THE KABEIROI were twin gods or daimones who presided over the orgiastic dances

of the mysteries of Samothrake which were performed in honour of the

goddesses Demeter, Persephone, andHekate. They were also famed metal-workers,
dwarf-like sons of the god Hephaistos, who served their father at his Lemnian forge.
Like their mother Kabeiro, the pair were also sea-divinities, who protected and came
to the aid of sailors in distress. According to Clement the Kabeiroi were three in
number, but two of the brothers committed an act of fratricide. The pair later
recovered the phallus of Zagreus who had been dismembered by the Titan-gods and
established it in the shrine of the Mysteries. In the Cabiri by Aeschylus, the two gods
welcomed the Argonauts to their island and initiated them in a drunken orgy.
The Kabeiroi were closely identified with a number of other korybantic daimones
including the CretanKouretes, the Trojan Daktyloi, and the Phrygian Kyrbantes.
According to some the Samothrakain Kabeiroi included not only the sons of
Hephaistos, but also the Korybantic sons of the god Apollon. Both groups were
represented as shield-clashing, dancing warriors of the orgies. Kedalion, the
Lemnian attendant of Hephaistos, was also occasionally numbered amongst the
Kabeiroi. The twin gods were also identified with the Dioskouroi, especially in the
Argonaut myth.
PARENTS
[1] HEPHAISTOS & KABEIRO (Pherecydes Frag, Strabo 10.3.21, Nonnus Dionysiaca
14.17 & 27.120)
[2] KADMILOS (Acusilaus Frag, Strabo 10.3.19)
[3] PROMETHEUS (Pausanias 9.25.5)
NAMES
[1] ALKON, EURYMEDON (Dionysiaca 14.17)
[2] ONNES (Callimachus Aetia Frag 115)
[3] AITNAIOS (Pausanias 9.25.5)
ENCYCLOPEDIA

CABEIRI (Kabeiroi), mystic divinities who occur in various parts of the ancient world. The obscurity
that hangs over them, and the contradictions respecting them in the accounts of the ancients
themselves, have opened a wide field for speculation to modern writers on mythology, each of
whom has been tempted to propound a theory of his own. The meaning of the name Cabeiri is qu
uncertain, and has been traced to nearly all the languages of the East, and even to those of the
North; but one etymology seems as plausible as another, and etymology in this instance is a real
ignis fatuus to the inquirer. The character and nature of the Cabeiri are as obscure as the meaning
of their name. All that we can attempt to do here is to trace and explain the various opinions of th
ancients themselves, as they are presented to us in chronological succession. We chiefly follow

Lobeck, who has collected all the passages of the ancients upon this subject, and who appears to
us the most sober among those who have written upon it. (Aglaopham. pp. 1202-1281.)
The earliest mention of the Cabeiri, so far as we know, was in a drama of Aeschylus, entitled
Kabeiroi, in which the poet brought them into contact with the Argonauts in Lemnos. The Cabeiri
promised the Argonauts plenty of Lemnian wine. (Plut. Sympos. ii. 1; Pollux, vi. 23;
Bekker, Anecd. p. 115.) The opinion of Welcker (Die Aeschyl. Trilog. p. 236), who infers from
Dionysius (i. 68, &c.) that the Cabeiri had been spoken of by Arctinus, has been satisfactorily
refuted by Lobeck and others. From the passage of Aeschylus here alluded to, it appears that he
regarded the Cabeiri as original Lemnian divinities, who had power over everything that contribut
to the good of the inhabitants, and especially over the vineyards. The fruits of the field, too, seem
to have been under their protection, for the Pelasgians once in a time of scarcity made vows to
Zeus, Apollo, and the Cabeiri. (Myrsilus, ap. Dionys. i. 23.) Strabo in his discussion about the
Curetes, Dactyls, &c. (x. p. 466), speaks of the origin of the Cabeiri, deriving his statements from
ancient authorities, and from him we learn, that Acusilaus called Cadmilus a son of Cabeiro and
Hephaestus, and that he made the three Cabeiri the sons, and the Cabeirian nymphs the
daughters, of Cadmilus. According to Pherecydes, Apollo and Rhytia were the parents of the nine
Corybantes who dwelled in Samothrace, and the three Cabeiri and the three Cabeirian nymphs
were the children of Cabeira, the daughter of Proteus, by Hephaestus. Sacrifices were offered to t
Corybantes as well as the Cabeiri in Lemnos and Imbros, and also in the towns of Troas. The Gree
logographers, and perhaps Aeschylus too, thus considered the Cabeiri as the grandchildren of
Proteus and as the sons of Hephaestus, and consequently as inferior in dignity to the great gods o
account of their origin. Their inferiority is also implied in their jocose conversation with the
Argonauts, and their being repeatedly mentioned along with the Curetes, Dactyls, Corybantes, an
other beings of inferior rank. Herodotus (iii. 37) says, that the Cabeiri were worshipped at Memph
as the sons of Hephaestus, and that they resembled the Phoenician dwarf-gods (Patakoi) whom t
Phoenicians fixed on the prows of their ships. As the Dioscuri were then yet unknown to the
Egyptians (Herod. ii. 51), the Cabeiri cannot have been identified with them at that time. Herodot
proceeds to say, "the Athenians received their phallic Hermae from the Pelasgians, and those who
are initiated in the mysteries of the Cabeiri will understand what I am saying; for the Pelasgians
formerly inhabited Samothrace, and it is from them that the Samothracians received their orgies.
But the Samothracians had a sacred legend about Hermes, which is explained in their mysteries.
This sacred legend is perhaps no other than the one spoken of by Cicero (De Nat. Deor. iii. 22), th
Hermes was the son of Coelus and Dies, and that Proserpine desired to embrace him. The same is
perhaps alluded to by Propertius (ii. 2. 11), when he says, that Mercury (Hermes) had connexions
with Brimo, who is probably the goddess of Pherae worshipped at Athens, Sicyon, and Argos, who
some identified with Proserpine (Persephone), and others with Hecate or Artemis. (Spanh. ad
Callim. hymn. in Dian. 259.) We generally find this goddess worshipped in places which had the
worship of the Cabeiri, and a Lemnian Artemis is mentioned by Galen. (De Medic. Simpl. ix. 2. p.
246, ed. Chart.) The Tyrrhenians, too, are said to have taken away the statue of Artemis at Brauro
and to have carried it to Lemnos. Aristophanes, in his "Lemnian Women," had mentioned Bendis
along with the Brauronian Artemis and the great goddess, and Nonnus (Dionys. xxx. 45) states th
the Cabeirus Alcon brandished Hekats Diasdea purson, so that we may draw the conclusion, th
the Samothracians and Lemnians worshipped a goddess akin to Hecate, Artemis, Bendis, or

