CULT OF THE GREAT GODS AT SAMOTHRACE
Samothrace, a rocky island in the northern Aegean Sea, was home to the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, a mystery cult devoted to enigmatic deities who were thought to grant protection to seafarers. Today Samothrace can be reached by ferry from Kavala in northern Greece and Lemnos. It is home of the tallest mountain in the Aegean, 1611-meter (5285-foot) -high Fengari, where according to Homer Poseidon watched the Trojan War. The famous Louvre statue, Nike of Samothrace, also known as Winged Victory of Samothrace, was found here. [Source: Benjamin Leonard, Archaeology Magazine, September/October 2021]
Benjamin Leonard wrote in Archaeology Magazine: During the day, Samothrace is often veiled by clouds. Wind sweeps across the landscape, and the turbulent waters remain, as they were in antiquity, dangerous for seafarers. When the clouds clear at night, however, the peak of Mount Fengari at the island’s center, which reaches a mile into the sky, becomes visible. From the vantage point of the peak, Nestled in a deep ravine in the mountain’s shadow lie the remains of the Sanctuary of the Theoi Megaloi, or Great Gods.
From at least the seventh century B.C., pilgrims walked under the cover of darkness from the nearby ancient city, now known as Palaeopolis, to the sanctuary to be inducted into a secret religious cult. As they passed through an immense marble gateway onto the sanctuary’s eastern hill, they might have heard the rush of water coursing through a channel beneath the entranceway. Amid the sounds of music and chanting emanating from farther within the sanctuary, the prospective initiates reached a sunken circular court. Here, ritual dancing and other performances might have taken place, surrounded by bronze statues that were likely dedicated by previous initiates. The noise and darkness, as well as the use of blindfolds, probably induced an altered state of mind that prepared participants for the forthcoming rituals and sacred revelations. By the flickering light of oil lamps and torches, they began the steep descent down the Sacred Way, to the sanctuary’s heart, to be initiated into the mysteries of the Great Gods.
Because initiates were bound to keep the details of the rites secret, ancient literary sources provide scant details about the cult. Those writers who do discuss the mysteries often give diverging accounts and differing identifications of the gods. Coins dating to the second-century B.C. unearthed at the sanctuary depict a great mother goddess. Some ancient writers associate this goddess with a group of gods called the Kabeiroi. “What we know most clearly about the initiation are its promises and benefits,” says archaeologist Bonna Wescoat of Emory University. “Ancient sources strongly state that the Great Gods are powerful and protective gods. Most say they offer protection at sea, while some say they offer protection in times of need. The benefits they confer could have meant different things to different people, depending on what an initiate most sought from the experience.” Some writers even claim that initiates experienced a moral transformation. According to the first-century B.C. Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, initiates into the Samothracian mysteries became “more pious and more just and better in all ways than they had been before.”
Several sources mention the myth of the abduction of Harmonia, daughter of Zeus and Electra, by the hero Kadmos. According to the myth, Kadmos was one of the first people from outside Samothrace to be initiated, and while on the island, he whisked Harmonia from her home to the city of Thebes. Some versions of the myth also include a joyous wedding between Kadmos and Harmonia. “There was this emotional push and pull of loss and recovery, of terror and celebration,” Wescoat says.
Despite Samothrace’s remote location, the mystery cult of the Great Gods was well known in the ancient world, second in popularity to the mysteries celebrated at Eleusis, outside Athens. Pilgrims traveled by ship from across Greece, the Black Sea region, Asia Minor, and Rome for initiation, which was offered whenever a sufficient number of participants arrived on the island during the sailing season, from April through October.
History of the Cult of the Great Gods at Samothrace
Benjamin Leonard wrote in Archaeology Magazine: Before the Greeks settled on Samothrace in the sixth century B.C., the Thracians, a group of tribes from the Balkans, settled its highlands between about 1100 and 900 B.C. After the Greeks’ arrival, the two groups seem to have coexisted peacefully. Fragments of sixth- through fourth-century B.C. pottery recovered from the island and from Zone, a Samothracian coastal outpost on the mainland, were inscribed in the ancient Thracian language using the Greek alphabet. “From these fragments and other considerations, it’s clear the Thracians kept using their language well into the Hellenistic period,” says epigrapher Kevin Clinton of Cornell University. Diodorus mentions that, at the time he was writing in the first century B.C., the Samothracians still used a non-Greek ancient language, likely Thracian, during the initiation rites. Elements of the cult of the Great Gods may hearken back to a native Thracian cult, Clinton says, though it is unknown what this cult’s contribution was to the rites celebrated in later periods. [Source: Benjamin Leonard, Archaeology Magazine, September/October 2021]
The earliest material traces of religious activity within the sanctuary are seventh-century B.C. tankards for ritual drinking and remains of structures dating to the late fifth or early fourth century B.C. Reused blocks preserved in the foundations of these buildings and traces of monumental walls are vestiges of even earlier sacred structures.
