DYK self-castration has a long history? Mortal consorts of goddess #MagnaMater, #Cybele, pledged sexual purity. Her priests, galli, castrated themselves. So did followers of Jesus who yearned to be #eunuchs “for the kingdom of heaven”. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #TransHistory
DYK consorts of #MagnaMater, #Cybele, pledged #SexualPurity? Her priests—galli—#castrated themselves, penis as well as testicles & #CrossDressed as women. Like cinaedi, gallus became a term of ridicule for #passive or #effeminate men. Ghosts of #QueerHistory still haunt.
BONE PLAQUE WITH GODDESS, C7 BCE. NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, ATHENS The cult of the Meter Megale, the Greek form of the Magna Mater, was connected with the worship of Demeter and Persephone, and Artemis. An exhibition in the Forum and Palatine explores this cult from its Phrygian origins to its Roman final form. The Great Mother was a source for many other divinities. Here we see her as an archaic Potnia Theron (the "Lady of Animals"), holding a bird by the neck in each hand, with a bird perched on each shoulder. She wears her hair falling over her shoulders, and her dress has a bell skirt and tight bodice with long sleeves. This bone ornament was part of a fibula left as an offering at the major shrine of Artemis Orthia in Spartan territory. This version of Artemis demanded human blood sacrifice like her Phrygian ancestress, but in the form of a flogging ritual for the young men of Sparta, who had to run the gauntlet of whips to get a prize of cheese on the altar.
For #ReliefWednesday we're in the Uccelliere or birdhouses in the #FarneseGardens on the #Palatine hill in #Rome to look at some extraordinary #relief work from #archaic #Greece that ties the worship of #Artemis to the much more ancient cult of the #MagnaMater. #AncientBluesky 🏺
HEAD OF CYBELE, C6 BCE. PARCO ARCHEOLOGICO DEL COLOSSEO This frankly terrifying head of the Magna Mater, Cybele, is in an exhibition on that goddess in various places on the Palatine and in the Forum. Normally this sandstone head is on display in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara. It comes from Salmanköy in what was ancient Phrygia in Anatolia, where she was known as Matar, "mother". When her cult spread to the Greek-dominated coast of Asia Minor she was called "Meter Megale", Great Mother, Magna Mater in Latin. Here we see her Phrygian form, a face with huge round eye sockets which may have contained inlaid eyes, then a brow that meets at a narrowing pointed nose, now broken, high cheekbones, hair in short ringlets, and an ambiguous smile on her lips. Atop her head is a huge damaged vase-like crown with fluted leaves going up from the lower rim and a band of daisy-like flowers in the upper register.
#ReliefWednesday takes us into the Uccelliere or birdhouses in the #Farnese Gardens on the #Palatine in #Rome to find this frightening head of the #Anatolian goddess #Matar, the #Roman deity the #MagnaMater, whose history stretches back into the mists of time. #AncientBluesky 🏺
#MagnaMater #Cybele #Catalhöyük #witchsky #pagansky #Women'sHistory #Feminism #Goddess
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Women ruled ancient Turkey and there is a lineage of the goddess Cybele that we ignore. It's obvious the earlier version is on the right from the matriarchy of Catalhöyük 6000 BC.
DYK unnatural calls for social purity & virginity among women has a long history? Mortal consorts of goddess #MagnaMater, #Cybele, pledged #SexualPurity in Rome (250BCE). Her priests—galli—#castrated themselves, & #CrossDressed as women. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com
RELIEF WITH ARCHIGALLUS, 250-300 CE. MUSEO OSTIENSE This relief shows the chief seer or archigallus of the state cult of Cybele, the Magna Mater. It comes from the necropolis of Portus on Isola Sacra, the island of the dead that lies between the two mouths of the Tiber. Though he has traditionally been seen as the head of the cult, more recent research tends to assign him a prophetic role. He is the "chief rooster", whereas ordinary galli, "roosters", were more like capons, as they were eunuchs, emulating the act of devotion of Attis, the goddess' consort, who emasculated himself. Whereas in Phrygia, the land around Troy where the cult originated, the galli were full priests, the Romans marginalised these "fanatical devotees" who lived on the fringes of the faith, lived by begging, and carried the statue of the goddess in processions. The archigallus was not a eunuch. Here we see him making an offering to a statue of Cybele at upper left. He's wearing a toga contabulata and a crown decorated with two reclining figures.