Persephone, who had some sexual connexion with Hermes, which revelation was made in the
mysteries of Samothrace.
The writer next to Herodotus, who speaks about the Cabeiri, and whose statements we possess in
Strabo (p. 472), though brief and obscure, is Stesimbrotus. The meaning of the passage in Strabo
is, according to Lobeck, as follows: Some persons think that the Corybantes are the sons of Crono
others that they are the sons of Zeus and Calliope, that they (the Corybantes) went to Samothrac
and were the same as the beings who were there called Cabeiri. But as the doings of the
Corybantes are generally known, whereas nothing is known of the Samothracian Corybantes, thos
persons are obliged to have recourse to saying, that the doings of the latter Corybantes are kept
secret or are mystic. This opinion, however, is contested by Demetrius, who states, that nothing
was revealed in the mysteries either of the deeds of the Cabeiri or of their having accompanied
Rhea or of their having brought up Zeus and Dionysus. Demetrius also mentions the opinion of
Stesimbrotus, that the hiera were performed in Samothrace to the Cabeiri, who derived their nam
from mount Cabeirus in Berecyntia. But here again opinions differed very much, for while some
believed that the hiera Kabeirn were thus called from their having been instituted and conducted
by the Cabeiri, others thought that they were celebrated ill honour of the Cabeiri, and that the
Cabeiri belonged to the great gods.
The Attic writers of this period offer nothing of importance concerning the Cabeiri, but they intima
that their mysteries were particularly calculated to protect the lives of the initiated.
(Aristoph. Pax, 298; comp. Etymol. Gud. p. 289.) Later writers in making the same remark do not
mention the name Cabeiri, but speak of the Samothracian gods generally. (Diod. iv. 43, 49;
Aelian, Fragm. p. 320; Callim. Ep. 36; Lucian. Ep. 15; Plut. Marcell. 30.) There are several instance
mentioned of lovers swearing by the Cabeiri in promising fidelity to one another (Juv. iii. 144;
Himerius, Orat. i. 12); and Suidas (s. v. Dialamdanei) mentions a case of a girl invoking the Cabeir
as her avengers against a lover who had broken his oath. But from these oaths we can no more
draw any inference as to the real character of the Cabeiri, than from the fact of their protecting th
lives of the initiated; for these are features which they have in common with various other
divinities. From the account which the scholiast of Apollonius Rhodius (i. 913) has borrowed from
Athenion, who had written a comedy called The Samothracians (Athen. xiv. p. 661), we learn only
that he spoke of two Cabeiri, Dardanus, and Jasion, whom he called sons of Zeus and Electra. The
derived their name from mount Cabeirus in Phrygia, from whence they had been introduced into
Samothrace.
A more ample source of information respecting the Cabeiri is opened to us in the writers of the
Alexandrine period. The two scholia on Apollonius Rhodius (l. c.) contain in substance the followin
statement: Mnaseas mentions the names of three Cabeiri in Samothrace, viz. Axieros, Axiocersa,
and Axiocersus; the first is Demeter, the second Persephone, and the third Hades. Others add a
fourth, Cadmilus, who according to Dionysodorus is identical with Hermes. It thus appears these
accounts agreed with that of Stesimbrotus, who reckoned the Cabeiri among the great gods, and
that Mnaseas only added their names. Herodotus, as we have seen, had already connected Herm
with Persephone; the worship of the latter as connected with that of Demeter in Samothrace is
attested by Artemidorus (ap. Strab. iv. p. 198); and there was also a port in Samothrace which
derived its name, Demetrium, from Demeter. (Liv. xlv. 6.) According to the authors used by
Dionysius (i. 68), the worship of Samothrace was introduced there from Arcadia; for according to

them Dardanus, together with his brother Jasion or Jasus and his sister Harmonia, left Arcadia and
went to Samothrace, taking with them the Palladium from the temple of Pallas. Cadmus, however
who appears in this tradition, is king of Samothrace: he made Dardanus his friend, and sent him t
Teucer in Troas. Dardanus himself, again, is sometimes described as a Cretan (Serv. ad Aen. iii.
167), sometimes as an Asiatic (Steph. s. v. Dardanos; Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. 391), while Arria
(ap. Eustath. p. 351) makes him come originally from Samothrace. Respecting Dardanus' brother
Jasion or Jasus, the accounts likewise differ very much; for while some writers describe him as goi
to Samothrace either from Parrhasia in Arcadia or from Crete, a third account (Dionys. i. 61) state
that he was killed by lightning for having entertained improper desires for Demeter; and Arrian (l.
c.) says that Jasion, being inspired by Demeter and Cora, went to Sicily and many other places, an
there established the mysteries of these goddesses, for which Demeter rewarded him by yielding
his embraces, and became the mother of Parius, the founder of Paros.
All writers of this class appear to consider Dardanus as the founder of the Samothracian mysterie
and the mysteries themselves as solemnized in honour of Demeter. Another set of authorities, on
the other hand, regards them as belonging to Rhea (Diod. v. 51; Schol. ad Aristid. p. 106;
Strab. Esccrpt. lib. vii. p. 511, ed. Almelov.; Lucian, Dc Dea Syr. 97), and suggests the identity of t
Samothracian and Phrygian mysteries. Pherecydes too, who placed the Corybantes, the
companions of the great mother of the gods, in Samothrace, and Stesimbrotus who derived the
Cabeiri from mount Cabeirus in Phrygia, and all those writers who describe Dardanus as the
founder of the Samothracian mysteries, naturally ascribed the Samothracian mysteries to Rhea. T
Demeter, on the other hand, they were ascribed by Mnaseas, Artemidorus, and even by Herodotu
since he mentions Hermes and Persephone in connexion with these mysteries, and Persephone ha
nothing to do with Rhea. Now, as Demeter and Rhea have many attributes in common--both are
megaloi Deoi, and the festivals of each were celebrated with the same kind of enthusiasm; and as
peculiar features of the one are occasionally transferred to the other (e. g. Eurip. Helen. 1304), it
not difficult to see how it might happen, that the Samothracian goddess was sometimes called
Demeter and sometimes Rhea. The difficulty is, however, increased by the fact of Venus (Aphrodi
too being worshipped in Samothrace. (Plin.H. N. v. 6.) This Venus may be either the Thracian Bend
or Cybele, or may have been one of the Cabeiri themselves, for we know that Thebes possessed
three ancient statues of Aphrodite, which Harmonia had taken from the ships of Cadmus, and whi
may have been the Pataakoi who resembled the Cabeiri. (Paus. ix. 16. 2; Herod. iii. 37.) In
connexion with this Aphrodite we may mention that, according to some accounts, the Phoenician
Aphrodite (Astarte) had commonly the epithet chabar or chabor, an Arabic word which signifies "t
great," and that Lobeck considers Astarte as identical with the Seln Kabeiria, which name P.
Ligorius saw on a gem.
There are also writers who transfer all that is said about the Samothracian gods to the Dioscuri,
who were indeed different from the Cabeiri of Acusilaus, Pherecydes, and Aeschylus, but yet migh
easily be confounded with them; first, because the Dioscuri are also called great gods, and
secondly, because they were also regarded as the protectors of persons in danger either by land
water. Hence we find that in some places where the anakes were worshipped, it was uncertain
whether they were the Dioscuri or the Cabeiri. (Paus. x. 38. 3.) Nay, even the Roman Penates
were sometimes considered as identical with the Dioscuri and Cabeiri (Dionys. i. 67, &c.); and Var
thought that the Penates were carried by Dardanus from the Arcadian town Pheneos to

