Cabīri

, certain deities held in the greatest veneration at Thebes, Lemnos, Macedonia, and Phrygia, but more particularly in the islands of Samothrace and Imbros. The number of these deities is uncertain. Some say there were only two, Jupiter and Bacchus; others mention three, and some four, Aschieros, A chi ochers a, A chi ochers us, and Camillus. It is unknown where their worship was first established; yet Phœnicia seems to be the place according to the authority of San chon i a thon, and from thence it was introduced into Greece by the Pelasgi. The festivals or mysteries of the Cabiri were celebrated with the greatest solemnity at Samothrace, where all the ancient heroes and princes were generally initiated, as their power seemed to be great in protecting persons from shipwreck and storms. The obscenities which prevailed in the celebration have obliged the authors of every country to pa over them in silence, and say that it was unlawful to reveal them. These deities are often confounded with the Corybantes, Anaces, Dioscuri, . , and, according to Hero dot us, Vulcan was their father. This author mentions the sacrilege which Cambyses committed in entering their temple, and turning to ridicule their sacred mysteries. They were supposed to preside over metals. Hero dot us , bk. 2 , ch. 51 .— Strabo , bk. 10 , . — Pausanias , bk. 9 , ch. 22 , . — Cicero , de Natura Deorum , bk. 1 .