In Greek mythology , the Cabeiri or Cabiri / k ə ˈ b aɪ r iː / ( Ancient Greek : Κάβειροι , Kábeiroi ), also transliterated Kabeiri or Kabiri , were a group of enigmatic chthonic deities. They were worshipped 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 pre-Greek elements, or other non-Greek elements, such as Thracian , Tyrrhenian , Pelasgian , Phrygian or Hittite . 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 .
63-567: 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 Olympic pantheon : the Cabeiri were given a mythic genealogy as sons of Hephaestus and Cabeiro . The accounts of
126-638: A Semitic origin, until the idea of "great" gods expressed by the Semitic root kbr was definitively attested for North Syria in the thirteenth century BCE, in texts from Emar 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
189-525: A close relationship between Armenian and Phrygian, despite saying that the two languages do share some features. Phrygian is now classified as a centum language more closely related to Greek than Armenian, whereas Armenian is mostly satem . During the 8th century BC, the Phrygian kingdom with its capital at Gordium in the upper Sakarya River valley expanded into an empire dominating most of central and western Anatolia and encroaching upon
252-463: A female pair (Axierus and Axiocersa) and twin youths (frequently confused with Castor and Pollux , who were also worshiped as protectors of sailors). Roman antiquarians identified the Cabeiri with the three Capitoline deities or with the Di Penates . The Lemnians were originally non-Greek; they were Hellenized after Miltiades conquered the island for Athens in the sixth century BCE. In Lemnos
315-453: A race of deities , primarily consisting of a third and fourth generation of immortal beings, worshipped as the principal gods of the Greek pantheon and so named because of their residency atop Mount Olympus . They gained their supremacy in a ten-year-long war of gods , in which Zeus led his siblings to victory over the previous generation of ruling immortal beings, the Titans , children of
378-762: A related group of northwest Anatolian cultures seems the most likely explanation for the confusion over whether Phrygians , Bebryces and Anatolian Mygdones were or were not the same people. Phrygian continued to be spoken until the 6th century AD, though its distinctive alphabet was lost earlier than those of most Anatolian cultures. One of the Homeric Hymns describes the Phrygian language as not mutually intelligible with that of Troy , and inscriptions found at Gordium make clear that Phrygians spoke an Indo-European language with at least some vocabulary similar to Greek . Phrygian clearly did not belong to
441-560: A single altar. Many other places had cults of the twelve gods, including Delos , Chalcedon , Magnesia on the Maeander , and Leontinoi in Sicily . As with the twelve Olympians, although the number of gods was fixed at twelve, the membership varied. While the majority of the gods included as members of these other cults of twelve gods were Olympians, non-Olympians were also sometimes included. For example, Herodorus of Heraclea identified
504-520: A truce by that time. This Midas appears to have had good relations and close trade ties with the Greeks, and reputedly married an Aeolian Greek princess. A system of writing in the Phrygian language developed and flourished in Gordium during this period, using a Phoenician-derived alphabet similar to the Greek one. A distinctive Phrygian pottery called Polished Ware appears during this period. However,
567-454: Is part of the centum group of Indo-European languages. However, between the 19th and the first half of the 20th century Phrygian was mostly considered a satəm language, and thus closer to Armenian and Thracian , while today it is commonly considered to be a centum language and thus closer to Greek. The reason that in the past Phrygian had the guise of a satəm language was due to two secondary processes that affected it. Namely, Phrygian merged
630-531: Is posited to be Thessalonica and possibly was the cult of mysteries of which Paul warns against in his letters to the church there. According to Strabo , Cabeiri are most honored in Imbros and Lemnos but also in other cities too. In the past, 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
693-417: Is situated in an area of hills and columns of volcanic tuff . To the south again, central Phrygia includes the cities of Afyonkarahisar (ancient Akroinon) with its marble quarries at nearby Docimium (İscehisar), and the town of Synnada . At the western end of Phrygia stood the towns of Aizanoi (modern Çavdarhisar ) and Acmonia . From here to the southwest lies the hilly area of Phrygia that contrasts to