Samothrace, and that Aeneas brought them from thence to Italy. (Macrob. Sat.iii. 4; Serv. ad Aen.
378, iii. 148.) But the authorities for this opinion are all of a late period. According to one set of
accounts, the Samothracian gods were two male divinities of the same age, which applies to Zeus
and Dionysus, or Dardanus and Jasion, but not to Demeter, Rhea, or Persephone. When people, in
the course of time, had become accustomed to regard the Penates and Cabeiri as identical, and y
did not know exactly the name of each separate divinity comprised under those common names,
some divinities are mentioned among the Penates who belonged to the Cabeiri, and vice vers.
Thus Servius (ad Aen. viii. 619) represents Zeus, Pallas, and Hermes as introduced from
Samothrace; and, in another passage (ad Aen. iii. 264), he says that, according to the
Samothracians, these three were the great gods, of whom Hermes, and perhaps Zeus also, might
be reckoned among the Cabeiri. Varro (de Ling. Lat. v. 58, ed. Muller) says, that Heaven and Earth
were the great Samothracian gods; while in another place (ap. August. De Civ. Dei, vii. 18) he
stated, that there were three Samothracian gods, Jupiter or Heaven, Juno or Earth, and Minerva or
the prototype of things,--the ideas of Plato. This is, of course, only the view Varro himself took, an
not a tradition.
If we now look back upon the various statements we have gathered, for the purpose of arriving at
some definite conclusion, it is manifest, that the earliest writers regard the Cabeiri as descended
from inferior divinities, Proteus and Hephaestus: they have their seats on earth, in Samothrace,
Lemnos, and Imbros. Those early writers cannot possibly have conceived them to be Demeter,
Persephone or Rhea. It is true those early authorities are not numerous in comparison with the lat
ones; but Demetrius, who wrote on the subject, may have had more and very good ones, since it
with reference to him that Strabo repeats the assertion, that the Cabeiri, like the Corybantes and
Curetes, were only ministers of the great gods. We may therefore suppose, that the Samothracian
Cabeiri were originally such inferior beings; and as the notion of the Cabeiri was from the first not
fixed and distinct, it became less so in later times; and as the ideas of mystery and Demeter cam
to be looked upon as inseparable, it cannot occasion surprise that the mysteries, which were next
in importance to those of Eleusis, the most celebrated in antiquity, were at length completely
transferred to this goddess. The opinion that the Samothracian gods were the same as the Roman
Penates, seems to have arisen with those writers who endeavoured to trace every ancient Roman
institution to Troy, and thence to Samothrace.
The places where the worship of the Cabeiri occurs, are chiefly Samothrace, Lemnos, and Imbros.
Some writers have maintained, that the Samothracian and Lemnian Cabeiri were distinct; but the
contrary is asserted by Strabo (x. p. 466). Besides the Cabeiri of these three islands, we read
of Boeotian Cabeiri. Near the Netian gate of Thebes there was a grove of Demeter Cabeiria and
Cora, which none but the initiated were allowed to enter; and at a distance of seven stadia from it
there was a sanctuary of the Cabeiri. (Paus. ix. 25. 5.) Here mysteries were celebrated, and the
sanctity of the temple was great as late as the time of Pausanias. (Comp. iv. 1. 5.) The account o
Pausanias about the origin of the Boeotian Cabeiri savours of rationalism, and is, as Lobeck justly
remarks, a mere fiction. It must further not be supposed that there existed any connexion betwee
the Samothracian Cadmilus or Cadmus and the Theban Cadmus; for tradition clearly describes
them as beings of different origin, race and dignity. Pausanias (ix. 22. 5) further mentions anoth
sanctuary of the Cabeiri, with a grove, in the Boeotian town of Anthedon; and a Boeotian Cabeirus
who possessed the power of averting dangers and increasing man's prosperity, is mentioned in an

epigram of Diodorus. (Brunck, Anal. ii. p. 185.) A Macedonian Cabeirus occurs in Lactantius. (i. 15
8; comp. Firmicus, de Error. Prof. p. 23; Clem. Alex. Protrept. p. 16.) The reverence paid by the
Macedonians to the Cabeiri may be inferred from the fact of Philip and Olympias being initiated in
the Samothracian mysteries, and of Alexander erecting altars to the Cabeiri at the close of his
Eastern expedition. (Plut. Alex. 2; Philostr.de Vit. Apollon. ii. 43.) The Pergamenian Cabeiri are
mentioned by Pausanias (i. 4. 6), and those ofBerytus by Sanchoniathon (ap. Euseb. Praep.
Evang. p. 31) and Damascius. (Vit. Isidor. cclii. 573.) Respecting the mysteries of the Cabeiri in
general, see Dict. of Ant. s. v. Kabeiria; Lobeck, Aglaoph. p. 1281, &c. For the various opinions
concerning the nature of the Cabeiri, see Creuzer, Symbol. ii. p. 302, &c.; Schelling, Ueber die
Gtter von Samothrake, Stuttgard, 1815; Welcker, Aeschyl. Trilog.; Klausen, Aeneas u. die Penat.
Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Aeschylus, Cabiri (lost play) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :

