Information AboutCybele |
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Originally a who was worshiped in Anatolia from Neolithic times. Like Gaia (the "Earth") or her Minoan equivalent Rhea , Cybele embodies the fertile earth, a goddess of caverns and mountains, walls and fortresses, nature, wild animals (especially lions and bees). Her title '' Potnia Theron '', which is also associated with the Minoan Great Mother, alludes to her ancient Neolithic roots as "Mistress of the Animals". She becomes a Life-death-rebirth Deity in connection with her consort, her son Attis . Her Roman equivalent was Magna Mater or " Great Mother ". Walter Burkert , who treats Meter among "foreign gods" in ''Greek Religion'' (1985, section III.3,4) puts it succinctly: "The cult of the Great Mother, ''Meter'', presents a complex picture insofar as indigenous, Minoan-Mycenean tradition is here intertwined with a cult taken over directly from the Phrygian kingdom of Asia Minor" (p 177). Save that it reveals that the Greeks considered "Cybele" to be Greek, the traditional derivation of her name, as "she of the hair" can be ignored, now that the inscription of one of her Phrygia n rock-cut monuments has been read ''matar kubileya''.C.H.E. Haspels, ''The Highlands of Phrygia'', 1971, I 293 no 13, noted in Walter Burkert, ''Greek Religion'', 1985, III.3.4, notes 17 and 18. The inscription ''matar'' occurs frequently in her Phrygian sites (Burkert). ''Kubileya'' is usually read as a Phrygian adjective "of the mountain", so that the inscription may be read Mother of the Mountain, and this is supported by Classical sources (Roller 1999, pp. 67–68). Another theory is that her name can be traced to the Luwian '' Kubaba '', the deified queen of the Third Dynasty of Kish worshiped at Carchemish and Hellenized to ''Kybebe'' (Munn 2004, Motz 1997, pp. 105-106). With or without the etymological connection, Kubaba and Matar certainly merged in at least some aspects, as the genital mutilation later connected with Cybele's cult is associated with Kybebe in earlier texts, but in general she seems to have been more a collection of similar tutelary goddesses associated with specific Anatolian mountains or other localities, and called simply "mother" (Motz). The goddess was known among the Greeks as ''Meter'' or ''Meter oreie'' ("Mountain-Mother"), or, with a particular Anatolian sacred mountain in mind, '' Idaea '', inasmuch as she was supposed to have been born on Mount Ida in Asia Minor , or equally ''Dindymene'' or ''Sipylene'', with her sacred mountains Mount Dindymon (in Mysia and variously located) or Mount Sipylus in mind. Cybele's most ecstatic followers were males who ritually Castrated themselves, after which they were given women's clothing and assumed "female" identities, who were referred to by the third-century commentator Callimachus in the feminine ''Gallai'', and who other contemporary commentators in ancient Greece and Rome referred to as ''Gallos'' or '' Galli ''. Her priestesses led the people in orgiastic ceremonies with wild music, drumming, dancing and drink. She was associated with the mystery religion concerning her son, Attis , who was castrated and resurrected. The Dactyls were part of her retinue. Other followers of Cybele, Phrygian ''kurbantes'' or Corybantes , expressed her ecstatic and orgiastic cult in music, especially drumming, clashing of shields and spears, dancing, singing and shouts, all at night. CULT HISTORY Her cult moved from Phrygia to Greece from the 6th Century BC to the 4th BC . In 203 BC , Rome adopted her cult as well. Anatolia and Greece . Ai Khanoum , Bactria ( Afghanistan ), 2nd century BCE.]] Greek mythographers recalled that Broteas , the son of Tantalus , was the first to carve the Great Mother's image into a rock-face. At the time of Pausanias (2nd century CE), a sculpture carved into the rock-face of a spur of Mount Sipylus was still held sacred by the Magnesians .Pausanias: "the Magnesians, who live to the north of Mount Sipylus, have on the rock Coddinus the most ancient of all the images of the Mother of the gods. The Magnesians say that it was made by Broteas the son of Tantalus." (''Description of Greece'') At Pessinos in Phrygia, an archaic version of Cybele had been venerated as Agdistis , time out of mind