The myth of Zagreus could also be originating from Asia Minor under the translated designation of Sabazios . Sabazios is a deity, which was first identified with stone. Thus, being a chthonic god he rules both the dead and the living substance and therefore may be dismembered and then united again. The chthonic nature of Sabazios is not in contradiction with his solar nature because these two essences form the cosmos, i.e. the universe.

There is no literary myth about Sabazios. He was first mentioned in a text by Aristophanes (Aristoph. Horae, fr. 566; Aristoph. Vespae, 8-13), but long before that there was the Phrygian deity Sabas as a statue hewn in the living rock, which is documented in the Pentateuch at the central shrine known as the “city of Midas”. The Athenians recognize the name of Sabas as a borrowing from the Phrygian.

In the said writings, Aristophanes disparages the cult of Cybele and the Coribants, which obviously starts to please the imitators of foreign fashions in Athens . His testimony presents Sabazios as a deity appropriate for slaves. In the text, “the dream of Sabazios” is compared to insanity and “coribanting” and also to the Lydian (Persian) army, which threw itself on Xanthius' eyelids.

In his comedy “Birds”, Aristophanes (Aristoph. , Aves, 874 – 875) has put Sabazios next to the “Mother of Gods” and identified him as a bird. Diodorus (Diod. IV.4,1) reports that before the Hellenic Dionysus another one was born from the union of Zeus and Persephone and some people called him Sabazios. Because they were ashamed of [their secret] society, they celebrate his birth and [make] sacrifices and give him [respect] at night. Diodorus claims that the first Dionysus was from India where vine grows and he taught everyone how to make wine from it. The second one, son of Zeus and Persephone, taught the humans how to work the land and he was represented with horns. The third Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele. From Strabon's “Geographica” (Strab. , X. 3, 15) we know that Sabazios is a Phrygian [god] and in a way he is the little child (offspring) of the [Great Goddess] Mother.

The Thracian Dionysus-Zagreus is a direct Orphic borrowing in the dramatic Dionysian reincarnation of the doctrinal chthonic son of the Great Mother Goddess while the Greek authors perceive Sabazios as a character of the ritual presentation, as an acting foreign god. The versions of the myth of Zagreus in the Ancient Greek literature put Zagreus next to Persephone (Semele) while Sabazios is always next to Cybele (the Great Mother) or will be mentioned standing by her hypostases such the Asia Minor goddesses Angdistis or Ma.

In the previous chapter we mentioned that according to Macrobius (Macrob. , Saturn, I, 18, 1-11) in Thrace the Sun and Liber senior were the same deity. Here we must add that Macrobius also reported that they (the Thracians) call this god Sabazios and worship him with magnificent rituals.

(Hesych. s.v. , quoted by Fol, A., The Thracian Dionysus , book 2, Sabazios, Sofia 1994, p. 168, Ploth. Lex. s.v. Saboi Reitzenstain, quoted by Fol, A., The Thracian Dionysus , book 2, Sabazios, Sofia 1994, p. 175, Suid. s. v . , Diels, quoted by Fol, A., The Thracian Dionysus , book 2, Sabazios, Sofia 1994, p. 176, Elym. Gudianum, s.v., quoted by Fol, A., The Thracian Dionysus , book 2, Sabazios, Sofia 1994, p. 180).

Like for Zagreus (defined in the previous chapter as a “corned snake”), the snake is an integral attribute or image of Sabazios. Diodorus (Diod. IV.4,1) says that Sabazios was born from a dragon's wedding and that he was older than Dionysus. Describing the mysteries in honor of the god in Athens , Demosthenes (Dem. , XVIII, 259-260) talks about snakes that participate to the rite. Wraths of fennel and white poplar are part of the decoration of the participants to the ritual. Alexander Fol (Fol, A., The Thracian Dionysus , book 2, Sabazios, Sofia 1994, p. 88) calls the fennel snake's herb; it is the leader of the snakes because it is under its languorous scent they change their skins.

According to Theophrastus (Teoph. , Charact. , XVI, 4, Diels) , when a superstitious man (a man who respects all celebrations and gods) sees a pareia he says the name of Sabazios, i.e. Sabazios has appeared to him in the shape of a snake and the superstitious man says his name aloud to protect himself from evil.

In his Interpretation of Dreams , Artemidorus (Artemid. , II, 13) has listed the gods in whose cult the snake is sacred and explains that if one sees a snake in his dream this means that one of these gods has appeared to him. Among these gods are Zeus, Sabazios, Helios, Demeter and Kore, Hecate, Asclepius and the Heros. Helios is adequately placed next to Zeus Sabazios because of his chthonic nature.

Clement of Alexandria (Clem. Alex. , Protrept. II.151) reports that the symbol of Sabazios was the snake, which was drawn from (through) the bosom of the participants to the mystery. The author distinguishes Zagreus and Sabazios as two different gods, the first one born as a “corned snake” and the other one transformed into a snake, which was the symbol of his intemperance.