Anatolian Gods

Cybele

Full-faced Hittite rock carving of Cybele in Mount Sipylus

Cybele (Phrygian: Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya "Kubeleyan Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother";

Greek: Κυβέλη Kybele, Κυβήβη Kybebe, Κύβελις Kybelis; pronounced /ˈk ɪ bəliː/ ), was the Phrygian

deification of the Earth Mother. As with Greek Gaia (the "Earth"), or her Minoan equivalent Rhea,

Cybele embodies the fertile Earth, a goddess of caverns and mountains, walls and fortresses, nature,

wild animals (especially lions and bees). Phrygian Cybele is often identified with the Hittite-

Hurrian goddess Hebat, though this latter deity might have been the origin of only Anatolian

Kubaba. The Greeks frequently conflated the two names, the Anatolian "Kubaba" and the Phrygian

"Kybele", to refer to the Phrygian deity.

The goddess was known among the Greeks as Μήτηρ (Mētēr "Mother") or Μήτηρ Ὀρεία

("Mountain-Mother"), or, with a particular Anatolian sacred mountain in mind, Idaea, inasmuch as

she was supposed to have been born on Mount Ida in Anatolia, or equally Dindymene or Sipylene,

with her sacred mountains Mount Dindymon (in Mysia and variously located) or Mount Sipylus in

mind. In Roman mythology, her equivalent was Magna Mater or "Great Mother". In most

mythology her story is Phrygian.

Her Ancient Greek title, Potnia Theron, also associated with the Minoan Great Mother, alludes to

her Neolithic roots as the "Mistress of the Animals". Her son and consort Attis is a life-death-rebirth

deity who was resurrected by her. She is associated with her lion throne and her chariot drawn by

lions.

Walter Burkert, who treats Cybele among "foreign gods" in Greek Religion, notes that "The cult of

the Great Mother, Meter, presents a complex picture insofar as indigenous, Minoan-Mycenean

tradition is here intertwined with a cult taken over directly from the Phrygian kingdom of Asia

Minor"[1][2] The inscription matar occurs frequently in her Phrygian sites (Burkert). Kubileya is

usually read as a Phrygian adjective "of the mountain", so that the inscription may be read Mother

of the Mountain, and this is supported by Classical sources (Roller 1999, pp. 67–68). Another

theory is that her name can be traced to the Luwian Kubaba, the deified queen of the Third Dynasty

of Kish worshiped at Carchemish and Hellenized to Kybebe (Munn 2004, Motz 1997, pp. 105–106).

With or without the etymological connection, Kubaba and Matar certainly merged in at least some

aspects, as the genital mutilation later connected with Cybele's cult is associated with Kybebe in

earlier texts, but in general she seems to have been more a collection of similar tutelary goddesses

associated with specific Anatolian mountains or other localities, and called simply "mother" (Motz).

Later, Cybele's most ecstatic followers were males who ritually castrated themselves, after which

they were given women's clothing and assumed female identities, who were referred to by one

third-century commentator, Callimachus, in the feminine as Gallai, but to whom other

contemporary commentators in ancient Greece and Rome referred to as Gallos or Galli.

There is no mention of these followers in Classical references although they related that her

priestesses led the people in orgiastic ceremonies with wild music, drumming, dancing, and

drinking. She was associated with the mystery religion concerning her son, Attis, who was

castrated, died of his wounds, and resurrected by his mother. The dactyls were part of her retinue.

Other followers of Cybele, the Phrygian kurbantes or Corybantes, expressed her ecstatic and

orgiastic cult in music, especially drumming, clashing of shields and spears, dancing, singing, and

shouting—all at night.

Athenian Cybele seated on her throne with a tymbalon,

Cult history

Her cult moved from Phrygia to Greece from the 6th to the 4th century BCE. In 203 BCE, Rome

adopted her cult as well.

Anatolia and Greece – Overview

Greek mythographers recalled that Broteas, the son of Tantalus, was the first to carve the Great

Mother's image into a rock-face. At the time of Pausanias (2nd century CE), a sculpture carved into

the rock-face of a spur of Mount Sipylus was still held sacred by the Magnesians.[3] At Pessinos in

Phrygia, an archaic image of Cybele had been venerated as well as the cult of Agdistis, in 203 BCE

its aniconic cult object was removed to Rome.

Mount Sipylus statue in an early 20th century French postcard

Her cult had already been adopted in 5th century BCE Greece, where she is often referred to

euphemistically as Meter Theon Idaia ("Mother of the Gods, from Mount Ida") rather than by name.

Mentions of Cybele's worship are found in Pindar and Euripides, among other locations. Classical

Greek writers, however, either did not know of or did not mention the castrated galli, although they

did mention the castration of Attis.[citation needed]

Cybele's cult in Greece was closely associated with, and apparently resembled, the later cult of

Dionysus, whom Cybele is said to have initiated and cured of Hera's madness. They also identified

Cybele with the Mother of the Gods Rhea.

Anatolian Cybele

Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük

Various aspects of Cybele's Anatolian attributes probably predate the Bronze Age in origin.

The figurine ( illustrated ) found at Çatalhöyük, (Archaeological Museum, Ankara), dating about

6000 BCE, is generally conceded[5] to depict a corpulent and fertile Mother Goddess in the process

of giving birth while seated on her throne, which has two hand rests in the form of feline (leopard or

panther) heads. The similarity to later iconography of the Anatolian Mother Goddess is striking.[6]

By the 2nd millennium BCE the Kubaba of Bronze Age Carchemish was known to the Hittites and

Hurrians:

"[O]n the basis of inscriptional and iconographical evidence it is possible to trace the

diffusion of her cult in the early Iron Age; the cult reached the Phrygians in inner Anatolia,

where it took on special significance" (Burkert, III.3.4, p. 177).

If the theory on the Luwian origin of Cybele's name is correct, Kubaba must have merged with the

various matar goddesses well before time the Phrygian matar kubileya inscription was made around

the first half of the 6th century BCE (Vassileva 2001).

In Phrygia Rhea-Cybele was venerated as Agdistis, with a temple at the great trading city Pessinos,

mentioned by the geographer Strabo. It was at Pessinos that her lover Attis (son of Nana) was about

to wed the daughter of the king, when Agdistis-Cybele appeared in her awesome glory, and he

castrated himself.

In Archaic Phrygian images of Cybele of the sixth century, already betraying the influence of Greek

style (Burkert), her typical representation is in the figuration of a building’s façade, standing in the

doorway. The façade itself can be related to the rock-cut monuments of the highlands of Phrygia.

She is wearing a belted long dress, a polos (high cylindrical hat), and a veil covering the whole

body. In Phrygia, her usual attributes are the bird of prey and a small vase. Sometimes lions are

related to her in an aggressive, but tamed, manner. Often the lions are shown drawing her chariot,

which may be related as the sun traversing the sky daily.

Later, under Hellenic influence along the coastal lands of Asia Minor, the sculptor Agoracritos, a

pupil of Pheidias, produced a version of Cybele that became the standard one. It showed her still

seated on a throne but now more decorous and matronly, her hand resting on the neck of a perfectly

still lion and the other hand holding the circular frame drum, similar to a tambourine, (tymbalon or

tympanon), which evokes the full moon in its shape and is covered with the hide of the sacred lunar

bull.

Plate depicting Cybele pulled in her chariot

drawn by lions, a votive sacrifice and the Sun

God - Ai Khanoum, Bactria (Afghanistan), 2nd

century BCE

Cybele and Attis

The goddess appears alone, 8th–6th centuries BCE. Later she is joined by her son and consort Attis,

who incurred her jealousy. He, in an ecstasy, castrated himself, and subsequently died. Grieving,

Cybele resurrected him. This tale is told by Catullus in carmen 63.[4] The evergreen pine and ivy

were sacred to Attis.

Some ecstatic followers of Cybele, known in Rome as galli, willingly castrated themselves in

imitation of Attis. For Roman devotees of Cybele Mater Magna who were not prepared to go so far,

the testicles of a bull, one of the Great Mother's sacred animals, were an acceptable substitute, as

many inscriptions show. An inscription of 160 CE records that a certain Carpus had transported a

bull's testes from Rome to Cybele's shrine at Lyon, France.

Aegean Cybele

The worship of Cybele spread from inland areas of Anatolia and Syria to the Aegean coast, to Crete

and other Aegean islands, and to mainland Greece. She was particularly welcomed at Athens. The

geographer Strabo made some useful observations:

Just as in all other respects the Athenians continue to be hospitable to things foreign, so also

in their worship of the gods; for they welcomed so many of the foreign rites ... the Phrygian

[rites of Rhea-Cybele are mentioned] by Demosthenes, when he casts the reproach upon

Aeschines' mother and Aeschines himself, that he was with her when she conducted

initiations, that he joined her in leading the Dionysiac march, and that many a time he cried

out evoe saboe, and hyes attes, attes hyes; for these words are in the ritual of Sabazios and

the Mother [Rhea]. (Strabo, book X, 3:18)

Marble statuette of Cybele wearing the polos on

her head, from Nicaea in Bithynia (Istanbul

Archaeology Museum)

In Ancient Egypt at Alexandria, Cybele was worshiped by the Greek population as "The Mother of

the Gods, the Savior who Hears our Prayers" and as "The Mother of the Gods, the Accessible One".

