Cybele
Cybele
Nationality/Culture
Phrygian/Greek/Roman
Pronunciation
SIB-uh-lee
Alternate Names
Meter
Appears In
Virgil's Aeneid, Pausa-nias's Description of Greece
Lineage
Mother of the gods
Character Overview
Cybele was the fertility goddess of Phrygia, an ancient country of Asia Minor. In Greek and Roman mythology , Cybele personified Mother Earth and was worshipped as the Great Mother of the Gods. The Greeks associated her with some of their existing goddesses, such as Rhea and Demeter (pronounced di-MEE-ter), and sometimes referred to her as Meter. She was also associated with forests, mountains, and nature. Although usually shown wearing a crown in the form of a city wall or carrying a drum, the goddess may also appear on a throne or in a chariot, accompanied by lions and sometimes bees.
Major Myths
According to myth, Cybele discovered that her youthful lover—and in some versions, her son—Attis was unfaithful. In a jealous rage, 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. Zeus (pronounced ZOOS) promised her that the pine tree would remain sacred forever.
In his Aeneid , Virgil relates a uniquely Roman myth about Cybele. Before the Trojan War, Cybele allowed her trees to be used by the Trojans to make warships. The goddess then asked Jupiter to make the ships so they could not be destroyed; Jupiter agreed to turn the ships into sea nymphs (female nature deities) after they had served their purpose, so that they would never be destroyed. After Aeneas (pronounced i-NEE-uhs) led his soldiers to Italy using the ships, his foes attempted to burn the ships. Since the ships had already served their purpose—to transport Aeneas and his army to Italy—the ships disappeared and became sea nymphs.
Cybele in Context
From Asia Minor, Cybele's popularity spread to Greece, where she was associated with Demeter, the Greek goddess of fruitfulness. She was regarded as the mother of all the gods. Around 200 bce, the worship of Cybele reached Rome, and she became well known throughout the Roman world.
During the Roman empire, followers of Cybele held an annual spring festival dedicated to the goddess. The ceremonies involved cutting down a pine tree that represented the dead Attis. After wrapping the tree in bandages, the followers took it to Cybele's shrine. There they honored the tree and decorated it with violets, which they considered to have sprung from Attis's blood. As part of this religious ceremony, priests cut their arms so that their blood fell on Cybele's altar and the sacred pine tree. They also danced to the music of cymbals, drums, and flutes. During these wild ceremonies, some followers even mutilated themselves by castration, as Attis had. The idea of death and rebirth, prominent in her relationship with Attis, also reflects the changing of the seasons.
Key Themes and Symbols
Cybele is widely regarded as a symbol of fertility and motherhood. Like many fertility gods and goddesses, she is also associated with agriculture and forests. She is sometimes depicted with tame lions, which may symbolize great power that can be easily controlled.
Cybele in Art, Literature, and Everyday Life
Though the Greeks imported Cybele from Phrygian mythology, she was a popular subject in both Greek and Roman art. Rome in particular was home to several temples honoring Cybele, including a shrine at the Circus Maximus. However, one of the most famous sculptures of Cybele can be found as part of a fountain built in Madrid, Spain, in the late eighteenth century. The fountain is located at a town square known as Plaza de Cibeles. As with many ancient mythological figures, Cybele has appeared with somewhat altered characteristics as a character in the Marvel Comics universe. In the comic world, Cybele is one of the Eternals, a race of superhumans conceived by Jack Kirby that first appeared in print in 1976.
Read, Write, Think, Discuss
Some ancient Roman followers of Cybele became so overwhelmed while celebrating that they would mutilate themselves in her honor. Some religious traditions, even in modern times, call for ritual mutilation or alteration of some part of the subject's body. Using your library, the Internet, or other resources, can you find similar modern examples of mutilation as part of a religious tradition? How does such an act compare to non-religious but culturally accepted acts of body alteration, such as ear piercing?