Kybele and the Galli
“Sing to me, clear-toned Muse, daughter of great Zeus,
of the Mother of all gods and of all human beings;
she takes pleasure in the resounding of castanets and tympana and the roar of flutes,
the cry of wolves and bright-eyed lions,
the echoing mountains and the wooded glens.
And hail to you too, and all the goddesses who join in song.”
- 14th Homeric Hymn
of the Mother of all gods and of all human beings;
she takes pleasure in the resounding of castanets and tympana and the roar of flutes,
the cry of wolves and bright-eyed lions,
the echoing mountains and the wooded glens.
And hail to you too, and all the goddesses who join in song.”
- 14th Homeric Hymn
This six lines short Homeric hymn shows that the Mother Goddess: Kybele, made a large impression on the Greek world. Although she is originally a Phrygian goddess, she came to the Greek world, became integrated in Greek myth and was in Athens formally recognized by the construction of a temple on the Athenian Agora (the centre of a Greek city-state, where all the athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life of the city came together). She first appeared in Greece by the 6th century BC, and by the fourth century BC she was known in every Greek city - hundreds and hundreds of votive reliefs and statues dedicated to her have been found. Her myth about her affair with Attis makes her appearance in the Greek religious world even stronger, since Attis was probably not a foreign god, but a figure invented by the Greeks themselves. So it seems that Kybele and her cult were totally integrated into the Polis (city-state) religion in the way described by Christiane Sourvinou Inwood.
Yet at the same time, Kybele still was an Asian goddess, a barbarian figure, an outsider. Plus her priests were very ambiguous least to say. The Kybele cult seems to have been a mystery cult, which is in the Greek literature not per se a good thing (especially Euripides and Demosthenes decline mystery cults associated with ecstatic rituals and trance). The Galli, the priests of the mother goddess, were eunuchs and they wore women's clothing and make-up. Because of the great amount of votive gifts which indicate more of a personal relationship with the goddess, rather than controlled by the city-state, the elements of a mystery cult in general, and of course the very marginal behavior of the Galli, there could be doubt whether the cult of Kybele is really embedded in Polis religion described by Sourvinou Inwood.
Yet at the same time, Kybele still was an Asian goddess, a barbarian figure, an outsider. Plus her priests were very ambiguous least to say. The Kybele cult seems to have been a mystery cult, which is in the Greek literature not per se a good thing (especially Euripides and Demosthenes decline mystery cults associated with ecstatic rituals and trance). The Galli, the priests of the mother goddess, were eunuchs and they wore women's clothing and make-up. Because of the great amount of votive gifts which indicate more of a personal relationship with the goddess, rather than controlled by the city-state, the elements of a mystery cult in general, and of course the very marginal behavior of the Galli, there could be doubt whether the cult of Kybele is really embedded in Polis religion described by Sourvinou Inwood.
The Myth of Kybele and Attis
There are several versions of the myth of Kybele and Attis but the central point in all of them was the sad love affair between the two. Attis was unfaithful, according to some voluntary, according to others he was forced into an arranged marriage.
Either way, because of his unfaithfulness he decides to castrate himself. Death follows.
Kybele kept mourning and Zeus felt sorry for her. He grants her requests that Attis's body remain uncorrupted and that his self-castration be followed by his priests: the Galli.
There are several versions of the myth of Kybele and Attis but the central point in all of them was the sad love affair between the two. Attis was unfaithful, according to some voluntary, according to others he was forced into an arranged marriage.
Either way, because of his unfaithfulness he decides to castrate himself. Death follows.
Kybele kept mourning and Zeus felt sorry for her. He grants her requests that Attis's body remain uncorrupted and that his self-castration be followed by his priests: the Galli.
The Galli
As described above and as you can see in the picture to the right, the Galli were men who dressed and looked like women. They even castrated themselves, although we could put some question marks to the ritual as described.
While others play the flute and they get into a trance, the young priest gets naked, screams and runs to the middle of the circle of priests, where he grabs a sword and castrates himself immediately. Then he runs through town, holding his manly parts. Then he throws them through a random window and out of that house he shall receive his clothing and jewelry.