Ephesus, one of the major trading centers of the area, was devoted to Cybele as early the

10th century BCE, and the city's ecstatic celebration, the Ephesia, honored her.

The goddess was not welcome among the Scythians north of Thrace. From Herodotus (4.76-7) we

learn that the Scythian Anacharsis (6th century BCE), after traveling among the Greeks and

acquiring vast knowledge, was put to death by his fellow Scythians for attempting to introduce the

foreign cult of Magna Mater.

Atalanta and Hippomenes were turned into lions by Cybele or Zeus as punishment for having sex in

one of her or his temples because the Greeks believed that lions could not mate with other lions.

Another account says that Aphrodite turned them into lions for forgetting to do her tribute. As lions

they then drew Cybele's chariot, which sometimes numbered to seven.

Roman Cybele

According to Livy in 210 BCE, an archaic version of Cybele, from Pessinos in Phrygia, as

mentioned above, that embodied the Great Mother was ceremoniously and reverently moved to

Rome, marking the official beginning of her cult there. Rome was embroiled in the Second Punic

War at the time (218 to 201 BCE). An inspection had been made of the Sibylline Books and some

oracular verses had been discovered that announced that if a foreign foe should carry war into Italy,

that foe could be driven out and conquered if the Mater Magna were brought from Pessinos to

Rome. The Romans also consulted the Greek oracle at Delphi, which also recommended bringing

the Magna Mater "from her sanctuary in Asia Minor to Rome." [7] Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica

was ordered to go to the port of Ostia, accompanied by all the matrons, to meet the goddess. He

was to receive her image as she left the vessel, and when brought to land he was to place her in the

hands of the matrons who were to bear her to her destination, the Temple of Victory on the Palatine

Hill. The day on which this event took place, 12 April, was observed afterwards as a festival, the

Megalesian.[8]

Plutarch relates that in 103 BCE, Battakes, a high priest of Cybele, journeyed to Rome to announce

a prediction of Gaius Marius's victory over the Cimbri and Teutoni. A. Pompeius, plebeian tribune,

together with a band of ruffians, chased Battakes off of the Rostra. Pompeius supposedly died of a

fever a few days later.[9]

Cybele with her attributes, (Getty Museum), a

Roman marble,c.50 CE

Under the emperor Augustus, Cybele enjoyed great prominence thanks to her inclusion in Augustan

ideology. Augustus restored Cybele's temple, which was located next to his own palace on the

Palatine Hill. On the cuirass of the Prima Porta of Augustus, the tympanon of Cybele lies at the feet

of the goddess Tellus. Livia, the wife of Augustus, ordered cameo-cutters to portray Cybele with

her likeness.[10] The Malibu statue of Cybele bears the visage of Livia.[11]. The cult seems to have

been fully accepted under Claudius as the festival of Magna Mater and Attis are included within the

stes religious calendar. At the same time the chief priest of the cult (the archigallus) was permitted

to be a Roman citizen, so long as he was not a eunuch.

1st century BC marble statue of Cybele from

Formia, Campania

Under the Roman Empire the most important festival of Cybele was the Hilaria, taking place

between March 15 and March 28. It symbolically commemorated the death of Attis and his

resurrection by Cybele, involving days of mourning followed by rejoicing. Celebrations also took

place on 4 April with the Megalensia festival, the anniversary of the arrival of the goddess (i.e. the

Black Stone) in Rome. On the 10th April, the anniversary of the consecration of her temple on the

Palatine, a procession of her image was carried to the Circus Maximus where races were held.

These two dates seem to be incorporated within the same festival, though the evidence for what

took place in between is lacking.

Taurobolium

The most famous rite of Magna Mater introduced by the Romans was the taurobolium, the initiation

ceremony in which a candidate took their place in a pit beneath a wooden floor. A bull was

sacrificed on the wooden floor so that the blood would run through gaps in the slats and drench the

initiate in a symbolic shower of blood. This act was thought to cleanse an initiate of sin as well as

signify a 'rebirth' and re-energisation. A cheaper version, known as a criobolium, involved the

sacrifice of a ram. The first recorded taurobolium took place at Puteoli in AD 134 in honour of

Venus Caelestia.[12]

In Roman mythology, Cybele was given the name Magna Mater deorum Idaea ("great Idaean

mother of the gods"), in recognition of her Phrygian origins (although this title was given to Rhea

also).

Roman devotion to Cybele ran deep. Not coincidentally, when a Christian basilica was built over

the site of a temple to Cybele[citation needed] to occupy the site, the sanctuary was rededicated to the

Mother of God, as the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. However, later, Roman citizens were

forbidden to become priests of Cybele, who were eunuchs like those of their Asiatic Goddess.

The worship of Cybele was exported to the empire, even as far away as Mauretania, where, just

outside Setif, the ceremonial "tree-bearers" and the faithful (religiosi) restored the temple of Cybele

and Attis after a disastrous fire in 288 CE. Lavish new fittings paid for by the private group

included the silver statue of Cybele and the chariot that carried her in procession received a new

canopy with tassels in the form of fir cones. (Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, p 581.) The

popularity of the Cybele cult in the city of Rome and throughout the empire is thought to have

inspired the author of Book of Revelation to allude to her in his portrayal of the mother of harlots

who rides the Beast. Cybele drew ire from Christians throughout the Empire; famously, St.

Theodore of Amasea is said to have spent the time granted to him to recant his beliefs, burning a

temple of Cybele instead.[13]

Today, a modern monumental statue of Cybele can be found in one of the principal traffic circles of

Madrid, the Plaza de Cibeles (illustration, lower right).

A fountain in Madrid depicting Cybele in her

chariot drawn by lions, in the Plaza de Cibeles

In Roman poetry

In Rome, her Phrygian origins were recalled by Catullus, whose famous poem (number 63) on the

theme of Attis[4] includes a vivid description of Cybele's worship: "Together come and follow to the

Phrygian home of Cybele, to the Phrygian forests of the goddess, where the clash of cymbals ring,

where tambourines resound, where the Phrygian flute-player blows deeply on his curved reed,

where ivy-crowned maenads toss their heads wildly."

In the second book of his De rerum natura, Lucretius appropriately uses the image of Cybele, the

Great Mother, as a metaphor for the Earth. His description of the followers of the goddess is

thought to be based on autopsy of the celebration of her cult in Rome.

Cybele in the Aeneid

In his Aeneid, which was written in the first century BCE (between 29 and 19 BCE), Virgil called

her Berecyntian Cybele, alluding to her place of origin. He described her as the mother of the gods.

In his late version of the legendary story, the Trojans are in Italy and have kept themselves safe in a

walled city, following Aeneas's orders. The leader of the Rutuli, Turnus, then ordered his men to

burn the ships of the Trojans. At this point in the new legend, there is a flashback to Mount

Olympus years before the Trojan War: After Cybele had given her sacred trees to the Trojans so

that they could build their ships, she went to Zeus and begged him to make the ships indestructible.[14] Zeus granted her request by saying that when the ships had finally fulfilled their purpose

(bringing Aeneas and his army to Italy) they would be turned into sea nymphs rather than be

destroyed; so, as Turnus approached with fire, the ships came to life, dove beneath the sea, and

emerged as nymphs.[15]

Of course, Cybele was a powerful goddess who had existed long before the "birth" of Zeus, and she

would have been worshipped in that area from antiquity, so this new legend may contain elements

of much older myths that have been lost — such as the trees that turned into sea nymphs.

Notes1. ̂ Burkert, Greek Religion, 1985, section III.3,4 p. 177). Ancient Greeks considered

"Cybele" to be Greek; however, the traditional derivation of her name, as "she of the hair"

can be ignored, now that the inscription of one of her Phrygian rock-cut monuments has

been read matar kubileya.

2. ̂ C.H.E. Haspels, The Highlands of Phrygia, 1971, I 293 no 13, noted in Walter Burkert,

Greek Religion, 1985, III.3.4, notes 17 and 18.

3. ̂ Pausanias: "the Magnesians, who live to the north of Spil Mount, have on the rock

Coddinus the most ancient of all the images of the Mother of the gods. The Magnesians say

that it was made by Broteas the son of Tantalus." (Description of Greece)

4. ^ a b c Catullus, Gaius Valerius (ca. 84 BC – ca. 54 BC). Attis. Carmina. 63. As translated

and published in: Morford, Mark P.O.; Lenardon, Robert J.; Sham, Michael. "Cybele and

Attis". Classical Mythology. Archived from the original on 2005-01-30.

http://web.archive.org/web/20050130092338/http://www.classicalmythology.org/archive/

classical/catullus_attis.html. Retrieved 2010-05-03.

5. ̂ A typical assessment: "A terracotta statuette of a seated (mother) goddess giving birth

with each hand on the head of a leopard or panther from Çatal Höyük (dated around 6000

B.C.E.)" (Sarolta A. Takács, "Cybele and Catullus' Attis[4]", in Eugene N. Lane, Cybele, Attis

and related cults: essays in memory of M.J. Vermaseren 1996:376.

6. ̂ Compare: the lion throne in Anatolian File:Cybele Bithynia Nicaea.jpg, hellenistic Roman

File:CybeleHellenistic.jpg and Roman File:Cybele Getty Villa 57.AA.19.jpg. In case of the

hellenistic Roman one, mind the apparently ancient confusion between Cybele and Cybebe!