#ReliefWednesday takes us to an #exhibition on the #Palatine and in the #Forum about the fascinating cult of #Cybele, the #MagnaMater, imported to #Rome from #Phrygia during the Second #Punic War to reinforce the #Roman connection with ancient #Troy. #AncientBluesky 🏺
SARCOPHAGUS LID WITH PROCESSION OF THE MAGNA MATER, C. 350 CE. CLOISTER OF S. LORENZO FUORI LE MURA This huge sarcophagus lid front is missing its sarcophagus but we can surmise it was a large one, perhaps for two of the priests of the cult (sacerdotes maximi) or of an archigallus or chief seer. This is a specific procession, part of the cultic calendar of the Magna Mater. It took place on one of the central festivals of the faith, the Hilaria, on 25 March, a joyful feast celebrating the rebirth of the goddess' consort Attis, during which her effigy was brought out of her Palatine temple in a procession that crossed the city. Here we see, at right, the effigies of the Magna Mater and Victory being carried out on litters, with trumpeters and celebrants in a crowd. After the tabula are two priests, then four elephants, each being ridden by a male figure. They are pulling an elaborate cart which probably bore an image of reborn Attis, but the corner is broken off.
#SarcophagusSaturday reminds us that #Christianity didn't take over #Rome right away. This #sarcophagus lid from about 25 years after #Constantine began building his basilicas shows a merry festival of #Cybele, the #MagnaMater, celebrating the #resurrection of her consort #Attis. #AncientBluesky 🏺
RELIEF WITH A PRIEST OF CYBELE, C. 130 CE. CENTRALE MONTEMARTINI Cybele, the Magna Mater, was perhaps the first Eastern cult brought to Rome and integrated with traditional Roman religion. A Phrygian goddess, her cult was brought to Rome in 204 BCE as part of a specific strategy aimef at reinforcing Rome's Trojan origins. Her temple on the Palatine hill, close to the hut of Romulus, underlined this link: she was seen as an ancestral deity linked to the Penates, and given a priesthood overseen by the state. This relief from Velletri shows a sacerdos maximus, responsible for public ceremonies and processions. The half-figure of the priest is recessed into the marble rather than protruding from it. He wears an exotic costume akin to female dress, including earrings. These feminine attributes derive from an association of the priesthood with the cult of Attis, the follower and consort of Cybele, who emasculated himself and often appeared in women's garb. The priest wears an elaborate crown and bears a basket of fruit in one hand and a pomegranate, symbol of rebirth, in the other.
For #ReliefWednesday, we're visiting an exhibition on the #Palatine in #Rome dedicated to the #MagnaMater, #Cybele. Here we see one of her priests, proudly dressed in female garb and surrounded by ritual objects. This exotic cult, apparently so un-Roman, was a state religion. #AncientBluesky 🏺
Cybele on a throne with lions.
Dedication by Virius Marcarianus, vir clarissimus.
250-275 AD.
Museo Archeologico, Nazionale, Naples.
Female figure on throne with lions
Catalhoyuk 6000 BC
#pagansky #witchsky #goddess #MotherGoddess #MagnaMater #Cybele
DYK self-castration has a long history? Mortal consorts of goddess #MagnaMater, #Cybele, pledged sexual purity. Her priests, galli, castrated themselves. So did followers of Jesus who yearned to be #eunuchs “for the kingdom of heaven”. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #TransHistory
“Magna Mater”
#boobs #breasts #caption #chastity #cleavage #magnamater #cybele #castration #castrated #castrationfetish #eunuch #penectomy #cult #castratrix #bikini #bikinigirls #church #gothiccathedral #creepy #underwear #crazygirl #dickgirl #feminization #feminizationcaption #genderchange
As an #artdeco fan Im obsessed whenever I see mythological/pagan reliefs like this one on Berkeley High School showing the goddess #cybele 💜 #mothergoddess #mothernature #pagan #magnamater
Here on the right-hand side of the #sarcophagus front, #Alcestis is given leave by #Hades to leave the Underworld with #Hercules, to be reunited with #Admetus. This triumph over death is closely tied to the cult of the #MagnaMater, of whom Metilia Acte was a priestess.
SARCOPHAGUS OF EUHODUS AND METILIA ACTE, 161-170 CE. VATICAN MUSEUMS This sarcophagus, found at Ostia in 1825, was commissioned, as the inscription on the lid says, by C. Junius Euhodus of the tribe Palatina, five-year magistrate of the guild of carpenters at Ostia, for himself and his wife Metilia Acte, priestess of the Magna Mater at Ostia. It bears a rare depiction of the myth of Alcestis and Admetus. The latter, king of Pherae, was much in love with his wife Alcestis and vice versa. However he failed to sacrifice to Artemis at his wedding and was thus cursed to an early death. Apollo, Admetus' friend, convinced the Fates to let Admetus live if he could find someone else to take his place. His parents refused, but Alcestis agreed. Heracles, also a friend of Admetus, went to the Underworld, fought with Thanatos (Death), and convinced Hades and Persephone to let Alcestis go. Here we see the dying Alcestis at centre, holding the right hand of Admetus at left, with their two little children weeping below. Both the main figures have the faces of the deceased couple.
#SarcophagusSaturday finds us in the #VaticanMuseums, where an unusual #sarcophagus from #Ostia depicts a priestess of the #MagnaMater in the guise of the self-sacrificing #Alcestis, who is happily brought back from #Hades by #Hercules. 🧵
