Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

The Cabeiri (Kabeiroi)—also called the Great Gods (*Megaloí Theoí*) of Samothrace—are mysterious daimones whose names and exact number initiates kept secret. Herodotus says the Pelasgians taught Samothracian rites to the Athenians and connects ithyphallic Hermes statues to the cult’s lore. Sailors and heroes sought initiation for protection from shipwreck; Apollonius sends the Argonauts to Samothrace to receive the rites before the Black Sea dangers. Ancient authors variously linked the Cabeiri to Hephaestus, to Demeter–Persephone–Hades triads, to the Dioscuri, or to Phrygian Corybantic bands—without fixed consensus. The catalogue entry is the classical Greek notice of Samothrace’s mystery gods: initiation as sea-charm, Pelasgian antiquity, and Argonautic charter, not a reconstructed secret doctrine. Distinct from Idaean Dactyls and from public Olympian cult.