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The Cult of Bendis in Athens and Thrace

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2013

Abstract

The Thracian goddess Bendis was worshipped in Classical Athens, and her cult became very popular in the 5th and 4th century BC. This article explores the available historiographical and archaeological record of an existing foreign cult within a Greek polis, and compares it to the data from the Thracian inland.

As the literary sources limit themselves only to the Greek point of view, a combination of archaeological and epigraphical evidence has to be consulted in the case of Thrace. The aim of this paper is to determine and discuss the uniformity or potential discrepancies in the presentation of Bendis in the place of her origin, as well as in her new context.

The mutual relations between Bendis and her Greek counterpart is not to be omitted.