Vendis or Vendia, deity of the Thracians

Σάββατο 6 Σεπτεμβρίου 2025

Vendis or Vendia, deity of the Thracians

Vendis was an ancient, female, lunar deity of the Thracians, who when her worship later entered Greece, was identified with Hecate, Artemis, or even Persephone.

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.

Vendee

Vendis, during the Peloponnesian War, and specifically from 429 BC onwards, began to be worshipped in Piraeus. A Thracian community had settled there for commercial reasons, which was allowed to worship their goddess, following permission given by the oracle of Dodona (Delphi was not accessible to the Athenians at that time due to the war).

The sanctuary of Vendidos was established on the hill of Munychia, next to the sanctuary of Artemis, with whom the Thracian goddess was later identified. Two processions were organized in Vendidia, one of the Thracians that started somewhere in Piraeus and ended on the hill of Munychia and another, by the local worshipers of the goddess, that started from the Agora of Athens and ended at the same point. The Thracians, who were famous for their equestrian skill, were probably responsible for the introduction of relay races of horsemen with torches, which were held in Vendidia on the same night. The races were followed by an all-night festival (pannychis) of an orgiastic nature.