7. ̂ Boatwright et al., The Romans, from Village to Empire ISBN 978-0-19-511875-9

8. ̂ Livy, History of Rome, 29.10-11, .14 (written circa 10 CE).

9. ̂ Plutarch, "Life of Marius," 17.

10. ̂ P. Lambrechts, "Livie-Cybele," La Nouvelle Clio 4 (1952): 251-60.

11. ̂ C. C. Vermeule, "Greek and Roman Portraits in North American Collections Open to the

Public," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 108 (1964): 106, 126, fig. 18.

12. ̂ C.I.L. X.1596

13. ̂ "St. Theodore of Amasea". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Encyclopedia Press. 1914.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14573a.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-16.

14. ̂ Book IX, lines 99–109.

15. ̂ Book IX, lines 143–147.

References Burkert, Walter , 1982. Greek Religion (Cambridge:Harvard University Press), especially

section III.3.4

Motz, Lotte (1997). The Faces of the Goddess. New York: Oxford University Press US.

ISBN 0195089677.

Mark Munn, "Kybele as Kubaba in a Lydo-Phrygian Context" : Emory University cross-

cultural conference "Hittites, Greeks and Their Neighbors in Central Anatolia", 2004

(Abstracts)

Roller, Lynn Emrich (1999). In Search of God the Mother: The Cult of Anatolian Cybele.

Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. ISBN 0520210247.

Vassileva, Maya (2001). "Further considerations on the cult of Kybele". Anatolian Studies

(British Institute at Ankara) 51, 2001: 51. doi:10.2307/3643027.

http://jstor.org/stable/3643027.

Virgil. The Aeneid trans from Latin by West, David (Penguin Putnam Inc. 2003) p. 189-190

ISBN 0-14-044932-9

Emmanuel Laroche, "Koubaba, déesse anatolienne, et le problème des origines de Cybèle",

Eléments orientaux dans la religion grecque ancienne, Paris 1960, p. 113-128.

Further reading Brixhe, Claude "Le Nom de Cybele", Die Sprache, 25 (1979), 40-45

George E. Bean. Aegean Turkey: An archaeological guide ISBN 978-0-510-03200-5, 1967.

Ernest Benn, London.

Hyde, Walter Woodburn Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire (U. of

Pennsylvania Press, 1946)

Knauer, Elfried R. (2006). "The Queen Mother of the West: A Study of the Influence of

Western Prototypes on the Iconography of the Taoist Deity." In: Contact and Exchange in

the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 62–115. ISBN 978-

0-8248-2884-4; ISBN 0-8248-2884-4 (An article showing the probable derivation of the

Daoist goddess, Xi Wangmu, from Kybele/Cybele)

Lane, Eugene. Ed. Cybele, Attis, and Related Cults: Essays in Memory of M.J. Vermaseren

(E.J. Brill, 1996)

Showerman, Grant The Great Mother of the Gods (Argonaut, 1969)

Vermaseren, Maarten Jozef. Cybele and Attis: The Myth and the Cult trans. from Dutch by

A. M. H. Lemmers (Thames and Hudson, 1977)

Virgil. The Aeneid trans from Latin by West, David (Penguin Putnam Inc. 2003)

WHEN THE GODDESSES RULED - CATAL HOYUKAround 6000 B.C., in Europe and in particular Anatolia, it is purported

that women reigned supreme in religion, law and custom. Female

sovereignity is thought to have ended with the development of using

metals for the making of weapons.

Is this possible? Is it likely that during a period of history that is not

well known that women were once the sovereigns? Lithuanian-

American historian, Marija Gimbutas, says "yes". According to Marija,

prior to today's male dominated society, especially during 6000 B.C., it was likely that a society

where women were the dominant sex existed. That period was perhaps one where Mother

Goddess' ruled. In the world of archeology and ethnology, there is no evidence to suggest that

humankind ever experienced this kind of period. Despite this, Marija Gimbutas is adamant that

period existed. In her 1989 text, Goddess' Language, Marija attempts to prove this.

During prehistoric times, it is known that the female form was prefered

far more in the making of statues. This is also true of the Palaeolithic,

and later, periods. In archaeology, innumerable Venus statues have

been found while only a handful of Adonis statues have been found.

30,000 year old cave paintings depict female genitalia. The primary

object of Neolithic art was also the female form. In Anatolia and

Europe - the cradle of civilisation - statues and paintings of women

have been found. Men appear to have been pushed aside, perhaps

planning their dominance over the world.

In an excavation project that Marija Gimbutas participated in, she describes how they

discovered a temple which contained groups of fifteen fired clay statues, from 6000 B.C., of

women. In the west of Ukrania, a temple from 5000 B.C. was found with thirty-two female

statues. Also, in Moldivia, a statue, belonging to 4000 B.C., of a pregnant woman clasping her

belly was discovered. The most important support for Marija Gimbutas' thesis came from a

finding in Catal Hoyuk. On the hills of Catal Hoyuk, an alter and temple from 7000 - 6000 B.C.

were discovered. On the walls are paintings depicting hunting and burial scenes. The paintings

also show large vultures observing a group of headless men. In the alter and temple a number of

statues of overweight women were found. In one of the temples a grain container yielded a 12

cm statue of a large woman sitting on a throne with two leopards on either side of her. The

statue depicts the woman giving birth, with the head of the baby visible. Apart from leopards

and vultures, bulls also are found at the side of the Mother Goddess. On wall paintings only the

heads of bulls are depicted.

Men (god)

Bust of Men. (Museum of Anatolian Civilizations) Relief of Men. (British Museum)

Men (Greek: Μήν, Latin: Mensis,[1] also known at Antioch in Pisidia as Men Ascaënus) was a god

worshipped in the western interior parts of Anatolia. The roots of the Men cult may go back to

Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium BC.[citation needed] Ancient writers describe Men as a local god

of the Phrygians.

Lunar symbolism dominates his iconography. The god is usually shown with a crescent like open

horns on his shoulders, and he is described as the god presiding over the months. [2] He is depicted

with a Phrygian cap and a belted tunic. He may be accompanied by bulls and lions in religious

artwork. The iconography of Men partly recalls that of Mithras, who also wears a Phrygian cap and

is commonly depicted with a bull and symbols of the sun and moon.

The Augustan History has the Roman emperor Caracalla venerate Lunus at Carrhae; this has been

taken as a Latinized name for Men. The same source records the local opinion that anyone who

believes the deity of the moon to be feminine shall always be subject to women, whereas a man

who believes that he is masculine will dominate his wife. David Magie, however, disputes the

identification of this ‘Lunus’ with Men, and suggests that Caracalla had actually visited the temple

of Sin.[3]

Dr Mehmet Taşlıalan, who has studied the remains of Antioch in Pisidia, has remarked that the

people who settled on the acropolis in the Greek colonial era, carried the Men Askaenos cult down

to the plain as Patrios Theos and in the place where the Augusteum was built there are some signs

of this former cult as bucrania on the rock-cut walls. The Imperial Temple also features an unusual

bucranium frieze.

In later times, Men may have been identified with both Attis of Phrygia and Sabazius of Thrace; he

may shared a common origin with the Zoroastrian lunar divinity Mah.[4]

References1. ̂ Gerald L. Borchert. "The Cities of the First Missionary Journey"

2. ̂ Strabo xii. pp. 557, 577; Proclus In Platonis Timaeum commentaria iv.251

3. ̂ Augustan History "Caracalla" vii and note 44.

4. ̂ "Anatolian Religion: The Phrygians". Encyclopædia Britannica online.

Sabazios

Bronze hand used in the worship of Sabazios

(British Museum). Roman 1st-2nd century CE.

Hands decorated with religious symbols were

designed to stand in sanctuaries or, like this one,

were attached to poles for processional use.

Sabazios (Ancient Greek: Σαβάζιος) is the nomadic horseman and sky father god of the Phrygians

and Thracians. In Indo-European languages, such as Phrygian, the -zios element in his name derives

from dyeus, the common precursor of Latin deus ('god') and Greek Zeus. Though the Greeks

interpreted Phrygian Sabazios[1] with both Zeus and Dionysus,[2] representations of him, even into

Roman times, show him always on horseback, as a nomadic horseman god, wielding his

characteristic staff of power.

Thracian/Phrygian Sabazios

It seems likely that the migrating Phrygians brought Sabazios with them when they settled in

Anatolia in the early first millennium BC, and that the god's origins are to be looked for in

Macedonia and Thrace. The recently discovered ancient sanctuary of Perperikon in eastern Thrace

is believed to be that of Sabazios. The Macedonians were also noted horsemen, horse-breeders and

horse-worshippers up to the time of Philip II, whose name signifies "lover of horses".

Possible early conflict between Sabazios and his followers and the indigenous mother goddess of

Phrygia (Cybele) may be reflected in Homer's brief reference to the youthful feats of Priam, who

aided the Phrygians in their battles with Amazons. An aspect of the compromise religious

settlement, similar to the other such mythic adjustments throughout Aegean culture, can be read in

the later Phrygian King Gordias' adoption "with Cybele"[3] of Midas.

One of the native religion's creatures was the Lunar Bull. Sabazios' relations with the goddess may

be surmised in the way that his horse places a hoof on the head of the bull, in a Roman marble relief

at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Though Roman in date, the iconic image appears to be much

earlier.