This drama [i.e. the play Cabiri], named for its Chorus, represents the earliest
known appearance of these gods in Greek literature. Weir Smyth (L.C.L. volume)
summarises evidence of the play: "Athenaeus,Deipnosophists 10. 33. 428F, declares
that it was Aeschylus who first introduced drunken people to the sight of the
spectators of tragedy; and that this evil eminence was displayed in his Cabiri, in
which play he represented Jason and his companions as drunk. Fragment 49 would
seem to refer to the hospitable reception of the Argonauts by the Cabiri, who
furnished them with an abundance of wine upon their landing at Lemnos, the first
stopping-place of the Argo on its eastward voyage. The introduction of a drunken
orgy has caused many scholars to regard the play as satyric rather than tragic.
Whether pure tragedy may thus relax its gravity is a question that has been raised
also in connexion with the Ostologoi of Aeschylus and the Sundeipnoiof Sophocles.
The Scholiast on Pindar, Pythian 4. 303, states that the names of the heroes of the
Argonautic expedition were set forth in the Kabeiroi."
Aeschylus, Fragment 49 Cabiri (from Plutarch, Table Talk 2. 1. 7. 632F) (trans. Weir
Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"[The Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) address the Argonauts:] We shall make the house to be
scant of vinegar." [I.e. the gods jest that they will exhaust all the wine in their
drinking and be forced to resort to vinegar.]"
Herodotus, Histories 2. 51. 1 ff (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) :
"The ithyphallic (erect phallus) images of Hermes [the Hermai]; the production of
these came from the Pelasgians [of Thessalia], from whom the Athenians were the
first Greeks to take it, and then handed it on to others . . . Whoever has been
initiated into the rites of the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri), which the Samothrakians learned
from the Pelasgians and now practice, understands what my meaning is.
Samothrake was formerly inhabited by those Pelasgians who came to live among
the Athenians, and it is from them that the Samothrakians take their rites. The

Athenians, then, were the first Greeks to make ithyphallic images of Hermes, and
they did this because the Pelasgians taught them. The Pelasgians told a certain
sacred tale about this, which is set forth in the Samothrakian Mysteries." [Cf.
Clement Exhortations below for the "mystery" of the Kabeiroi and the sacred
phallus.]
Herodotus, Histories 3. 72. 1 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) :
"Thus too [the Persian invader Kambyses] he entered the temple of Hephaistos [i.e.
the Egyptian god Ptah] and jeered at the image there . . . I will describe it for
anyone who has not seen these figures: it is the likeness of a dwarf. Also he entered
the temple of the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) [i.e. Egyptian gods idenitified with the Kabeiroi],
into which no one may enter save the priest; the images here he even burnt, with
bitter mockery. These also are like the images of Hephaistos [Ptah], and are said to
be his sons."
N.B. The Greeks identified the Kabeiroi with certain dwarfish sons of the Egyptian
god Ptah. Presumably these were the divinities who recovered the phallus of Osiris
after he had been slain and dismembered by Set. The Kabeiroi played the same role
in the myth of Zagreus--recovering the god's virilia after he had been torn apart by
the Titanes.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1. 916 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :
"They [the Argonauts] beached this ship at Samothrake . . . He [Orpheus] wished
them, by holy initiation, to learn something of the secret rites, and so sail on with
greater confidence across the formidable sea. Of the rites I say no more, pausing
only to salute the isle itself and the Powers [the Kabeiroi] that dwell in it, to whom
belong the mysteries of which we must not sing."
Callimachus, Aetia Fragment 115 (trans. Trypanis) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"And they [the Kabeiroi, Cabeiri] grew up secretly by the furnaces of Hephaistos [on
Lemnos], learning the art of the hammer . . ((lacuna)) Onnes now . . ((lacuna)) iron
shields which they themselves forged on the anvils of Hephaistos."
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 43. 1 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st
B.C.) :
"There came on a great storm [in the north Aegean] and the chieftains [the
Argonauts] had given up hope of being saved, when Orpheus, they say, who was
the only one on ship-board who had ever been initiated in the Mysteries of the
deities of Samothrake [i.e. the Kabeiroi, Cabeiri], offered to these deities prayers for
their salvation. And immediately the wind died down and two stars fell over the
heads of the Dioskouroi (Dioscuri), and the whole company was amazed at the
marvel which had taken place and concluded that they had been rescued from their
perils by an act of providence of the gods. For this reason, the story of this reversal
of fortune for the Argonauts has been handed down to succeeding generations, and
sailors when caught in storms always direct their prayers to the deities of

Samothrake and attribute the appearance of the two stars to the epiphany of the
Dioskouroi."
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 48. 6 :
"[The Argonauts] had already reached the middle of the Pontic Sea when the ran
into a storm which put them in the greatest peril. But when Orpheus . . . offered up
prayers to the deities of Samothrake [i.e. the Kabeiroi, Cabeiri], the winds ceased
and there appeared near the ship Glaukos (Glaucus) the Sea-God, as he is called . . .
and he counselled them, accordingly, that so soon as they touched their lands they
should pray their vows to the gods [the Kabeiroi] through the intervention of whom
they had twice already been saved."
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 49. 8 :
"The Argonauts, they say, set forth from the Troad and arrived at Samothrake,
where they again paid their vows to the great gods [the Kabeiroi, Cabeiri] and
dedicated in the sacred precinct the bowls which are preserved there even to this
day."
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 48. 2 - 6 :
"Zeus desired that the other of his two sons [Iasion of Samothrake, brother of
Dardanos] might also attain honour, and so he instructed him in the initiatory rites
of the Mysteries [of the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) of Samothrake], which had existed on the
island since ancient times but was at that time, so to speak, put in his hands; it is
not lawful, however, for any but the initiated to hear about the Mysteries. And Iasion
is reputed to have been the first to initiate strangers into them and by this means to
bring the initiatory rite to high esteem.
After this Kadmos (Cadmus), the son of Agenor, came in the course of his quest for
Europe [his sister abducted by Zeus] to the Samothrakians, and after participating
in the initiation [into the mysteries of Samothrake] he married Harmonia, who was
the sister of Iasion and not, as the Greeks recount in their mythologies, the
daughter of Ares . . .
Now the details of the initiatory rite [of the Mysteries] are guarded among the
matters not to be divulged and are communicated to the initiates alone; but the
fame has travelled wide of how these gods [the Kabeiroi] appear to mankind and
bring unexpected aid to those initiates of their who call upon them in the midst of
perils. The claim is also made that men who have taken part in the mysteries
become both more pious and more just and better in every respect than they were
before. And this is the reason, we are told, why the most famous both of the ancient
heroes and of the demi-gods were eagerly desirous to taking part in the initiatory
rite; and in fact Jason and the Dioskouroi, and Herakles and Orpheus as well, after
their initiation attained success in all the campaigns they undertook, because these
gods appeared to them."
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 64. 3 :
"But some historians, and Ephoros is one of them, record that the Daktyloi Idaioi

