CAB 



vered the art of building fhips ; that from the time of Cronus 

 (Saturn) tlielr dcTceiidants navigated the fea on rafts or 

 veflVls of their own conftruftion ; and that tliey landed on 

 mount Cafius, where they confccrated a temple. It is alfo 

 related, that Cronus gave the city of Berytus to Neptune 

 and the Cabiri. Sanchoniathon further fays, that thefe fons 

 of Sydyc were eight in number; but he mentions only one 

 of them by name, viz. Afclepius, who was furnamed ElFnui- 

 Xi\is,{rorr.^^^,Saman,i\gn\i\\nglhe eighth. He wa.-i the god 

 of health, and rcilorer of lite. Bocliart fuppofcs, that this 

 Sydyc was Jupiter : Cumberland in his " Sanconiatho's Phe- 

 nician Hiftory," (p. 173, &c.) maintains, that he was Shem, 

 tlie fon of Noah; Shuckford fuppofes, (Connection, &c. 

 vol. i. p. 213.) that he was Mizraim, the fon of Hani, 

 (Gen.x. 6.) or Menes, who fettled in Egypt about the 15th 

 year of Nimrod, A. M. 1772, according to him, or 2188 

 B.C. according to Blair's Tables. According to Pau- 

 fanias (1. ix. p-75t.) the original Cabiritic divinitv was 

 Prometheus. The learned Bryant (Analyfis of Anc. Myth, 

 vol. ii. p. 460.) concurs with thofe who are of opinion, 

 that Sydyc, or Sadie, was the patriarch Noah, and that the 

 name by which he is called, or Sadie, corrcfponds to the cha- 

 rafter given of him in the book of Gencfis, ch. vi. 9. He 

 wasp'~[\,', Sadie, a juft man and perfctl: in his generation. 

 All fcicuce, and every ufeful art were attributed to him ; and 

 through his fons they were traiifmitted to pofterity. He fup • 

 pofes that the Cabiri were the fame with the Curetes, Cory- 

 bantes, Telchines, and the Idaei Daflyli of Crete. How- 

 ever, in treating of them, great confufion lias arifen from 

 not confidering that both the deity and prieft were com- 

 prehended under the fame title. Hence it has happened, 

 that the appellation of Cabiri has been ufcd by the ancients 

 indifferently, to fignify the gods in wliofe honour certain 

 myfteries were inftituted, the inftitutors of thefe mylleries, 

 and the principal hierophants who officiated in them. From 

 the account that has been already given from Sanchoni- 

 athon of the origin of the Cabirian deities, it is reafon- 

 able to imagine, that they were perfons eminently diftin- 

 guifhed for their exploits, and for the invention of arts ufe- 

 ful to mankind ; and that on this account they were dei- 

 fied by the Phcenicians ; and we may eafily conceive, 

 that the navigators who firll pafled from Phoenicia in- 

 to Greece introduced there the worfliip which they had 

 rendered to the Cabiri, as the inventors of navigation. 

 To this purpofe Diodorus Siculus very jullly obferves, (lib.i. 

 p. 14.) that the Greeks worfliipped for their Gods fome 

 heroes and great men, that had formerly been famous in 

 Egvpt, whofe lives, or at leaft fhort memoirs of them, had 

 beeri written at firfl in a plain and fimple manner ; but fuc- 

 ceeding writers embelliflied the accounts given of them, by 

 intermixing with them various fiftions. Diodorus afcribes 

 to the Cabiri the invention of fire, and the art of manufac- 

 turing iron. Hence it is, that on n medal of Gordian, and 

 another of Furia Sabiua Trarquillina, both ftruck at 

 Carrhse, where the Cabiri. were wo- (hipped, we find the fi- 

 gure of a Cabirus on a column, holding a hammer in his 

 right hand. For the fame reafor, Herodotus (1. iii. ) ob- 

 ferves, they were reprefented like Vulcan. We need Bot 

 wonder, if we confider the variou.'^ ufeful arts that were af- 

 cribed to thefe deified perfons, thai they (honld be fo gene- 

 rally honoured. The Phoenicians, Syrians, Egyptians, 

 Greeks, C) priots, Phrygians, Etrufcans, Latins, Carlliagi- 

 sans, and almoll all the ancient Pagan,-;, manifefted the moll 

 profound veneration for the Cabiric myfteries. The name 

 by which they are called denotes the high eftimation in 

 which they were held ; for, iiiftcad of deriving it, as fome 

 have done, from the nymph Cabira, or from mount Cabirus 



CAB- 



in Phrygia, its etymology may more probably be fought in 

 the Hebrew, or Phoenician language, in which, the word "Ca- 

 bir" denotes great and powerful : and, accordingly, they are 

 defcribed by Caffius Hermina (fee Macrob. Sat. 1. iii. c. 4. 

 p. 376.) as y the great, beneficent, and powerful Gods." 



