Listed 2 sub titles with search on: Mythology for wider area of: "MOUDROS Small town LEMNOS (LIMNOS)" .
KAVIRIO (Ancient sanctuary) LEMNOS (LIMNOS)
Sons or grandchildren of Ifestos and Kavero (female goddess, daughter
of Proteus the sea demon). According to the myth, Kavero gave birth to three sons,
the Kaverous and three daughters , the Kaverithes. Their name means "almighty",
"powerful", however according to others "copper-like". The word originates from
the root "kav" that suggests the "harsh" and from the word "ieroi" which means
holy. The Kaveri of Lemnos were the guardians of the trade-union of the metalworkers
who possibly were the richest and most powerful class. Their role was double as
children of the goddess of the sea were guardians of the seamen (Samothace) and
as children of Ifestos guards of the metalworkers (Lemnos).
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 quite 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 the 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.
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). The opinion of Welcker, 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 contributed 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., speaks of the origin of the Cabeiri,
deriving his statements from ancient authorities, and from him we learn, that
Acusilaus called Camillus a son of Cabeiro and Hephaestus, and that he made the
three Cabeiri the sons, and the Cabeirian nymphs the daughters, of Camillus. 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
the Corybantes as well as the Cabeiri in Lemnos and Imbros, and also in the towns
of Troas. The Greek 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 on 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, and other beings
of inferior rank. Herodotus (iii. 37) says, that the Cabeiri were worshipped at
Memphis as the sons of Hephaestus, and that they resembled the Phoenician dwarf-gods
(Pataikoi) whom the 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. Herodotus 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), that 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, whom some identified with Proserpine (Persephone), and others with
Hecate or Artemis. We generally find this goddess worshipped in places which had
the worship of the Cabeiri, and a Lemnian Artemis is mentioned by Galen. The Tyrrhenians,
too, are said to have taken away the statue of Artemis at Brauron, 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 that the Cabeirus Alcon brandished Hekates Diasodea purson, so that
we may draw the conclusion, that 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, 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 Cronos, others that they are the sons
of Zeus and Calliope, that they (the Corybantes) went to Samothrace 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,
those 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
name from mount Cabeirus in Berecyntia. But here again opinions differed very
much, for while some believed that the hiera Kabeiron 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). 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.; Callim. Ep. 36; Lucian. Ep.
15; Plut. Marcell. 30). There are several instances 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 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.), 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 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 Dionysius that dorus 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 Hermes with Persephone; the worship of the latter
as connected with that of Demeter in Samothrace is attested by Artemidorus (ap.
Strab. iv.); 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 Palever, ladium 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. Dardanos; Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. 391), while
Arrian (ap. Eustath.) 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 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 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.; Strab. Esccrpt. lib. vii.; Lucian, Dc
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 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 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 Pataaikoi 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 "the great," and that Lobeck considers
Astarte as identical with the Selene 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 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 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 Varro 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. i. 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 yet 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 versa. 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) 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, and 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 later ones; but Demetrius, who wrote on the subject, may have had more
and very good ones, since it is 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 came 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. Besides the Cabeiri
of these three islands, we read of Boeotian Cabeiri. Near the Neitian 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 of 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 between 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 another 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. A Macedonian Cabeirus occurs in Lactantius.
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 of Berytus by Sanchoniathon and Damascius.
Respecting the mysteries of the Cabeiri in general, see Dict. of Ant. s. v. Cabeiria.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Sep 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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