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#1732780579520756-582: The Achaeans . Phrygian power reached its peak in the late 8th century BC under another historical king, Midas, who dominated most of western and central Anatolia and rivaled Assyria and Urartu for power in eastern Anatolia. This later Midas was, however, also the last independent king of Phrygia before Cimmerians sacked the Phrygian capital , Gordium , around 695 BC. Phrygia then became subject to Lydia , and then successively to Persia , Alexander and his Hellenistic successors, Pergamon ,
819-703: 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 (Καδμῖλος), 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, likely a loan from the Etruscan language , which may be related to Lemnian. However, according to Beekes,
882-637: The Dioskouri or priestly blacksmiths alternatively. T. J. Wackernagel in 1907 proposed a connection with the Sanskrit God Kubera/Kuvera which means "the ill-shaped one". 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 ." A connection with
945-586: The Hittites . This interpretation finds some motivation in Greek legends about Phrygians participation in the Trojan War, as well as the founding myth of the Gordium . No one has conclusively identified which of the many subjects of the Hittites might have represented early Phrygians. According to a classical tradition, popularized by Josephus , Phrygia can be equated with the country called Togarmah by
1008-569: The Horae , the Graces , the Muses , Eileithyia , Iris , Dione , and Ganymede . Besides the twelve Olympians, there were many other various cultic groupings of twelve gods throughout ancient Greece. The earliest evidence of Greek religious practice involving twelve gods ( Greek : δωδεκάθεον , dōdekátheon , from δώδεκα dōdeka , "twelve", and θεοί theoi , "gods") comes no earlier than
1071-457: 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 that of three things about the ritual, the aspirants were asked the worst action they had ever committed. The mysteries of Samothrace did not publish
1134-728: The Phrygians have been identified with the Bebryces , a people said to have warred with Mysia before the Trojan War and who had a king named Mygdon at roughly the same time as the Phrygians were said to have had a king named Mygdon. The classical historian Strabo groups Phrygians, Mygdones , Mysians , Bebryces and Bithynians together as peoples that migrated to Anatolia from the Balkans. This image of Phrygians as part of
1197-657: The Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire . Over this time Phrygians became Christian and Greek-speaking, assimilating into the Byzantine state; after the Turkish conquest of Byzantine Anatolia in the late Middle Ages, the name "Phrygia" passed out of usage as a territorial designation. Phrygia describes an area on the western end of the high Anatolian plateau, an arid region quite unlike the forested lands to
1260-473: The primordial deities Gaia and Uranus . They were a family of gods, the most important consisting of the first generation of Olympians, offspring of the Titans Cronus and Rhea : Zeus, Poseidon , Hera , Demeter and Hestia , along with the principal offspring of Zeus: Aphrodite , Athena , Artemis , Apollo , Ares , Hephaestus , Hermes and Dionysus . Although Hades was a major deity in
1323-451: The twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon , commonly considered to be Zeus , Poseidon , Hera , Demeter , Aphrodite , Athena , Artemis , Apollo , Ares , Hephaestus , Hermes , and either Hestia or Dionysus . They were called Olympians because, according to tradition, they resided on Mount Olympus . Besides the twelve Olympians, there were many other cultic groupings of twelve gods. The Olympians were
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#17327805795201386-559: The Alpheus, to the "twelve ruling gods": [Heracles] enclosed the Altis all around and marked it off in the open, and he made the encircling area a resting-place for feasting, honoring the stream of the Alpheus along with the twelve ruling gods. Another of Pindar's Olympian odes mentions "six double altars". Herodorus of Heraclea (c. 400 BC) also has Heracles founding a shrine at Olympia, with six pairs of gods, each pair sharing
1449-452: The Balkans and moved east with the Phrygians. However, an Armenian origin in the Balkans, although once widely accepted, has been facing increased scrutiny in recent years due to discrepancies in the timeline and lack of genetic and archeological evidence. In fact, some scholars have suggested that the Phrygians and/or the apparently related Mushki people were originally from Armenia and moved westward. A number of linguists have rejected
