In
Thrace, the festivals held in her honor were of an orgiastic nature and
resembled those held in Phrygia in Asia Minor in honor of Savazius, who
was initially worshipped in Thrace and later identified by the Greeks
with Dionysus.
That
is why mythology wanted Vendis to be the daughter of Savazius, because
he was also a god of the underworld and had been identified with Pluto,
and thus it was easy for the Greeks to identify Vendis of the Phrygians
and Thracians with Persephone.
The
cult of Vendis was general throughout Thrace, resembling the cult of
Hecate and taking place in deep caves (Krat. Thrass. ext. 12).
Especially in Amphipolis, Vendis, associated with Dionysus-Savazios, who
had the form of a bull, took the form of the bull-fighting Artemis and
became its patron, during the Roman conquest.
On
the coins of the city of that period, Vendis appears seated on a bull,
like Europa, with her veil blowing in the wind. On other coins, she is
depicted crowned with a crescent moon and bearing the inscription
TAUROPOLOS on her shoulders, while on the other side of the coin she
stands upright, holding Hecate's torch in one hand and a spear in the
other.