By the mid-fourth century B.C., a few modest buildings had sprung up on the sanctuary’s eastern hill and in its central valley. Around this time, the Macedonian king Philip II (r. 359–336 B.C.) and his future wife Olympias, the parents of Alexander the Great, met on the island to negotiate their marriage and to be initiated into the cult. Their presence on Samothrace seems to have spurred elite patrons to invest in the sanctuary on an unprecedented level, beginning with the construction of a monumental marble building in the middle of the central valley around 340 B.C. Wescoat believes it may have been commissioned by Philip himself. “There was no gradual lead-up to this, just small buildings made of local materials and then — boom — this extraordinary structure built of imported marble,” she says. “It’s hard for me to see it as a project the Samothracians could have pulled off on their own.”
Over the next century, the Sanctuary of the Great Gods became an increasingly popular destination filled with grand monuments. These were funded by Macedonian royals including the Ptolemies, a dynasty that ruled Egypt from 304 to 30 B.C. Alexander’s successors, his half-brother Philip III Arrhidaeus and son Alexander IV, dedicated a marble building fronted by Doric columns during their short joint reign (322–317 B.C.). Ptolemy II Philadelphus (r. 284–246 B.C.) built the gateway that served as the sanctuary’s entrance. Opposite the Hall of Choral Dancers, Ptolemy’s wife Arsinoe II commissioned a rotunda that was the largest circular building in the Hellenistic world. “All these monuments transformed the sanctuary into an international center and a glittering display of power and opulence,” Wescoat says.
See Separate Article: OLYMPIAS (ALEXANDER’S THE GREAT'S MOTHER) europe.factsanddetails.com
Buildings for the Cult of the Great Gods at Samothrace
The monumental marble building in the middle of the central valley of Samothrace, dating to 340 B.C., is now called the Hall of Choral Dancers after a frieze depicting more than 900 dancing young women that once wrapped around its exterior. The hall is the sanctuary’s oldest standing cult building and incorporated remnants of an earlier chamber into its core. [Source: Benjamin Leonard, Archaeology Magazine, September/October 2021]
Benjamin Leonard wrote in Archaeology Magazine: The sanctuary’s design placed visitors in front of important buildings, but only allowed them to see the structures’ facades from particular angles. “The buildings would be revealed to viewers in a very specific way that gave them the full intended effect of the architecture,” says archaeologist Maggie Popkin of Case Western Reserve University. For example, at the bottom of the Sacred Way, initiates would have approached the Hall of Choral Dancers from the side, not from its imposing front. They would have had to round the corner of the hall to see the sculptures that adorned its facade. Some ritual activity occurred inside the building as well, though it’s not clear to what extent initiates were involved. Inside the building’s two large chambers, archaeologists have uncovered bothroi, or ritual channels for pouring libations into the earth, and traces of small hearths. “This was probably the most important cult building,” Wescoat says. “Whether all initiation happened in it, and how it was designed to accommodate that, is a matter of great debate among scholars, including many of our team members.”
In order to more closely examine the physical and visual connections among the sanctuary’s buildings and how these connections impacted initiates’ and other visitors’ experience, the team created a 3-D digital model of the sanctuary that allows them to virtually walk through it from the perspective of an ancient visitor. “The space was like a diaphragm,” says Wescoat. “It opened up and then closed, creating a series of stations where initiates would have had to stop and gather.” Access to certain buildings would have also been restricted. Inscriptions in Greek and Latin discovered around the remains of two cult buildings proclaim that “the uninitiated are not to enter.” These inscriptions were not found in situ, and it’s unclear whether they referred to specific buildings or areas, or to the sanctuary as a whole. Given that restricting access to the entire sanctuary would have been difficult, especially since it was not surrounded by walls, Clinton believes the inscriptions likely referred to specific areas. “The boatloads of visitors would undoubtedly include people that were not going to be initiated,” he says. “There would have been areas that could accommodate them.”
