They’ve vanished in a moment!

To Samothrace they’re bent,

Gone, with a favourable breeze.

What is it they think they’ll see,

In the realm of the noble Cabiri?

They’re gods! But wondrously strange,

Always causing their forms to change,

Never knowing what they might be.

(Goethe, Faust, part II, 8070-77)

The Mysteries of Samothrace were honoring the Cabiri (the Great Gods) which were unique deities, and their cult was practiced in one of the last Mystery centres that survived to late Antiquity. In the Hellenistic times, the cult became well known among Greeks and, later, also among Romans. It was perhaps second in importance after the Mysteries of Eleusis.

In ancient times, sacred ambassadors from many cities came to the sanctuary of Samothrace, to witness the annual festivals that were organized here. Unsurprisingly, the Macedonians protected the sanctuary and erected new temples in the time of Philip II, and after the disintegration of the empire of Alexander the Great, the Hellenistic kingdoms also took part in this project. In this period, many secondary sanctuaries dedicated to the Great Gods of Samothrace have been erected in the Aegean Sea area, as well as in the Western Black Sea.

I have gathered on this site information that can shed light on the significance of the cult for the initiates, who were on a path of spiritual evolution. The consciousness for the entire Cosmos has been integrated within the human soul through the Mysteries of Samothrace.

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