Bendis

A major Thracian goddess, Bendis came to the notice of Greeks who colonized the northern Aegean in the Archaic period. Thasian settlers on the coast of Thrace frequented at least two sanctuaries (at Neapolis and Oisyme) sacred to a goddess with the title Parthenos (Maiden), who is thought to be Bendis. Too little is known of Bendis as a Thracian deity, but she seems to have been a Great Goddess of the wilderness who like Artemis was associated with springs and cave spirits. On the other hand, an interest in agriculture is suggested by Herodotus’ statement (4.33) that the Thracian and Paionian women always sacrificed to “Artemis the Queen” (presumably Bendis) by burning straw. Unlike Artemis, however, Bendis acquired a male cult companion, the hero or deity Deloptes, whose iconography, borrowed from that of Asklepios, suggests that he was viewed as a healer. Bendis’ own Hellenized appearance, known to us from fourth-century votive reliefs, was that of a young, athletic woman in a short dress, skin cloak, hunting boots, and

Figure 13.2 Bendis and Deloptes, terracotta votive relief, c. 400. Archaeological museum of Chalkis, Greece. Erich Lessing/Art Resource.

Phrygian cap.18 She typically leans on a spear, and the comic poet Cratinus (fr. 85 Kassel-Austin) called her “twin-speared.”

The Athenians too had numerous direct and indirect contacts with Thrace. By 450, most Greek cities of the northern Aegean and Hellespont were allied to or dependencies of Athens, while Athens itself possessed a significant population of Thracian metics (resident foreigners) and slaves. Within another twenty years, the Athenians took the unprecedented step of instituting public worship of Bendis in the Peiraieus, their cosmopolitan port. This event is recorded in the opening lines of Plato’s Republic (327a-328a), where Sokrates describes how he and a companion walked several miles to say their prayers and see the dual procession: one composed of Athenian citizens, and one of Thracians. Later in the evening, there was a torch race (on horseback, a typically Thracian touch), and an all-night celebration. From later records, it appears that considerable resources were expended on this festival, including the sacrifice of a hundred cattle and the distribution of their meat.19 The public festival was complemented by private cult organizations of citizens and metics, which conducted their own observances and presumably helped to organize the annual festivities.

Historians have long debated the motivation for the state’s highly unusual interest in Bendis, since the Athenians were generally suspicious of foreign gods. The most likely explanation is that they wanted to cement their existing diplomatic, military, and trade relations with the Odrysian Thracians at a time when a major war with the Peloponnesians was imminent.20