We have already iibfervtd, that the honours they re- 

 ceived feem to have originated with the Phoenicians, and 

 by their navigators the worfliip of ihcfe deities was intro- 

 duced into the iHand of Samothracc, where they landed 

 before they ppffed over to the continent. At Memphis, ii< 

 Egypt, they had a famous temple, which was held fo fa- 

 cred, according to Herodotus, (1. iii. c. 37.), that no pcr- 

 lon, excepting the priells, was fuffcrcd to enter within its 

 walls. In fcveral cities of Syria the worfliip of thefe dei- 

 ties prevailed. At Cabira in Pontus, they had one of the 

 mod magnificent temples in the world. In Phrygia alfo, and 

 Cilicia, there are evident traces of the fame kind of worfhip. 

 The Cabiritic rites were alfo praftifed at Imbros and Lem- 

 nos ; and they prevailed likewife in Greece, and particu- 

 larly at Theba, in Boeotia : and as their chief province re- 

 lated to the fea and fliipping, they were more efpecially 

 implored by mariners for fucccfs in their voyages. When 

 the worfliip of the Cabiri was introduced from Phoenicia, 

 or Egypt, into Greece, it underwent various modifications 

 and changes, as the Greeks were too proud to acknow- 

 ledge themfelves indebted, even for their fupcrllition, to 

 llrangers. Accordingly, they altered the names of their 

 gods, and difguifcd their origin. By fome of the Greek 

 writers, they are reprefented as the fons of Jupiter and Cal- 

 liope ; by others, as the fons of Jupiter and Eledra, or of 

 Jupiter and Leda. Some refer Jupiter himfelf, and Bac- 

 chus, to the clafs of Cabiri ; and others fay they were the 

 fons of the Sun and Minerva : others pretend that their 

 mother was the nymph Cabira, the daughter of Proteus, 

 and their father, Vulcan ; and it is thought, that one of 

 their fons is reprefented on the medals of Tlicfl'alonica, un- 

 der the name of CABEIPOC, holding in one hand a ham- 

 mer, fuch as Vulcan is reprefented with on the ancient 

 monuments, and drefled, like him, with a cap on the head. 

 The worfliip of Vulcan and his fons was eftablifhed in 

 Egypt, in the ifles of Lemnos, and in other places, where, 

 they were honoured under the name of Cabiri, for havino- 

 invented corn and the manufafture of it. As for particular 

 names which the Greeks gave to the Cabiri, thof<; which 

 moll frequently occur are Callor and Pollux, the fons of 

 Jupiter and Leda. Thefe Grecian Gods were reprefented 

 as Cabirian deities on fome of the Greek medals of Marcus 

 Aurelius and Lucius Verus. Thefe were alfo known by 

 the names of Jafion and Dardanus, the fons of Jupiter and 

 Eleftra ; and alfo by thofe of Alcon and Eurimcdon, the 

 fons of Vulcan and Cabira, to whom is afcribed a fon called 

 Camillus, or Cadmillus, i. e. Mercury. According to Ci- 

 cero, three others, called Tritopacreus, Eubuleus, and Dio- 

 njfius, were the fons of Jupiter and Proferpirc. Mnafcae, 

 a Phceniciari author, has, according to Jofephus, mentioned 

 three others; viz. Axieros, faid by fome to be Certs, and 

 by others Jupiter; Axiocherfa, or'Proferpine ; and Axio- 

 cherfos, or Pluto. 



The nature of the myfteries of the Cabiri, and the rites 

 of which they confifted, are not afcertained.. They were 

 difclofed oidy to the initiated, and penalties were annexed to 

 the crime of divulging them. The myfteries of Ccres-Ca. 

 biria in Boeotia were the fame with thofe of the Cabiri in 

 baniothrace: and it has been faid by Clemens Alexandrinus, 

 in fpeaking of the worfliip of thefe deities among the Etruf- 

 cans, that they were kept fecrct under a penalty, on ac- 

 count of the iufamy that attended thera. The Pelafgi, Sa,. 



mothracicas,. 