1512-571: The Cabeiri as divine craftsmen, sons or grandsons of Hephaestus , who was also chiefly worshipped on Lemnos. Aeschylus wrote a tragedy called The Kabeiroi , which apparently featured the deities as a chorus greeting the Argonauts at Lemnos and the Argonauts' initiation into the cult of the Cabeiri. The Samothracians were also originally non-Greek, and are associated with the Trojans and
1575-748: 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. Olympic gods In ancient Greek religion and mythology ,
1638-466: The Cabeiri, lasting nine days, during which all the fires were extinguished and fire brought from Delos . The geographer Strabo reported (Geogr. 10,3,21) that in Lemnos, the mother (there was no father) of the Cabeiri was Kabeiro ( Greek : Καβειρώ) herself, a daughter of Nereus (one of the "old men of the sea") and a goddess whom the Greeks might have called Rhea . In general Greek myth identifies
1701-569: The Greek pantheon and was the brother of Zeus and the other first generation of Olympians, his realm was far away from Olympus in the underworld , and thus he was not usually considered to be one of the Olympians. Olympic gods can be contrasted to chthonic gods including Hades and his wife Persephone , by mode of sacrifice, the latter receiving sacrifices in a bothros ( βόθρος , "pit") or megaron ( μέγαρον , "sunken chamber") rather than at an altar. The canonical number of Olympian gods
1764-560: The Greek word Kaio ( Greek : Καίω , lit. 'burn') has also been suggested, considering the nature of the Cabeiri as demons of volcanic fire; this was suggested by Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker and Louis Ferdinand Alfred Maury . Strabo wrote that the Cabeiri were named "after the mountain Kabeiros in Berekynthia". R. S. P. Beekes believes that their name is of non-Indo-European, pre-Greek origin. The name of
1827-667: The Hittite collapse. The so-called Handmade Knobbed Ware found in Western Anatolia during this period has been tentatively identified as an import connected to this invasion. Some scholars believe that the Phrygians were already established on the Sakarya River during the Late Bronze Age . These scholars seek instead to trace the Phrygians' origins among the many nations of western Anatolia who were subject to
1890-512: 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
1953-472: The Phrygian Kingdom was then overwhelmed by Cimmerian invaders , and Gordium was sacked and destroyed. According to Strabo and others, Midas committed suicide by drinking bulls' blood. A series of digs have opened Gordium as one of Turkey's most revealing archeological sites. Excavations confirm a violent destruction of Gordium around 675 BC. A tomb from the period, popularly identified as
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2016-439: The Phrygians and Mushki , an eastern Anatolian people, were at that time campaigning in a joint army. This Midas is thought to have reigned Phrygia at the peak of its power from about 720 BC to about 695 BC (according to Eusebius) or 676 BC (according to Julius Africanus). An Assyrian inscription mentioning "Mita", dated to 709 BC, during the reign of Sargon of Assyria , suggests Phrygia and Assyria had struck
2079-731: The Phrygians were called Bryges when they lived in Europe. He and other Greek writers also recorded legends about King Midas that associated him with or put his origin in Macedonia ; Herodotus, for example, says a wild rose garden in Macedonia was named after Midas. Some classical writers also connected the Phrygians with the Mygdones , the name of two groups of people, one of which lived in northern Macedonia and another in Mysia . Likewise,
2142-628: 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 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. Varro also describes these twin pillars as Heaven and Earth, denying
2205-667: 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. The Cabeiri were also worshipped at other sites in the vicinity, including Seuthopolis in Thrace and various sites in Asia Minor . One of these
2268-596: The ancient Hebrews, which has in turn been identified as the Tegarama of Hittite texts and Til-Garimmu of Assyrian records. Josephus called Togarmah "the Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians". However, the Greek source cited by Josephus is unknown, and it is unclear if there was any basis for the identification other than name similarity. Scholars of the Hittites believe Tegarama
2331-581: The bare plains of the region's heartland. The region of southwestern Phrygia is irrigated by the Maeander, also known as the Büyük Menderes River , along with its tributary, the Lycus. Within its boundaries lie the towns of Laodicea on the Lycus and Hierapolis . According to ancient tradition among Greek historians, the Phrygians migrated to Anatolia from the Balkans . Herodotus says that