(Idaean Dactys) [here meaning the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) or Korybantes (Corybantes)]

were in fact born on the Mt Ida which is in Phrygia and passed over to Europe
together with Mygdon; and since they were wizards (gonta), they practised charms
and initiatory rites and mysteries, and in the course of a sojourn in Samothrake they
[as Kabeiroi or Korybantes] amazed the natives of that island not a little by their
skill in such matters. And it was at this time, we are further told, that Orpheus, who
was endowed with an exceptional gift of poesy and song, also became a pupil of
theirs, and he was subsequently the first to introduce initiatory rites and mysteries
to the Greeks."
Strabo, Geography 7 Fragment 47 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to
C1st A.D.) :
"Iasion and Dardanos, two brothers, used to live in Samothrake. But when Iasion
was struck by a thunderbolt because of his sin against Demeter, Dardanos sailed
away from Samothrake, went and took up his abode at the foot of Mount Ida, calling
the city Dardania, and taught the Trojans the Samothrakian Mysteries."
Strabo, Geography 7 Fragment 50 :
"Many writers have identified the gods that are worshipped in Samothrake with the
Kabeiroi (Cabeiri), though they cannot say who the Kabeiroi themselves are, just as
the Kyrbantes and Korybantes (Corybantes), and likewise the Kouretes (Curetes) and
the Daktyloi Idaioi (Idaean Dactyls), are identified with them."
Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 7 - 9 :
"Some represent the Korybantes (Corybantes), the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri), the Daktyloi
Idaioi (Idaean Dactyls), and the Telkhines (Telchines) as identical with the Kouretes
(Curetes), others represent them as all kinsmen of one another and differentiate
only certain small matters in which they differ in respect to one another; but,
roughly speaking and in general, they represent them, one and all, as a kind of
inspired people and as subject to Bacchic frenzy, and, in the guise of ministers, as
inspiring terror at the celebration of the sacred rites by means of war-dances,
accompanied by uproar and noise and cymbals and drums and arms, and also by
flute and outcry; and consequently these rites are in a way regarded as having a
common relationship, I mean these and those of the Samothrakians [the Kabeiroi]
and those in Lemnos and in several other places, because the divine ministers are
called the same. However, every investigation of this kind pertains to theology, and
is not foreign to the speculation of the philosopher . . .
But I must now investigate how it comes about that so many names have been used
of one and the same thing [the daimones called Kouretes, Korybantes & Kabeiroi],
and the theological element contained in their history. Now this is common both to
the Greeks and to the barbarians, to perform their sacred rites in connection with
the relaxation of a festival, these rites being performed sometimes with religious
frenzy, sometimes without it; sometimes with music, sometimes not; and
sometimes in secret, sometimes openly. And it is in accordance with the dictates of
nature that this should be so, for, in the first place, the relaxation draws the mind

away from human occupations and turns the real mind towards that which is divine;
and, secondly, the religious frenzy seems to afford a kind of divine inspiration and to
be very like that of the soothsayer; and, thirdly, the secrecy with which the sacred
rites are concealed induces reverence for the divine, since it imitates the nature of
the divine, which is to avoid being perceived by our human senses; and, fourthly,
music, which includes dancing as well as rhythm and melody, at the same time, by
the delight it affords and by its artistic beauty, brings us in touch with the divine,
and this for the following reason; for although it has been well said that human
beings then act most like the gods when they are doing good to others, yet one
might better say, when they are happy; and such happiness consists of rejoicing,
celebrating festivals, pursuing philosophy, and engaging in music."
Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 15 :
"They [the poets] also invented some of the names by which to designate the
ministers, choral dancers, and attendants upon the sacred rites [of Rhea and
Dionysos], I mean Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) and Korybantes (Corybantes) and Panes and
Satyroi (Satyrs) and Tityroi."
Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 19 - 21 :
"(1) Others say that the Korybantes (Corybantes) were sons of Zeus and Kalliope
(Calliope) and were identical with the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri), and that these went off to
Samothrake, which in earlier times was called Melite, and that their rites were
mystical.
(2) But though the Skepsian [Demetrius of Scepsis, grammarian C2nd B.C.], who
compiled these myths, does not accept the last statement, on the ground that no
mystic story of the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) is told in Samothrake, still he cites also the
opinion of Stesimbrotos the Thasian [writer C5th B.C.] that the sacred rites in
Samothrake were performed in honor of the Kabeiroi: and the Skepsian says that
they were called Kabeiroi after the mountain Kabeiros in Berekyntia [in Mysia].
(3) Some, however, believe that the Kouretes (Curetes) were the same as the
Korybantes and were ministers of Hekate.
(4) But the Skepsian again states, in opposition to the words of Euripides, that the
rites of Rhea were not sanctioned or in vogue in Krete, but only in Phrygia and the
Troad, and that those who say otherwise are dealing in myths rather than in history,
though perhaps the identity of the place-names contributed to their making this
mistake. For instance, Ida is not only a Trojan, but also a Kretan (Cretan), mountain;
and Dikte is a place in Skepsia [in the Troad] and also a mountain in Krete (Crete);
and Pytna, after which the city Hierapytna [in Krete] was named, is a peak of
[Trojan] Ida. And there is a Hippokorona in the territory of Adramyttion [in the Troad]
and a Hippokoronion in Krete. And Samonion is the eastern promontory of the island
and a plain in the territory of Neandria and in that of the Alexandreians.
(5) Akousilas [mythographer C5th B.C.], the Argive, calls Kadmilos (Cadmilus) the
son of Kabeiro (Cabeiro) and Hephaistos, and Kadmilos the father of three Kabeiroi
(Cabeiri), and these the fathers of the Nymphai called Kabeirides (Cabeirides).

