Samothrace Flashcards
What is the most useful piece of archaeological evidence for analysing Samothracian mysteries?
The Sanctuary
Buildings usually 4th and 3rd century BC - classical / hellenistic
Herodotus predating these buildings, yet the cult must already exist as he talks about it - must not have had a physical sanctuary as that came later
Samothrace: northern Aegean, close to Thassos / Maroneia
Places identifiable as having sent delegates to the Samothracian mysteries - majority of the eastern coast
What other archaeology is useful to analyse Samothrace?
Inscriptions
“No uninitiated person may enter” - inscription in both Greek and Latin found in the most sacred part of the sanctuary : not found in situ but almost certainly meant that most of this area was only accessible to those who were initiated
Dedication inscriptions by Hellenistic kings give some clues as to which deity was worshipped at Samothrace - “to the great gods”
Name one further piece of archaeology of Samothrace?
Theatral circle, late 5th / early 4th century BC - road leading into the site, has been referred to as the ‘sacred road’
Excavators certain that this is where the initiations took place
Initiate placed on a throne and people danced around them - surely a circular building would be ideal for this ritual
Still much much later than Eleusis
What evidence is confusing but somewhat relevant to Samothrace?
Cabeiron at Thebes - pottery found
Gods at Samothrace referred to as Cabeiri
Pottery maybe used to reconstruct the mysteries - satyrs? Bull chariot? Dionysus / Hermes?
Metalworkers - initiates would get a ring
Metallurgy, mythology surrounding Samothrace
Magnetic rings? Some level of ‘magic’ to do with initiation
Attempt to summarise the Samothracian mysteries
References to ‘Mother of Gods’ and Earth and Sky - reference perhaps to Gaia / Uranus
Some mention of rebirth and the representative of spiritual rebirth
Could the consistent references to many different deities be in the worship of their mother?
Earliest sources focus on the mother, earth and sky - magnetism and metallurgy is a focal point too, could be viewed as the crossover of earth and sky (some binding force that aligns the two elements)
Cabeiri as the children of Gaia…? Corybantes interchangeable with cebeiri
What does Diodorus say on Samothrace?
“However, after the Amazons had returned to the continent, the myth relates, the Mother of the Gods, well pleased with the island, settled in it certain other people, and also her own sons, who are known by the name of Corybantes — who their father was is handed down in their rites as a matter not to be divulged; and she established the mysteries which are now celebrated on the island and ordained by law that the sacred area should enjoy the right of sanctuary.” Diodorus
What can we infer from the rings at Samothrace?
Magnetism as a force belonging to Gaia? Samothrace as the site of worship because of some natural magnetism?
Iron rings that initiates had may have been to carry a piece of Gaia with them at all times
Why did Samothrace gain a following, despite the confusion surrounding the cult?
Are the references to Samothrace as a ‘foreign’ or ‘exotic’ merely a marketing tool to appeal to the masses and gain more initiates? The idea that the Pelasgians or Thracians are where this originated from might be false by virtue of it being appealing to the masses…
Precisely because no one knows for sure what the cult was about, it was so appealing…
Name 3 ancient sources that mention Samothrace
Herodotus (c. 430 BC)
Possible deity of Hermes (originating from Pelasgians); origins in Egyptian mythology
Diodorus (1st c. BC)
Samothrace = sacred island
Amazon queen Myrina washed ashore and dedicated temples and altars to the ‘Mother of the Gods’ (Gaia?)
Philo of Byblos (1st c. AD)
Samothracians - first to invent a boat, discovered herbs to heal bites and spells