2394-446: The closest relative of Phrygian, a position that is supported by Brixhe , Neumann, Matzinger, Woodhouse, Ligorio, Lubotsky, and Obrador-Cursach. Furthermore, 34 out of the 36 Phrygian isoglosses that are recorded are shared with Greek, with 22 being exclusive between them. The last 50 years of Phrygian scholarship developed a hypothesis that proposes a proto-Graeco-Phrygian stage out of which Greek and Phrygian originated, and if Phrygian
2457-511: 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. However, due to
2520-602: The downfall of the Hittite Empire and the end of the high Bronze Age in Anatolia. According to the "recent migration" theory, the Phrygians invaded just before or after the collapse of the Hittite Empire at the beginning of the 12th century BC, filling the political vacuum in central-western Anatolia, and may have been counted among the " Sea Peoples " that Egyptian records credit with bringing about
2583-485: The family of Anatolian languages spoken in most of the adjacent countries, such as Hittite . The apparent similarity of the Phrygian language to Greek and its dissimilarity with the Anatolian languages spoken by most of their neighbors is also taken as support for a European origin of the Phrygians. From what is available, it is evident that Phrygian shares important features with Greek and Armenian . Phrygian
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2646-463: The god Hermes divide a sacrifice of two cows he has stolen from Apollo, into twelve parts, on the banks of the river Alpheus (presumably at Olympia): Next glad-hearted Hermes dragged the rich meats he had prepared and put them on a smooth, flat stone, and divided them into twelve portions distributed by lot, making each portion wholly honorable. Pindar, in an ode written to be sung at Olympia c. 480 BC, has Heracles sacrificing, alongside
2709-551: The larger Assyrian Empire to its southeast and the kingdom of Urartu to the northeast. According to the classical historians Strabo , Eusebius and Julius Africanus , the king of Phrygia during this time was another Midas. This historical Midas is believed to be the same person named as Mita in Assyrian texts from the period and identified as king of the Mushki . Scholars figure that Assyrians called Phrygians "Mushki" because
2772-491: The late sixth century BC. According to Thucydides , an altar of the twelve gods was established in the agora of Athens by the archon Pisistratus (son of Hippias and the grandson of the tyrant Pisistratus ), around 522 BC. The altar became the central point from which distances from Athens were measured and a place of supplication and refuge. Olympia apparently also had an early tradition of twelve gods. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes ( c. 500 BC ) has
2835-451: The name Kadmilus may be of pre-Greek origin, as seems to be the case with the name Cadmus . The Cabeiri's origins are unknown. Jacob Wackernagel posited that they were possibly originally Phrygian or Thracian deities and protectors of sailors , who were imported into Greek ritual. According to Encyclopedia Britannica , the deities may have been Pelasgian or Phrygian . It is not known who brought these deities to Greece, but it
2898-403: 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 , Axiokersa , and Axiokersos , and their servant Cadmilos or Casmilos . Karl Kerényi conjectured that Axieros was male, and the three gods were the sons of Axiokersa (Cadmilos,
2961-564: The north and west of it. Phrygia begins in the northwest where an area of dry steppe is diluted by the Sakarya and Porsuk river system and is home to the settlements of Dorylaeum near modern Eskişehir , and the Phrygian capital Gordion . The climate is harsh with hot summers and cold winters. Therefore, olives will not easily grow here so the land is mostly used for livestock grazing and barley production. South of Dorylaeum an important Phrygian settlement, Midas City ( Yazılıkaya, Eskişehir ),
3024-399: The old labiovelar with the plain velar, and secondly, when in contact with palatal vowels /e/ and /i/, especially in initial position, some consonants became palatalized. Furthermore, Kortlandt (1988) presented common sound changes of Thracian and Armenian and their separation from Phrygian and the rest of the palaeo-Balkan languages from an early stage. Modern consensus regards Greek as
3087-616: The original twelve being "cast out". In the Iliad , the goddess Themis , who is listed among the twelve Titans , dwells on Olympus alongside the other gods, making her a Titan and an Olympian at the same time. According to Hesiod, the children of Styx — Zelus (Envy), Nike (Victory), Kratos (Strength), and Bia (Force)—"have no house apart from Zeus, nor any dwelling nor path except that wherein God leads them, but they dwell always with Zeus". Some others who might be considered Olympians include
