Bendis

The Greeks wrote of Bendis as one of the seven daughters of Zeus who were turned into swans who would later reappear in human forms driving a golden carriage and teaching crowds.

[4] By a decree of the Oracle of Dodona, which required the Athenians to grant land for a shrine or temple, her cult was introduced into Attica by immigrant Thracian residents,[5] and, though Thracian and Athenian processions remained separate, both cult and festival became so popular that in Plato's time (c. 429–413 BC) its festivities were naturalized as an official ceremonial of the city-state, called the Bendideia (Βενδίδεια).

[1] A red-figure skyphos, now at Tübingen University, of c. 440–430, seems to commemorate the arrival of the newly authorized cult: it shows Themis (representing traditional Athenian customs) and a booted and cloaked Bendis, who wears a Thracian fox-skin cap.

A small marble votive stele of Bendis, c. 400–375 BC, found at Piraeus, (pictured left) shows the goddess and her worshippers in bas-relief.

The Athenians may have blended the cult of Bendis with the equally Dionysiac Thracian revels of Kotys, mentioned by Aeschylus and other ancient writers.

Artemis Bendis, moulded terracotta figurine, perhaps from Tanagra , c. 350 BC ( Louvre )
Votive stele ( British Museum ). The goddess is shown on a larger scale than her mortal worshippers.
Bendis in her Thracian cap approaches a seated Apollo. Red-figure bell-shaped krater by the Bendis Painter, c. 380 –370 BC