SINCE the Mysteries of the Cabiri relate entirely to the helio-arkite fuperftition, we fhall not be surprised to find them introduced into a variety of different countries; while the deities, in whofe honour they were celebrated, were known by the feveral names of Corybantes, Curetes, Idèi Dactyli, Cabiri, or Telchines. As fome remembrance of the flood feems to have been preferved by all the pofterity of Noah, though it was frequently reprefented as partial and confined to a particular district, instead of being universal and unbounded; fo the Cabiri, notwithstanding their being the general ancestors of all mankind, were continually viewed in the light of mere local and appropriated deities. Thus, while Sanchoniatho places them in Phenicia "; Herodotus makes them the fons of the Egyp Eufeb. Præp. Evan. lib. i. cap. 10. tian Vulcan by Cabira the daughter of Proteus, and yet afferts, that their obscene rites were communicated by the aboriginal Pelafgi to the Samothracians and Athenians". Nor are these the only variations with respect to their country. Strabo mentions, that fome deduced the origin of the Curetes from Acarnania, fome from Etolia, fome from Crete, and others from Eubèa. Pleuronia alfo was inhabited by them, and was thence called Curetis; Chalcis was another of their fettlements; and, under the name of Idèi Dactyli, they bore a confpicuous part in the myfteries of the Phrygian Cybelè'. They were likewife worshipped at Lemnos ; and from b Herod. lib. ii. cap. 51. C Τας δε Κέρητας των μεν Ακαρνασι, των δε Αιτωλοις προσνεμόντων, και των μεν εκ Κρητης, των δ' εξ Ευβοιας το γενος είναι φασκοντών. Strab. Geog. lib. x. p. 462. 4 Την Πλευρωνίαν ύπο Κερητων οικεμένην, και Κεξητιν προσαγορευο Ibid. p. 465. μένην. e Ibid. Αρχέμαχος δ' ὁ Ευβοευς φησι της Κέρητας εν Χαλκιδι συνοικήσαι. f Τινας δαίμονας η προσπολες θεων της Κυρητας φασιν· οἱ δὲ πας βαδίδοντες τα Κρητικά και τα Φρύγια ιεραρχίαις τισιν εμπεπλεγμένοι, ταις μεν μυρίκαις, ταις δ' άλλως, περί τε την τε Διος παιδοτροφίαν την εν τη Κρήτη, και τες της μήτερος των θεων οργιασμός εν τη Φρυγία, και της περι την 18ην την Τρωϊκην τούτοις. Ibid. p. 466. 8 Και τα ιερα τροπον τινα κοινοποιεισθαι, ταυτα τε, και των Σαμοθράκων, και τα εν Λημνῳ, και άλλα πλείω. Ibid. The Tyrrhenians, who afterwards colonized Tufcany in conjunction with the Samothrace, Crete, and Phrygia, their rites were carried to Rome, the citizens of which were thence denominated Quirites, or Cure tes. The Hiftory of this laft tranfaction is one of the most curious portions of ancient mythology, and is closely connected with the fabulous hiftory of Troy. According to Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus, Atlas was the first king of Arcadia; a country, which derived its name from Arcas, fon of Callifto, and the fucceffor of that Nuctimus during whose life a great deluge is faid to have happened. Atlas had seven daughters, denominated Pleiades; one of whom, Electra, was the concubine of Jupiter, and the mother of Dardanus and Iafus, or, as he was fometimes called, Iafion. the Pelafgi, and brought along with them the rites of the Cabiri, firft inhabited Lemnos.- Λήμνος. Τυρσηνοί γαρ αυτην πρωτ To wear. Schol. in Apoll. Argon. lib. i. ver. 608. αρχην. Μετα δε Νυκτιμον αποθανοντα Αρκας εξεδέξατο ὁ Καλλισες την i Tzetzes fuppofes, that this deluge commenced at Helicè and Bura. Schol. in Lycoph. ver. 72. Helicè received its name from the nymph Helicè, one of the nurfes of Jupiter, who was afterwards placed in the conftellation of the leffer bear; (Hyg. Poet. Aftron. lib. ii. cap. 2.) and in Bura we find the radical Bu, an ox, the ufual arkite fymbol. As for Nuctimus, he is evidently Nuch-Tam, the perfect man Noah. See Gen. vi. 9. Iafus remained unmarried; but Dardanus took to wife Chryfe, the daughter of Palas, and by her became the father of Idèus, and Dimas, who inherited the kingdom of Arcadia from their great-grandfather Atlas. In their days a flood having inundated the plains, half of the inhabitants fled to the mountains; while the other half migrated to an ifland on the coaft of Thrace, to which they gave the name of Samothrace. After they had remained there a fhort time, the greatest part of them croffed over into Afia, under the command of Dardanus; and at length Idèus, the fon of that prince, led his divifion of the colonists into the mountainous country of Ida, where he established the worship and mysteries of the mother of the Gods, which afterwards became famous throughout all Phrygia. It is remarkable, that Dardanus is faid by Tzetzes to have left Samothrace, no less than Arcadia, on account of a flood m; a cir * Other writers however, as we fhall presently fee, do not agree with Dionyfius in this particular; but fpeak of Iafus, as the husband of Ceres, or Cybele. 1 Dionyf. Halic. Ant. Rom. lib. i. cap. 61. Ηλεκτρας γαρ της Ατλαντος και Διος, Ιασίων και Δαρδανος Δαρδανος δε κατακλυσμό γεγονοτος εκ Σαμοθρακης εις αντίπερα γην πι την νυν Τροίαν εμελλεν κτίζειν... Schol. in Lycoph ραιούται, και ver. 29. cumstance not mentioned by Dionyfius: and it is highly worthy of obfervation, that this flood was the very fame as that of Deucalion or Noah ". Accordingly we find, that the Phrygian Cybelè, or the Ark, whose rites he introduced into Troas, was no other than Hecatè, the deity worshipped in Samothrace °. The fabulous confort of Atlas was Pleionè, the daughter of the Ocean, or, according to Dictys Cretenfis, of Danaus P. The purport however of both thefe genealogies is precifely the fame; for Danaus, as I have repeatedly obferved, is merely the compound title DaNau. With regard to the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleionè, they are faid to have been pursued by Orion, during the space of five whole years, through the country of Beotia. At length, having invoked the affiftance of the gods, they were changed into doves; and Jupiter, pitying their calamity, placed them n -Δαρδανκ, ός ποτε επι το κατακλυσμό, διαπέρασας επι την Ιλιον, καταλειψας το κατοικητήριον των Κορυβάντων. Τέτο δε εποίησε ποτε, ότε κατεκλυσε πασαν την γην ὁ Ζευς επι το Δευκαλίωνος. Schol. in Lycoph. ver. 69. • Το Θρακικον καταλιπων σπηλαίον της Ριας, η της Εκάτης, ο Aagdavos. Ibid. ver. 77. P Ex Pleione, Danai filia, et Atlante, Ele&ram nátam, quam ex Jove gravidam Dardanum genuiffe. Dict. Cret. de Bello Troj. lib. i. cap. 9. among |