Bendis

(Βένδις), a Thracian divinity in whom the moon was worshipped. Hesychius (s. v. δίλογχον) says, that the poet Cratinus called this goddess δίλογχος, either because she had to discharge two duties, one towards heaven and the other towards the earth, or because she bore two lances, or lastly, because she had two lights, the one her own and the other derived from the sun. In Greece she was sometimes identified with Persephone, but more commonly with Artemis. (Proclus, Theolog. p. 353.) From an expression of Aristophanes, who in his comedy "The Lemnian Women" called her the μεγάλη θεός (Phot. Lex. and Hesych. s. v.), it may be inferred, that she was worshipped in Lemnos; and it was either from this island or from Thrace that her worship was introduced into Attica; for we know, that as early as the time of Plato the Bendideia were celebrated in Peiraeeus every year on the twentieth of Thargelion. (Hesych. s. v. Βένδις; Plat. Rep. 1.1; Proclus, ad Tim. p. 9; Xen. Hell. 2.4.11; Strab. x. p.471; Liv. 38.41.) [L.S]

(Βενδίς). A goddess of the moon among the Thracians. She was invested with power over heaven and earth, and identified by the Greeks with Artemis, Hecaté, and Persephoné. The worship of this goddess was introduced into Attica by Thracian aliens; and was so popular that in Plato's time it became a state ceremonial at Athens. A public festival was instituted called the Bendideia, at which there were torch-races and a solemn procession of Athenians and Thracians at the Piraeus. See Artemis.