Kabeiro, Nymph-Mother of the Kabeiroi

Samothracian nymph of the Thracian-Pelasgian mystery complex, named by Acusilaus (via Strabo and the Apollonius scholia) as the mother, by Hephaistos, of Kadmilos and so the ancestress of the Kabeiroi. Typed numen (a divine nymph outside the worshipped pantheon). Native name transmitted in Greek (Kabeiro). Her consort Hephaistos is a Greek deity outside this Thracian set and is left unauthored here. Authored to give Kadmilos his named maternal parent.

Domains

• mystery initiation

Relations

• mother of: Kadmilos, the Divine Attendant of the Great Gods

Sources

• Strabo, Geography 10.3.21 (citing Acusilaus, FGrH 2 F 20); scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.917 (Kabeiro daughter of Proteus, by Hephaistos mother of Kadmilos and the Kabeiroi)