SABAZIOS

 SABAZIOS

"Saddest of all that cluster round the tomb

(Three sister Fiends of Cithaeronian gloom),

"See Crime, Pain, Poverty, the ether rend
With howls Sabazian at their master's end."

H.P. Lovecraft, Monody On the Late King Alcohol

"Sabizios is possibly a serpent creator deity or a serpent god of the underworld. He might have been one of the deities of the Valentinus Gnostic sect. Sabizios is sometimes associated with the goddess Barbelo who was said to be his mother. He is also identified with Jehova. Some say he was worshiped under the name Zgreus by the Thracians and Phrygians." 

Charles Russell Coulter & Patricia Turner, Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities

"Originally Sabazius was the Thracian and Phrygian god of vegetation, worshiped in the north of the Balkan and in the central part of Anatolia in Asia Minor. His cult spread from Thrace in the north of Greece to Attica and to Athens in the fifth century BCE. There Sabazius took on a special appearance and role in relation with the Attic cults and the favorite local deities. In Athens Sabazius became the god of barley."

"An important symbol of his cult was a snake, which is a chthonian symbol as well as one of revival. Another symbol of Sabazius was a crown (with two small snakes raising their heads) worn by the god himself and by some of the members initiated into his cult. Small snakes encircled also the hands of his worshipers. The cult of Sabazius (similar to that of Cybele or Dionysus) was accompanied by music, particularly by the players of double flute and castanets, and by ecstatic dancers holding these small snakes."

"He did not appear in Attica on a horseback as it was described in the other regions. A cult-scene pictured on the volute krater made by the Polygnotan Group (Ferrara 2897) represents Sabazius with Meter seated on their thrones, with in their scepters and plates (perhaps with barley) and surrounded by their worshipers."

Dr. Alena Trckova-Flamee Ph.D., Encyclopedia Mythica

CHARON

 CHARON

"And mourning Satyrs sound the dismal reed; 

Taygetus repeats the gen'ral woe, 

Whilst Charon grumbles in the gulf below."

H.P. Lovecraft, Monody On the Late King Alcohol

"A grim ferryman watches over the rivers and streams,

Charon, dreadful in his squalor, with a mass of unkempt

white hair straggling from his chin: flames glow in his eyes"
Vergil, Aeneid

"At one end is Charun, winged, with a monstrous face, heavy brow ridges, and great tusks. His upper torso is nude."

"Charun appears much oftener; his name is evidently taken from the Greek Charon, the ferryman of the dead, but his appearance and personality are quite different. Often winged like Tuchulcha, he has a hooked nose, horrid tusks, snaky hair, and is generally armed with a hammer. He appears as the announcer of death and divider of families, the guide on the road to Hades, the porter at hell's gate. "
Emeline Richardson, The Etruscans Their Art and Civilization
 

"Most of the time, Vanth is an attractive female fiure, a welcome contrast to her ugly partner Charu. Here Charu, with his scowling, hook-nosed bestial countenance ( he even has donkey's ears in this case, is balanced by the beautiful Vanth."

"Their skin is quite revolting, bluish or greenish with one demon, Charun huths, having blisters or sores all over the skin, all are sporting wings."
Nancy Thomson de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend

"The Etruscans probably looked for a representable appearance for demons already existing in their concept of demonic power, guiding the deceased to the gates of the Netherworld, and they found it with some modifications, in Charon."
Nancy Thomson De Grummond, Erika Simon, The Religion of the Etruscans

"Not all the details fit by any means, and some of Tuchulcha's features are those of another Near Eastern underworld figure, the demoness Lamashtu - notably the ass's ears (which Charun also sports) and hand held snakes."
Graeme Barker & Tom Rasmussen, The Etruscans