- Lucian, De Dea Syria 51
If we compare the complete castration of the Galli with the Hijras of today in India, who remove everything also which is a very complicated surgical procedure, we can surely say if the Galli really did the ritual like this, that they would have bled to death. Still there is now consensus of what really happened.
Sources about the Galli are very rare, most of them are literary sources from Roman elite writers. They only became apparent in the late third or the early second century BC. To study the Galli in the Greek world is therefore problematic. But with the sources about Kybele we do have and the archaeological material we can make an attempt as to whether this cult was accepted in the Greek Polis religion, or by the Greek Polis community. Only Kallimachos leaves us with evidence, and according to him indeed these Galli were ridiculous effeminate priests, very marginal in society in a period where Kybele also was no longer to be taken seriously. The Galli in Hellenized Greece were, in opposition to the Galli in the Roman Empire, very private and in the background. In the Roman empire they took their ecstatic religion to the street for everyone to view them, and probably because of this the literary sources about the Galli in the Roman Empire are more bulky.
So concluding, the goddess Kybele, even though she was a foreign goddess, was by the classical period an established deity in the Greek religion of the city-state. She was loved by individuals in the whole Greek world, by the looks of the great amount of votive offerings to her. Kybele was not only for private and personal religion important, but was also accepted on the Athenian Agora and was compared to great Greek goddesses as Demeter and Rhea. By the Hellenistic age, her significance began to shrink, and the appearing Galli, her castrated priests, were, as far as we can judge, not really liked in Greek society. The lack of sources makes is hard for us to make broad assumptions or statements helas.
As described above and as you can see in the picture to the right, the Galli were men who dressed and looked like women. They even castrated themselves, although we could put some question marks to the ritual as described.
While others play the flute and they get into a trance, the young priest gets naked, screams and runs to the middle of the circle of priests, where he grabs a sword and castrates himself immediately. Then he runs through town, holding his manly parts. Then he throws them through a random window and out of that house he shall receive his clothing and jewelry.
- Lucian, De Dea Syria 51
If we compare the complete castration of the Galli with the Hijras of today in India, who remove everything also which is a very complicated surgical procedure, we can surely say if the Galli really did the ritual like this, that they would have bled to death. Still there is now consensus of what really happened.
Sources about the Galli are very rare, most of them are literary sources from Roman elite writers. They only became apparent in the late third or the early second century BC. To study the Galli in the Greek world is therefore problematic. But with the sources about Kybele we do have and the archaeological material we can make an attempt as to whether this cult was accepted in the Greek Polis religion, or by the Greek Polis community. Only Kallimachos leaves us with evidence, and according to him indeed these Galli were ridiculous effeminate priests, very marginal in society in a period where Kybele also was no longer to be taken seriously. The Galli in Hellenized Greece were, in opposition to the Galli in the Roman Empire, very private and in the background. In the Roman empire they took their ecstatic religion to the street for everyone to view them, and probably because of this the literary sources about the Galli in the Roman Empire are more bulky.
So concluding, the goddess Kybele, even though she was a foreign goddess, was by the classical period an established deity in the Greek religion of the city-state. She was loved by individuals in the whole Greek world, by the looks of the great amount of votive offerings to her. Kybele was not only for private and personal religion important, but was also accepted on the Athenian Agora and was compared to great Greek goddesses as Demeter and Rhea. By the Hellenistic age, her significance began to shrink, and the appearing Galli, her castrated priests, were, as far as we can judge, not really liked in Greek society. The lack of sources makes is hard for us to make broad assumptions or statements helas.
References
- Roller, Lynn E, In Search of God the Mother. The cult of Anatolian Cybele (Londen 1999).
- Kindt, Julia, ‘Beyond the polis: Rethinking Greek religion’, in Rethinking Greek religion: (Cambridge 2012) 12-35.
- Lane, Eugene N, Cybele, Attis and related cults : essays in memory of M.J. Vermaseren (Leiden 1996).
- Dirven, Lucinda, 'Galli van de grote Moeder. Vrouwen, Haantjes en Haantjesgedrag in de Romeinse wereld' in TMA 34 (2005) 7 -13.
- Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane. 'What is polis religion? In The Greek city from Homer to Alexander' ed. Oswyn Murray and Simon Price: 295-322. Oxford 1990: Clarendon Press.