Sabazios

Sabazios is a god from very old times in a place called Asia Minor. He was very important to two groups of people, the Phrygians and the Thracians. They thought of him as a strong sky father who rode a horse.

Bronze hand used in the worship of Sabazios (British Museum). Roman 1st–2nd century CE. Hands decorated with religious symbols were designed to stand in sanctuaries or, like this one, were attached to poles for processional use. Another similar bronze hand found in the 16th/17th century in Tournai, Belgium, is also in the British Museum.

Over time, Sabazios became known all over the big Roman Empire, especially in the Central Balkans, where many people honored him. Today, scholars believe he started as a god of the Phrygians, but his story has been talked about for a long time.

Even though some ancient Greeks connected Sabazios to their gods Zeus and Dionysus, pictures of Sabazios always show him on a horse with a special staff that showed his power.

Epigraphic evidence

Scholars have found the name of this god written in many different ways in old inscriptions. Some of these spellings include Σεβάζιος, Σαβάζοις, Sabazius, Sabadius, and Σαβασεἷος.

Thracian/Phrygian Sabazios

Sabazios was an important god for the Phrygians and Thracians. People thought of him as a sky father and a rider on horseback. The Phrygians likely brought Sabazios with them when they moved to Anatolia a long time ago. Some believe he came from Macedonia and Thrace. A place called Perperikon in modern-day Bulgaria may have been a special spot for worshipping Sabazios.

This copper alloy Roman hand of Sabazios was used in ritual worship. Few hands remain in collections today. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

Sabazios may have had some early conflicts with the local mother goddess of Phrygia, Cybele. Later, leaders like King Gordias and Midas included Cybele in their worship. One famous image shows Sabazios' horse placing a hoof on the head of a bull. This picture is in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and shows much older ideas.

God on horseback

Further information: Thracian horseman

Thracian horseman, National Museum of Romanian History

Many statues of gods shown as riders are kept at the Burdur Museum in Turkey. During the time of the Roman Emperor Gordian III, pictures of the god on horseback appeared on coins made in places like Tlos, in a nearby area called Lycia, and at Istrus, close to the Danube River. The famous picture of a god or hero on a horse fighting a big snake, with the horse stepping on it, appears on old stone columns used by the Celtic people. Later, when Christianity became more common, this image changed into the story of Saint George and the Dragon.

Iconography, depictions, and Hellenistic associations

View from various angles.

Sabazios is often linked with other important gods. In Roman writings from Nicopolis ad Istrum, Sabazios is connected to Jove and Mercury. In ancient monuments, Sabazios is usually shown like Zeus. One stone picture from Philippopolis shows Sabazios as a central god with curly hair and a beard. He has a ram's head under his left foot and holds a special staff in his left hand. Around him are pictures of other gods and goddesses.

Some writers said that among the Thracians, Sabazios was also called Liber and Helios. This matches other old stories that link Sabazios with Dionysos. We also find bronze hands that look like Sabazios’s hand. These hands often show a pinecone, snakes around the wrist, and other special symbols like lightning, a turtle, a lizard, an eagle, a ram, a branch, the thyrsos, and the Mounted Heros.

Sabazios in Athens

In ancient Athens, some people, especially women, celebrated happy ceremonies for the god Sabazios. The famous speaker Demosthenes talked about these ceremonies when he was criticizing someone named Aeschines. Demosthenes said that Aeschines helped his mother with special rituals and read holy writings during these celebrations.

Transformation to Sabazius

Ivory figurine of Sabazios from the tomb of Alexander IV of Macedon, Museum of the Royal Tombs of Aegae.

Sabazios was a god from ancient lands called Phrygia and Thrace. He became known in the Roman world through the city of Pergamum. Greek religion often mixed different gods together, so Sabazios was sometimes linked with other gods. Writers like Strabo and Diodorus Siculus connected Sabazios with Dionysus, but old inscriptions mostly call him Zeus Sabazios.

Later writers, such as Clement of Alexandria, talked about secret rites of Sabazius that involved a serpent, an earth-linked creature, which was different from the riding god of Phrygia. Some people thought Sabazios was the same as Dionysus because of certain rituals and cries used in worship. Though some believed a temple to Sabazius existed in places like San Venanzio, modern scholars say no such temple has been found. Small metal hands, often with holes, were used in worship and may have been carried in ceremonies, but their exact meaning is unknown.

Judean connection

Some early Jewish people moved to Rome and were asked to leave in 139 BCE. A leader named Cornelius Hispalus thought their religious practices were confusing. He believed they mixed their beliefs with an older Roman god named Jupiter Sabazius.

Later writers, like Plutarch, thought Jewish beliefs were linked to other gods such as Dionysus or an "Egyptian" god named Typhon, but these ideas were not correct. Some groups, called the Hypsistarians, may have used names that sounded like Jewish beliefs.