Greek hotels in Thraki, Rodopi, Evros, Didimotiho, Alexandroupoli, Kariotes , Soufli, feres


	web links	about us	e-mail

Map

Hotels

Photos

Samothraki

In the Neolithic and Bronze Ages Samothrace was occupied by people of Thracian stock. From 'the topmost peak of wooded Samothrace' Poseidon watched the fighting on the plains of Troy (Iliad, xiii, 12), a city supposedly founded from the island though in fact more likely founded from Lemnos. The Thracian language and religion survived the arrival of Greek colonists c 700 and in cult ritual to the 1st century BC. Archaeological evidence contradicts the classical tradition that the colonists were earlier and came from Samos; Strabo indeed suggests that the Samians invented the story for their own glory. The colonists' dialect has been shown by inscription to have been Aeolian rather than Ionian and probably derived from Lesbos or the Troad. In the 6th century Samothrace had a silver coinage, the city reached its greatest extent and colonies were established on the mainland.

The Samothracian navy was represented at Salamis. In the 5th century her power declined, though the fame of her cult increased until the island became the chief centre of religious life in the N Aegean. At the Sanctuary of the Great Gods Herodotus and King Lysander of Sparta were initiated. Aristophanes and Plato refer to its Mysteries. Here Philip of Macedonia met and fell in love with his wife Olympias of Epirus, mother of Alexander the Great. The Macedonian dynasty continued to adorn the sanctuary until their downfall. Though the presence of the sanctuary assured the independence of the city, the island was used as a naval base by the Second Athenian League, by King Lysimachos of Thrace and by the Ptolemies, Seleucids and Macedonians in turn.
After the battle of Pydna, Perseus, the last king of Macedon, sought refuge in the island, only to be taken prisoner by the Romans. Aristarchus (fl. 155-143 BC), editor of Homer, was a native. In 84 BC the sanctuary was pillaged by Corsairs but soon revived under Roman patronage. The legend that Dardanos, the legendary founder of Troy, had come from Samothrace and that his descendant, Aeneas, had brought the cult to Rome, gave Samothrace a particular interest to the Romans. Varro and Piso (father-in-law of Julius Caesar) were initiates. The island, a natural port of call between the Troad and Neapolis, saw St. Paul on his way to Philippi. Hadrian visited Samothrace and though an earthquake c. AD 200 began its decline, the ancient religion survived to the 4th century.
The religion of the Great Gods was a pre-Greek Chthonic cult. The Great Gods comprised the Great Mother of Axieros (related to Cybele and later identified with Demeter), an ithyphallic fertility god called Kadmilos (later identified with Hermes), the powerful Kabeiroi (Dardanos and Aetion), twin demons later fused with Dioskouroi, and Axiokersos and Axiokersa (Hades and Persephone). In later times Hekate, Aphrodite and kadmos and Harmonia were added by assimilation or confusion. Ancient writers fought shy of saying much about the Kabeiroi, whose wrath was considered implacable. They were Anatolian in origin and, save of Thebes, hardly known in mainland Greece. Towards the end of the Archaic period Samothrace overtook Lemnos in importance as their principal place of worship. The sanctuary had an extra-territorial character, apparently independent of the city-state that adjoined it, since at festivals this sent envoys like any other polis. Initiation into the mysteries, which was not essential for attendance at the sanctuary (unlike Eleusis), was open to anyone, regardless of nationality, sex, age or social status. Initiation could be obtained at any time and its two degrees (myesis and epoptia) could be taken without interval. A moral standard seems to have been required for the higher degree (which was not obligatory but, rather, exceptional) and some form of confession and absolution preceded it. Ceremonies apparently took place by torchlight.
The early sanctuary, approached from the West, occupied the promontory between the E and central torrents. A sacrificial area of the 7th century BC underlies the Temenos and utilitarian structures were added piecemeal in the 5th century and early 4th century. The temple area was lavishly renewed in marble by the Ptolemies. A new access from the town side was provided by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, after which the site was extended to typically Hellenistic planned design on the promontory between the central and West streams.
The Apostle Paul passed through Samothraki in the fall of 49 A.D, on his way to Neapolis and Philippi. It is thought that the early Christian church at the edge of an ancient port, which was uncovered in 1938, was built to commemorate the visit of the Apostle. Paul's visit has always been a source of pride and rumor on the island.