God on horseback

More "rider god" steles are at the Burdur Museum, in Turkey. Under the Roman Emperor Gordian

III the god on horseback appears on coins minted at Tlos, in neighboring Lycia, and at Istrus, in the

province of Lower Moesia, between Thrace and the Danube. It is generally thought that the young

emperor's grandfather came from an Anatolian family, because of his unusual cognomen,

Gordianus.[4] The iconic image of the god or hero on horseback battling the chthonic serpent, on

which his horse tramples, appears on Celtic votive columns, and with the coming of Christianity it

was easily transformed into the image of Saint George and the Dragon, whose earliest known

depictions are from tenth- and eleventh-century Cappadocia and eleventh-century Georgia and

Armenia.[5]

Sabazios in Athens

The ecstatic Eastern rites practiced largely by women in Athens were thrown together for rhetorical

purposes by Demosthenes in undermining his opponent Aeschines for participating in his mother's

cultic associations:

"On attaining manhood you abetted your mother in her initiations and the other rituals, and read

aloud from the cultic writings ...You rubbed the fat-cheeked snakes and swung them above your

head, crying Euoi saboi and hues attes, attes hues[6]

Transformation to Sabazius

Transference of Sabazios to the Roman world appears to have been mediated in large part through

Pergamum.[7] The naturally syncretic approach of Greek religion blurred distinctions. Later Greek

writers, like Strabo in the first century AD, linked Sabazios with Zagreus, among Phrygian

ministers and attendants of the sacred rites of Rhea and Dionysos.[8] Strabo's Sicilian contemporary,

Diodorus Siculus, conflated Sabazios with the secret 'second' Dionysus, born of Zeus and

Persephone,[9] a connection that is not borne out by surviving inscriptions, which are entirely to

Zeus Sabazios.[10] The Christian Clement of Alexandria had been informed that the secret mysteries

of Sabazius, as practiced among the Romans, involved a serpent, a chthonic creature unconnected

with the mounted skygod of Phrygia: "‘God in the bosom’ is a countersign of the mysteries of

Sabazius to the adepts". Clement reports: "This is a snake, passed through the bosom of the

initiates”.[11]

Much later, the Greek encyclopedia, Sudas (10th century?), flatly states

"Sabazios... is the same as Dionysos. He acquired this form of address from the rite pertaining to

him; for the barbarians call the bacchic cry 'sabazein'. Hence some of the Greeks too follow suit and

call the cry 'sabasmos'; thereby Dionysos [becomes] Sabazios. They also used to call 'saboi' those

places that had been dedicated to him and his Bacchantes... Demosthenes [in the speech] 'On Behalf

of Ktesiphon' [mentions them]. Some say that Saboi is the term for those who are dedicated to

Sabazios, that is to Dionysos, just as those [dedicated] to Bakkhos [are] Bakkhoi. They say that

Sabazios and Dionysos are the same. Thus some also say that the Greeks call the Bakkhoi Saboi."[12]

In Roman sites, though not a single temple consecrated to Sabazius, the rider god of the open air,

has been located,[13] small votive hands, typically made of copper or bronze, are often associated

with the cult of Sabazios. Many of these hands have a small perforation at the base which suggests

they may have been attached to wooden poles and carried in processions. The symbolism of these

objects is not well known.[14]

Jewish connection

The first Jews who settled in Rome were expelled in 139 BC, along with Chaldaean astrologers by

Cornelius Hispalus under a law which proscribed the propagation of the "corrupting" cult of

"Jupiter Sabazius," according to the epitome of a lost book of Valerius Maximus:

Cnaeus Cornelius Hispalus, praetor peregrinus in the year of the consulate of Marcus Popilius

Laenas and Lucius Calpurnius, ordered the astrologers by an edict to leave Rome and Italy within

ten days, since by a fallacious interpretation of the stars they perturbed fickle and silly minds,

thereby making profit out of their lies. The same praetor compelled the Jews, who attempted to

infect the Roman custom with the cult of Jupiter Sabazius, to return to their homes."[15]

By this it is conjectured that the Romans identified the Jewish Yahveh Sabaoth ("of the Hosts") as

Sabazius.

This mistaken connection of Sabazios and Sabaoth has often been repeated. In a similar vein,

Plutarch naively maintained that the Jews worshipped Dionysus, and that the day of Sabbath was a

festival of Sabazius.[16] No modern reader would confuse Yahweh with Dionysus or Sabazius.

Plutarch also discusses the identification of the Jewish god with the "Egyptian" (actually archaic

Greek) Typhon, an identification which he later rejects, however. The monotheistic Hypsistarians

worshipped the Jewish god under this name.

Modern literature

In Robert Harris' novel Pompeii, a sybil active in the city of Pompeii before its destruction

"sacrifices snakes to Sabazius, skins them for their meaning, and utters prophecies".

Sabassus, a fictional demon in the fifth season of the television show Angel (TV series), may have

been named after Sabazios. Sabazius is the name of a British drone/doom metal band named after

the god Sabazios.

References1. ̂ Variant spellings, like Sawadios in inscriptions, may prove diagnostic in establishing

origins, Ken Dowden suggested in reviewing E.N. Lane, Corpus Cultis Jovis Sabazii 1989

for The Classical Review, 1991:125.

2. ̂ See interpretatio Graeca.

3. ̂ Later Greek mythographers reduced Cybele's role to "wife" in this context; initially

Gordias will have been ruling in the Goddess's name, as her visible representative.

4. ̂ Sabazios on coins, illustrated in M. Halkam collection.

5. ̂ See Saint George and the Dragon

6. ̂ Demosthenes, De corona 260; Attis, serpent cult, Sabazios, Dionysus (Aeschines is

characterised as "ivy-bearer" and "liknos-carrier"), and "cultic writings", which may have

insinuated Orphic connections as well, are not otherwise linked in cult, save in their

foreignness in fifth-century Athens.

7. ̂ Lane 1989.

8. ̂ Strabo, Geography, 10.3.15.

9. ̂ Diodorus Siculus, 4.4.1.

10. ̂ E.N. Lane has taken pains to dismiss this widespread conflation: Lane, "Towards a

definition of the iconography of Sabazios", Numen 27 (1980:9-33), and Corpus Cultis Jovis

Sabazii:, in Études Préliminaires aux Religions Orientales dans l'Empire Romain:

Conclusions 100.3 (Leiden, etc: Brill) 1989.

11. ̂ Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus, 1, 2, 16.

12. ̂ Sudas, under 'Sabazios,' 'saboi'; Sider, David. "Notes on Two Epigrams of Philodemus".

The American Journal of Philology, 103.2 (Summer 1982:208-213) pp209f.

13. ̂ Lane, E.N. Corpus Cultis Jovis Sabazii, in Études Préliminaires aux Religions Orientales

dans l'Empire Romain 100.3 Conclusions (Leiden, etc: Brill) 1989:48.

14. ̂ M.J. Vermaseren, Corpus Cultis Jovis Sabazii, in Études Préliminaires aux Religions

Orientales dans l'Empire Romain 100.1 (Leiden, etc: Brill) 1983 assembles the corpus of

these hands.

15. ̂ (Valerius Maximus), epitome of Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings , i. 3, 2 .

16. ̂ Plutarch. Symposiacs, iv, 6.

Derzelas

Derzelas (Darzalas) was a Thracian chthonic god of abundance and the underworld, health and

human spirit's vitality, probably related with gods such as Hades, Zalmoxis, Great God Gebeleizis,

Derzis, or the Thracian Knight.

Darzalas was the Great God of Hellenistic Odessos (modern Varna) and was frequently depicted on

its coinage from the 3rd century BCE to the third century CE and portrayed in numerous terra cotta

figurines, as well as in a rare 4th-century BC lead one (photo), found in the city. Darzalas was often

depicted in himation, holding cornucopiae with altars by his side. There was a temple dedicated to

him with a cult statue, and games (Darzaleia) were held in his honor every five years, possibly

attended by Gordian III in 238 AD.

Another temple dedicated to Derzelas was built at Histria (Sinoe) [1] - a Greek colony, on the shore

of the Black Sea in the 3rd century BC.

THE MAP OF DACIA, TODAY'S ROMANIAN TERITORY

    Gebeleizis, or Nebeleizis, was the Thracians' Supreme Divinity lightning constituting only one

of the "weapons" that this he was said to have used. He was represented through the shape of a

handsome sculptural male, occasionally wearing a beard. Gebeleizis provoked thunder and

lightning. In some representations, he appears seated on a majestic throne, while in others on

horseback, holding an arch in his left hand. A snake is seen coming down versus the horse's head.

He is also accompanied, at times, by a one horned vulture. The vulture holds a fish in its beak

symbolizing the named Divinity by itself, and also has a rabbit entrapped within its claws. This God

embodies the Absolute Master upon Heaven and Earth, the Patron of military aristocracy. He might

possess, though, some Uranian- Solar attributes. The Supreme God, the Great God Gebeleizis is

also known under the nicknames of Derzelas, Derzis or the Thracian Knight (others consider

"THE THRACIAN KNIGHT" as being a later apparition of some Hero, and not of a God). Other

times, the God shows up in the hypostasis of a warrior horseman, accompanied by a faithful hound.