(6) Pherekydes [another mythographer C5th B.C.] says that nine Kyrbantes
(Cyrbantes) were sprung from Apollon and Rhetia, and that they took up their abode
in Samothrake; and that three Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) and three Nymphai called
Kabeirides were the children of Kabeiro, the daughter of Proteus, and Hephaistos,
and that sacred rites were instituted in honor of each triad.
(7) Now it has so happened that the Kabeiroi are most honored in Imbros and
Lemnos, but they are also honored in separate cities of the Troad; their names,
however, are kept secret. Herodotos [historian C5th B.C.] says that there were
temples of the Kabeiroi in Memphis, as also of Hephaistos [i.e. the Egyptian god
Ptah and his sons], but that Kambyses destroyed them. The places where these
deities were worshipped are uninhabited, both the Korybanteion in Hamaxitia in the
territory now belonging to the Alexandreians near Sminthion, and Korybissa in
Skepsia in the neighborhood of the river Eureis and of the village which bears the
same name and also of the winter torrent Aethaleis.'"
Pausanias, Description of Greece 4. 1. 7 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.)
:
"Methapos was an Athenian by birth, an expert in the mysteries and founder of all
kinds of rites. It was he who established the Mysteries of the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) at
Thebes."
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 22. 5 :
"Just about the centre of Anthedon [in Boiotia] is a sanctuary of the Kabeiroi
(Cabeiri), with a grove around it, near which is a temple of Demeter and her
daughter, with images of white marble."
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 25. 5 - 26. 1 :
"[In the town of Thebes in Boiotia] you come to a grove of Demeter Kabeiraia
(Cabeiraea) and Kore (Core). The initiated are permitted to enter it. The sanctuary of
the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) is some seven stades distant from this grove. I must ask the
curious to forgive me if I keep silence as to who the Kabeiroi are, and what is the
nature of the ritual performed in honour of them and of the Meter (Mother). But
there is nothing to prevent my declaring to all what the Thebans say was the origin
of the ritual. They say that once there was in this place a city, with inhabitants
called Kabeiroi; and that Demeter came to know Prometheus, one of the Kabeiroi,
and Aitnaios (Aetnaeus) his son, and entrusted something to their keeping [probably
the phallus of the dismembered god Zagreus]. What was entrusted to them, and
what happened to it, seemed to me a sin to put into writing, but at any rate the
rites are a gift of Demeter to the Kabeiroi.
At the time of the invasion of the Epigonoi and the taking of Thebes, the Kabeiroi
were expelled from their homes by the Argives and the rites for a while ceased to be
performed. But they go on to say that afterwards Pelarge, the daughter of Potneius,
and Isthmiades her husband established the Mysteries here to begin with, but
transferred them to the place called Alexiaros. But because Pelarge conducted the
initiation outside the ancient borders, Telondes returned again to Kabeiraia. Various

honours were to be established for Pelarge by Telondes in accordance with an oracle

from Dodona, one being the sacrifice of a pregnant victim.
The wrath of the Kabeiroi no man may placate, as has been proved on many
occasions. For certain private people dared to perform in Naupaktos the ritual as it
was done in Thebes, and soon afterwards justice overtook them. Then, again,
certain men of the army of Xerxes [the historical Persian general] left behind with
Mardonios in Boiotia entered the sanctuary of the Kabeiroi, perhaps in the hope of
great wealth, but rather, I suspect, to show their contempt of its gods; all these
immediately were struck with madness, and flung themselves to their deaths into
the sea or from the tops of precipices. Again, when Alexandros [i.e. the historical
Macedonian leader Alexander the Great] after his victory wasted with fire all the
Thebaid, including Thebes itself, some men from Makedonia entered the sanctuary
of the Kabeiroi, as it was in enemy territory, and were destroyed by thunder and
lightning from heaven. So sacred this sanctuary has been from the beginning."
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 38. 7 :
"The Amphisians [of Lokris] also celebrate Mysteries in honour of the Boy Kings
(anaktes paides), as they are called. Their accounts as to who of the gods the Boy
Kings are do not agree; some say they are the Dioskouroi, and others, who pretend
to have fuller knowledge, hold them to be the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri)."
Clement, Exhortation to the Greeks 2. 16 (trans. Butterworth) (Greek Christian
writer C2nd A.D.) :
[The early Christian writer Clement divulges the secret mythos of the Kabeiroi
(Cabeiri) of the Samothrakian Mysteries:]
"If you would like a vision of the Korybantian Orgies (orgia Korybanton) also, this is
the story. Two of the Korybantes (Corybantes) [i.e. the Kabeiroi, Cabeiri] slew a third
one, who was their brother, covered the head of the corpse with a purple cloak, and
then wreathed and buried it, bearing it upon a brazen shield to the skirts of
Olympos. Here we see what the Mysteries (mysteria) are, in one word, murders and
burials! The priests of these Mysteries, whom such as are interested in them call
Anaktotelestes (Presidents of the Princes' rites), add a portent to the dismal tale.
They forbid wild celery, root and all, to be placed on the table, for they actually
believe that wild celery grows out of the blood that flowed from the murdered
brother . . . .
The Korybantes are also called by the name Kabeiroi, which proclaims the Rite of
the Kabeiroi (teletes Kabeirikes). For this very pair of fratricides got possession of
the chest in which the virilia of Dionysos [i.e. the phallus of the god Zagreus who
was dismembered by the Titanes] were deposited, and brought it to Tyrrhenia [i.e.
Lemnos], traders in glorious wares! There they sojourned, being exiles, and
communicated their precious teaching of peity, the virilia and the chest, to Tyrrhenoi
(Tyrrhenians) for purposes of worship. For this reason, not unnaturally some wish to
call Dionysos Attis, because he was mutilated."

