The Judgment of Animals in Classical Greece: Animal Sculpture and ...

the identity of the deity honored with this food, Ilmo Von Rudloff suggests that it may be
Hekate. 320 Although he does not explain his suggestion further, supporting evidence for
it comes from Sarah Johnston’s study, which maintains that “Hekate’s role as a goddess
of crossroads…is a single aspect of the broader role that she played from early times—
that of guiding individuals through liminal points and during transitions of many
types.” 321 Although instructive, this evidence does not eliminate the fact that there is
nothing explicit in the fragment that attests to dog flesh as being eaten by human beings
or in connection with honoring Hekate.
Evidence that supports these points can be found in a passage from Aristophanes’
Plutus in which the personified character of Poverty argues that all good things come to
people thanks to poverty and not wealth. Chremylus’s reply is this:
CHREMYLUS
You can get the answer from Hekate
as to whether it is better to be rich or to be hungry.
She says that the “haves,” the rich, offer her a dinner
every month, but the poor people snatch it away before
it’s even set down! (Plut. 594-597) [43]
The passage does not specify what type of food was presented to Hekate, but the earlier
reference of the Banqueters to a white puppy as food offering to the goddess at the
crossroad, has been used by Sommerstein as auxiliary evidence in identifying this food
Goddess (Enodio). Both the sacrifice of the Colophonians and that of the youths at Sparta are appointed to
take place at night” (3.14.9) [136].
320 I. R. Von Rudloff, “Hekate in Early Greek Religion” (diss. University of Victoria, 1992) 119.
321 S. I. Johnston, “Crossroads,” ZPE 88 (1991) 218; she also discusses literary evidence for hekataia, that
is, shrines or statues of Hekate at crossroads (219, n.10). For the role of Hekate as a guide to the transition
to the underworld, her association with liminal spaces, and also her connection with dogs, which in later
sources, such as the Chaldean Oracles (A.D. II) are represented as ghostly apparitions, see Johnston,
Restless Dead 203-211, and Hekate Soteira. A Study of Hekate’s Roles in the Chaldean Oracles and
Related Literature (Atlanta, 1990). For a depiction of the dogs of Hekate devouring the dead on a blackfigured
lekythos (c. 460-450 B.C.) of unknown provenance, but most likely, from a tomb in Athens, see S.
Karouzou, “An Underworld Scene on a Black-Figured Lekythos,” JHS 92 (1972) 64-73.
204