He holds a spear as an insignia of power, which is ready to be thrown upon a wild boar from the

horse's gallop. When not being shown under a warrior or hunter's appearance, he appears as a

peaceful horseman, carrying either a torch or a cornu copia. Sometimes, he is presented as having

three heads (Tricephalus), alike the accompanying hound, while other times as a blessing God,

having his right hand's first three fingers risen or opened, the rest being tightened towards the upper

palm. He shows up in these ways within all epigraphic and numismatic testimonies found at the

ancient cities of Histria and Odesos (the latter presently called Varna). At Limanu (Constanta

County), Derzelas appears shown on horseback, as he similarly may be seen on the Racatau and

Zimnicea old pottery, or the Bucharest-Herastrau and Surcea (Constanta County again) discovered

hoards. 

    We shall also encounter him later throughout the

Antique world, at the Macedonians -"Macedonian

Horseman", while Greek Mythology would similarly

carry him under the supreme name of Zeus. From

Thracia, Gebeleizis' cult had spread to penetrate inside

Asia Minor during 7th century B.C., where it was

promptly assimilated by Armenians up to becoming their

National Divinity, namely Vahagn or the God of War,

most famous for his courage in slaying dragons. Vahagn

was associated with lightning and thunder, being

represented like an imposing man with hair and beard

carved out of flames, while "his eyes were scintillating like two Suns". Ultimately, Gebeleizis or

"the Thracian Knight", who is to be found in other people's Mythologies as Zeus or Vahagn, has

been logically assimilated by Christian nations to become... Saint George (or Gheorghe) killing the

Dragon!

    The Supreme male Divinity of Geto-Dacians Gebeleizis, later referred to, at the Lower Danube

area Thracians under the likely Greekenized name of Zbelsurdos, also goes by having a feminine

alter ego, a double named BENDIS, the Great Goddess. Ancient representations, recently

discovered, show her to our eyes through the face of a full figured woman, with prominent cheek

bones and curly hair either plaited into two tresses or spliced into two big curls surrounding her

lovely looks. Is it really possible that the Goddess Bendis, with her two very long blond tresses

gently resting on her back, might actually be a predecessor of the fairy Ileana Cosanzeana, from the

later born popular tales of Romanians? In certain situations, the Goddess appears standing between

two sacred animals, which are either deer like, or between a buck and a snake. The Great Goddess

Bendis was mostly adored by Thracian women, for she was embodying the Goddess of Moon,

Forests and... Magical charms. A head of the Goddess was discovered at Costesti, while

archaeological digging around ruins of the old Sarmisegetuza fortress has brought to light a burned

clay made medallion (measuring 10 cm in diameter and 1.5 cm thickness) showing a Goddess bust

with a quiver on shoulder. One of her bronze made busts was discovered at Piatra Rosie, measuring

14.7 cm in height and 13 cm width.

    Besides the Supreme God Gebeleizis and the Great Goddess Bendis, Thracians have also had a

Divinity of Flames and Fireplace and Guardian of the House, respectively the Goddess VESTA (or

Hestia, Histia), to the veneration of whom Thracian houses were built strictly in a rectangular form

with stoned or wooden walls. The floor was of trodden soil and had a "two angle" roof. Not far

away from Tartaria region, inside the triangular area of the three "Crish" rivers, astounding remains

of the first surface dwellings dating from as early as fifth millennium B.C. have been recently

uncovered, meaning they were no less than 7000 years old! These types of dwellings, which would

spread afterwards through the entire world, indeed seemed to have been the result of a cult

dedicated to this Goddess. The walls were initially meant to protect the sacred space within, and in

the middle, flames were lit in a fireplace which were

constantly taken care of to keep alight. 

    The fourth millennium B.C. wasn't exactly a lucky

one for the future to be Romanian people, stated the

experts referring themselves to the crumbling period of

the legendary continental bridge which was linking

Europe with Asia Minor. This bridge collapsed under

the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, thus leaving

plenty of room for the formation of a brand new sea,

named the Aegean Sea. This generated as well a

multitude of larger and smaller islands. Due to the very

existence of this terrestrial linking bridge, both ancient and modern Greek historians were entitled

to acknowledge the possibility of a migration for the Thracian population from the Pontic Danubian

region to the South of the Balkan Peninsula, and from there, towards Asia Minor itself, reaching to

some lands around the Eastern Mediterranean such as Bytinia, Missia, Phrygia, Throada, Lydia etc.

As it is known today, the fate of each of these civilizations evolved quite differently. Some "lost

themselves" among more numerous tribes and completely "vanished" as national identity inside

History's immense pit called "forgetfulness"-the Hititians, for instance. Others disappeared at vast

distances, as is the Trojans' case, about whom a legend (Homer's "Aeneida") tells how Aeneas, the

Thracian, guided the survivors of Trojan fortress' doomsday up to the Tybrus River's narrow valley

on the Italic Peninsula, where they took over Seven "eternal" Hills and afterwards, gave them

Thracian "Latin" names. Still, another legend states that within the Carpathian Space, an extremely

wise shepherd, Zamolxis, showed up who was to take over "the Noble Laws" (that is, the

"Beleagin's Code") from the Goddess Hestia (or Vesta).

ZAMOLXIS A PROPHETICAL GOD OR A WORSHIPPED PROPHET

Here are Herodotus' testimonies on Zamolxis: "According to what I have found out from the

(ancient) Greeks living on the shores of Helespontus and Pontus Euxinus (which is today known as

the Black Sea), the ZAMOLXIS whom I'm talking about, being just a mortal, was actually a former

slave on Samos Island, specifically belonging to Phytagoras, son of Menesarcos. Being granted,

afterwards, free man's status from his grateful master, he would skillfully amass large riches and

would return to his homeland after accumulating enough wealth, where he would build a large

mansion meant to host important gatherings and personally receiving these people and summoning

the Thracian land's leaders to party. Meanwhile, preaching everybody that none of them, or their

descendants would ever die for real, but everybody was to go to a certain place instead, where they

would indeed live forever and enjoy all the finest meals and pleasures which they would only dream

of. As he was accomplishing all the already mentioned deeds and was saying such things to the

crowds, he secretly ordered an underground residence to be constructed for himself. When it was

ready, Zamolxis disappeared from the nucleus of Thracian social life and descended to his

underground "bunker". He lived there for about three or four years. The Thracians thought he had

vanished and wanted him back dearly, lamenting his loss as if he were really dead. At the end of his

4th year, Zamolxis appeared once more to their eyes, thus managing to make his teachings

believable through some kind of "personal example". Regarding Zamolxis' background itself and

his underground hiding shelter, I personally don't fully reject everything that is said, but don't

believe too much in it either. It seems to me, though, that he might have actually lived many years

before Phytagoras' time. So let Zamolxis be well, whatever he represents, either a human being or

some Demon of the Getae (namely Thracian) people" (Herodotus, "Histories", volume IV, pages

94-95). As we can see, the naive identification of God Zamolxis with one of Pythagoras' slaves,

who became afterwards free and wealthy, is being disputed even by Herodotus himself. Why should

WE believe it then?... 

    Similar accounts are also made by Hellanicos from

Mithilenes, by the Great Plato, Mnasea (this last one was

even considering Zamolxis as the Eternity God

Chronos!), Diodorus from Sicily, Strabon mostly,

Apulleius, Lucianus from Samosatas, Orygenes,

Porphyrius (232-304) and Julian the Apostle, Aeneas

from Gaza, and Hesychios from Alexandria. All of them

heard and discussed about Zamolxis who remained

within people's memories as a God of the so called

"Underworld Kingdom", as being otherwise suggestively

described by the Romanian National Poet, Mihai

Eminescu, in his poem "The Phantoms":

"On a huge Throne carved in rock, sits rigidly, pale, yet straight,

With his hand holding the Staff, the Pagan and righteous Priest..."

    Lithuanians, at their turn, are going to take over "our" Zamolxis as God Zemeuks, the name

signifying "Land" or "Country". He still represents the God of the Earth's depths, but nevertheless

the God of vegetation and fertility, the God of ploughmen and shepherds. But, if Gebeleizis was

promising them only the immortality of spirit (for the ritual of cremating dead ones on funeral pyres

is associated to his cult), Zamolxis was yet over granting to his faithfuls COMPLETE

IMMORTALITY, both for the soul and body (the funeral procedure being, in this case, burial),

while the believers' spirits would keep on living inside the Kingdom of the Underworld God (just

alike Harald's, the teen-ager King, next to Maria's, the Danubian Queen, from the same poem

"Phantoms" of our Great Eminescu).

    The concept of Zamolxian immortality was representing the very Ethics' concept among all

young warriors of the "the Dacian (Thracian) Wolves", who were enjoying the imminent Death's

perspective and were even laughing at it, precisely in order to show their indifference towards such

an event and their looking forward to faster reaching God's underground meadows. These

youngsters were fighting and dying joyfully under the "Wolf's Head" Dacian banner, which we

would also encounter at the Macedonians, as well as at the so-called "Roman " legions later, that

had actually been formed from Thracians living within boundaries of the Roman occupied

territories.

