Cybele (redirected from Cibeles)

Cybele (sĭb`əlē), in ancient Asian religion, the Great Mother Goddess. The chief centers of her early worship were Phrygia and Lydia. In the 5th cent. B.C. her cult was introduced into Greece, where she was associated with Demeter and Rhea. The spread of her cult to Rome late in the 3d cent. B.C. was marked chiefly by her Palatine temple. Cybele was primarily a nature goddess, responsible for maintaining and reproducing the wild things of the earth. As guardian of cities and nations, however, she was also entrusted with the general welfare of the people. She was attended by the Corybantes and Dactyls, who honored her with wild music and dancing. At her annual spring festival, the death and resurrection of her beloved Attis were celebrated. She frequented mountains and woodland areas and was usually represented either riding a chariot drawn by lions or seated on a throne flanked by two lions. Cybele is frequently identified with various other mother goddesses, notably Agdistis.

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Great Mother of the Gods

 or Cybele

Cybele, terra-cotta statuette, from Camirus, Rhodes, early 5th century BC; in the British Museum, …

(credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum)

Deity of the ancient Mediterranean world. Her cult originated in Phrygia in Asia Minor and spread to the Greek world, where she was identified with Rhea. It reached Rome by the 3rd century BC and became a major cult during the empire. Known by a variety of local names, Cybele was venerated as the universal mother of gods, humans, and animals. Her lover was the fertility god Attis. Her priests, the Galli, castrated themselves when they entered her service, and on her festival day they spattered their blood on her altar and her sacred pine tree.

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Cybele [′sib·ə·lē]

(astronomy)

An asteroid with a diameter of about 167 miles (269 kilometers), mean distance from the sun of 3.423 astronomical units, and C-type surface composition.

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Cybele

hermaphroditic goddess honored orgiastically, usually by emasculation. [Phrygian Myth.: Parrinder, 68]

See : Castration

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Cybele

nature’s fruitfulness assured by orgiastic rites honoring her. [Phrygian Myth.: Parrinder, 68; Jobes, 400]

See : Fertility

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Cybele

protector of cities and mother-goddess. [Phrygian Myth.: Avery, 345]

See : Guardianship

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Cybele

Great Mother; goddess of nature and reproduction. [Phrygian Myth.: Parrinder, 68; Jobes, 400]

See : Motherhood

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Cybele

a Phrygian goddess, the embodiment of the productive forces of nature; also known as the Great Mother or Mother of the Gods. The cult of Cybele, along with the cults of Mithra and Isis, was widespread in Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, and, later, throughout the Roman Empire. In 204 B.C. the cult was officially recognized in Rome. To honor Cybele, the priests of the cult conducted ritualistic mysteries, in which self-inflicted tortures, ablution in sacrificial blood, and self-castration played an important role. The orgiastic character of this Asia Minor cult was toned down considerably in the Roman Republic.