Facts about Cybele

1. 05

   Her annual festival, the Megalesia, was celebrated in Rome each April with theatrical performances and public games in her honor.

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2. 04

   As a goddess of nature and fertility, Cybele was closely associated with mountains, caves, and wild nature in ancient Anatolian and Greek religious tradition.

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3. 03

   Iconography of Cybele typically depicts her seated on a throne flanked by lions or riding a chariot pulled by lions.

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4. 02

   Rome officially adopted Cybele as a state deity in 204 BCE, importing her sacred black stone from Pessinus in Phrygia during the Second Punic War.

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5. 01

   The Phrygian mother goddess Cybele was worshipped in Rome with ecstatic rituals performed by her castrated priests known as the Galli.

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