by the time, in 203 BC , when its aniconic cult object was removed to Rome. Her cult had already been adopted in 5th Century BC Greece, where she is often referred to euphemistically as ''Meter Theon Idaia'' ("Mother of the Gods, from Mount Ida") rather than by name. Mentions of Cybele's worship are found in Pindar and Euripides , among others. Classical Greek writers, however, either did not know of or did not mention the transgendered Galli ; although they did know of the castration of Attis . Cybele's cult in Greece was closely associated with, and apparently resembled, the cult of Dionysus , whom Cybele is said to have initiated, and cured him of Hera 's madness. They also identified Cybele with the Mother of the Gods Rhea . Anatolian Cybele Various aspects of Cybele's Anatolian attributes probably predate the Bronze Age in origin. A figurine found at Çatalhöyük , (Archaeological Museum, Ankara), dating about 6000 , depicts a corpulent and fertile Mother Goddess in the process of giving birth while seated on her throne, which has two handrests in the form of lion's heads. No direct connection with the later ''matar'' goddesses is documented, but the similarity to some of the later iconography is striking. By the , where it took on special significance" (Burkert, III.3.4, p. 177). If the theory on the Luwian origin of Cybele's name is correct, Kubaba must have merged with the various ''matar'' goddesses well before time the Phrygian ''matar kubileya'' inscription was made around the first half of the 6th Century BC (Vassileva 2001). In Phrygia Rhea/Cybele was venerated as Agdistis , with a temple at the great trading city Pessinos , mentioned by the geographer Strabo . It was at Pessinos that her lover Attis (son of Nana ) was about to wed the daughter of the king, when Agdistis/Cybele appeared in her awesome glory, and he castrated himself. In Archaic Phrygian images of Cybele of the sixth century, already betraying the influence of Greek style (Burkert), her typical representation is in the figuration of a building’s façade, standing in the doorway. The façade itself can be related to the rock-cut monuments of the highlands of Phrygia. She is wearing a belted long dress, a ''polos'' (high cylindrical hat), and a veil covering the whole body. In Phrygia, her usual attributes are the bird of prey and a small vase. Lions are sometimes related to her, in an aggressive but tamed manner. seated Cybele with ''tymbalon'', ( 4th Century BC , Athens)]] Later, under Hellenic influence along the coastlands of Asia Minor, the sculptor Agoracritos , a pupil of Pheidias , produced a version of Cybele that became the standard one. It showed her still seated on a throne but now more decorous and matronly, her hand resting on the neck of a perfectly still lion and the other holding the circular Frame Drum , similar to a tambourine, (''tymbalon'' or tympanon), which evokes the full moon in its shape and is covered with the hide of the sacred Lunar Bull . Cybele and Attis The goddess appears alone, 8th – 6th centuries BC. Later she is joined by her son and consort Attis , who incurred her jealousy. He, in an ecstasy, castrated himself, and subsequently died. Grieving, Cybele resurrected him. Thia tale is told by Catullus in one of the long poems of his Carmina ( Poems ) —number 63. The evergreen pine and ivy were sacred to Attis. Some ecstatic followers of Cybele, known in Rome as Galli , willingly castrated themselves in imitation of Attis . For Roman devotees of Cybele Mater Magna who were not prepared to go so far, the testicles of a bull, one of the Great Mother's sacred animals, were an acceptable substitute, as many inscriptions show. An inscription of AD 160 records that a certain Carpus had transported bull's testes from Rome to Cybele's shrine at Lyon, France. Aegean Cybele '', from Nicaea in Bithynia . ( Istanbul Archaeology Museum )]] The worship of Cybele spread from inland areas of Anatolia and Syria to the Aegean coast, to Crete and other Aegean islands, and to mainland Greece. She was particularly welcomed at Athens. The geographer Strabo (book x, 3:18) made some useful observations: :"Just as in all other respects the Athenians continue to be hospitable to things foreign, so also in their worship of the gods; for they welcomed so