Ennodia: The Forgotten Threshold Guardian of Macedonia

Artemis Mapping Project Dispatch – Kozani

I encountered a goddess today I had never worked with, never written about, and to my shame, had only heard mentioned in passing during my years of academic research. Her name is Ennodia, and she’s one of the most fascinating deities I’ve come across in the course of this Mapping Project.

Her name means “She of the Road” (ἐν ὁδῷ) and she was exactly that: a goddess of roads, of crossroads, of boundaries and borders, of night vigils, dogs, torches, ghosts, and protection. In many ways, she mirrors both Hekate and Artemis, and yet she is neither. She is her own force. Her own threshold.

Votive inscribed relief stele with a representation of the goddess Ennodia holding torches on a horse and a dog in front of her. The stele was dedicated by Limnaios son of Orestis and Ouadia, daughter of Limnaios to Ennodia. Exochi 2nd - 1st c. CE. Kozani Archaeological Museum, May 2025 @ artemisexpert