Samothrace

The Sanctuary of the Great Gods on Samothrace, off the Thracian coast, was the principal seat of the mystery cult of the Cabeiri, chthonic deities whose secret names initiates were forbidden to divulge and who were invoked as protectors of sailors.

Its rites drew worshippers from across the Greek world: the historian Herodotus and the Spartan commander Lysander were initiates. Plutarch records that Philip II of Macedon met Olympias while both were being initiated.

After Alexander the Great the Ptolemies and Antigonids vied to embellish the sanctuary, building the rotunda of Arsinoe II and, around 325 BC, the Hieron. The Winged Victory of Samothrace was dedicated there in the second century BC. The sanctuary was closed during the late-Roman persecution of pagan cults.