Greek PantheonIsland
Samothrace
The northern Aegean island of the Great Gods, whose mystery rites promised safety at sea; in Apollonius's Argonautica the Argonauts stop there to be initiated.
About Samothrace
Mysteries on the Argo's route
Apollonius has the Argonauts put in at Samothrace in Book 1 to be initiated in the rites of the Kabeiroi (Samothracian Mysteries), for protection at sea. The island's mystery cult is historically real and famously secret; the Argonautica uses it as a pious stop. Homer does not send Odysseus here. What can be said: seafarers sought the Great Gods, and Apollonius parks Jason's crew in that queue.
On the map
Samothrace among other places of the Greek Pantheon.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Coordinates mark where the myths place a site, or where the tradition locates it today. Mythic realms are left off the map or marked as symbolic placements.
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