Orphic Hymn 31 to the Curetes (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
"Hymn to the Kouretes (Curetes). Leaping Kouretes, who with dancing feet and
circling measures armed footsteps beat: shoe bosoms Bacchanalian furies firer, who
move in rhythm to the sounding lyre: who traces deaf when lightly leaping tread,
arm-bearers, strong defenders, rulers dread: famed deities the guards (of
Persephone) preserving rites mysterious and divine: come, and benevolent this
hymn attend, and with glad mind the herdsman's life defend."
Orphic Hymn 38 to the Curetes :
"To the Kouretes (Curetes) [here the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) of Samothrake], Fumigation
from Frankincense. Brass-beating Kouretes, ministers of Ares, who wear his arms
the instruments of wars; whose blessed frames, heaven, earth, and sea compose,
and from whose breath all animals arose: who dwell in Samothrake's sacred ground,
defending mortals through the sea profound. Deathless Kouretes, by your power
alone, the greatest mystic rites to men at first were shown. Who shake old Okeanos
(Oceanus) thundering to the sky, and stubborn oaks with branches waving high. 'Tis
yours in glittering arms the earth to beat, with lightly leaping, rapid, sounding feet;
then every beast the noise terrific flies, and the loud tumult wanders through the
skies. The dust your feet excites, with matchless force flies to the clouds amidst
their whirling course; and every flower of variegated hue grows in the dancing
motion formed by you; immortal Daimones (Spirits), to your powers consigned, the
task to nourish and destroy mankind, when rushing furious with loud tumult dire,
overwhelmed, they perish in your dreadful ire; and live replenished with the balmy
air, the food of life, committed to your care. When shook by you, the seas with wild
uproar, wide-spreading, and profoundly whirling, roar. The concave heavens with
echo's voice resound, when leaves with rustling noise bestrew the ground. Kouretes,
Korybantes, ruling kings, whose praise the land of Samothrake sings; great Zeus'
assessors; whose immortal breath sustains the soul, and wafts her back from death;
aerial-formed, who in Olympos shine the heavenly Twins [Dioskouroi, Dioscuri] alllucid and divine; blowing, serene, from whom abundance springs, nurses of
seasons, fruit-producing kings."
Orphic Hymn 39 to Corybas :
"To Korybas (Corybas), Fumigation from Frankincense. The mighty ruler of this
earthly ball for ever flowing, to these rites I call; martial and blest, unseen by mortal
sight, preventing fears, and pleased with gloomy night: hence fancy's terrors are by
thee allayed, all-various king, who lovest the desert shade. Each of thy brothers
killing, blood is thine, twofold Kourete (Curete), many-formed, divine. By thee
transmuted, Deo's [Demeter's] body pure became a Drakon's savage and obscure:
avert they anger, hear me when I pray, and, by fixed date, drive fancy's fears
away."
Aelian, On Animals 15. 23 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.) :
"They say that the pilot-fish is sacred not only to Poseidon but is also beloved of the
gods of Samothrake [the Kabeiroi, Cabeiri]."

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2. 431 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
"[The Argonauts sail towards the isle of Samothrake:] Electra's island [Samothrake]
grows larger, guarding the secret of the Thracian rites [of the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) and
other gods]; for here dwells the great and terrible god, and here are ordained
penalties for an unguarded tongue. No storm sent by Jove [Zeus] ever dares to beat
with its billows upon this land; of his own will the god makes fierce his waves, what
time he would forbid faithless sailors to touch his shores. But Thyotes the priest
meets the Minyae [Argonauts] and bids them welcome to the land and to the
temples, revealing their Mysteries to his guests. Thus much, Samothrace, has the
poet proclaimed thee to the nations and the light of day; there stay, and let us keep
our reverence for holy Mysteries. The Minyae, rejoicing in the new light of the sun
and full of their heavenly visions, seat themselves upon the thwarts [and depart
from the island]."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3. 61 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"Already the bird of morning was cutting the air with loud cries [on the island of
Samothrake]; already the helmeted bands of desert-haunting Korybantes [or
Kabeiroi, Cabeiri] were beating on their shields in the Knossian (Cnossian) dance,
and leaping with rhythmic steps, and the oxhides thudded under the blows of the
iron as they whirled them about in rivalry, while the double pipe made music, and
quickened the dancers with its rollicking tune in time to the bounding steps. Aye,
and the trees whispered, the rocks boomed, the forests held jubilee with their
intelligent movings and shakings, and the Dryades did sing. Packs of bears joined
the dance, skipping and wheeling face to face; lions with a roar from emulous
throats mimicked the triumphant cry of the priests of the Kabeiroi, sane in their
madness; the revelling pipes rang out a tune to honour of Hekate, divine friend of
dogs, those single pipes, which the horn-polisher's art invented in Kronos' (Cronus')
days.
The noisy Korybantes (Corybantes) with their ringing din awoke Kadmos (Cadmus)
early in the morning; the Sidonian seamen also with one accord, hearing the neversilent oxhide at dawn, rose from their rattling pebbly pallets and left the brinebeaten back of the shore."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 4. 184 ff :
"Grottoes of the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) and Korybantian cliffs [on the island of
Samothrake]."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14. 17 ff :
"[When Rheia summoned the daimones to join the army of Dionysos for a campaign
against the Indians:] First from the firepeak rock of Lemnos the two Kabeiroi
(Cabeiri) in arms answered the stormy call answered the stormy call beside the
mystic torch of Samos [Samothrake], two sons of Hephaistos whom Thrakian
Kabeiro (Cabeiro) had borne to the heavenly smith, Alkon and Eurymedon well
skilled at the forge, who bore their mother's tribal name."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 17. 192 ff :

"[During the Indian War of Dionysos:] Orontes [an Indian chief] dashed hot upon the
front ranks, reaping a harvest in both kinds [men and women]. Not one of all the
wide front durst abide the adverse onset of so mighty a champion--not bold fiery
Eurymedon, not Alkon his kinsman [the two Kabeiroi, Cabeiri]."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 24. 77 ff :
"[When the Indian River Hydaspes tried to drown the army of Dionysos:] Hephaistos
took care of his sons the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri), and caught up both, like a flying
firebrand."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 27. 120 ff :
"[The Indian Deriades addresses his troops:] Let Lemnian Kabeiro (Cabeiro)
unveiled lament the death of her two sons; let sooty Hephaistos throw down his
tongs, and see the destroyer of his race sitting in the car of the Kabeiro (Cabeiri)i,
see Deriades driving the bronzefoot horses!"
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 27. 325 ff :
"[Zeus encourages Hephaistos to help Dionysos during the Indian War:] Do you sit
still, Hephaistos, and will not you save your children? Lift your accustomed torch to
defend the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri); turn your eye and see your ancient bride, your
Kabeiro, reproaching you in love for her sons."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 29. 193 ff :
"[During Dionysos' war with the Indians:] Two firestrong citizens of Samothrake [the
Kabeiroi, Cabeiri] also ran wild, sons of Lemnian Kabeiro; their eyes flashed out their
own natural sparks, which came from the red smoky flame of their father
Hephaistos. They rode in a car of adamant; a pair of colts beat the dust with rattling
hooves of brass, and they sent out a dry whinnying from their throats. These father
Hephaistos had made with his inimitable art, breathing defiant fire between their
teeth, like the pair of brazenfooted bulls which he made for Aietes the redoubtable
ruler of the Kolkhians (Colchians), with hot collars and burning pole. Eurymedon
[one of the Kabeiroi] drove and guided the fiery mouths of the ironfoot steeds with a
fiery bridle; in his right hand he held a Lemnian spear made on his father's anvil,
and by his wellmade thigh hung a flashing sword--if a man picked up a small stone
in his fingertips and struck it against the fire-grained surface of the sharp blade,
sparks flashed of themselves from the steel. Alkon grasped a fiery bolt in one hand,
and swung about a festal torch of Hekate from his own country."
Nonnus, Dionsyiaca 30. 42 ff :
"[During the Indian War of Dionysos:] The prodigious [Indian chief] Morrheus
attacked the warriors of Bromios [Dionysos]. He wounded [the Kabeiros, Cabeirus)
Eurymedon, cut through the groin with his blood-stained spear: the mad point ran
through the thigh and tore the skin from the fat of the flesh; collapsing he fell on his
knee to the ground. Mailclad Alkon [the other Kabeiros] did not neglect his brother's