    Human sacrifices for religious purposes had proven to be quite singular in Europe, and one can

find them strictly among Thracians. With this perspective in mind, most interesting appears to be a

certain similarity with the Aztec civilization's religious traditions, about whose civilization Edgar

Cayce was surely stating that they would be direct descendants of the "Atlantis" people (namely,

inhabitants of former ancient continent Atlantis, from which the very last portion of land went down

in the middle of Atlantic Ocean, through a huge disaster, some 12,600 years ago). Should this

peculiar resemblance provide a clue, with respect to a very close friend's suggestion in supporting

the presumed joint origin between Central America's Indians and Thracians?... Once every five

years, Zamolxis was sent a kind of "messenger" who was to inform the God on the people's wishes.

The chosen one, some young warrior of great physical beauty, unparalleled courage in battles and

untainted morality, was thrown into three sharpened spears belonging to his fellow warriors. Should

he have had the bad luck not to die instantly, he would be insulted and mocked while another

"herald" was prepared and immediately "sent" to personally deliver his message to the Underworld

God.

    While Zamolxis represented a God of the "Underworld", Gebeleizis was the "Heavenly" God.

The discoveries in Orastie Mountains, as well as of the Great Circular Sanctuary within the

Sarmisegetuza (Dacians' main fortress), with its pillars' regular disposal, lead us to assume that

some celestial examination was also carried out. Archaeological excavations done under the Cluj

native historian Constantin Daicoviciu's supervision have brought to light, within the Gradistea

Muscelului area (Orastie Mountains), not only an entire complex of Sanctuaries but also a likely

original Dacian calendar, and also the remains of a staircase which was, probably, leading towards

an underground place of religious cult. 

    From a wise man such as Socrates, the Great Greek

philosopher quoted by one of his peers, namely Plato, we

learn about Zamolxis to have been, besides a brilliant

psychotherapist, also a... magician. Overall, a person to

whom our forefathers owe their spiritual status through one

of the most righteous and human social order Antiquity has

ever had. For we have been indeed a kind of "spiritual

State", ambivalent creation of the ones initiated by Zamolxis

and of the Great Priests from Kogaion, the Holy Mountain, a

reason for which our boundaries lasted always virtually

unchanged, even if, at times, either some civilization overlapping or brief artificial territorial

divisions might have occurred. As Alexandru Strachina has said, in his book "Trailing the Forgotten

Ancestors": "Water flows by, yet ... WE remain". And it is merely odd how most of our modern

historians are still able to justify their naked indifference towards all these blatant facts.

    In order to better outline the existence of a SOLAR CULT among Thraco-Geta-Dacians, along

her book, "Romanian Archaic Linguistic References", Dr. Mariana Marcu mentions "the Thracian

Horseman" HEROS, also cited in some Egyptian epigraphic documents (as HEROUS, son of the

Solar God Amon Ra himself), while several other researchers have argued that this Divinity would

represent nothing else but a newer hypostasis of Horus!... The Thracian Knight's Myth appears

difficult to understand. Sometimes, his head is shown surrounded by a Solar halo, a four leaves

rosette. It was assimilated by the Greek population at once with their arrival within the Balkan

Peninsula, between 1900-1400 B.C., as Zeus (Helios), the Supreme Divinity, also known under

other names like Nefelegeretes (actually, the Greek version of Nebeleizis) -meaning "the One who

Gathers Clouds", Ombryos -"the Rain Maker", Keraunos -"the One who Lightens" and some more.

Within the entire Romanian tradition (that includes Dacian Romanian, Aromanian, Macedonian),

the Thracian Knight's Myth makes an almost canonical scenario of the old Christmas Carols in

winter.

    An astonished Mr. C. Cinodaru was noticing that Thracians used to hold so-called "PAGAN

CELEBRATIONS" during entire APRIL, precisely organized in order to honor THE

THRACIAN HERO. Simultaneously with Christianity's consolidation within the Thraco Dacian

zone, this celebration has been replaced with "Saint George's" ("Saint Gheorghe's"), a holiness

whose iconography was apparently inspired by that of the "Thracian Knight". Though, in certain

Christmas Carols, Saint Gheorghe and Jesus' names mysteriously interchange, creating in this way a

total discrepancy between the Carol's greeting verses and their supposedly singing time,

respectively the Winter season:

"Along the Sun's river meadows

Grow white bluish apple flowers.

It's God's flower garden essence,

Whitish flowers, apple flowers,

Apple essence, whitish flowers."

Or:

"...His black spurry little horse

Glistening like some raven,

Still his arrow style cut bonnet,

Bent upon the eyes

Or his mighty spear,

Summer everlasting,

Evening flash of lightning..."

    Anybody can see that nothing is mentioned within this so-called "Christmas Carol", which might

suggest the Winter period. Yet, summertime appears to be explicitly recollected, as well as an extra

quotation of "the Evening Flash of Lightning", namely what was the Thracian God Gebeleizis'

symbol. Do you still have any doubts left about it? Within other Romanian Christmas Carol cycles,

besides a personification of the Sun itself, the Sun's elder "sister", Salomina, shows up also.

Nevertheless, the bride of the Hero coming back from hunting was named Ileana Daliana, or

sometimes Lina Melina. We should remember here the Spring time for the Solar God's Celebration

at the Thraco Dacian tribes, just like its environmental background appears clearly pointed out

along these "Christmas Carols" narrating, in fact, the time of Nature's rebirth and flourishing of "the

apple whitish flowers".

    And if within this mythological Romanian Pelasgian, Thracian or Geta Dacian puzzle, you

choose to name it, we have been successful in discovering, together, our forgotten Faith in the Great

God Gebeleizis, the Great Goddess Bendis or Histia, the Goddess of Flames and Fireplace, you still

wouldn't have been told the essential unless we also mentioned a Great God of War's existence,

namely ARES. The famous Black Sea exiled Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C.-17 A.D.)

speaks in his writings about the "Getae individual" next door who was worshipping Ares (an

equivalent to the Roman War God Mars), while another Roman, Vegetius, comes to proclaim, no

more or less, that "the God Mars has been born from within Thracian Land". And, should we also

pay respect to Jordan's' declarations, who was stating that "the Getae people have always adored

Mars through an extremely savage cult, killing war prisoners as sacrifices dedicated to His glory...",

why should WE wonder then how VLAD THE IMPELLER, whom Americans love to call

"DRACULA" through Bram Stoker's work of factual History distortion, used to punish the Turkish

invaders on Romanian soil by "practicing" his gruesome, Middle Age habit on around 40,000 living

prisoners daily?!... On the other hand, on the Roman Emperor Trajan's bas relief sculpted Column

in Rome is presented, probably, the most ancient Warrior God ever, looking grim and ferocious,

constantly soliciting a great number of human sacrifices to His glorifying pleasure. Here also

appears the barbarian scene of Roman war prisoners being tortured by... Dacian women!

    At the South of Danube River, Thracian civilization living around the area used to celebrate as

well DIONYSUS, the Grape-Vine Divinity, Patron of the well known dizzying liquor, whose cult

has again been taken over "en passant" by the Greeks who, by this time, were fair spirited enough in

reminding the World that, shortly before Dionysus' coming back home in Thracia, he had initiated

himself on Phrygian mysteries at the insistences of His grandmother! Besides the grape-vine, the

ivy counted as well among this God's favorite plants. Leaves of the latter, chewed by His extremely

"hot" worshippers in combination with large wine quantities, were inducing within those not only

drunkenness but even a temporary stage of madness, a mania. Thus, the fact that by far the

Thracians' most popular celebration was dedicated precisely to THIS God shouldn't look so

surprising. It was annually held in the Autumn, once the grape-vine harvest and grape squeezing

were in full progress (some researchers argue, though, it might have taken place once every three

years). The night when wine was finally boiling was actually the party's proper night, at the torches'

light, and everyone would drink merrily, keeping the party on going this way well into dawn.

Maybe this is why Thracians were widely said to be polygamous men. Herodotus, the Greek

historian, describes each of them as supportively keeping several wives. Should a "Head of

Household" have died, his surviving women were also to face an essential challenge, respectively

one mostly beloved by the deceased had to be on the spot identified, so that the closest relative

could strangle her in order to be buried along with the late husband. Yet, all other remaining women

were simultaneously experiencing genuine pain and great shame not to have been selected as the

chosen one (Herodotus "Histories", fifth volume, pages 5, 8).

    Opposite to the Grape-Vine God's wanton celebration, lasting through centuries was the cult of

THE THRACIAN PRIEST, a relevant symbol for the beautiful, future life's acceptation, which was

to be dedicated as well to human beings as to all other creatures' welfare. Thus, "THE SPHINX", a

giant megalithic rock standing alone on the Bucegi Mountains' upper platform and having this

peculiar shape, was representing, to all Getae people, no less than the solaced "NIGHT MASTER",

an entity later acquired by the same ancient Greeks as ORPHEUS. On another hand, every ancient

author has written that "the Orphical Mysteries" were indeed celebrated during night time.

However, due to their esotherism, Getae Thracian Religion's elevated concepts were only

acquainted to the Great Priests surrounded by a few initiated elite members. The Greek and Roman

writers couldn't have left too much information about it, while being totally denied access within

the Zamolxian mysteries.

