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GREAT MOTHER OF THE GODS

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 403 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GREAT See also:MOTHER OF THE GODS , the See also:ancient See also:Oriental-See also:Greek-See also:Roman deity commonly known as See also:Cybele (q.v.) in Greek and Latin literature from the See also:time of See also:Pindar. She was also known under many other names, some of which were derived from famous places of See also:worship: as Dindymene from Mt. Dindymon, Mater Idaea from Mt. See also:Ida, Sipylene from Mt. Sipylus, Agdistis from Mt. Agdistis or Agdus, Mater See also:Phrygia from the greatest stronghold of her cult; while others were reflections of her See also:character as a great nature goddess: e.g. See also:Mountain Mother, Great Mother of the Gods, Mother of all Gods and all Men. As the great Mother deity whose worship extended throughout See also:Asia See also:Minor she was known as Ma or Ammas. Cybele is her favourite name in ancient and See also:modern literature, while Great Mother of the Gods, or Great Idaean Mother of the Gods (Mater Deum Magna, Mater Deum Magna Idaea), the most frequently recurring epigraphical See also:title, was her See also:ordinary See also:official designation. The legends agree in locating the rise of the worship of the Great Mother in Asia Minor, in the region of loosely defined See also:geographical limits which comprised the Phrygian See also:empire of prehistoric times, and was more extensive than the Roman See also:province of Phrygia (Diod. Sic. iii. 58; Paus. vii.

17; Arnob. v. 5; See also:

Firm. See also:Mat. De See also:error., 3; See also:Ovid, See also:Fasti, iv. 223 ff.; See also:Sallust. Phil. De diis et mundo, 4; Jul. Or. v. 165 ff.). Her best-known See also:early seats of worship were Mt. Ida, Mt. Sipylus, See also:Cyzicus, See also:Sardis and See also:Pessinus, the last-named See also:city, in See also:Galatia near the See also:borders of Roman Phrygia, finally becoming the strongest centre of the cult.

She was known to the See also:

Romans and Greeks as essentially Phrygian, and all Phrygia was spoken of as sacred to her (Schol. Apollon. Rhod. Argonautica, 1126). It is probable, however, that the Phrygian See also:race, which invaded Asia Minor from the See also:north in the 9th See also:century B.C., found a great nature goddess already universally worshipped there, and blended her with a deity of their own. The See also:Asiatic-Phrygian worship thus evolved was further modified by contact with the Syrians and Phoenicians, so that it acquired strong Semitic characteristics. The Great Mother known to the Greeks and Romans was thus merely the Phrygian See also:form of the nature deity of all Asia Minor. From Asia Minor the cult of the Great Mother spread first to Greek territory. It found its way into See also:Thrace at an early date, was known in See also:Boeotia by Pindar in the 6th century, and entered See also:Attica near the beginning of the 4th century (See also:Grant Showerman, The Great Mother of the Gods, Bulletin of the University of See also:Wisconsin, No. 43, See also:Madison, 1901). At See also:Peiraeus, where it probably a rived by way of the See also:Aegean islands, it existed privately in a fully See also:developed See also:state, that is, accompanied by the worship of See also:Attis, at the beginning of the 4th century, and publicly two centuries later (D. See also:Comparetti, Annales, 1862, pp.

23 ff.). The Greeks from the first saw in the Great Mother a resemblance to their own See also:

Rhea, and finally identified the two completely, though the Asiatic peculiarities of the cult were never universally popular with them (Showerman, p. 294). In her less Asiatic aspect, i.e. without Attis, she was sometimes identified with Gaia and See also:Demeter. It was in this phase that she was worshipped in the Metroon at See also:Athens. In reality, the Mother Goddess appears under three aspects: Rhea, the Homeric and Hesiodic goddess of Cretan origin; the Phrygian Mother, with Attis; and the Greek Great Mother, a modified form of the Phrygian Mother, to be explained as the See also:original goddess of the Phrygians of See also:Europe, communicated to the Greek stock before the Phrygian invasion of Asia Minor and consequent mingling with Asiatic See also:stocks (cf. Showerman, p. 252). In 204 B.C., in obedience to the Sibylline prophecy which said that whenever an enemy from abroad should make See also:war on See also:Italy he could be expelled and conquered if the Idaean Mother were brought to See also:Rome from Pessinus, the cult of the Great Mother, together with her sacred See also:symbol, a small meteoric See also:stone reputed to have fallen from the heavens, was transferred to Rome and established in a See also:temple on the See also:Palatine (See also:Livy See also:xxix. 10-14). Her See also:identification by the Romans with See also:Maia, Ops, Rhea, Tellus and See also:Ceres contributed to the See also:establishment of her worship on a firm footing. By the end of the See also:Republic it had attained prominence, and under the Empire it became one of the three most important cults in the Roman See also:world, the other two being those of See also:Mithras and See also:Isis.

