#apotropaia

Averter, Averting Evil.

This epithet applies to many Gods. Zeus, Apollo, Athena, Dionysos, and Hekate all share the epithet as well as other similar meaning names, such as Soter, Hikesios, Lysios, Katharsios, Alexikakos, Phyxios, and others.

Apollo in particular is known to avert evil, but he is far from the only one. Robert Parker says that the aversion of evil that Apollo enacted was on a civic level (though Mikalson lists Apollo Apotropaios as one of the Domestic Gods that received offerings alongside Zeus Herkeios and Ktesios), whereas Hekate’s apotropaic character was domestic, preventing evil from entering the home. He says that by posting her shrine just outside the door of the home, Athenians were preventing her from entering the home. I am unwilling to agree, as I suspect that his opinion is heavily influenced by the post-Classical associations with magic, and the negative reputation of witchcraft that became associated with her later expressions. In both cases, Apollo and Hekate Apotropaic forms received offerings, which were not eaten by the people. In Hekate’s case, it is Hekate Apotropaia who accepted the sacrifice of black puppies.

There exist numerous spells, charms, amulets and the like that ask the apotropaic Gods to avert all sorts of problems ranging from vermin to disease to theft to murder. They are also called upon to purify people, places and things which have been tainted by such things, particularly homicide. We know of symbols on kilns, in smithies, on birthing stools, and in virtually every occupation known, which are meant to avert disaster and are dedicated to either Gods or Daimones. Many of the surviving cameos of the ancient world are apotropaic in nature, serving a magical purpose for the bearer.

Hekate is acting in an apotropaic aspect when we celebrate her deipnon. By removing the refuse from our homes, and offering Her food, we are removing baneful influence that may have gathered over the month, and propitiating Her to care for those forces with whom we cannot cope. Her Hekataia at the doors in Athens also served to keep trouble out of the oikos. Where Parker argues that is because Hekate herself carries miasma and the like, I would argue that simply because She has power over such things does not mean that She herself is automatically a source thereof. Rather, She is a power that serves as a barrier, and when it is Her will, She can choose to lift that protection.

Hekate Apotropaia, Goddess who spans all boundaries, You who stands upon the harbor, You who stands at the gate, You who stands at the crossroads of our lives, We ask that you smile upon us, That your will be kind to us, That evil be turned away from us, In your many names, we beseech you.

Sources:

Supplementum epigraphicum Graecum (SEG) 42 1816.

Blakely, Sandra. Myth, Ritual and Metallurgy in Ancient Greece and Recent Africa. Cambridge, 2006.

Edmonds, Radcliffe G. Redefining Ancient Orphism: A study in Greek Religion. Cambridge, 2013.

Mikalson, Jon D. Ancient Greek Religion. Wiley & Sons, 2011.

Parker, Robert. Polytheism and Society at Athens. Oxford, 2005.

Platt, Verity Jane. Facing the Gods: Epiphany and Representation in Graeco-Roman Art, Literature and Religion. Cambridge, 2011.

Polinskaya, Irene. A Local History of Greek Polytheism: Gods, People and the Land of Aigina, 800-400 BCE. Brill, 2013.

Rohde, Erwin. Psyche: The cult of Souls and the Belief in Immortality among the Greeks, Routledge, 2014.

Versnel, Henk S. Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion: Transition and Reversal in Myth and Ritual, Vol. 2, Brill, 1992.

Images:

03 July 2017 - Mytilini, Lesvos, Greece

A shrine to the Archangel Michael with... apotropaia! I’ve seen many Roman, Greek, and Egyptian apotropaia in museums and textbooks, but never modern ones in context (so to speak).

Small wooden amulet used in the byre to scare off the witch’s milk-stealing spirit servant, the troll-hare.