with the help of Muğla university, the ceremonies that take place on a full moon with mystical and ancient music performances in Bodrum end.
Lagina Hecate Ancient City, Mugla
This town, near the town of Turgut in Yatağan, where Lagina is located, is called Leyne by the Muğlalar. Lagina name, Muğla-Milas Road as soon as you pass Yatağan Turgut sign you will see under. 10 km ahead you will be waiting for the ancient sanctuary of Lagina with its ruins and the mythological goddess Hecate with its thousands of years of history. Lagina is the most important temple of Hecate known today. It is also the official religious site of the city of Stratonikeia in Caria, the oldest and widely worshipped place. However, recently the name of Leyne town was changed to Turgut. Archaeological excavations in the Lagina sanctuary are also important in that they are the first excavations carried out by Turkish scientists. Excavations and restoration works carried out by Osman Hamdi Bey and Halit Ethem Bey were resumed under the direction of the Muğla Museum Directorate and under the scientific consultancy of architect archaeologist Ahmet Tirpan.
The friezes of the Hecate Temple were taken to the Istanbul Archaeological Museum by Osman Hamdi Bey. A large number of important remains uncovered during the excavations are displayed in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, Turgut Museum House, Milas and Mugla museums, while a one-body, one-headed statue of goddess Hecate found in Lagina is again located in front of Turgut City Hall.
The Lagina Hecate Sanctuary has propylon (monumental entrance gate), holy road, altar (place of sacrifice and altar), peribolos (wall surrounding the sanctuary), Doric Stoas and Hecate Temple. The Seleucid Kings made the sanctuary of Lagina a religious center with major reconstruction works, and the city of Stratonikeia, 11 km away, the political center of the region. So much so that these two cities were connected to each other by a Sacred Path.
How to get to the ancient city of Lagina Hecate
Lagina Hecate ancient city is located within the borders of Turgut town of Yatağan district of Muğla. When you continue 9 km from the asphalt road that leaves to the right next to the Yatağan Thermal Power Plant on the Yatağan-Milas highway, you reach the ruins of Lagina. Lagina Hecate ancient city, located 9 km from the highway on the highway between Muğla and Bodrum, is home to the most valuable ancient ruins of Anatolia in many ways.
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