Samothrace

Samothrace was one of the islands in the Thracian Sea (northern Aegean), north of Lemnos and Imbros. The island was inhabited by the Thracians and Samian colonists.

The Pleiad Electra gave birth to Dardanus and Iasion. Zeus killed his own son Iasion with a thunderbolt for sleeping with the goddess Demeter. Dardanus left Samothrace because he was too grief-stricken over his brother's death.

Samothrace was a centre of the Samothracian mystery cult. The cultists worshipped some obscure deities or spirits known as daimones, and were known collectively as Cabeiri. The Cabeiri were possibly fertility deities or guardian spirits for protection. Apollonius Rhodius says that Orpheus insisted that the Argonauts stop by Samothrace to be initiated into the Samothracian mysteries, to gain protection from the Cabeiri.