Editing Sabazios (section)

{{Short description|A deity of Phrygian origin also favoured in the Balkans}}
<!--this article has used the BCE/CE convention-->[[Image:HandOfSabazius.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Bronze hand used in the worship of Sabazios ([[British Museum]]).<ref name="britishmuseum">{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=463786&partId=1&people=94919&peoA=94919-1-9&page=1|publisher=britishmuseum.org|title= British Museum Collection |access-date=2017-03-06}}</ref> Roman 1st–2nd century CE. Hands decorated with religious symbols were designed to stand in sanctuaries or, like this one, were attached to poles for processional use. Another similar bronze hand found in the 16th/17th century in [[Tournai]], Belgium, is also in the [[British Museum]].<ref name="britishmuseum2">{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=465292&partId=1&people=94919&peoA=94919-1-9&page=1|publisher=britishmuseum.org|title= British Museum Collection |access-date=2017-03-06}}</ref>]]

'''Sabazios''' ({{langx|grc|Σαβάζιος|translit=Sabázios}}, {{small|modern pronunciation}} ''Savázios''; alternatively, ''Sabadios''<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Rudy |editor1-first=Stephen |title=Contributions to Comparative Mythology: Studies in Linguistics and Philology, 1972-1982 |date=14 December 2010 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-085546-3 |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gsucH7YYr7kC&pg=PA7 }}</ref>) is a deity originating in [[Asia Minor]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Vitas |first=Nadežda Gavrilović |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1gt94hj |title=Ex Asia et Syria: Oriental Religions in the Roman Central Balkans |date=2021 |publisher=Archaeopress |pages=77–91|doi=10.2307/j.ctv1gt94hj |jstor=j.ctv1gt94hj }}</ref> He is the horseman and [[sky father]] god of the [[Phrygians]] and [[Thracians]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-5642 | title=Sabazius | journal=Oxford Classical Dictionary | date=7 March 2016 | last1=Parker | first1=Robert | doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.5642 | isbn=978-0-19-938113-5 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Sabazios gained prominence across the [[Roman Empire]], particularly favored in the [[Central Balkans]] due to Thracian influence. Scholarly debate has long debated Sabazios' origins, with current consensus leaning towards his Phrygian roots.<ref name=":0" />

Though the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]] [[Interpretatio graeca|interpreted]] Phrygian Sabazios<ref>Variant spellings, like ''Sawadios'' in inscriptions, may prove diagnostic in establishing origins, [[Ken Dowden]] suggested in reviewing E.N. Lane, ''Corpus Cultis Jovis Sabazii'' 1989 for ''The Classical Review'', 1991:125.</ref> as both [[Zeus]] and [[Dionysus]],<ref>See ''[[interpretatio Graeca]]''.</ref> representations of him, even into [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] times, show him always on horseback, wielding his characteristic staff of power.