Dindymon ( grc, Δίνδυμον), was a mountain in eastern
Phrygia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...
(today's
Murat Dağı of
Gediz), later part of
Galatia
Galatia (; grc, Γαλατία, ''Galatía'', "Gaul") was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir, in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (c ...
, that was later called
Agdistis, sacred to the "mountain mother",
Cybele, whom the Hellenes knew as
Rhea.
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...
sited Dindymon above
Pessinos
Pessinus ( el, Πεσσινούς or Πισσινούς) was an Ancient city and archbishopric in Asia Minor, a geographical area roughly covering modern Anatolia (Asian Turkey). The site of the city is now the modern Turkish village of Ballıhisa ...
, sacred to Cybele. It was an important location in
Greek mythology.
A Mount Dindymon might also be placed on the peninsula of
Cyzicus facing the
Sea of Marmara, as in
Apollonius of Rhodes' ''
Argonautica'', or by
Stephanus Byzantinicus further south, in the
Troad, thus near
Mount Ida
In Greek mythology, two sacred mountains are called Mount Ida, the "Mountain of the Goddess": Mount Ida in Crete, and Mount Ida in the ancient Troad region of western Anatolia (in modern-day Turkey), which was also known as the '' Phrygian Ida'' ...
. ''
Argonautica'' book I sets a scene at Mount Dindymon, where
Jason placates the goddess of the mountain, "the mother of all the blessed gods, where she sits enthroned". identified as "Dindymene
ινδυμηνήthe mother, Lady of many names," among which was
Rhea.
The various applications of Dindymon, as the mountain of the Anatolian
Mother Goddess
A mother goddess is a goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood, fertility goddess, fertility, creation, destruction, or the earth goddess who embodies the bounty of the earth or nature. When equated with the earth or th ...
, the "Mountain Mother", is explained by Robinson Ellis:
[Robinson Ellis, 1876. ''A Commentary on Catullus'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press), Catullus LXIII.91 (p. 224)] "The name Dindymenian mother would in the first instance no doubt be connected with the earliest seat of the worship, the Phrygian Dindymon, but as soon as the worship spread farther and the name of Dindymon with it, the Goddess of Dindymon would lose its original definiteness and be variously applied by different writers."
Notes
{{Greek-myth-stub
Ancient Greek geography
Greek mythology of Anatolia
Geography of ancient Anatolia
Phrygia
Cybele
Locations in Greek mythology
Mountains of Turkey