Editing Sabazios (section)

==Iconography, depictions, and Hellenistic associations==
[[File:Sabazios_hand.jpg|thumb|View from various angles.]]
Among Roman inscriptions from Nicopolis ad Istrum, Sabazios is generally equated with [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jove]] and mentioned alongside [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]].<ref name="Tacheva-Hitova The Cult of Sabazios">{{cite book |doi=10.1163/9789004295735_004 |chapter=The Cult of Sabazios |title=Eastern Cults in Moesia Inferior and Thracia (5th Century B.C.-4th Century A.D.) |year=1983 |pages=162–189 |isbn=978-90-04-06884-1 |first1=Margarita |last1=Tacheva-Hitova }}</ref> Similarly in Hellenistic monuments, Sabazios is either explicitly (via inscriptions) or implicitly (via iconography) associated with Zeus. On a marble slab from Philippopolis, Sabazios is depicted as a curly-haired and bearded central deity among several gods and goddesses. Under his left foot is a ram's head, and he holds in his left hand a sceptre tipped with a hand in the [[benedictio latina]] gesture.<ref name="google3">{{cite book|title=Corpus Cultus Iovis Sabazii (CCIS): the hands |author=Vermaseren, M. J.|date=1983 |publisher=Brill|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WwwVAAAAIAAJ&dq=benedictio+latina&pg=PA16|page=16|isbn=978-90-04-06951-0 }}</ref> Sabazios is accompanied by busts on his right depicting Luna, Pan, and Mercury, and on his left by Sol, Fortuna, and Daphne.<ref name="Tacheva-Hitova The Cult of Sabazios"/> According to Macrobius, Liber and Helios were worshipped among the Thracians as Sabazios;<ref name="Tacheva-Hitova The Cult of Sabazios"/> this description fits other Classical accounts that identify Sabazios with [[Dionysos]]. Sabazios is also associated with a number of archeological finds depicting a bronze, right hand in the benedictio latina gesture. The hand appears to have had ritual significance and may have been affixed to a sceptre (as the one carried by Sabazios on the Philippopolis slab). Although there are many variations, the hand of Sabazios is typically depicted with a pinecone on the thumb and with a serpent or pair of serpents encircling the wrist and surmounting the bent ring and pinky fingers. Additional symbols occasionally included on the hands of Sabazios include a lightning bolt over the index and middle fingers, a turtle and lizard on the back of the hand, an eagle, a ram, a leafless branch, the [[thyrsos]], and the [[Thracian horseman|Mounted Heros]].<ref name="Tacheva-Hitova The Cult of Sabazios"/>