In Search of God the Mother: The Cult of Anatolian CybeleThis book examines one of the most intriguing figures in the religious life of the ancient Mediterranean world, the Phrygian Mother Goddess, known to the Greeks and Romans as Cybele or Magna Mater, the Great Mother. Her cult was particularly prominent in central Anatolia (modern Turkey), and spread from there through the Greek and Roman world. She was an enormously popular figure, attracting devotion from common people and potentates alike. This book is the first comprehensive assembly and discussion of the entire extant evidence concerning the worship of the Phrygian Mother Goddess, from her earliest appearance in the prehistoric record to the early centuries of the Roman Empire. Lynn E. Roller presents and analyzes literary, historiographic, and archaeological data with equal acuity and flair. While previous studies have tended to emphasize the more outrageous aspects of the Mother Goddess's cult, such as her orgiastic rituals and the eunuch priests who attended her, this book places a special focus on Cybele's position in Anatolia and the ways in which the identity of the goddess changed as her cult was transmitted to Greece and Rome. Roller gives a detailed account of the growth, spread, and evolution of her cult, her ceremonies, and her meaning for her adherents. This book will introduce students of Classical antiquity to many aspects of the Great Mother which have been previously unexamined, and will interest anyone who has ever been piqued by curiosity about the Mother Goddess of the ancient Western world. |
Contents
Prolegomenon to a Study of the Phrygian Mother Goddess | 9 |
The Evidence from Prehistory | 27 |
The Bronze and Early Iron Ages | 41 |
The Cult of the Mother Goddess in Phrygia | 63 |
The Early Cult | 119 |
The Classical Period | 143 |
The Hellenistic Period | 187 |
The Myth of Cybele and Attis | 237 |
The Arrival of the Magna Mater in Rome | 263 |
The Republic and Early Empire | 287 |
The Roman Goddess in Asia Minor | 327 |
Epilogue | 345 |
Bibliography | 347 |
Index | 363 |
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Common terms and phrases
Agdistis altar Anatolian ancient Angdistis Ankara appears archaeological Arnobius Athenian Athens Boğazköy Brixhe castration Çatalhöyük CCCA century B.C. Courtesy chapter cult of Meter cult practice Cybele Cybele and Attis dedicated deity Demeter depicting Devreker Diodoros Dionysos discussion divinity Euripides evidence examples Excavations façades female figure figurines fourth century B.C. Galli gods Gordion Graillot Greece Greek Greek cult Greek world Haspels Hellenic hijras Hittite human iconography IG ii² inscriptions Karkamiš Kouretes Kubaba Kybele Kyzikos lion Livy Magna Mater Magna Mater cult Matar Mellink Meter cult Meter votives metragyrtes Metroön Midas City monuments Mother Goddess mountain naiskos Naumann Neo-Hittite niche Ovid Palatine Pausanias Pergamon Pessinous Phry Phrygian cult Phrygian goddess Phrygian Mother Goddess Piraeus prominent religious Rhea rites ritual Rome sanctuary seated second century B.C. sexual shrine sixth century B.C. sources statuettes status Strabo suggests symbol temple terracotta texts tympanum Urartian Vermaseren votive reliefs worship Zeus