A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

522 CABEIRI.
Cabeirus in Berecyntia. But here again opinions
differed very much, for while some believed that
the ~sep& Kaesipwv were thus called from their having been instituted and conducted by the Cabeiri,
others thought that they were celebrated in 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 intimate 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 instances mentioned of lo vers swearing by the Cabeiri in promising fidelity to one another (Juv. iii. 144; Himerius,
Orat. i. 12); and Suidas (s. v. AmaAaugdiEts) mentions a case of a girl invoking the Cabeiri 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 the 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. They 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 (1. c.) contain in substance the following 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
that 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
Hermes 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 to Teucer in Troas. Dardanus himself,
again, is sometimes described as a Cretan (Serv.
ad Aen. iii. 167), sometimes as an Asiatic (Steph.
s. v. Adp3avos; Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. 391),
while Arrian (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

CABEIRI.
him as going to Samothrace either from Parrhasia in Arcadia or from Crete, a third account
(Dionys. i. 61) stated, that he was killed by lightning for having entertained improper desires for
Demeter; and Arrian (1. c.) says that Jasion, being
inspired by Demeter and Cora, went to Sicily and
many other places, and there established the mysteries of these goddesses, for which Demeter rewarded him by yielding to 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 mysteries, 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. Excerpt. lib. vii. p. 511, ed. Almelov.;
Lucian, De Dea Syr. 97), and suggests the identity
of the 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. To Demeter,
on the other hand, they were ascribed by Mnaseas,
Artemidorus, and even by Herodotus, since he
mentions Hermes and Persephone in connexion
with these mysteries, and Persephone has nothing
to do with Rhea. Now, as Demeter and Rhea
have many attributes in common-both are pe'ydAoi Seoi, 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 is 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 (Aphrodite) too
being worshipped in Samothrace. (Plin. H. N.
v. 6.) This Venus may be either the Thracian
Bendis 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 which may have been the Hara'troi 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 cheabar or chabor, an Arabic word which
signifies " the great," and that Lobeck considers
Astarte as identical with the sA4X'y Kaeispia,
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
might 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 or
water. Hence we find that in some places where
the aevanes 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 Varro
thought that the Penates were carried by Dardanus
from the Arcadian town Pheneos to Samnothrace,