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At Paleopolis, about 3 km east of the harbor town of Kamariotissa.
The ancient residents of Samothrace had developed a mysterious cult worship, comparable to the Mysteries of Elefsis, near Athens, and of Delphi. The deities they worshipped were called the Gods, or the Great Gods, led by a powerful mother figure, and they were not related to the ancient Greek dodecatheon.
People from around the ancient and the Roman worlds descended on Samothrace to be initiated to the rites, and the Sanctuary at Paleopolis became one of the religious hubs of antiquity. It is said that Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexandert the Great, met Olympias, his wife and Alexander's mother, while both visiting Samothrace to be initiated.
The site reached its apex in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, after when it went to a long decline. In 1863, archeological excavation unearthed the famous statue of the Nike ("Victory") of Samothrace, today one of the most important exhibits of the Louvre Museum in Paris.
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