Hekate-Selene-Artemis and Related Deities in the Greek Magical Papyri and Curse Tablets

...only Hekate can be meant, as it were, the dead woman among the dead of Hades and Tartarus, whom Theocritus⁹² and Hippolytus⁹³ describe as walking among burial mounds and black blood, among whose souls she rages like a Bacchante⁹⁴, and indeed, in whose graves she holds her feast original: τάφοις ἔνι δαῖτα ἔχουσα / taphois eni daita echousa (in B 544, E 856/57); for there she devours the corpses of those who died too young original: ὠμοβόρος / ōmoboros; meaning 'eater of raw flesh' (E 867), but also commits murder herself original: θανατηγός / thanatēgos; 'death-bringing' (E 865), in order to be able to drink blood original: αἱμοπότις / haimopotis; 'blood-drinker' (E 864), for she takes joy in the blood of murder⁹⁵ and craves it⁹⁶. She also devours the flesh of the dead (B 485: "flesh-devourer" original: σαρκοβόρα / sarkobora, E 866: "flesh-eater" original: σαρκοφάγος / sarkophagos) and eats their hearts (E 866: "heart-devourer" original: καρδιόδαιτος / kardiodaitos)—she, the "man-eater"⁹⁷, the "all-devouring" (D 748: original: πανφόρβα / panphorba) and "producer of destruction" (E 865: original: φθορογενής / phthorogenēs), the "destroyer" (E 860: original: ὀλέτις / oletis), the "ruin-bringer" (A 277: original: οὐλοή / ouloē) and (therefore) the "Terrible One" (B 544, E 856: original: δασπλῆτις / dasplētis)⁹⁸. Also the epikleseis Ritual titles used in prayer or invocation. "the Tormentor" original: βάσανος / basanos; the goddess of ordeal or torture (E 860), "the fierce-eyed" (A 277: original: χαροπή / charopē), "the wicked" (A 286: original: ἀτασθάλη / atasthalē), "the awesome" (B 611: original: δεινή / deinē), and "the frightening" (B 547: original: φοβερά / phoberā)⁹⁹ can only belong to Hekate, not to the gentle Selene or the helpful Artemis. In the Orphic Hymns (LXIX 8), the Erinyes The Furies, goddesses of vengeance. are called "the frightening daughters of Hades" original: Αἴδεω φοβεραὶ κόραι / Aidō phoberai korai and the Eumenides (ibid. LXX 8) are called "the frightening-faced" original: φοβερῶπες / phoberōpes, but Hekate is, according to A 339, so fearsome that she puts even these terrifying demons into a state of terror ("frightening the Erinyes and monstrous demons" original: φοβοῦσα Ἐρινῦς, δαίμονας τεραστίους / phobousa Erinys, daimonas terastious). Yet she is also called here "Savior from terrors" (A 288), for as the most powerful goddess of ghosts, she can naturally also rescue humans from all distress caused by spirits. After all, she is the leader of the ghostly host, the "General" original: στρατηλάτις / stratēlatis (A 275), of the "Wild Hunt," that is, the souls of the dead who wander about¹⁰⁰. Since these were specifically imagined as dogs, Hekate is given the epiklesis "Mistress of Dogs" (B 530: original: σκυλάκεσσι ἀνάσσουσα / skylakessi anassousa) or "Leader of the Pack" (D 721/22: original: σκυλακάγεια / skylakageia)¹⁰¹. In Hippolytus¹⁰² she rejoices—

⁹² II 13: original Greek: "walking among the burial mounds of the dead and the black blood."
⁹³ Loc. cit. v. 5: original Greek: "walking among the burial mounds of those who have died."
⁹⁴ Orphic Hymn I 3: original Greek: "raging like a Bacchante among the souls of the dead."
⁹⁵ Hippolytus loc. cit. v. 4: original Greek: "rejoicing in gory blood."
⁹⁶ Ibid. v. 6: original Greek: "longing for blood."
⁹⁷ Antiphanes II 39 Kock in Athenaeus VII p. 313 B.
⁹⁸ This epithet was already used by Theocritus (II 14) for Hekate-Selene and by Homer (Odyssey XV 234), the Orphic Argonautica (869), and Euphorion (fragment 52 M) for the Erinys or the Erinyes respectively.
⁹⁹ She strikes fear into mortals (Hippolytus loc. cit. v. 6: original Greek: "bringing fear to mortals.").
¹⁰⁰ Therefore, in Nonnus (XLIV 204), Persephone as Queen of the Dead is also called "sender of the dead" original: νεκυσόος / nekusoos.
¹⁰¹ In Orphic Hymn I 5 "dog-loving" original: σκυλακῖτις / skylakitis, ibid. XXXVI 12 likewise also Artemis as a huntress.
¹⁰² Loc. cit. 4: original Greek: "rejoicing in the barking of dogs."