Sabazios

Phrygian-Thracian horseman sky-father; the '-zios' element goes back to *Dyeus. Greeks identified him with both Zeus and Dionysus; son of Cybele.

Parentage

• parent: Cybele

Domains

• sky father

Powers

• Ride a galloping horse raising his hand in blessing

Epithets

• Ζεὺς Σαβάζιος greek · Zeùs Sabázios'Zeus Sabazios' — the Phrygian-Thracian sky-father identified with ZeusDiodorus Siculus 4.4.1; Strabo 10.3.15 (primary)

Relations

• interpretatio: DionysusReciprocal of greek_hesiod_dionysus.interpretatio — Diodorus makes Sabazios an 'older Dionysus'; Strabo ties his rites to the Bacchic. Preserves ecstatic night-rites; breaks on Sabazios's horseman-sky-father nature, which Greeks also read as Zeus.Diodorus Siculus 4.4.1 (primary); Strabo, Geography 10.3.15 (primary)
• equated with: Sabazios the Sky-Father HorsemanReciprocal of thracian_sabazios.equated-with — The Thracian and Phrygian Sabazios are one Thraco-Phrygian god split by transmission region; the corpus of monuments treats the cult as a single continuum. Both carry the *Dyeus-derived sky-father element.E. N. Lane, Corpus Cultus Iovis Sabazii (1983-1989) (secondary)

Sources

• existence: Lane, Corpus Cultus Iovis Sabazii (1983-1989) (secondary)