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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.
In the poetry of the late Republic and the age of Augustus, a gradual expansion and Romanisation of the role of Magna Mater can be observed. In Catullus, she appears only as a goddess from Asia Minor linked to Attis’ repulsive act. In Lucretius, Cybele is identical with Rhea, which remarkably changes her position as she becomes the mother of all Olympian gods. In Vergil, in addition to being the mother of all gods, she is also the Chief Goddess of the Trojans, who plays an active role in shaping Aeneas’ fate. The most thorough picture of the Goddess is provided by Ovid, who covers every detail of the cult, placing emphasis on embracing the cult. He goes to great lengths to attribute Roman origin to its apparently foreign features, i.e., he tries to Romanise the already embraced cult as much as possible. All this must have taken place under the aegis of and in accordance with Augustus’ religious policy.
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
refused to give sacrifice to the Goddess Cybele. The passage leaves the readers with two questions: 1. What is St. Symphorian’s enjoyment in Fortunatus’s gift to the bishop? 2. How is Fortunatus’s choice to write a figure poem providing heavenly talents to
– 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
AL I–III — Meeks, D. (1998): Année lexicographique. Égypte ancienne . Tome 1–3 (1977–1979), 2 ème édition 1998, Paris, Cybele. Alio, Kh. — Jungraithmayr, H. (1989): Lexique bidiya . Frankfurt am Main, Vittorio
