Everything about Cabiri totally explained
In
Greek mythology, the
Cabeiri, (
Cabiri,
Kabeiroi,
Greek: Κάβειροι) were a group of enigmatic
chthonic deities. They were worshiped in a
mystery cult closely associated with that of
Hephaestus, centered in the north Aegean islands of
Lemnos and possibly
Samothrace —at the
Samothrace temple complex— and at
Thebes. In their distant origins the Cabeiri and the Samothracian gods may include Hittite, Thracian, proto-Etruscan, or Phrygian elements. The Lemnian cult was always local to Lemnos, but the Samothracian mystery cult spread rapidly throughout the Greek world during the
Hellenistic period, eventually initiating Romans.
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 the Hellenic
pantheon. The accounts of the Samothracian gods, whose names were secret, vary in the number and sexes of the gods, usually between two and four, some of either sex. The number of Cabiri also varied, with some accounts citing four (often a pair of males and a pair of females) of them, and some even more, such as a tribe or whole race of Cabiri, often presented as all male.
The Cabeiri were also worshipped at other sites in the vicinity, including
Seuthopolis in
Thrace and various sites in
Asia Minor.
Origin of the Cabeiri
The Cabeiri were possibly originally
Phrygian deities and protectors of
sailors, who were imported into Greek ritual.
Depiction in literary sources
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 and
Thracian 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 who were frequently confused with
Castor and Pollux, who were also worshiped as protectors of sailors. The number of Cabiri also varied, with some accounts citing four (often a pair of males and a pair of females) of them, and some even more, such as a tribe or whole race of Cabiri.
Lemnos
The Lemnians were originally non-Greek; they were Hellenized after
Miltiades conquered the island for Athens in the sixth century BCE. In
Lemnos the cult of the Cabeiri survived, according to achaeological evidence, through the conquest: an ancient sanctuary dedicated to the Cabeiri is identifiable by traces of inscriptions, and seems to have survived the program of Hellenization.
The geographer
Strabo reported that in Lemnos, the mother (there was no father) of the Cabeiri was
Kabeiro (
Greek: Καβειρω) herself, a daughter of
Proteus (one of the "old men of the sea") and a goddess whom the Greeks might have called
Rhea.
In general Greek myth identifies the Cabeiri as divine craftsmen, sons or grandsons of
Hephaestus, who was also chiefly worshipped on Lemnos.
Aeschylus wrote a play called the
Cabeiri, and the fragments that survive have them as a chorus greeting the
Argonauts at Lemnos. showed them as prodigious wine-drinkers, and wine jars are "the only characteristic group of finds" from the Cabeirium of Lemnos.
Walter Burkert suggests a raucous, burlesque character to the mysteries of the Cabeiri and notes an inscription at Lemnos indicates
parapaizonti, the one who "jests along the way". First-fruits were offered to
Zeus,
Apollo, and the Cabeiri; Burkert also sees the offerings to Zeus and Apollo, father and son, as indicating an initiatory ceremony
Samothrace
The
Samothracians were also originally non-Greek, and are associated with the
Trojans and the
Pelasgians; they used a foreign language in the temple through
Julius Caesar's time.
Samothrace offered an initiatory mystery, which promised safety and prosperity to seamen. The secret of these mysteries has largely been kept; but we know three things about the ritual: the aspirants were asked the worst action they'd ever committed;
The archaic sanctuary of Samothrace was rebuilt in Greek fashion; by classical times, the Samothrace mysteries of the Cabeiri were known at Athens, where
Herodotus had been initiated. But at the entry to the sanctuary, which has been thoroughly excavated, the Roman antiquary
Varro learned that there had been twin pillars of brass. He describes them as Heaven and Earth, denying the vulgar error that they're
Castor and
Pollux.
The mysteries of Samothrace didn't publish the names of their gods; and the offerings at the shrine are all inscribed
to the gods or
to the great gods rather than with their names. But ancient sources tell us that there were two goddesses and a god:
Axieros,
Axiocersa, and
Axiocersus, and their servant
Cadmilus or
Casmilus.
Karl Kerényi conjectured that Axieros was male, and the three gods were the sons of Axiocersa (Cadmillus, the youngest, was also the father of the three); Burkert disagrees.
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 entry to the sanctuary, which has been thoroughly excavated, the Roman antiquary
Varro learned that there had been twin pillars of brass, phallic
hermae, and that in the sanctuary it was understood that the child of the Goddess, Cadmilus, was in some mystic sense also her consort.
Thebes in Boetia
At
Thebes in
Boetia there are more varied finds than on Lemnos; they include many little bronze votive
bulls and which carry on into Roman times, when the traveller
Pausanias, always alert to the history of
cults, learned that it was
Demeter Kabeiriia who instigated the initiation cult there in the name of
Prometheus 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 a
Kabeiros (Greek: Κάβειρος) in the singular, and childish toys like votive spinning tops for
Pais suggest a manhood initiation. Copious wine was drunk, out of characteristic cups that were ritually smashed. Fat, primitive dwarves (similar to the followers of
Silenus) with prominent genitalia were painted on the cups.
Thebes is connected to Samothrace in myth, primarily the wedding of
Cadmus and
Harmonia, which took place there.
Etymology
The
Semitic word
kabir ("great") has been compared to Κάβειροι since at least
Joseph 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 root
kbr was definitiely attested for North Syria in the thirteenth century BCE, in texts from
Emar published by D. Arnaud in 1985/87 (see
Emar). TJ. Wackernagel had produced an Indian etymology in 1907; in 1925
A. H. Sayce had suggested a connection to
Hittite habiri ("looters", "outlaws"), but subsequent discoveries have made this implausible on phonological grounds. Dossein compares Κάβειροι to the
Sumerian word
kabar,
copper.
The name of the
Cabeiri recalls
Mount Kabeiros, a mountain in the region of
Berekyntia in Asia Minor, closely associated with the
Phrygian
Mother Goddess. The name of Kadmilus (or
Kasmilos), one of the Cabeiri who was usually depicted as a young boy, was linked even in
antiquity to
camillus, an old
Latin word for a boy-attendant in a cult, which is probably a loan from the
Etruscan language, which may be related to Lemnian..
Myth
In myth, the Cabeiri bear many similarities to other fabulous races, such as the
Telchines of
Rhodes, the
Cyclopes, the
Dactyls, the
Korybantes, and the Kuretes. These different groups were often confused or identified with one another since many of them, like the Cyclopes and Telchines, were also associated with
metallurgy.
Diodorus Siculus said of the Cabeiri that they were
Idaioi dactyloi ("Idaian
Dactyls"). The Idaian Dactyls were a race of divine beings associated with the
Mother Goddess and with
Mount Ida, a mountain in
Phrygia sacred to the goddess.
Hesychius of Alexandria wrote that the Cabeiri were
karkinoi ("
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 as
tongs (Greek:
karkina) in metalworking.
It has been suggested that the
Orphic mysteries may have had their origins with the Cabeiri.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Cabiri'.
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