ABSTRACT

Kabeiroi sit uneasily in the Greek pantheon. As their title shows, they were not originally Greek. Their nature was never fully understood by Greek commentators, and from the earliest times they were confused with the Great Gods of Samothrace (there is no evidence in situ for Kabeiroi at Samothrace, only the word of learned outsiders like Stesimbrotos, Herodotos, and Mnaseas). So it is not surprising that at the two Greek sanctuaries of Kabeiroi about which we know anything, Lemnos and Thebes, attempts were made to integrate them into the local religious environment. At Lemnos there were three Kabeiroi and three Kabeirid nymphs, and the Kabeiroi were associated at an early date with the principal deity of the island, Hephaistos. At Thebes, there were two Kabiroi (possibly because divine and semi-divine male pairs were common in Boiotia), who were also associated – but only in a casual, unsystematic way – with Dionysos and his circle, or with Hermes and Pan.2