    Now, let us return to the "Night Master's" credo, a highly civilizing belief in Music able to tame

not only humans, but nevertheless animals, by either cooling down their violent impulses or just

soothing the evil instincts inside. Strabon, the already mentioned reputed historian, was also

familiar with the last detail on such Pelasgian Priests, or "Prophets", namely telling us that these

ones were omniscient men, truly skilled upon the dreams, Oracle prophecies and Divine signs'

interpretation, who used to live in specially carved Underground Sanctuaries (called "katagoian", or

"kagoian"). Regarding ORPHEUS' origins themselves, several Greek and Roman legends state that

he WAS too a Thracian, "Prince of the Kyconian people" (which makes a perfect ethnical

correspondent to the "Kogoian" term). ORPHEUS' native fortress is said to be Dion, and thus his

descent comes from the legendary "Kogoian", Zamolxis' Sanctuary.

THRACIAN SANCTUARIES

    The whole mythical "PANGAION", or "PANGEUL" MOUNTAIN was said to be a sacred place

to all Southern Danube area's living Thracian population. On this holy location there supposedly

existed a multitude of Sanctuaries, particularly because the mountain also contained plenty of

richness, such as Gold and Silver lodes. It is assumed to have been situated somewhere within the

Dragojon Massif, located in the Oriental Rodophes (a native place, also, for... Spartacus, the

Pelasgian gladiator who was to fight and die hard for shaking the very foundations of Roman

Empire). Other Sanctuaries were also discovered at Kilicine. Still, logically speaking, similar

worshipping places must have existed and been dedicated to the glory of Great Goddess Bendis... if

Thracians living in Athens, that is far away from their homeland, were nevertheless able to build a

"Bendideion" for their Goddess. For the legendary Pangaion, as a main Thracian worshipping

premise, seems to have been exclusively dedicated to Gebeleizis, whose Uranian- Solar Priests, the

otherwise called "Wanderers through Clouds", were arguing the human body to be nothing else but

the "spirit's prison", the only salvation for the soul being its liberation from the "reclusive" corpse.

    Should we quote Adrian Bucurescu in accordance with his work, "The Secret Dacia", the

LEGENDARY KOGAION was represented exactly by that mountain which was sheltering a cave

where the Pelasgian Great Priest sought at times, refuge and confinement. Strabon writes inside his

"Geography" (volume VII, pages 3-5) the following: "...In the same way, this Mountain has also

been acknowledged as Sacred, and its very Getae name properly reflects the fact already mentioned:

its name, Kogaion, is just alike the River's flowing near by. "KOG-A-ION" signifies "THE

MAGNIFICENT'S HEAD", defining also the Bucegi Mountains' Platform where a mammoth

sculpted mysterious stone head, covered with some kind of holy cap and locally known as "the

Romanian Sphinx", is still to be found". Now, the river flowing "near by", at the mountain's

proximity and which Strabon was depicting, couldn't have been another one but the Ialomitza, also

called by Getae people through the name "Naparis", meaning "the Heavenly One" or "the Divine

One". Yet, the one and only Getae Thracian inscription explicitly referring to the name of Kogaion

appears today to be a single text, made of Orphical verses, on a brick discovered at Romula (Resca,

Dobrosloveni, inside the Olt County), sounding as follows: "Great is the God, always and

everywhere! Thus should the Heros say, while looking towards Kogaion! Let the Disciples (namely,

new recruits) sing: Holy is the Night Master!"

    When Strabon used to carefully remind his readers about Dacian Priests living in underground

shelters, he was actually referring to THE PRIESTS OF ZAMOLXIS, the same UNDERWORLD

GOD who, from within KOGAION, was offering to his followers a THOROUGH

IMMORTALITY, extending itself over body and soul as well. And should THE SPHINX from

Bucegi have represented, for the ancient Getae people, ORPHEUS' Head, either sculpted by human

hands or molded through some natural phenomena, at any rate it WAS, and WILL EXIST there

FOREVER, within the Land of legendary Kogaion, always creating mysteries and spreading a

majestic quietness.

    Ultimately, I sincerely hope to have succeeded in sketching a complete Mythological Pantheon of

our Forgotten Forefathers, either Pelasgians, Thracians or Getae Dacians, as you choose to name

them. Any so-called "Trajanic", "Latin" and "Slavonic" topics don't really belong to US, yet they

were subsequently added within time by:

    1). any of those willing to generate delusion and minimize the Carpatho Danubian area

population's essential role to the later development of European Civilization, by suggesting that

Romania's present corresponding geographical region was not at all the very starting point, the

civilization's cradle, but only an obscure province of the now fallen Roman Empire;

    2). the ones to have always wanted some territorial revendication upon Romania's various

regions, claims that were to be, somehow, vindicated, the only arguments capable of winning

ignorants and fools' confidence being the ones related to "origins", "language", "religion" and

"history", last one most easily in being mystified;

    3). any of those affiliated to special groups of interest, regarding another World's geopolitical

division and, as a result, being directly concerned in undermining both the importance and influence

which the Romanian people's millenary civilization and culture still own among the Great Family of

Nations around the Globe.

    There exists, nevertheless, a so-called "FATE OF TRUTH", and, just as THOREAU has once

cleverly pointed out, this one "needs only two groups of people to surface: some to EXPRESS IT

and... others to HEAR IT".

Gebeleizis

Gebeleizis (or Gebeleixis, Nebeleizis) was a god worshiped by the Getae, probably related to the

Thracian god of storm and lightning, Zibelthiurdos.[1] He was represented as a handsome man,

sometimes wearing a beard. The lightning and thunder were his manifestations. According to

Herodotus, some Getae equated Gebeleizis with Zalmoxis as the same god.

Zalmoxis

Zalmoxis (Greek Ζάλμοξις, also known as Salmoxis, Σάλμοξις, Zamolxis, Ζάμολξις, or Samolxis

Σάμολξις) was a legendary social and religious reformer, regarded as the only true god by the

Thracian Dacians (also known in the Greek records as Getae Γέται). According to Herodotus,[1] the

Getae, who believed in the immortality of the soul, looked upon death merely as going to Zalmoxis

(who is also called Gebeleizis by some among them[citation needed]) as they knew the way to become

immortals.

LifeHerodotus was told by the Euhemeristic Pontic Greeks that Zalmoxis was really a man, formerly a

disciple of Pythagoras [2] , who taught him the "sciences of the skies" at Samos. Zalmoxis was

manumitted and amassed great wealth, returned to his country and instructed his people, the Getae,

about the immortality of the soul. Zenon reiterates the idea that Zalmoxis was Pythagoras' slave.

However, Herodotus, who declines to commit himself as to the existence of Zalmoxis, expresses the

opinion that in any case Zalmoxis must have lived long before the time of Pythagoras

Pythagoras died around 495 BC. Today, it is believed that Zalmoxis traveled around the world and

mostly to Egypt between 1,800 BC and no later than 1,200 BC. The archaism of Zalmoxis's

doctrine points out to a heritage from before the times of Indo-Europeans [3]

According to Herodotus, at one point Zalmoxis traveled to Egypt and brought the people mystic

knowledge about the immortality of the soul, teaching them that they would pass at death to a

certain place where they would enjoy all possible blessings for all eternity.

Zalmoxis then had a subterranean chamber constructed (other accounts say that it was a natural

cave) on the holy mountain of Kogaion, to which he withdrew for three years (some other accounts

considered he actually lived in Hades for these three years).

After his disappearance, he was considered dead and mourned by his people, but after three years he

showed himself once more to the Getae, who were thus convinced about his teachings: an episode

that some considered to be a resurrection (Thus he can be seen a life-death-rebirth deity, parallel to

Tammuz or Jesus.)

Plato says in the Charmides dialogue that Zalmoxis was also a great physician who took a holistic

approach to healing body and mind; not just the body, as was the Greek practice.

"Zalmoxis had a tattoo-mark on his forehead which Greek writers, unaware of its religious

significance, explained by saying that he had been captured by pirates, who branded him for the

slave-market" (Herodotus: 5.6.2) The tattoing was as mark of dedication to a god. Tattooing was

likewise practiced by Dacians (Pliny) [4]

CultAfter the death of Zalmoxis, his cult grew into a popular religion. During the rule of Burebista, the

traditional year of his birth, 713 BC, was to be considered the first year of the Dacian calendar.

During the rule of Burebista between 82 BC and 44 BC, the priest Deceneus imposes a series of

reforms in Dacian cult, one of them being the restriction of wine consumption.

Iamblichus (280-333 AD): “For instructing the Getae in these things, and for having written laws

for them, Zalmoxis was by them considered as the greatest of the gods” [5] Aristotle equates

Zalmoxis with Phoenician Okhon and Libyan Atlas. It is possible that Zalmoxis is Sabazius, the

Thracian Dionysus or Zeus. Mnaseas of Patrae identified him with Cronos (Hesychius also has

Σάλμοξις ὁ Κρόνος).

In Plato, he is mentioned as skilled in the arts of incantation. Zalmoxis gave his name to a particular

type of singing and dancing (Hesych) [4] His realm as a god is not very clear, as some considered

him to be a sky-god, a god of the dead or a god of the Mysteries.

Lactantius (early Christian author 240 – 320 AD) about the Getae-Dacians belief in Zalmoxis

provide an approximate translation of Julian the Apostate writing, that he put this word in [emperor]

Traian mouth

We have conquered even these Getai ( Dacians ), the most warlike of all people that have ever

existed, not only because of the strength in their bodies, but, also due to the teachings of Zalmoxis

who is among their most hailed. He has told them that in their hearts they do not die, but change

their location and, due to this, they go to their deaths happier than on any other journey."

