Magna Mater

"Even the normally tolerant Roman state found the frenzied carryings-on, including rowdy parades to the sound of cymbals and raucous horns and arm-slashing, too much."

- The Romans For Dummies

Perhaps your familiar with the term "alma mater", it was actually a Spell Bowl word this year.  That was where I was first introduced to it.  The word means a school basically, or any place where someone is educated.  The word translates in Latin to "bounteous mother" and has distinct historic ancestry.

Well, while watching "Rome", I noticed a prayer with a chant addressing "Magna Mater".  A little textbox on the screen informed me that it was a meditation to Cybele, who was known to the Romans as "Great Mother" (the literal translation of "Magna Mater" (a different source said the Romans referred to her as "Turrita Mater".  I don't know what that translates to either.)).

I knew some about Cybele, but not a whole lot.  Basically I knew that she'd been stolen for some religion in Turkey by the Romans, and added to their on Pantheon in connection with the goddess Ceres (another source said Rhea), much in the way that Isis was taken from Egypt's worship.  Ha, ha... I was in for a bit of a shock!

From what I've been reading,  the cult of Cybele was a bit of an ancient emo-punk group, to put it in layman's terms.  It had an exotic combination of slashing, revelry, and most gruesomely peculiar... self-castration.  (If you listen hard enough, you can hear all the male readers gasp!)  Yes, I found this fascinating image in Ancient Rome (which is an eyewitness book, a children's book) of a tool that was probably used for that purpose!  I couldn't post it, because I'd already uploaded the comic, which uses up my limit of one uploaded picture per entry.  It's not that bad, just kind of weird, and I was disappointed I couldn't share it....

"Cybele... her relgion was about fertility and the cycle of death and rebirth.  It was a very emotional religion [for guys, I should think so!], and sometimes priests would work themselves into a frenzy and castrate themselves for her."

- Ancient Rome

I discovered in Don't Know Much About Mythology the reason behind their most outlandish trait.  According to their myth, Cybele once had a lover named Atys (also spelled Atis), who had beenunfaithful to her.  Ashamed of himself, he castrated himself as punishment.  Thus, the most fanatical worshippers of Cybele did the same.  They were known as Corybantes.

Please don't sign me up for this one...

"...Cybele, from Asia Minor, a mother goddess (related to the Mesopotamian Inanna/Ishtar) whose cult followers indulged in ritual orgies and self-castration."

- Don't Know Much About Mythology

I hope you all feel enlightened now!  Although I don't advocate intolerance, I think it was definitely a wise decision to put a stop to it, because could seriously cut down on a population if you didn't keep it in check!  =)

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