Thracian Gods Explained
The Thracians were people who lived north and east of Thessaly and Macedon. The land of Thrace reached the Black Sea in the north-east, and north all the way to the Danube river. The western border is unclear. The size of Roman province of Thrace was smaller, was annexed into the Roman empire during the reign of Claudius. The Greeks did colonise part of the the Thrace, particularly on the Aegean coastlines, where they founded cities.
They were not considered to be of Greek or Hellenic origin, rather that of the Scythian origin.
In classical time, the Thracians were renown for their light infantry and their light cavalry, serving in Greek armies as mercenaries, and was especially valuable to Alexander the Great. Compared to the Greeks, Macedonians and the Romans, the Thracians were primitive, divided into tribes and living in open villages.
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Βενδις
Bendis |
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| A Thracian mother goddess. Bendis was often identified with the huntress goddess, Artemis and the moon goddess, Hecate. She is also the goddess of healing.
Bendis first appeared in Athens, during the Peloponnesian War, where she was Hellenised. An annual feast, Bendidea, was held in her honour. The geographer Strabo says that the rites and customs of the Bendidea are like those found in Thracian and Phrygian types of revelry – Bacchus (Dionysus) and Rhea (actually Cybele). The philosopher Plato also mentioned the festival in the dialogue between Adeimantus and Polemarchus of the Republic about a horse-race at night, where each rider carried a torch. Her attributes include Thracian-style pointed hat and boots made of fox-skin, while holding up a torch in one hand. |
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Ἡρος
Heros |
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| A chthonic god of the underworld. Heros was frequently depicted on funerary stelae as a horseman. |
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Κοτυς
Kotys |
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| A Thracian goddess. The cult of Kotys was worshipped by the Edonians, a tribe that lived around Mount Pangaeus.
The geographer Strabo described the Kotytian sacred rite having the same Thracian and Phrygian element as that of Bacchic revelry, similar to Bendideian rites. The Edonians played some instruments which sound like the roll of thunder from drums, and the frenzy shrill from stringed instrument. |
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Zibelthiurdos |
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| Thracian god of storm. Like the Greek god Zeus, he was the wielder of lightnings and thunderbolts. Not much is known about Zibelthiurdos. |
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