fall; but lifting spear and round buckler he made for the fallen man, and covered the
warrior well, holding the shield tower-like over his body, and thrusting right and left
his unresting spear, brother protecting brother against the foe. He stradled across
the wounded man, as a lion over his cubs, shouting loud and letting out mad
Korybantic cries from his lips. When Morrheus saw him moving with neat steps
about his brother, defending the fallen Kabeiros, the monster went raging like
Typhon and attacked both brothers, that Kabeiro might shed her tears for two dead
sons, slain in one day with one spear. And now he would have dealt equal
destruction to both, but Eurymedon called upon his Lemnian father [Hephaistos]
with voice that gasped and strained from his mouth: O Father, firebreathing lord of
our laborious art! Grant me the boon once earned, when Deo [Demeter] of the
threshing-floor alone seized threecliff Sikelia (Sicily), as sightingprize for
Persephoneia hidden there, and knocked over your windblown bellows in the west
and your wide forge and gripping tongs: but I defended my father and scared her
off, protecting your anvil. You owe it to me that the air is black and hot with your
Sikelian sparks! Then save your son I pray, whom savage Morrheus has wounded!
At these words fiery Hephaistos leapt down from heaven, and sent a flame leaping
and fluttering with many tongues about his son, whirling in his hand a shoot of fire.
About Morrheus' neck the flame crawled and curled itself as if it knew what it was
doing, and rolled round his throat a necklace of fireblazing constraint; the blazing
throat once encircled, it rand down with a springing movement to the end of his
toes, and wove a plait of fiery threads over the warrior's foot, and there firmly fixt
the earth scattered its dancing spars--the helmet caught fire and his head was hot
enough! And now he would have fallen flat, struck with the fiery shot, had not
Deriades' [river-god] father Hydaspes come to the rescue. For he sat watching the
battle high on a rock, his full-form having a false guise of human shape. He poured a
quenching stream and saved the man's life, cooling the hot blast from the
firebeaten face, brushing off the ashes and dirt from the helmet. Then he caught up
Morrheus wrapt in a darksome cloud, covered and hid his limbs in a livid mist; that
the firebearing Crookshank [Hephaistos] might not destroy him with his blazing
shower of deadly Lemnian flame; that old Hydaspes, the tender-hearted father,
might not see another goodson of Deriades perish after the first, and lament the
death of Morrheus along with Orontes. But firebearing Hephaistos drove away all the
warriors who stood round the just-wounded boy. Then lifting his son on his shoulder
he took him out of the fray and rested him against an oaktree hard by; he spread
simples upon the wounded groin, and saved him alive his after his collapse."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 30. 135 ff :
"[During the Indian War of Dionsysos:] Madly he [the Indian Tektaphos] pursued the
army of Lyaios [Dionysos] and [slew several Satyroi] . . . and indeed he would have
killed a crowd of Bakkhai (Bacchae) besides; but quickfoot Eurymedon [one of the
Kabeiroi, Cabeiri] saw him and rushed up, shaking his Korybantian twibill against
him. He smashed his forehead and clove his head."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43. 307 ff :

"[A Bassarid] whose home was in the Samothrakian cavern of the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri),
skipt about the peaks of Lebanon crooning the barbarous notes of Korybantian
tune."
Suidas s.v. Zerynthia (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) :
"Zerinthian cave, where they used to sacrifice dogs. There the mysteries of the
Korybantes (Corybantes) [i.e. the Kabeiroi] and of Hekate took place."
Suidas s.v. All' ei tis humn en Samothraikei memuemenos esti :
"All' ei tis humn en Samothraikei memuemenos esti (But if there is someone
among you initiated in Samothrake, now is a fine time to pray that both feet of the
pursuer be put out of joint): In Samothrake there were certain initiation-rites, which
they supposed efficacious as a charm against certain dangers. In that place were
also the mysteries of the Korybantes (Corybantes) [i.e. the Kabeiroi] and those of
Hekate and the Zerinthian cave, where they sacrificed dogs. The initiates supposed
that these things save [them] from terrors and from storms. The bone-socket of the
pursuer to be be put out of joint means to be distorted and dislocated. The way
forward becomes an obstacle to him, so that he can no longer turn back."
Greek Name

Transliteration

Latin Spelling

Translation<

Aitnaios

Aetnaeus

Of Mt Aetna ?

Onns

Onnes

Purchaser

Tnns

Tonnes

This-One?

Eurymedn

Eurymedon

Many-Devices

Alkn

Alcon

Strong-One

Sources:
o

Aeschylus, Fragments - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C.

Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd B.C.

Callimachus, Fragments - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C.

Herodotus, Histories - Greek History C5th BC

Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st B.C.

Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.

Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D.

Clement, Exhortation - Greek Christian C2nd A.D.

The Orphic Hymns - Greek Hymns C3rd B.C. - C2nd A.D.

Aelian, On Animals - Greek Natural History C2nd3rd A.D.

Valerius Flaccus, The Argonautica - Latin Epic C1st A.D.

Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.

Suidas - Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.

Other references not currently quoted here: Dionysius of Halicarnassus 1.23.5