SAMOTRACIA, MYSTERIES OF. — After those celebrated at Eleusis, the mysteries of S. were among the most famous in the Greek world. Various legends existed concerning their institution and origin, but perhaps the one that best reflects historical reality is that which derived the cult of the Cabiric “Great Gods” from the region of Ida (Phrygia).
Alongside this Micrasian tradition there was another tendency to derive the mysteries of S. from Thrace. In fact, with Herodotus (2, 51) we have the first historical information concerning these mysteries, which he attributes to a very ancient period and to a people believed to have preceded the Greeks on Hellenic soil: the Pelasgians, in whom, given the proximity of the territory and the affinity of the religious manifestations, the peoples of Thrace are to be recognized—at least in this case. To Herodotus’s account may be added that of Diodorus Siculus (5, 47), according to whom, even in his own time, the characteristic dialect of the indigenous peoples (Pelasgians?) was preserved in many religious ceremonies at S. Toward the end of the fourth century B.C., and then especially in the Hellenistic period, S. became a center of the first order, to such an extent as to rival Eleusis: Demetrius Poliorcetes erected the famous statue of Nike in 306; Lysimachus placed the sanctuaries on the island under his protection; Perseus, defeated by the Romans, took refuge on this island, where Ptolemy Philometor also withdrew; both attest to the great devout esteem enjoyed by the island, a true inviolable place of asylum.
The Romans too flocked in great numbers to the mysteries of S., making them a kind of national sanctuary, thanks to the tradition that the Penates of Rome were the same gods as those of S., transported to Troy by Dardanus, and from there to Rome by Aeneas (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, I, 61, 68). Even in the time of Libanius (fourth century A.D.), the mysteries of S. were regularly celebrated.
The mysteries of S. Cabiri (v.), who in the cult received the generic name, because it was esoteric, of “Great Gods” (μεγάλοι θεοί, sometimes called “mighty” = ἰσχυροί, or “Lords” = Ἄνχες). But in the Samothracian cult—in a truly exceptional case—their true, that is, esoteric, names are known; these were revealed only to the initiates, who could pronounce them efficaciously only in times of danger, especially at sea (hence their designation as σωτήρες = saviors, and their identification with the Dioscuri). According to Mnaseas of Patara (second century B.C.), these gods were four and were called Axieros, Axiokersa, Axiokersos, and Kadmilos (or Kasmilos), interpreted respectively (though not always) as Demeter, Kore, Hades, and Hermes. Thus, although we know almost nothing about the cultic development of these mysteries, these latter divinities (especially the first three), Eleusinian Mysteries (v.), give the vague impression that those of S. must certainly have spoken to the initiate of a death and a resurrection, and above all of the blessed vision of the life to come. This may also be maintained on the grounds that a liturgical drama was performed in them concerning the “search” for Harmonia by her husband Cadmus (at Eleusis there was the “search for Kore”), and that the initiates were taught that Adam was the name of primitive man.
Unlike the Eleusinian mysteries, in these the ceremonies of initiation did not take place only once a year but,
it seems, in every summer month, from May to September. There was, however, also an annual festival (perhaps in midsummer), celebrated with extraordinary pomp and with a great number of initiates, during which armed dances were performed analogous to those of the Curetes and Corybantes and reminiscent of certain Phrygian rites; the performers, accompanied by the flute and the tympanum, were called Saal.
The mysteries—which could also be entered by women and children—were presided over by a priestly body headed by a “king” (βασιλεύς), who also exercised the functions of the island’s chief magistrate. Purificatory rites occupied an important place; they were celebrated by a special priest, called (perhaps with a Lydian term) λόγος ο λόγος (cf. Hesychius, s. v.), “the purifier,” by means of a genuine auricular confession by the initiates. These initiates—who were distinguished as simple (μόσται) and pious (μόσται εὐσέβεις)—were offered a sacramental meal.
Finally, it may be recalled that, unlike and perhaps in opposition to Eleusis, where on the first day of the celebrations murderers were publicly excluded, at S. they were admitted (and initiated?) after a kind of confession and expiation. According to Hesychius (loc. cit.), this task fell precisely to the λόγος (v. above).