Rituals and Festivals at the Temple of the Great Gods at Samothrace
The entire sanctuary at the Samothrace Temple Complex was open anyone who wished to worship the Great Gods, although access to buildings consecrated to the mysteries was reserved for initiates. These rituals and ceremonies were presided over by the priestess in service to the people. The head priestess, and often a prophetess, was titled a Sybil, or Cybele. [Source Wikipedia]
The most common rituals were more or less the same as those done at other Greek sanctuaries. These included prayer and supplications accompanied by blood sacrifices of animals such as sheep and pigs, burnt in sacred hearths as well as libations made to the certain deities in circular or rectangular ritual pits. A large number of rock altars were used, the largest of which was surrounded by large enclosure at the end of the 4th century B.C.
The major annual festival of the Great Gods drew people from all over the Greek world to Samothrace. Probably taking place in mid-July, it featured a sacred play, which entailed a ritual wedding. This may have taken place in the building with the Dancer's Wall. There was a belief that the search for the missing maiden, followed by her marriage to the god of the underworld, represented the marriage of Cadmos and Harmonia. A frieze on which the Temenos is indicated may be an allusion to this marriage. Around 200 B.C., a Dionysian competition was added to the festival. A theatre was built opposite the great altar to accommodate this.
Numerous votive offerings were made at the sanctuary. There a special building for them next to the great altar. Among the offerings that were left were bronze, marble and clay statues, weapons and vases. Because of Samothrace's location on busy maritime routes the cult was particularly popular with sailors, traders and non-elites and thus many of the offerings were very modest. Archaeologists have found numerous seashells and fish hooks, perhaps left mariners or fishermen giving thanks to the gods for having protected them from the dangers of the sea.

Plan of the sanctuary of the Great Gods in Samothraki, Greece.
Legend: 1–3) Hellenistic treasures; 4) ?; 5) Miletean building; 6) Néôrion; 7) Banquet hall; 8) Portico; 9) Fountain of the Nike of Samothrace; 10) Theater; 11) Great altar; 12) Building for displaying votive offerings; 13) Hiéron; 14) Building of the Dancer's Frieze or “temenos”; 15) Arsinoé rotunda or “Arsinoéion”; 16) Anaktoron; 17–19) ?; 20) Ptolémaion
Initiates of Cult of the Great Gods at Samothrace
Numerous famous people were initiates, including the Olympias, Alexander the Great’s mother as we said before, the historian Herodotus, one of very few authors to have left behind a few clues to the nature of the mysteries, the Spartan leader Lysander, and numerous Athenians. The temple complex is mentioned by Plato and Aristophanes.
Benjamin Leonard wrote in Archaeology Magazine: Although these royal dedications highlighted Samothrace’s most famous initiates and patrons, the sanctuary attracted a diverse set of sailors, merchants, and other pilgrims, some of whom may have participated in the mysteries, while others came for the island’s annual festival. Inscribed lists of initiates from the second century B.C. through the second century A.D., which have been found inside the sanctuary and in the adjacent city, record the names and places of origin of initiates who braved the treacherous trip to Samothrace.[Source: Benjamin Leonard, Archaeology Magazine, September/October 2021]
Whereas other Greek sanctuaries restricted participation in their rituals, the Samothracian cult was remarkably inclusive. There were no requirements based on age, gender, status or nationality. Everyone, men and women, adults and children, Greeks and non-Greeks, citizens, slaves, were welcome. Nor was the initiation confined to a specific date and initiates on the same day could attain two successive degrees of the mystery. The only prerequisite was to be present in the sanctuary. [Source Wikipedia]
Wescoat said: “If you could make it to the island and bore no bloodguilt you had the right to be initiated,” she says. Among those on the lists are theoroi, or sacred ambassadors from other Greek city-states, as well as Roman consuls and other officials, for whom initiation into the cult appears to have become part of a formal tour of the territories after Samothrace came under Roman control in 168 B.C.
