mêtrôion

laura/antoine (she/he), xxv, from italy. this is my devotional blog, dedicated to the cult of CYBELE AND ATTIS

[romegreeceart]

Attis

Egypt, Roman period

terracotta

Egyptian museum, Turin

Turin, June 2023

[worldhistoryfacts]

Followers of the mother goddess Cybele were famous for whipping themselves into religious ecstasies. Modern historians love to use the word “orgiastic” to describe her worshippers and their rituals.

One of the stories associated with Cybele is that of Attis, a shepherd whose love for Cybele was so great that he castrated himself under a pine tree in a fit of religious enthusiasm and died. Many of the rituals associated with Cybele attempted to recapture both the intensity of Attis’ devotion and the bloodiness of his act.

All this struck the normally staid Romans as a bit too, well, eastern. They tended to look down on the Persians, Egyptians, and so forth as too emotional, too effeminate, and too undisciplined.

Powerful Romans worked to mainstream Cybele, turning her from a wild mother of nature into a placid Roman matriarch. Cybele was incorporated into less intense new rituals — games, animal sacrifices, that sort of thing — orchestrated by powerful Romans; her priests were not invited to these events. The wild rites associated with her seem to have faded away over time.

Augustus, the first emperor of Rome, was especially interested in using Cybele. Though he had overthrown the Roman Republic, he positioned himself as a traditionalist, someone who would bring back “traditional” Roman values. In doing so, he promoted a vision of Cybele as the “Magna Mater” — the great mother of Rome. She was now portrayed as a virtuous Roman matriarch, often without her lions:

Here’s another Roman depiction from around the same time, which attempts to incorporate all of the symbolism associated with Cybele. We have the lion, which signifies her power over nature; a cornucopia, symbolizing her role in providing abundant harvests; and her crown, representing her role in protecting Rome’s cities.

{WHF} {Ko-Fi} {Medium}

The Strange Journey of a Blood-Soaked Mother Goddess

Cybele’s transformation from wild mountain mother to Roman matriarch

[bagdemagus]

The Goddess Kybele Formiae in Campania, ca. 60 BCE

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen

[carnageandculture-deactivated20]

Fresco depicting a religious procession with a statue of Cybele on a stretcher (ferculum), and a niche-aedicula with a herm of Dionysus.  Facade of the House of Venus and the Four Gods (IX. 7. 1), Pompeii, 1st cent. CE.

[oncebittentwiceborn]

I have taken my foot to the forests of Ida, There to live with snows and the frozen hiding places of beasts, And to visit, in my frenzy, all their hidden living places.

Catullus, Eli Siegel tr. (via oncebittentwiceborn)

[nessotropheion]

Memorial stone of Marcus Modius Maxximus. Inscription reads: “Archigallus coloniae Ostiensis”. The port city of Ostia was the site of Cybele’s arrival into Rome. A rooster (gallus) with feathers made of grain sheaths stands atop a Roman grain measure (modius). Also pictured are a set of pan pipes and a shepherd’s crook, referring back to Cybele’s lover Attis.

[flaroh]

Magna Mater Cybele 👑💟🦁 Each year from April 4-10, the Romans celebrated the Megalesia, a Phrygian festival celebrating the Anatolian goddess Cybele ✨ Celebrations included plays written in her honour and chariot races in the Circus Maximus. I created this illustration last year for my patrons. It depicts Cybele with her mural crown and tympanon drum, which was one of her main symbols in Rome. Behind her is her iconic lion, which I modelled off of lion statues from Anatolia, where she originated.

[giganticmarshmallow-deactivated]

Cybele & A young priestess of some chthonic deity

[metroion]

Votive relief of Cybele and Attis 2nd century BCE, from Asia Minor. Venice National Archaeological Museum (x)

[misslubaluft]

Altar of Cybele, around 700BC, Midas, Turkey

[thegodwhocums]

lot of people reblogging posts about Agdistis from my old blog recently... you can honor and work with them, you know?

here's the Latin couplet my working partners and I use to initiate work with Agdistis:

Dea, Magna Dea, Cybebe,

Dea Domina Dindimi

Demitte me tuo furor parvu, obsecro,

Ut furor magnum pertransit me

it calls out to Cybele, mother/progenitor/alter-ego of Agdistis, and asks to be granted both the blessing of the Small Madness and protection from the Great Madness

put out a handful of almonds for them, say the couplet, and take a deep breath into your solar plexus to let them take some of your pain

let me know how it goes

[paranoidarkeolog]

Funerary relief of an Archigallus, head of the eunuch priests of Cybele (mid-2nd century AD). (Capitoline Museums; Wikimedia Commons)

[lush-retina-is-dead]

cult of Cybele ritual castration clamp

[honorthegods]

A reader asked: Was Adonis only ever worshiped in Greece or was there a cult for him in Rome as well? Was he worshiped in Rome at all?

Salve, dear reader! This a timely question, thank you for asking!

The cult of Cybele, also known as the Magna Mater, was established in Rome after consultation of the Sybilline books in 204 BCE during the Second Punic War. Cybele was represented by a meteoric stone in her temple on the Palatine Hill in Rome and by an empty throne, which was flanked by two reclining statues of Attis.

The annual Roman festival commemorating the death and resurrection of Attis took place around the vernal equinox and bears some obvious resemblances to the later Christian observances of Lent and Easter. It began on or around 15 March with a 9-day period of abstinence from certain foods and drink. On 22 March, a pine tree was cut down and taken to the temple of Cybele, where it was wrapped in wool (perhaps imitating a shroud?) and decorated with violets (which were commonly scattered on graves). This was followed by a day of mourning, and then a day of flagellation - Cybele's priests castrated themselves on this day. The next day was the Hilaria, the celebration of Attis' resurrection. There was a day of rest, and then the Lavatio, during which the priests of Cybele took her aniconic statue to a tributary of the Tibur to be bathed and in a joyous procession returned the meteoric stone to the goddess' temple. Initiations may have occurred on the next day, on or near 28 March, which was the final day of the festival.

Featured image: Statue of a reclining Attis at thhe Shrine of Attis, situated to the east of the Campus of the Magna Mater in Ostia. In the apse is a plaster cast (the original is in the Vatican Museums) of a statue of a reclining Attis, after the emasculation. In his left hand is a shepherd's crook, in his right hand a pomegranate. His head is crowned with bronze rays of the sun and on his Phrygian cap is a crescent moon. This suggests astrological aspects: Attis was regarded as a solar deity and identified with the moon-god Men. He is leaning on a bust, probably the personification of the river Gallos, where he had died. His posture is reminiscent of river gods (the river Gallos), but the statue also brings to mind sarcophagi, with a depiction of the deceased on the lid. The statue is a dedication by C. Cartilius Euplus.

Photo by archer10: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_of_a_reclining_Attis_at_the_Shrine_of_Attis_1.jpg

Image license:  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic 

[lionofchaeronea]

Ancient Roman marble statue of the goddess Cybele, depicting holding a cornucopia and attended by a lion.  The statue’s face is an individualized portrait, possibly of a priestess of the goddess.  Artist unknown; ca. 50 CE.  Now in the Getty Villa, Pacific Palisades, CA.  Photo credit: Getty Center/Wikimedia Commons.

[arjuna-vallabha]

Bronze statuette of Cybele on a cart drawn by lions

[arnaerr]

May – Attis. Attis was a Phrygian god of vegetation, and in his self-mutilation, death, and resurrection he represents the fruits of the earth, which die in winter only to rise again in the spring.