Sabazios
Sabazius
[Greek] A Phrygian or Thracian deity whose cult spread through Greece in the 5th century BCE. In the Greek world he was equated with Dionysus and sometimes also with Zeus. In the Roman Empire his name became an alternative name for Bacchus.
Sabazius
Sabazius (Greek) [from sabo a god of health; or sevas reverential awe] A Phrygian or Thracian deity whose worship was connected with that of the Great Mother, Cybele, and of Attis. He was associated with the chthonian deities and his emblem was a serpent. Regularly conducted Mysteries were held, probably similar in nature to the Dionysian Mysteries because the ancient Greeks connected Sabazius with Dionysos, even giving the name to Bacchus (or Dionysos). "Sabasia was a periodical festival with mysteries enacted in honour of some gods, a variant on the Mithraic Mysteries. The whole evolution of the races was performed in them" (SD 2:419n). The Sabazia were revived in Rome during the 2nd century, practiced under the name Sacra Savadia.
The deity also became associated with the Jewish Sabaoth (Tseba'oth) for Plutarch states that the Jews worshiped Dionysos, and that the day of the Jewish Sabbath was, in his opinion, a festival of Sabazius (Symposium. 4:6).