The Cult of Cybele

Adina S.

Ms. Hatmaker

Latin 3

16.12.2010

The Cult of Cybele

The Cult of Cybele began in Asia Minor. Cybele was a goddess known as a healer and a protector from enemies, and was considered responsible for good crops and military victories. She was also referred to as Magna Mater. Her home was Mount Ida, near the city of Troy. In 194 BCE, a temple was built on the Palatine Hill. New games were initiated to celebrate her. Her popularity grew very quickly and by the end of the Roman Republic the cult of Cybele had become one of the most important. Her temple was visited by some of the most powerful people of Rome.

According to myth, Cybele discovered that her lover Attis was unfaithful. Jealous, she made him go mad and mutilate himself under a pine tree, where he bled to death. Regretting what she had done, Cybele mourned her loss. This however, caused a lot of negative aspects to Cybele’s cult. Cybele's religion was a bloody cult that required its priests and priestesses and other followers to cut themselves during some rituals. The priests even castrated themselves at their initiation. Festival days were celebrated with the goddess going through the streets, and having people banging cymbals and drums, wearing bright attire and heavy jewelry. This caused a very negative view of the Cult from the Roman Christians. By the 4^th Century Emperor Valentinian II banned the Cult and passed laws that allowed secret followers to be punished. Those who still followed the cult were tortured, forced to commit suicide, or buried alive. This caused the Cult to go extinct by the 6^th Century AD.

Sources:

http://www.dl.ket.org/latin2/mores/religion/cultcybele.htm

http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Cr-Dr/Cybele.html