It is interesting that almost every ancient people have legends about a certain progenitor, from whom absolutely everything came - both gods and people. Have you ever heard of the Cybele cult? It has a very ancient history, this deity was worshiped by many peoples, from the Phrygians to the Romans.
They called her nothing less than the Great Mother. There were many oddities in this cult, and one of them was that the priests emasculated themselves of their own free will. Cybele is one of the most ancient goddesses known to mankind. Archaeologists are sure that ancient people began to worship it back in the Neolithic.
The very first information about this deity dates back to the second millennium BC. Cybele was also worshiped in Thrace, an ancient state located on the territory of modern Turkey.
As for the appearance of the goddess, they depicted her in the form of a tall, slender woman with a crown on her head, but this object can only be called a crown very conditionally - rather, it looked like a high cone-shaped tower.
In most cases, Cybele's symbols were depicted next to her - a lion and a pine tree. In the hands of the goddess was a tympanum - a musical percussion instrument, as well as a scepter and several ears of wheat. It is believed that the cult of this deity originated in Asia Minor, and then spread to other countries, having a huge impact on their cultural and political life.
Even the Celts who lived in Great Britain worshiped Cybele - can you imagine how far information about her got? The legends about Cybele speak of a certain mysterious black stone, which, according to the legends, fell straight from the sky.
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The first thing that comes to mind is that the black stone of Cybele is the most common meteorite. However, legends tell that he had a very unusual, regular shape - oval, and there was an image of a woman on the stone.
According to legend, the relic was on the territory of Thrace until 204 AD - it was then that it was transported to the territory of Rome, after which it was installed in the Temple of Victory. The Romans were convinced that it was Cybele who helped them gain the upper hand in the Second Punic War.
It is difficult to say whether this was actually the case, but the cult of Cybele acquired official status in Rome. If you carefully study modern Christianity, you can also find there echoes of the worship of Cybele, although they have been modified into the worship of the Virgin Mary.
Among the people, Cybele was associated with black - the color of a fallen meteorite. If you carefully study the information about all the old European churches, you will find many black statues there.
Some researchers believe that the cult of Cybele influenced another popular religion, Islam. Compare - the black stone of Cybele and the black stone of the Kaaba. And the second also has a meteoric origin.
But this cult also had its own oddities - for example, voluntary castration. Such people in Rome were called "Gallus". This name is similar to the name of the Gaul tribe, with whom the Romans fought for a long time.
Therefore, a little historical confusion arose, during which many ancient Roman historians believed that the duties of the priests of Cybele in Rome were performed exclusively by the Gauls, but this is not the case.
As for the Galluses, after emasculation, they wore exclusively women's clothing and painted their faces with cosmetics, used fragrant incense, etc. In this connection, the assumption arose that absolutely all the priests of Cybele were of an unconventional orientation.
But this is also a delusion. Moreover, the emasculation took place with his own hand and in public - for this a huge number of people gathered and a whole holiday was tripled. But after emasculation, many young men soon died - the medicine of that time was far from ideal.
And the Roman authorities over time greatly limited the influence of this cult, so as not to lose a decent part of the male population. It got to the point that young youths were officially forbidden to join the ranks of the Gallus.
And, in the end, the cult of Cybele finally ceased to exist by the 4th century AD, when it was supplanted by Christianity.