many of the foreign rites ... the Phrygian of Rhea-Cybele are mentioned by Demosthenes , when he casts the reproach upon Aeskhines' mother and Aeskhines himself, that he was with her when she conducted initiations, that he joined her in leading the Dionysiac march, and that many a time he cried out ''evoe saboe,'' and ''hyes attes, attes hyes''; for these words are in the ritual of Sabazios and the Mother [Rhea]." In Alexandria , Cybele was worshiped by the Greek population as "The Mother of the Gods, the Savior who Hears our Prayers" and as "The Mother of the Gods, the Accessible One." Ephesus , one of the major trading centers of the area, was devoted to Cybele as early the 10th Century BC , and the city's ecstatic celebration, the Ephesia, honored her. The goddess was not welcome among the Scythians north of Thrace. From Herodotus (4.76-7) we learn that the Scythian Anacharsis ( 6th Century BC ), after traveling among the Greeks and acquiring vast knowledge, was put to death by his fellow Scythians for attempting to introduce the foreign cult of Magna Mater. Atalanta and Hippomenes were turned into Lion s by Zeus or Cybele as punishment for having sex in one of his/her temples because the Greeks believed that lions could not mate with other lions. Another account says that Aphrodite turned them into lions for forgetting to do her tribute. As lions they then drew Cybele's chariot. Roman Cybele in Madrid depicting Cybele in a chariot drawn by lions, in the Plaza de Cibeles.]] See Also: Temples of Cybele in Rome At Pessinos in Phrygia, an archaic version of Cybele had been venerated as Agdistis , time out of mind. In 203 BC , Pessinos's Aniconic Cult Object that embodied the Great Mother was ceremoniously and reverently removed to Rome, marking the official beginning of her cult there. Rome was then embroiled in the Second Punic War . The previous year, an inspection had been made of the Sibylline Books , and some oracular verses had been discovered that announced that if a foreign foe should carry war into Italy, he could be driven out and conquered if the Mater Magna were brought from Pessinos to Rome. Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica was ordered to go to the port of Ostia , accompanied by all the matrons, to meet the goddess. He was to receive her as she left the vessel, and when brought to land he was to place her in the hands of the matrons who were to bear her to her destination, the Temple of Victory on the Palatine Hill . The day on which this event took place, 12 April , was observed afterwards as a festival, the Megalesian. Livy , ''History of Rome,'' 29.10-11, .14 (written circa AD 10 ). In 103 BC , Battakes, a high priest of Cybele, journeyed to Rome to announce a prediction of Gaius Marius 's victory over the Cimbri and Teutoni. A. Pompeius , plebeian tribune, together with a band of ruffians, chased Battakes off of the Rostra . Pompeius supposedly died of a fever a few days later. Plutarch , "Life of Marius," 17. Under the emperor Augustus , Cybele enjoyed greater prominence thanks to her inclusion in Augustan ideology. Augustus restored Cybele's temple, which was located next to his own palace on the Palatine Hill . On the cuirass of the Prima Porta of Augustus, the tympanon of Cybele lies at the feet of the goddess Tellus . Livia , the wife of Augustus, ordered cameo-cutters to portray her as Cybele.P. Lambrechts, "Livie-Cybele," ''La Nouvelle Clio'' 4 (1952): 251-60. The Malibu statue of Cybele bears the visage of Livia.C. C. Vermeule, "Greek and Roman Portraits in North American Collections Open to the Public," ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' 108 (1964): 106, 126, fig. 18. In Roman Mythology , she was given the name Magna Mater deorum Idaea ("great Idaean mother of the gods"), in recognition of her Phrygia n origins (though this title was also given to Rhea ). Roman devotion to Cybele ran deep. Not coincidentally, when a Christian basilica was built over the site of a temple to Cybele to occupy the site, the sanctuary was rededicated to the Mother of God, as the Basilica Di Santa Maria Maggiore . However, Roman citizens were later forbidden to become priestesses of Cybele, who were eunuchs like their Asiatic Goddess. |
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