Zalmoxian Religion

Not all the ancient sources consider that Zalmoxis was a god. [6] Herodotus is the only source to

suggest that the Getae were monotheistic: "...and they do not believe that there is any god but their

own" (Herodotus) [7]. According to some, ancient sources don’t present any other God of Getae-

Dacians than Zalmoxis[3]. Among others, Vasile Pârvan, Jean Coman, R.Pettazzon, E.Rohde and S.

Paliaga consider that Getae -Dacians religion is monotheistic. Others consider it henotheistic. But

Diodorus Siculus states that the Getae worship Hestia, following the teachings of Zalmoxis.[8]

Immortality

"They think that they do not really die, but that when they depart this life they go to

Zalmoxis"[7]

The ritual of sending a messenger to Zalmoxis (every five years) is explained by this belief.

"The messages are given while the man is still alive"[7]

Music and dance

Music and dance were an important part of Zalmoxis teachings and this corresponds to the

special importance given by Getae-Dacians to the music.

Zalmoxis gave his name to a particular type of singing and dancing (Hesychius)

Etymology

A number of etymologies have been given for the name. Diogenes Laertius (3rd century-4th century

AD) claimed that Zalmoxis meant "bear skin". In his Vita Pythagorae, Porphyrius (3rd century)

says that zalmon is the Thracian word for "hide" (τὴν γὰρ δορὰν οἱ Θρᾷκες ζαλμὸν καλοῦσιν).

Hesychius (ca. 5th century) has zemelen (ζέμελεν) as a Phrygian word for "foreign slave".

The correct spelling of the name is also uncertain. Manuscripts of Herodotus' Historiae have all

four spellings, viz. Zalmoxis, Salmoxis, Zamolxis, Samolxis, with a majority of manuscripts

favouring Salmoxis. Later authors show a preference for Zamolxis. Hesychius quotes Herodotus,

using Zalmoxis.

The -m-l- variant is favoured by those wishing to derive the name from a conjectured Thracian word

for "earth", *zamol. Comparisons have also been made with the name of Zemelo, the Phrygian

goddess of the earth, and with the Lithuanian chthonic god Zjameluks. However, this etymology is

probably incorrect.

The -l-m- variant is admitted to be the older form and the correct form by the majority of

Thracologists, as this is the form found in the older Herodotus manuscripts and other ancient

sources. The -l-m- form is further attested in Daco-Thracian in Zalmodegikos, the name of a Getic

King; and in Thracian zalmon, 'hide', and zelmis, 'hide' (PIE *kel-, 'to cover'; cf. English helm).

The other name for Zalmoxis, Gebeleizis, is also spelled Belaizis and Belaixis in Herodotus

manuscripts

Since Getae-Dacae religious system was monotheism aniconism centered around the God Zalmoxis,

it is less likely the believers in his resurrection would use a name meaning "hide" / "foreign slave",

as the hostile ancient Greek non-believers related about him

Popular culture

Romanian rock band Sfinx worked from around 1975 through 1978 on what became one of the

most appreciated Romanian progressive rock LPs, Zalmoxe. It was based on lyrics by poet

Alexandru Basarab (actually a pen name for Adrian Hoajă), which retold the story of Zalmoxis's

existence. However, the album was banned on being released for about three years and was

eventually shortened drastically by political censorship with the Communist regime.

Notes1. ̂ Herodotus. Histories, IV. 95 sq.

2. ̂ his possible connection with Pythagoras: Hdt. 4.95, Hdt. 4.96

3. ^ a b Dialogues d’histoire ancienne (Persee revue) La divinité suprême des Thraco-Daces by

Ph D Historian Sorin Paliga

4. ^ a b Shamanism By Andrei A. Znamenski

5. ̂ The Complete Pythagoras Edited by Patrick Rousell for the World Wide Web, A full-text,

public domain edition for the generalist & specialist http://www.completepythagoras.net

6. ̂ E.g. Hippolytus, Refutation of all heresies, c.2, 24; Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras,

Jordanes. Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras,c.30 says he was a man who became a god.

7. ^ a b c The History of Herodotus By Herodotus Written 440 B.C.E Translated by George

Rawlinson

8. ̂ Diodorus Siculus, Book 1, c. 94: "...among the people known as the Getae who represent

themselves to be immortal, Zalmoxis asserted the same of their common goddess Hestia;..."

ReferencesPrimary sources

Herodotus . Histories, Book IV. 93-96

Jordanes . Getica. V.39

Strabo . Geographica, VII. 3. 5

Plato . Charmides, 156-158

Apuleius . Pro Se De Magia (Apologia), 2.26

Diodorus Siculus . Bibliotheca historica, 94.2

Porphyry , Life of Pythagoras, 14

Secondary sources Eliade, Mircea . "Zalmoxis, the vanishing God"

Kernbach, Victor. Miturile Esenţiale, Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică, Bucharest, 1978

Popov, Dimitar. Bogat s mnogoto imena (The God with Multiple Names), Sofia, 1995

Venedikov, Ivan. Mitove na bulgarskata zemya: Mednoto Gumno (Myths of the Bulgarian

Land: The Copper Threshing Floor), Sofia, 1982

AttisAttis (Ancient Greek: Ἄττις or Ἄττης) was the consort of Cybele in Phrygian and Greek

mythology.[1] His priests were eunuchs, as explained by origin myths pertaining to Attis and

castration. The 19th-century identification with the name Atys encountered in Herodotus (i.34-45)

as the historical name of the son of Croesus, as "Atys the sun god, slain by the boar's tusk of

winter",[2] and as a life-death-rebirth deity as described by James Frazer, are mistaken.[3]

Origins and mythos

An Attis cult began around 1200 BCE in Dindymon (today's Murat Dağı of Gediz, Kütahya). He

was originally a local semi-deity of Phrygia, associated with the great Phrygian trading city of

Pessinos, which lay under the lee of Mount Agdistis. The mountain was personified as a daemon,

whom foreigners associated with the Great Mother Cybele.

In the late fourth century a cult of Attis became a feature of the Greek world. The story of his

origins at Agdistis, recorded by the traveler Pausanias, have some distinctly non-Greek elements:

Pausanias was told that the daemon Agdistis initially bore both male and female attributes. But the

Olympian gods, fearing Agdistis, cut off the male organ and cast it away. There grew up from it an

almond-tree, and when its fruit was ripe, Nana who was a daughter of the river-god Sangarius

picked an almond and laid it in her bosom. The almond disappeared, and she became pregnant.

Nana abandoned the baby (Attis). The infant was tended by a he-goat. As Attis grew, his long-

haired beauty was godlike, and Agdistis as Cybele, then fell in love with him. But the foster parents

of Attis sent him to Pessinos, where he was to wed the king's daughter. According to some versions

the King of Pessinos was Midas. Just as the marriage-song was being sung, Agdistis/Cybele

appeared in her transcendent power, and Attis went mad and cut off his genitals. Attis' father-in-

law-to-be, the king who was giving his daughter in marriage, followed suit, prefiguring the self-

castrating corybantes who devoted themselves to Cybele. But Agdistis repented and saw to it that

the body of Attis should neither rot at all nor decay.[4]

Attis wearing the Phrygian cap. Terracotta

thymiaterion from Tarsus, second or first

century BCE (Louvre)

Attis was reborn as an evergreen pine tree. This rebirth was celebrated on 25 March - the festival of

Hilaria.[5]

At the temple of Cybele in Pessinus, the mother of the gods was still called Agdistis, the geographer

Strabo recounted.[6]

As neighboring Lydia came to control Phrygia, the cult of Attis was given a Lydian context too.

Attis is said to have introduced to Lydia the cult of the Mother Goddess Cybele, incurring the

jealousy of Zeus, who sent a boar to destroy the Lydian crops. Then certain Lydians, with Attis

himself, were killed by the boar. Pausanias adds, to corroborate this story, that the Gauls who

inhabited Pessinos abstained from pork. This myth element may have been invented solely to

explain the unusual dietary laws of the Lydian Gauls. In Rome, the eunuch followers of Cybele

were known as Galli ("Gauls").

Sculpture of Attis. Museum of Ephesus, Efes,

Turkey.

Julian the Apostate gives an account of the spread of the orgiastic cult of Cybele in his Oratio 5. It

spread from Anatolia to Greece and eventually to Rome in Republican times, and the cult of Attis,

her reborn eunuch consort, accompanied her.

The first literary reference to Attis is the subject of one of the most famous poems by Catullus [7] but

it appears that the cult of Attis at Rome was not attached to the earlier-established cult of Cybele

until the early Empire.[8]

Archaeological finds

A marble bas-relief of Cybele in her chariot and Attis, from Magna Graecia, is in the archaeological

museum, Venice. A finely executed silvery brass Attis that had been ritually consigned to the Mosel

was recovered during construction in 1963 and is kept at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum of Trier. It

shows the typically Anatolian costume of the god: trousers fastened together down the front of the

legs with toggles and the Phrygian cap.[9]. In 2007, in the ruins of Herculaneum a wooden throne

was discovered adorned with a relief of Attis beneath a sacred pine tree, gathering cones. Various

finds suggest that the cult of Attis was popular in Herculaneum at the time of the eruption of

Vesuvius in 79 AD.[10]