Sanctuary of the Great Gods

Listen first. Water is running somewhere close by, cold and quick, coming down from the mountain. Plane trees throw a green shade across the path. Under your feet the ground is uneven, a mix of packed earth, loose gravel and old cut stone. Above you, grey granite peaks rise almost straight out of the forest. This is the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, on the island of Samothrace, and it was built to be a little hard to reach.

For many centuries, people sailed across the northern Aegean to come here. Some were sailors and traders. Some were kings and queens. They did not come to see a famous temple. They came to be initiated into a secret. The rituals of this sanctuary were called mysteries, and the people who took part swore never to describe them. Remarkably, almost all of them kept that promise.

So who were the Great Gods? The honest answer is that we only partly know. Their worship seems to be older than the Greek settlers who arrived on the island. Scholars connect it with the earlier Thracian people of the region, the people of the lands to the north. Ancient writers report that a non-Greek language was still used in the rituals long after Greek became the everyday speech of the island. A Great Mother goddess stood at the centre, with other powerful figures around her.

The Greeks sometimes called some of these gods the Kabeiroi. Over time, they were linked with Castor and Pollux, the twin protectors of sailors. That connection matters. Samothrace sits in rough water, with strong winds and few safe harbours. Initiates were believed to gain protection at sea. Ancient sources mention a purple band, worn as a sign of that protection. For a sailor in a storm, that promise was very real.

Here is one of the best stories connected with this place. The Roman writer Cicero tells of a visitor who was shown the many offerings left by sailors who had survived storms. The offerings were meant to prove the power of the gods. The visitor, a famous sceptic, answered with a sharp reply. There would be many more offerings, he said, if those who drowned could also leave them. It is a joke more than two thousand years old... and it still works.

Now look around at the shape of the valley. The sanctuary does not stand on one high hill. It spreads across three terraces, divided by small streams. The streams were not an accident of the site. Running water was part of the ritual world here, used for purification. As you walk, notice how often you cross water, and how the path leads you slowly from one area to the next, like a sequence of steps.

Most visitors notice one building first. Five tall columns stand together, with a piece of their upper structure resting on top. This is the building known as the Hieron, which simply means the sacred building. Archaeologists believe it was used for a higher stage of initiation. The columns you see were set up again in modern times from fallen pieces. Stand at the front and imagine the doors closed, the lamps lit, and a crowd waiting outside in the dark.

Not far away are the remains of a round building. Today you see only its foundations, but in its time it was remarkable. It was dedicated by Arsinoe the Second, a queen of the Ptolemies, the Greek-speaking dynasty that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great. It is considered the largest round building known from the ancient Greek world. A royal gift like this tells you something important. Samothrace was small, but powerful families wanted their names here.

The island also has a place in one of history's most famous marriages. According to the ancient writer Plutarch, the young Philip of Macedon met Olympias when both were initiated here. Their son became Alexander the Great. We should treat the story carefully, because it comes from a writer working centuries later. Still, the later Macedonian rulers clearly favoured this sanctuary, and several of its finest buildings are linked to them.

Now climb toward the western slope. Above the small theatre, there is a level area with a view out to the sea. In 1863, a French diplomat named Charles Champoiseau found pieces of a marble statue here. When the fragments were assembled, they formed a winged woman standing on the front of a ship. She is the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and today she stands at the top of a great staircase in the Louvre, in Paris.

Think about her original setting for a moment. In Paris, she stands indoors, under museum light. Here, she stood in the open air, high on the hillside, with wind coming off the sea. Her stone dress looks pressed against her body by a strong breeze. On this exposed slope, that breeze was real. The island museum near the entrance holds a cast and other finds from the site, and it helps you connect the pieces.

Serious excavation here started in the nineteenth century, with French and Austrian teams. From the 1930s onward, long-term work was led by archaeologists from New York University, and that work continues to shape what we understand. Even so, much remains uncertain. We know the buildings, the offerings, and the names of some initiates carved in stone. The ceremony itself is still a mystery, exactly as its keepers intended. The sanctuary declined in late antiquity, as the old religions faded.

Before you leave, stand still for a minute. Look up at the mountain. The ancient poet Homer described the sea god Poseidon sitting on the highest peak of Samothrace, watching the war at Troy. On a clear day, the mainland coast lies across the water. Listen again for the stream. Feel the uneven stones under your feet. Thousands of people walked this same path in the dark, nervous and hopeful. Now, quietly, it is your turn to walk it out.