Initiation to the Cult of the Great Gods at Samothrace
The first stage of the initiation was the myesis, where sacred account and special symbols were revealed to the mystes (initiates). Herodotus was told about the significance of phallic images of Hermes-Kadmilos, which symbolized heaven and earth. In return for this knowledge, which was kept secret, the initiate was given the assurance of certain privileges such hope for a better life, and more particularly protection at sea, and possibly, as at Eleusis, the promise of a happy afterlife. During the ceremony the initiate received a crimson sash knotted around the waist that was supposed to be a protective talisman. An iron ring exposed to the divine power of magnetic stones was probably another symbol of protection conferred during the initiation. Archaeologist have found remains of numerous lamps and torch throughout the site, supporting the assumption that the initiation rites took place at night. [Source Wikipedia]
The preparation for the initiation took place in the sacristy, a small room south of the Anaktoron (literally the House of the Lords), where the initiate was dressed in white and was given a lamp. The myesis then took place in the Anaktoron, a large hall capable of accommodating numerous people already initiated, who attended the ceremony seated on benches along the walls. The initiate carried out a ritual washing in a basin situated in the southeast corner and then made a libation to the gods in a circular pit. At the end of the ceremony, the initiate sat on a round wooden platform facing the principal door while ritual dances took place around him. He was then taken to the north chamber, the sanctuary where he received the main revelation. Afterwards, the initiate was given a document confirming that he completed the initiation. in the mysteries and could, at least during the later period, pay to have his name engraved on a commemorative plaque.
The second degree of the initiation was called the epoptia (literally, the contemplation). Unlike the one year interval between degrees which was demanded at Eleusis, the second degree at Samothrace could be obtained immediately after the myesis. In spite of this, it was only realized by a small number of initiates, which leads us to believe that it involved some difficult conditions, though it is unlikely that these conditions were financial or social. Lehman assessed that it concerned moral issues, as the candidate was auditioned and required to confess his sins. This audition took place overnight in front of the Hieron. After the interrogation absolution was awarded by the priest or official. The initiate was brought into the Hieron, which also functioned as an epoption (place of contemplation) and ritual cleansings occurred and sacrifices took place at a sacred hearth located in the center of the "holy of holies". The initiate then went to a a cave-like apse in the rear of the building and recited the liturgy and displayed the symbols of the mysteries.
During the initiation, the initiates walked along a Sacred Way. Benjamin Leonard wrote in Archaeology Magazine: When they reached the bottom of the Sacred Way, initiates had to squeeze through a tight passage between buildings to enter the sanctuary’s ritual zone. The descent into the valley created a kind of privacy reinforced by the placement and style of the buildings. “You can clearly see a performative aspect of staging drama through architecture,” says archaeologist Samuel Holzman of Princeton University. While temples and other religious buildings at most Greek sanctuaries were aligned along a linear axis, he says, architects on Samothrace combined the ravine’s natural topography and the arrangement of buildings to engineer a deliberately circuitous layout. “They created a winding interaction with these buildings, where you come upon them suddenly through twists and turns as you navigate the maze of architecture in the sanctuary,” says Holzman. Moreover, the cult structures were built in such a way that visitors could not easily see inside. “Almost all the sacred buildings have very deep front porches and big interiors where people could gather,” Wescoat says. “That goes along with cultic rites that are secret in nature, and not intended to be widely viewed.” [Source:Benjamin Leonard, Archaeology Magazine, September/October 2021]
The nocturnal timing of the initiation rites certainly would have heightened the drama of the natural setting. Moonlight and artificial light from torches would have only partially illuminated sculptures on facades and ornate coffered ceilings. “Throughout the sanctuary’s history, designers, architects, and patrons built monuments in a way that harnessed natural features of the landscape to increase the impressiveness and the affective, emotional power of the site,” says Popkin. Disorientation caused by the sanctuary’s labyrinthine design might have evoked a range of emotions that are echoed in the few ancient accounts of the secret rites. As their time in the sanctuary came to an end, initiates could gather near the Nike statue, look down upon the central sanctuary, and admire the stunning vista out to sea.

Arlington Reservoir, a 2,000,000 gallon water tower based on the Arsinoeum mader in the 1930s in Massachusetts
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, The Louvre, The British Museum
Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Greece sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Hellenistic World sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; BBC Ancient Greeks bbc.co.uk/history/; Canadian Museum of History, Perseus Project - Tufts University; perseus.tufts.edu ; MIT Classics Online classics.mit.edu ; Gutenberg.org, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Live Science, Discover magazine, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, Encyclopædia Britannica, "The Discoverers" and "The Creators" by Daniel Boorstin. "Greek and Roman Life" by Ian Jenkins from the British Museum, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP and various books and other publications.
Last updated September 2024