[916] ϝῆσον Ἠλέκτρης: Samothrace, so called from Electra, daughter of Atlas, who dwelt there; cf. Val. Fl. 2. 431, “Electria tellus, Threiciis arcana sacris.” It was the home of the mystic rites of the Cabiri. For a full discussion of these mysteries v. Lobeck, Aglaopham. 1202-81; Stengel, Die griechischen Kultusaltertümer 165; Rubensohn, Die Mysterienheiligtümer zu Eleusis und Samothrake. There was a play of Aeschylus called Κάβειροι, which was probably the satyric drama following the trilogy containing the Argo and Hypsipyle. From the fragments of it we see that the Cabiri had power over vineyards; they promise the Argonauts such a supply of Lemnian wine that there will be no vessels to contaia it, cf. Athen. x. 428, ἐν γὰρ τοῖς Καβείροις εἰσάγει （Αισχύλος） τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἰάσονα μεθύοντας. Our Schol. tells us that Odysseus and Agamemnon were initiated in the rites of the Cabiri, who took their name from mountains in Phrygia from whence their cult was brought, and were four in number, Ἀξίερος (Demeter), Ἀξιοκέρσα (Persephone), Ἀξιόκερσος (Hades), and Κάσμιλος (Hermes). Rawlinson on Hdt. 2. 51 derives the name from the Semitic kabir 'great,' a title applied to Astarté (Venus).
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Argonautica. Apollonius Rhodius. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912.
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