3150-596: The place of Vesta (Greek Hestia), who played a crucial role in Roman religion as a state goddess maintained by the Vestals . There is no single canonical list of the twelve Olympian gods. The thirteen Greek gods and goddesses, along with their Roman counterparts, most commonly considered to be one of the twelve Olympians are listed below. Some lists of the Twelve Olympians omit her in favor of Dionysus, but
3213-499: The river god Alpheus, with the status of the Graces (here apparently counted as one god) being unclear. Plato connected "twelve gods" with the twelve months and implies that he considered Pluto (Or Hades) one of the twelve in proposing that the final month be devoted to him and the spirits of the dead. The Roman poet Ennius gives the Roman equivalents (the Dii Consentes ) as six male-female complements, preserving
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#17327805795203276-550: The secret nature of mystery 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". However, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition , Lemnos held an annual festival of
3339-512: The six pairs of gods at Olympia as: Zeus and Poseidon, Hera and Athena, Hermes and Apollo, the Graces and Dionysus, Artemis and Alpheus , and Cronus and Rhea . Thus, while this list includes the eight Olympians: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Hermes, Apollo, Artemis, and Dionysus, it also contains three clear non-Olympians: the Titan parents of the first generation of Olympians, Cronus and Rhea, and
3402-673: The speculation that she gave her throne to him in order to keep the peace seems to be a modern invention. Phrygian mythology Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European In classical antiquity , Phrygia ( / ˈ f r ɪ dʒ i ə / FRIJ -ee-ə ; Ancient Greek : Φρυγία , Phrygía )
3465-598: The time encompassed much of western and central Anatolia : "the Armenians were equipped like Phrygians, being Phrygian colonists" (7.73) ( Ἀρμένιοι δὲ κατά περ Φρύγες ἐσεσάχατο, ἐόντες Φρυγῶν ἄποικοι. ) According to Herotodus, the Phrygians had originated in the Balkans , in an area adjoining Macedonia, from where they had emigrated to Anatolia during the Bronze Age collapse . This led later scholars, such as Igor Diakonoff , to theorize that Armenians also originated in
3528-543: The vulgar error that they are Castor and Pollux . At Thebes in Boeotia 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
3591-768: The wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia , which took place there. 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
3654-432: 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,
3717-421: Was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia , in what is now Asian Turkey , centered on the Sangarios River . After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires of the time. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Phrygian kings: According to Homer 's Iliad , the Phrygians participated in the Trojan War as close allies of the Trojans , fighting against
3780-635: Was in eastern Anatolia – some locate it at Gurun – far to the east of Phrygia. Some scholars have identified Phrygia with the Assuwa league, and noted that the Iliad mentions a Phrygian (Queen Hecuba 's brother) named Asios . Another possible early name of Phrygia could be Hapalla , the name of the easternmost province that emerged from the splintering of the Bronze Age western Anatolian empire Arzawa . However, scholars are unsure if Hapalla corresponds to Phrygia or to Pisidia , further south. Ancient Greek historian Herodotus (writing circa 440 BC), suggested that Armenians migrated from Phrygia, which at
3843-420: Was more sufficiently attested, that stage could perhaps be reconstructed. Some scholars dismiss the claim of a Phrygian migration as a mere legend, likely arising from the coincidental similarity of their name to the Bryges , and have theorized that migration into Phrygia could have occurred more recently than classical sources suggest. They have sought to fit the Phrygian arrival into a narrative explaining
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#17327805795203906-464: Was probably a group of Greeks , perhaps only a family which settled on the countryside of Thebes. 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
3969-404: Was twelve, but besides the (thirteen) principal Olympians listed above, there were many other residents of Olympus, who thus might be considered to be Olympians. Heracles became a resident of Olympus after his apotheosis and married another Olympian resident Hebe . According to Diodorus Siculus , some said that Heracles was offered a place among the twelve, but refused as it would mean one of
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