Sanctuary of the Great Gods at Samothrace: Island of Mysteries

The Story of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods at Samothrace

Samothrace rises steeply out of the northern Aegean, a wild island of forests, waterfalls and rocky peaks. Its highest mountain, Fengari, climbs to more than 1,600 meters, and in Homer's Iliad Poseidon sits on the heights of Samothrace to watch the battle at Troy. On the island's north coast, in a ravine between streams, lay one of the most mysterious sanctuaries of the ancient world, dedicated to a group of deities known simply as the Great Gods.

Who exactly the Great Gods were is still debated. They seem to have included a great mother goddess, a pair of male gods often linked with the Kabeiroi and protectors of sailors, and other figures whose names were rarely spoken. Their cult probably began among the island's older, non Greek inhabitants and was later adopted by Greek settlers, which helps explain why some of the ritual language used at the sanctuary was not Greek at all.

At the heart of the cult were mystery rites, similar in some ways to those of Eleusis. Unlike many ancient cults, they were open to everyone, including men and women, free people and slaves, Greeks and foreigners. Initiates were sworn to secrecy, and the details of the rites remain unknown. They were believed to offer protection, especially at sea, and many sailors sought initiation. The historian Herodotus hints that he himself had been initiated.

The island is linked with famous love stories. According to one legend, the hero Cadmus met Harmonia on Samothrace, and their wedding was celebrated there. In history, the writer Plutarch tells that the young Philip II of Macedon met Olympias, the future mother of Alexander the Great, when they were both being initiated on the island. Later Macedonian kings and queens became great patrons of the sanctuary and filled it with splendid buildings.

Among them was the Arsinoeion, a large round building dedicated by Queen Arsinoe II in the 3rd century BC, one of the largest round buildings in Greek architecture. There were also a great hall called the Hieron, where the higher stage of initiation may have taken place, a theater and many other monuments. High above the theater stood a fountain with a marble statue of Nike, the goddess of victory, standing on the prow of a warship.

That statue, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, was discovered in 1863 by the French diplomat and amateur archaeologist Charles Champoiseau, who sent it to Paris. Reassembled, it now stands at the top of a grand staircase in the Louvre, one of the most admired sculptures in the world. Systematic excavations of the sanctuary have been carried out since the 1930s by American teams, which have revealed much of the site.

Today the Sanctuary of the Great Gods lies near the village of Palaiopoli, on the north coast of Samothrace, reached by ferry from Alexandroupoli. Walk among the ruins of the Hieron, whose reassembled columns stand among the trees, see the remains of the Arsinoeion and visit the site museum, which displays a cast of the Winged Victory. Then explore the island's waterfalls and mountains, a landscape that still feels as mysterious as its ancient rites.