Epigraphic and numismatic See also:

evidence prove it to have penetrated from Rome as a centre to the remotest provinces (Showerman, pp. 291-293). During the brief revival of paganism under See also:Eugenius in A.D. 394, occurred the last See also:appearance of the cult in See also:history. Besides the temple on the Palatine, there existed minor shrines of the Great Mother near the See also:present See also:church of St See also:Peter, on the Sacra Via on the north slope of the Palatine, near the junction of the Almo and the See also:Tiber, See also:south of the city (ibid. 311-314). In all her aspects, Roman,. Greek and Oriental, the Great Mother was characterized by essentially the same qualities. Most prominent among them was her universal motherhood. She was the great See also:parent of gods and men, as well as of the See also:lower orders of creation. " The winds, the See also:sea, the See also:earth and the snowy seat of See also:Olympus are hers, and when from her mountains she ascends into the great heavens, the son of Cronus himself gives way before her " (Apollon. Rhod.

Argonautica, 1098). She was known as the All-begetter, the All-nourisher, the Mother of all the Blest. She was the great, fruitful, kindly earth itself. Especial emphasis was placed upon her maternity over See also:

wild nature. She was called the Mountain Mother; her sanctuaries were almost invariably upon mountains, and frequently in caves, the name Cybele itself being by some derived from the latter; lions were her faithful companions. Her universal See also:power over the natural world finds beautiful expression in See also:Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1140 if. She was also a chaste and beautiful deity. Her especial See also:affinity with wild nature was manifested by the orgiastic character of her worship. Her attendants, the See also:Corybantes, were wild, See also:half demonic beings. Her priests, the Galli, were eunuchs attired in See also:female garb, with See also:long See also:hair fragrant with ointment. Together with priestesses, they celebrated her See also:rites with flutes, horns, See also:castanets, See also:cymbals and tambourines, madly yelling and dancing until their frenzied excitement found its See also:culmination in self-scourging, self-laceration or exhaustion. Self-emasculation sometimes accompanied this See also:delirium of worship on the See also:part of candidates for the priesthood (Showerman, pp.

234-239). The Attis of See also:

Catullus (lxiii.) is a brilliant treatment of such an See also:episode. Though her cult sometimes existed by itself, in its fully developed state the worship of the Great Mother was accompanied by that of Attis (q.v.). The cult of Attis never existed independently. Like See also:Adonis and See also:Aphrodite, See also:Baal and See also:Astarte, &c., the two formed a duality representing the relations of Mother Nature to the fruits of the 'earth. There is no See also:positive evidence to prove the existence of the cult publicly in this phase in See also:Greece before the and century B.C., nor in Rome before the Empire, though it may have existed in private (Showerman, " Was Attis at Rome under the Republic ?" in Transactions of the See also:American Philological Association, vol. 31, 1900, pp. 46-59; Cumont, s.v. "Attis," De Ruggiero's Dizionario epigrafico and Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie, Supplement; Hepding, Attis, See also:seine Mythen and seine Kult, See also:Giessen, 19o3, p. 142). The philosophers of the See also:late Roman Empire interpreted the Attis See also:legend as symbolizing the relations of Mother Earth to her See also:children the fruits. Porphyrius says that Attis signified the See also:flowers of See also:spring time, and was cut off in youth because the See also:flower falls before the See also:fruit (See also:Augustine, De civ.

