Cabiri
The Cabiri or Chthonic entities are translated as beings of the 'subterranean' or underworld. The translation of meaning discusses deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in Greek religion and mythology. The Greek word khthon is one of several for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather than the living surface of the land (as Gaia or Ge does) or the land as territory (as khora (χώρα) does). It evokes at once abundance and the grave.[1]
In Greek mythology, the Cabeiri (Cabiri, Kabeiroi, or Kabiri; Ancient Greek: Κάβειροι) were a group of underworld or subterranean deities. Orphic mysteries may have had their origins with the Cabiri Cults.
Cabiri Cult
They were worshiped in a mystery cult closely associated with that of Hephaestus, centered in the north Aegean islands of Lemnos and possibly Samothrace—at the Samothrace temple complex—and at Thebes, Greece. In their distant origins the Cabiri and the Samothracian gods may include pre-Greek elements, or other non-Greek elements, such as Hittite, Thracian, proto-Etruscan or Phrygian. The Lemnian cult was always local to Lemnos, but the Samothracian mystery cult spread rapidly throughout the Greek world during the Hellenistic period, eventually initiating Romans. Some chthonic cults practised Blood Sacrifice or SRA, which often happened at night time.[2]
References