| The multitude of goddesses and gods available to worship in Rome had to be of considerable inconvenience to the Roman authorities who understood perfectly well that religious spirituality had more influence among the masses than any singular earthly authority ever could. It was definitely in the interest of the authorities to consolidate the goddesses and gods into just a trinity, which was in essence a great deal of the tenets of Gnosticism. The Romans adopted all the Greek deities but gave them their own names in Latin and this eventually led to great confusion as the old Roman religion was disintegrating due to Greek influence. (19) Adjustments had to be made and assimilations occurred where the gods shared likenesses in their characteristics but when none were found, or they were too loosely connected the goddess or god was either pushed back into obscurity or forgotten altogether. All the Roman temples were actually the shrines of prior Greek divinities. The Hellenic influence was maintained through art and mythology until the last two centuries of the Republic in which all prior Roman deities were substituted or eliminated except for Vesta, who retained her original character and name. (20) At least one Emperor was supposed to have been conceived by serpents entering the bed chambers of the wife and impregnating her supporting the common theme of the birth of a leader from a serpent sleeping with a woman. Such is the case of Publius Scipio, a Roman general from the time of 236-183 BC, who had a wife who was barren for years, when one night while her husband was away, she discovered a serpent in her place and consulting prophets concerning the “miracle” was told that she would bear a “Divine” infant. She later gave birth to the future king of Carthage. (21) The first deity to be imported and approved within Rome was the worship of Kybele of Pessinus. (22) In 204 BC, during the Hannibalic War, which had lasted 12 years so far with no end in sight, there were several occurrences of showers of pebble rain, which the Romans took as an ominous sign of an approaching disaster and the oracles were consulted and according to Livy, it was declared that “when a foreign foe had invaded Italy it could be driven out and vanquished if the Idaean Mother were brought from Pessinus.” (23) The solution it seemed would be to bring the symbol of the Mother from Phrygia into Rome and to welcome the rites of the worship of Kybele into Rome. An envoy was dispatched, and a procession occurred and a small black meteorite in which the goddess was thought to be embodied, or which symbolized her as the Great Mother, was brought to the Roman capital. (24) Take note that this is the second instance of the importance of a meteorite mentioned which had major religious significance. Attalus, the King of Pergamos, the custodian of the stone at the time, was initially reluctant, but agreed to allow the stone to be removed and taken to Rome. It was placed on a ship which ran aground before reaching the shore and was only freed after a prayer to the goddess. (25) On April 4, 204, it was taken by matrons to the temple of Victory on the Palatine hill and it remained there until 191 BC, and a temple of the goddess was erected on the hill in honor of Kybele. (26) |
Part of the rites of the Kybele-Attis celebration would include the ”…carrying of a sacred pine tree representing the emasculated god Attis, by the Dendrophori (timber workers) from Kybele's wood to the Temple of Magna Mater on the Palatine Hill on March 22. (27) This tradition has lasted into more modern European times when youths would go out into the woods, cut down a tree and decorated it like the figure of Attis. (28) Citing Apollodorus: “[The Argonauts celebrate the orgies of the Meter Theon on Mt. Didymnos near Kyzikos in Mysia:] Standing in the woods, there was an ancient vine with a massive trunk withered to the roots. They cut this down to make a sacred image of the Mountain Goddess; and when Argos had skillfully shaped it, they set it up on a rocky eminence under the shelter of some tall oaks, the highest trees that grow, and made an altar of small stones nearby. Then, crowned with oak-leaves, they began the sacrificial rites, invoking the Meter Dindymene (Mother of Mt Dindymos), most worshipful, who dwells in Phrygia; and with her, Titias and Kyllenos. For these two are singled out as dispensers of doom and assessors to the Meter Idaia (Mother of Mt Ida) This is why the Phrygians to this day propitiate Rhea with the tambourine and drum. The goddess they invoked observed the flawless sacrifice with pleasure.” (29) On March 24, Dies Sanguis (the “Day of Blood) was celebrated. In this Kybele-Attis celebration there is lamenting for the death of the vegetation god Attis, attended with loud cries, the blowing of horn instruments and lacerations in the arms of the high priest and his fellow galli. (30) Part of the Celebration of Attis was held the next day, on March 25, following a night of prayer and lamentation. (31) (19) Carter, Religion of Numa, p. 112 ff (20) Healing Gods, p. 387-88 (21) Middle Ages Revisited, p. 21 (22) Cults of the Roman Empire. P. 28 (23) Livy, xxix, 10f (24) Cult of the Mother Goddess, p. 168-69; Julian, Orat., v, 159; Ovid, Fasti, iv, 255ff.; Arnobius, Adversus Gentes., vii, 46 (25) ) ibid; Livy, History of Rome, xxix, 10-14; Ovid, Fasti, iv, 257-72, 291-348 (26) ibid, p. 168-69; Livy, History of Rome, xxxvi, 36, 4 (27) Graillot, H., Le Culte de Cybele, Paris, 1912 op. cit., 1912, pp. 121ff (28) Cult of the Mother Goddess, p. 188 (29) Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1. 1076 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd BC (30) Cult of the Mother Goddess, p. 173; Cf. Tertullian, Apolgeticus, 25; Apuleius, Metamorphoses, viii, 28 (31) Cults of the Roman Empire, p. 46 |