Dei, vii. 25). Maternus (De error. 3) interprets the love of the Great Mother for Attis as the love of the earth for her fruits; his emasculation as the cutting of the fruits; his See also:

death as their preservation; and his, resurrection as the See also:sowing of the See also:seed again. At Rome the immediate direction of the cult of the Great Mother devolved upon the high See also:priest, Archigallus, called Attis, a high priestess, Sacerdos See also:Maxima, and its support was derived, at least in part, from a popular contribution, the slips. Besides other priests, priestesses and minor officials, such as musicians, See also:curator, &c., there were certain colleges connected with the See also:administration of the cult, called cannophori (See also:reed-bearers) anddendrophori (See also:branch-bearers). The Quindecimvirs exercised a See also:general supervision over this cult, as over all other authorized cults, and it was, at least originally, under the See also:special patronage of a See also:club or sodality (Showerman, pp. 269-276). Roman citizens were at first forbidden to take part in its ceremonies, and the See also:ban was not removed until the time of the Empire. The See also:main public event in the worship of the Great Mother was the See also:annual festival, which took See also:place originally on the 4th of See also:April, and was followed on the 5th by the Megalesia, See also:games instituted in her See also:honour on the introduction of the cult. Under the Empire, from See also:Claudius on, the Megalesia lasted six days, April 4-10, and the original one See also:day of the religious festival became an annual See also:cycle of festivals extending from the 15th to the 27th of See also:March, in the following See also:order. (1) The 15th of March, Canna intral—the See also:sacrifice of a six-See also:year-old See also:bull in behalf of the mountain See also:fields, the high priest, a priestess and the cannophori officiating, the last named carrying reeds in procession in See also:commemoration of the exposure of the See also:infant Attis on the reedy See also:banks of the stream See also:Gallus in Phrygia.

(This may have been originally a phallic procession. Cf. Showerman, American See also:

Journal of Philol. See also:xxvii. 1; Classical Journal i. 4.) (2) The 22nd of March, Arbor intrat—the bearing in procession of the sacred See also:pine, See also:emblem of Attis' self-See also:mutilation, death and See also:immortality, to the temple on the Palatine, the symbol of the Mother's See also:cave, by the dendrophori, a gild of workmen who made the Mother, among other deities, a See also:patron. (3) The 24th of March, See also:Dies sanguinis—a day of See also:mourning, See also:fasting and See also:abstinence, especially sexual, commemorating the sorrow of the Mother for Attis, her abstinence from See also:food and her chastity. The frenzied See also:dance and self-laceration of the priests in commemorati8n of Attis' See also:deed, and the submission to the See also:act of See also:consecration by candidates for the priesthood, was a special feature of the day. The See also:taurobolium (q.v.) was often performed on this day, on which probably took place the See also:initiation of mystics. (4) The 25th of March, Hilaria—one of the great festal days of Rome, celebrated by all the See also:people. All mourning was put off, and See also:good cheer reigned in token of the return of the See also:sun and spring, which was symbolized by the renewal of Attis' See also:life. (5) The 26th of March, Requietio--a day of See also:rest and quiet. (6) The 27th of March, Lavatio—the crowning ceremony of the cycle.

The See also:

silver statue of the goddess, with the sacred meteoric stone, the Acus, set in its See also:head, was See also:borne in gorgeous procession and bathed in the Almo, the See also:remainder of the day being given up to rejoicing and entertainment, especially dramatic See also:representation of the legend of the deities of the day. Other ceremonies, not necessarily connected with the annual festival, were the taurobolium (q.v.), the sacrifice of a bull, and the See also:criobolium (q.v.), the sacrifice of a See also:ram, the latter being the analogue of the former, instituted for the purpose of giving Attis special recognition. The See also:baptism of See also:blood, which was the feature of these ceremonies, was regarded as purifying and regenerating (Showerman, Great Mother, pp. 277-284). The Great Mother figures in the See also:art of all periods both in Asia and Europe, but is especially prominent in the art of the Empire. No See also:work of the first class, however, was inspired by her. She appears on coins, in See also:painting and in all forms of See also:sculpture, usually with mural See also:crown and See also:veil, well draped, seated on a See also:throne, and accompanied by two lions. Other attributes which often appear are the See also:patera, tympanum, cymbals, See also:sceptre, garlands and fruits. Attis and his attributes, the pine, Phrygian cap, pedum, See also:syrinx and See also:torch, also appear. The Cybele of See also:Formia, now at See also:Copenhagen, is one of the most famous representations of the goddess. The See also:Niobe of Mt. Sipylus is really the Mother.

In literature she is the subject of frequent mention, but no work of importance, with the exception of Catullus lxiii., is due to her See also:

inspiration. Her importance in the history of See also:religion is very great. Together with Isis and Mithras, she was a great enemy, and yet a great aid to See also:Christianity.

End of Article: GREAT MOTHER OF THE GODS

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