InGreek mythology, theCabeiri orCabiri/kəˈbaɪriː/[1] (Ancient Greek:Κάβειροι,Kábeiroi), also transliteratedKabeiri orKabiri,[2] were a group of enigmaticchthonic deities. They were worshipped in amystery cult closely associated with that ofHephaestus, centered in the northAegean Islands ofLemnos and possiblySamothrace—at theSamothrace temple complex—and atThebes.[3] In their distant origins the Cabeiri and the Samothracian gods may include pre-Greek elements,[4] or other non-Greek elements, such asThracian,Tyrrhenian,Pelasgian,[5]Phrygian orHittite. TheLemnian cult was always local to Lemnos, but the Samothracian mystery cult spread rapidly throughout the Greek world during theHellenistic period, eventually initiatingRomans.
The ancient sources disagree about whether the deities of Samothrace were Cabeiri or not; and the accounts of the two cults differ in detail. But the two islands are close to each other, at the northern end of the Aegean, and the cults are at least similar, and neither fits easily into theOlympic pantheon: the Cabeiri were given a mythic genealogy as sons of Hephaestus andCabeiro.[6] The accounts of the Samothracian gods, whose names were secret, differ in the number and sexes of the gods: usually between two and four, some of either sex. The number of Cabeiri also varies, with some accounts citing four (often a pair of males and a pair of females), and some even more, such as a tribe or whole race of Cabeiri, often presented as all male.[7]
The Cabeiri were also worshipped at other sites in the vicinity, includingSeuthopolis inThrace and various sites inAsia Minor. One of these is posited to beThessalonica and possibly was the cult of mysteries of whichPaul warns against inhis letters to the church there.[8] According toStrabo, Cabeiri are most honored inImbros andLemnos but also in other cities too.[9]
In the past, theSemitic wordkabir ("great") has been compared to Κάβειροι since at leastJoseph Justus Scaliger in the sixteenth century, but nothing else seemed to point to a Semitic origin, until the idea of "great" gods expressed by the Semitic rootkbr was definitively attested for North Syria in the thirteenth century BCE, in texts fromEmar published by D. Arnaud in 1985–87.Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling connected the Greek word to the Hebrew חבר (khaver "friend, associate") and via this to several priest names as one attached to the Persians ("Chaverim"), linking them to theDioskouri or priestly blacksmiths alternatively.[10] T. J. Wackernagel in 1907 proposed a connection with theSanskrit GodKubera/Kuvera which means "the ill-shaped one".[11][12] in 1925A. H. Sayce had suggested a connection toHittitehabiri ("looters", "outlaws"), but subsequent discoveries have made this implausible on phonological grounds. Dossein compares Κάβειροι to theSumerian wordkabar, "copper."[13] A connection with the Greek wordKaio (Greek:Καίω,lit. 'burn') has also been suggested, considering the nature of the Cabeiri asdemons of volcanic fire;[14][15] this was suggested byFriedrich Gottlieb Welcker andLouis Ferdinand Alfred Maury.[14]Strabo wrote that the Cabeiri were named "after the mountain Kabeiros in Berekynthia".[15]R. S. P. Beekes believes that their name is of non-Indo-European,pre-Greek origin.[16]
The name of theCabeiri recalls Mount Kabeiros, a mountain in the region of Berekyntia in Asia Minor, closely associated with thePhrygianMother Goddess. The name of Kadmilus (Καδμῖλος), orKasmilos, one of the Cabeiri who was usually depicted as a young boy, was linked even inantiquity toCamillus, an oldLatin word for a boy-attendant in a cult, likely a loan from theEtruscan language,[citation needed] which may be related to Lemnian.[17] However, according to Beekes, the nameKadmilus may be of pre-Greek origin, as seems to be the case with the nameCadmus.[18]
The Cabeiri's origins are unknown.Jacob Wackernagel posited that they were possibly originallyPhrygian orThracian deities and protectors ofsailors, who were imported into Greek ritual.[19][20] According toEncyclopedia Britannica, the deities may have beenPelasgian orPhrygian.[21] It is not known who brought these deities to Greece, but it was probably a group ofGreeks, perhaps only a family which settled on the countryside of Thebes.[22]
They were most commonly depicted as two people: an old man, Axiocersus, and his son, Cadmilus. Due to the cult's secrecy, however, their exact nature and relationship with other ancient Greek andThracian religious figures remained mysterious. As a result, the membership and roles of the Cabeiri changed significantly over time, with common variants including a female pair (Axierus and Axiocersa) and twin youths (frequently confused withCastor and Pollux, who were also worshiped as protectors of sailors). Roman antiquarians identified the Cabeiri with the three Capitoline deities or with theDi Penates.[23]
The Lemnians were originally non-Greek; they wereHellenized afterMiltiades conquered the island for Athens in the sixth century BCE. InLemnos the cult of the Cabeiri survived, according to archaeological evidence, through the conquest: an ancient sanctuary dedicated to the Cabeiri is identifiable by traces of inscriptions, and seems to have survived the process of Hellenization.Walter Burkert records that wine jars are "the only characteristic group of finds" from the Cabeirium of Lemnos and that the Cabeirium was the location for initiation into an ancient mystery cult.[24] However, due to the secret nature ofmystery cults in the ancient world little survives to indicate what was involved in these initiation ceremonies; indeed, Hugh Bowden notes that on the basis of our evidence we do not know what happened at Lemnos beyond the fact of initiation, and that "we have no descriptions and nothing on which even to base speculation".[25] However, according to theEncyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, Lemnos held an annual festival of the Cabeiri, lasting nine days, during which all the fires were extinguished and fire brought fromDelos.[23]
The geographerStrabo reported (Geogr. 10,3,21) that in Lemnos, the mother (there was no father) of the Cabeiri wasKabeiro (Greek: Καβειρώ) herself, a daughter ofNereus (one of the "old men of the sea") and a goddess whom the Greeks might have calledRhea.
