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Summary
This chapter aims to reconsider an inscription from Consilinum (3rd century CE), in which we find the problematic mention of a mundus Attinis. This inscription has been almost neglected by scholars: it has been analyzed in a systematic way only in an article in Latin language back in 1978. It is not easy to explain what mundus exactly represented to the ancient Romans, but we can assert for sure that it was a holy place in connection with the worship of the gods of the underworld. The connection between Cybele, Attis, and the underworld is well known, but this is the only mention we have of a mundus Attinis i.e. Attidis. It might be connected to the (mystic?) rites in honor of the dead Attis, symbolized by a pine, who, during the Hilaria, was carried in an underground chamber for lamentations, before his new life. In my opinion, we might also think of the mundus as a sort of reversed womb, related to the figure of the Magna Mater, in which birth and death come together and overlap.
Summary
Augustus' approach to cults of foreign origins has recently undergone much reconsideration. Until the late 20th century, scholars largely regarded the emperor's religious policies as deeply conservative, maintaining that Augustus was mostly preoccupied with the ‘restoration’ of ancient Italian religion and discouraged the worship of foreign gods. In the last three decades, however, scholars have identified a rather different trend, noticing, in fact, Augustus' openness towards the ‘foreign’. In this paper, I explore Augustus' position about ‘foreign’ rites that were highly popular in contemporary Rome, and specifically, the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Egyptian rites, the cult of Mater Magna, and the cult of Apollo (although, as I clarify below, the last one cannot be strictly labeled as ‘foreign’). I offer a survey of ancient literary sources – giving an interpretation of them as comprehensive as possible considering the nature of this contribution – and argue that Augustus was not only receptive of ‘foreign’ practices but was also able to shape the ‘foreign’ to his own advantage and self-promotion, transforming it into a vital feature of the new imperial reality.
Desbat, A. 1998 Nouvelles recherches à ľemplacement du prétendu sanctuaire lyonnais de Cybéle. Gallia 55, 237-277. Nouvelles recherches à ľemplacement du prétendu sanctuaire lyonnais
. Labor et Fides , Genève . Borgeaud , P. ( 1996 ). La Mère des dieux. De Cybèle à la Vierge Marie . Édition du Seuil , Paris . Bowen , A. – Garnsey , P. (eds.) ( 2003 ). Lactantius. Divine Institutes . Liverpool University Press , Liverpool
Was Kore/Persephone's journey to the afterworld as a path to infertility?
Some evidence from modern southern Calabria
.), Demeter, Isis, Vesta, and Cybele. Studies in Greek and Roman religion in honour of Giulia Sfameni Gasparro . Franz Steiner Verlag , Stuttgart , pp. 39 – 57 . Casadio , G. – Johnston , P.A. (eds.) ( 2009 ). Mystic Cults in Magna Graecia
found the people there celebrating a festival to the Mother of the Gods (Cybele) with great solemnity. 6 According to Herodotus, Anacharsis swore to the goddess that, if he should reach his destination safely, he would offer her sacrifice such as he saw
– since that is the thing you love and long for…” ( hic amor, hoc studium; A. XI 739). Forty lines later Camilla, pursuing Cybele's priest and his exotic attire, “either because of her wish to hand over Trojan spoils in a temple or to parade recklessly in
‒224 . Matsushita , Shuji 1972 . An Outline of Gwandara Phonemics and Gwandara-English Vocabulary . Tokyo : Tokyo Press . Meeks , Dimitri 1998 . Année lexicographique . Égypte ancienne. Tome 1-3 (1977-1979) . [2 ème édition] Paris : Cybele . [AL I
. Égypte ancienne. Tome 1–3 (1977–1979) . [ 2ème édition ] Paris : Cybele . Meinhof , Carl 1906 . ‘Linguistische Studien in Ostafrika. Fortsetzung.’ Mitteilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen 9 : 278 – 333 . Militarev , Alexander
: inde, ubi ter fruges medios immisit in ignes . The structure of the description of the celebration held on the first day of Megalesia in honour of Cybele (IV 183–190) is quite similar. The paragraph preceded by a short introduction (179–182) and
