The Arcane Mysteries of the Great Gods Quiz

Answer: Samothrace

The island of Samothrace belongs to the Northern Greek prefecture of Thrace and is found at a distance of 24 nautical miles from its shores. The name of the island means "Tall Thrace" because of mountain Saos, the tallest mountain on an Aegean island outside Crete and Euboia.

The Temple complex is situated at the southern side of the island, between the coast and Mount Saos. Excavations at the nearby settlement of Mikro Vouni (small mountain) revealed the social structure of a 2nd millennium BC settlement and a number of findings which supported some of the theories about the Mysteries of the Great Gods. The dating of the buildings and artifacts extend from the 7th century BC well into the 3rd century AD.

Answer: Cabeiri

The Cabeiri were worshipped in Asia Minor and the nearby islands like Lemnos and, also, in Boeotia. They are often identified with the Great Gods of Samothrace but the historical evidence is not concrete. The Mysteries of the Great Gods was a cult which was based, in the Pre-Hellenic era, on a central female figure, a Great Mother, whose secret name was Axieros.

Her spouse was Kadmylos, a fertility god. Chthonic deities Axiokersos and Axiokersa were associated with Hades and Persephone as deities more familiar to the Greeks.

At an even later historical period, part of the initiation ceremony was to witness the marriage of Harmonia and Kadmos. Harmonia was a daughter of Zeus and Electra and Kadmos was the legendary first king of Thebes.

Answer: To close the eyes and/or lips

It is well known that all mystery cults of antiquity, like the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Orphic Mysteries, etc, had strict rules against anyone revealing the secrets of the cult. In the Mysteries of the Great Gods, the initiates (mystes) were blindfolded, were forbidden to speak and were guided along the way by established members of the cult (epoptai), as their sponsors. No one could become an initiate without a sponsor. Those who wished to become initiates in the cult, seeked protection during sea travels and an opportunity to become more pious people. Famous initiates included the historian Herodotus, the Spartan Lysander and several Roman emperors such as Hadrian.

Answer: Purple

The purple sash which was tied in a knot around the initiate's waist was a talisman, intended to protect and signify the initiate's commitment to the cult. We know from these findings that the ritual ceremonies were most probably held in mid-summer, at night.

The sanctuary was illuminated by torches and the initiates participated in a purification ceremony, confessed their sins, attended the narrative of mythological stories, wore the purple sash and witnessed the unveiling of the sacred symbols.

After that, the initiate was given a document which proved his initiation and could have his name engraved on a plaque.

Answer: Bronze

The statues were made out of bronze, based on the large number of bronze eyelashes that were found during the excavations. At the same site, offerings from faraway places were found, a gold lion with lapis lazuli of Persian origin and small Minoan seals with the double ax and the fish, a fact that supports the theory that the Mysteries of the Great Gods had a universal appeal at the time, especially among seafaring peoples. No written record of the use of the building exists but it is believed to have been a place of performing and witnessing, probably, theater, dance, narrations or sacrifices.

Answer: c. 340-330 BC

The Hall of the Choral Dancers, with its elegant frieze of dancing women, was built in the late Classical period and it is attributed to Skopas as the principal architect-sculptor. It is the first building of the site to have been built entirely out of Thasian marble.

Its most impressive feature is the continuous frieze of hundreds of dancing women and female musicians, a citharist, a tympanum player and a flute player. The procession of dancing women has been thought to represent the festivities at the wedding of Kadmos and Harmonia.

Answer: Egypt

The Rotunda of Arsinoe was one of the buildings which were built during the prime of the Sanctuary, by the descendants of the Macedonian dynasty. It was a marble building on limestone foundations with an impressive conical roof, the largest, closed, round building of Greek architecture.

Its role in the rituals is not clear, it might have been a place for sacrifices or secret, important gatherings. Arsinoe II was a Ptolemaic Greek princess of Ancient Egypt whose first husband was Lysimachus, king of Thrace.

After his death, she married her half-brother Prolemy Keraunos and later, her full brother Prolemy II Philadelphus, king of Egypt.

Answer: Doric

This very impressive building was the most regal of all the buildings of the temple complex and the most important one in the ceremonies. It is adorned with very intricate ornamentation on the facade and sculptures on the akroteria of the roof. In the inside, rows of marble benches run along the walls, an indication that spectators attended a performance of some sort. Evidence also exists for some type of burning sacrifices and poured libations, because of the existence of an "eschara" and "bothros", namely, a sacred hearth and a pit.

Answer: Alexander the Great

"And we are told that Philip, after being initiated into the mysteries of Samothrace at the same time with Olympias, he himself being still a youth and she an orphan child, fell in love with her and betrothed himself to her at once with the consent of her brother, Arymbas." This excerpt from Plutarch's "Life of Alexander, Part I" is a historical testimony of Philip's and Olympias' connection to the Mysteries of the Great Gods. Olympias became a high priestess in the Mysteries and spent a great deal of time in Samothrace during Philip's and Alexander's military adventures.

It is believed that during her time and the time after Alexander's death, the cult reached its height.

Answer: Nike

The statue of the Nike of Samothrace, one of the finest examples of Hellenistic art, was standing on the prow of a ship overlooking the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, on the south side of the temple complex. It was a religious offering by the people of Rhodes who had won an important naval battle in the early 2nd century BC. The statue was discovered in 1863 during the Ottoman occupation of the island by the French consul and amateur archaeologist Charles Champoiseau who shipped it to Paris.

It is housed in the Louvre, on top of the Daru staircase, while a plaster replica can be seen in the museum at the site of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods in Samothrace.