In general Greek myth identifies the Cabeiri as divine craftsmen, sons or grandsons ofHephaestus, who was also chiefly worshipped on Lemnos.Aeschylus wrote a tragedy calledThe Kabeiroi, which apparently featured the deities as a chorus greeting theArgonauts at Lemnos and the Argonauts' initiation into the cult of the Cabeiri.
TheSamothracians were also originally non-Greek, and are associated with theTrojans and thePelasgians; they used a foreign language in the temple throughJulius Caesar's time.[26] Samothrace offered an initiatory mystery, which promised safety and prosperity to seamen. The secret of these mysteries has largely been kept; but we know that of three things about the ritual, the aspirants were asked the worst action they had ever committed.[clarification needed]
The mysteries of Samothrace did not publish the names of their gods; and the offerings at the shrine are all inscribedto the gods orto the great gods rather than with their names. But ancient sources[27] tell us that there were two goddesses and a god:Axieros,Axiokersa, andAxiokersos, and their servantCadmilos orCasmilos.Karl Kerényi conjectured that Axieros was male, and the three gods were the sons of Axiokersa (Cadmilos, the youngest, was also the father of the three); Burkert disagrees.[28]
In Classical Greek culture the mysteries of the Cabeiri at Samothrace remained popular, though little was entrusted to writing beyond a few names and bare genealogical connections. Seamen among the Greeks might invoke the Cabeiri as "great gods" in times of danger and stress. The archaic sanctuary of Samothrace was rebuilt in Greek fashion; by classical times, the Samothrace mysteries of the Cabeiri were known at Athens.Herodotus had been initiated. But at the entrance to the sanctuary, which has been thoroughly excavated, the Roman antiquaryVarro learned that there had been twin pillars of brass, phallichermae, and that in the sanctuary it was understood that the child of the Goddess, Cadmilus, was in some mystic sense also her consort. Varro also describes these twin pillars as Heaven and Earth, denying the vulgar error that they areCastor and Pollux.[citation needed]
AtThebes inBoeotia there are more varied finds than on Lemnos; they include many little bronze votivebulls and which carry on into Roman times, when the travellerPausanias, always alert to the history ofcults, learned that it wasDemeterKabeiriia who instigated the initiation cult there in the name ofPrometheus and his son Aitnaios.Walter Burkert (1985) writes, "This points to guilds of smiths analogous to the Lemnian Hephaistos." The votive dedications at Thebes are to aKabeiros (Greek: Κάβειρος) in the singular, and childish toys like votive spinning tops forPais suggest a manhood initiation. Copious wine was drunk, out of characteristic cups that were ritually smashed. Fat, primitive dwarves (similar to the followers ofSilenus) with prominent genitalia were painted on the cups. Thebes is connected to Samothrace in myth, primarily the wedding ofCadmus andHarmonia, which took place there.
In myth, the Cabeiri bear many similarities to other fabulous races, such as theTelchines ofRhodes, theCyclopes, theDactyls, theKorybantes, and theKuretes. These different groups were often confused or identified with one another since many of them, like the Cyclopes and Telchines, were also associated withmetallurgy.
Diodorus Siculus said of the Cabeiri that they wereIdaioi dactyloi ("IdaianDactyls"). The Idaian Dactyls were a race of divine beings associated with theMother Goddess and withMount Ida, a mountain inPhrygia sacred to the goddess.Hesychius of Alexandria wrote that the Cabeiri werekarkinoi ("crabs"). The Cabeiri as Karkinoi were apparently thought of as amphibious beings (again recalling the Telchines). They had pincers instead of hands, which they used astongs (Greek:karkina) in metalworking.
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