festivals in honour of the Cabiri, celebrated in Thebes and Lemnos, but especially in Samothraca, an island consecrated to the Cabiri. All persons initiated in the mysteries of these gods were thought to be thereby secure against storms at sea, and all other dangers. The ceremony of initiation was performed by placing the candidate, crowned with olive branches, and girded about the loins with a purple ribbon, on a kind of throne, about which danced the priests and persons previously initiated.