A number of temples to Cybele in Rome have been identified. Originally an

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

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

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

Cybele Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya'' "Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian ''Kuvava''; el, Κυβέλη ''Kybele'', ''Kybebe'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forer ...

was formally brought to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

during the

Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...

(218 to 201 BCE) after a consultation with the

Sibylline Books The ''Sibylline Books'' ( la, Libri Sibyllini) were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek hexameters, that, according to tradition, were purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and were consulted at mo ...

Circus Maximus

A shrine of Cybele in the

Circus Maximus The Circus Maximus (Latin for "largest circus"; Italian: ''Circo Massimo'') is an ancient Roman chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in Rome, Italy. In the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and lar ...

is mentioned in the Notitia ( Reg. XI), and by

Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...

. The reliefs representing the circus and a mosaic at Barcelona, represent Cybele sitting on a lion on the ''

spina Spina was an Etruscan port city, established by the end of the 6th century BCE, on the Adriatic at the ancient mouth of the Po. Discovery The site of Spina was lost until modern times, when drainage schemes in the delta of the Po River in 1922 ...

'' of the circus, just east of its centre.

Almo

Annually, on 27 March, the sacred black stone of the Magna Mater was brought from her temple on the Palatine to where the brook of the Almo (now called the Acquataccio) crossed the

via Appia The Appian Way (Latin and Italian: ''Via Appia'') is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, rec ...

south of the

Porta Capena Porta Capena was a gate in the Servian Wall in Rome, Italy. The gate was located in the area of Piazza di Porta Capena, where the Caelian, Palatine and Aventine hills meet. Probably its exact position was between the entrance of Via di Valle de ...

, for the ceremony of "Lavatio" (washing). Although there are numerous references to this ceremony, it seems to have constituted a "locus sacratus" or sacred place rather than a permanent building, in view of the lack of archaeological evidence for it.

Palatine Hill

Sacra Via

A tholos, adorned with frescoes, is at the top of the

Sacra via The Via Sacra (, "''Sacred Street''") was the main street of ancient Rome, leading from the top of the Capitoline Hill, through some of the most important religious sites of the Forum (where it is the widest street), to the Colosseum. The road ...

, where the

Clivus Palatinus The Clivus Palatinus is a modern term for a road in ancient Rome between the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill. It formed a processional route issues off the Via Sacra near the Arch of Titus The Arch of Titus ( it, Arco di Tito; la, Arcus Tit ...

branched off to the south. Its approximate site is also probably indicated by the Haterii relief on which, to the immediate left of the arch of Titus, is a statue of the Magna Mater seated under an arch at the top of a flight of thirteen steps. Spano believes the arch to be a Janus erected at the four cross-roads near the

meta sudans The Meta Sudans (Latin: "sweating turning post") was a large monumental conical fountain in ancient Rome. The Meta Sudans was built some time between 89 and 96 under the Flavian emperors, a few years after the completion of the nearby Colosseum. ...

– perhaps on or near the site of the

arch of Constantine The Arch of Constantine ( it, Arco di Costantino) is a triumphal arch in Rome dedicated to the emperor Constantine the Great. The arch was commissioned by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvi ...

. He does not even quote the passage of Martial. A passage in Cass. Dio is generally supposed to refer to this temple.

Vatican Hill

A shrine was located on the right bank of the

River Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the Riv ...

, near the racecourse of Caligula (Gaianum), known from several inscriptions on fragmentary marble altars, dating from 305 to 390 CE, all but one of which were found under the façade of S. Peter's in 1609. This shrine is probably the Frigianum (Phrygianum) of the Not. Given that an inscription on an altar at Lyon of the time of Hadrian refers to this shrine, it would indicate that this was an important religious centre.RhM 1891, 132; HJ 659; Rosch. II.2917

Sources

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

De Natura Deorum ''De Natura Deorum'' (''On the Nature of the Gods'') is a philosophical dialogue by Roman Academic Skeptic philosopher Cicero written in 45 BC. It is laid out in three books that discuss the theological views of the Hellenistic philosophies of ...

'' III.52; Ovid ''Fasti'' IV.337‑340; *Mart. III.47.2; Stat. Silv. V.1.222; *Lucan I.600; Sil. Ital. VIII.363; *Ammian. XXIII.3.7; Vib. Sequester 2;1 Fast. Philoc. ad VI Kal. Apr., CIL I2 pp260, 314; *Pol. Silv. Fast. Rust. ib. p261; *ib. VI.10098 =33961 = Carm. epig. 1110; *Prud. Peristeph. X.160; HJ 215.

References

Platner and Ashby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Temples of Cybele in Rome Temples of Cybele

Roman temples by deity