6 THE GODDESS CYBELE

THE MUSIC OF FOREIGN CULTS: THE GODDESS CYBELE
The cult of Cybele, goddess of fertile nature, and her lover, the young shepherd Attis, arrived from Phrygia (present-day Turkey) in 204 BC during the Carthaginian threat. A temple on the Palatine was dedicated to them. The sacred celebrations were performed by eunuch priests from Phrygia, the Gauls. The cult was especially successful among the wealthy classes. Until the 4th century A.D., new temples were built and a festive period from 15 to 27 March was instituted, with public processions, physical mutilation reminiscent of the mythical emasculation of Attis, and displays of jubilation. The deafening music was in tune with the wild dances of the Coribanti, armed soldiers, who rhythmically beat their daggers on their shields. In addition to the public cult, there was also the private, initiatory cult, with which followers were promised health and prosperity. The soundscape of the goddess Cybele, also invoked as Great Mother, was similar to that of Dionysus. Typical were the tibiae phrygiae, the exclusive preserve of the priests of Cybele. In his right hand, the musician held a straight tube with a constant diameter, the other was longer and had two sections, the first straight and cylindrical, the second ending in a curved pavilion, probably made from an animal horn. The other instruments used by women were the cymbala, two small bronze cymbals, and the tympanum, the drum. The latter, usually about 30 cm in diameter, is also seen as an attribute of the goddess herself. The instrument of Attis, her lover, as a shepherd was the syrinx (Pan's flute). This is the sacred formula that, according to Firmicus Maternus, a writer of the 4th century AD, was pronounced by the aspiring follower of the mystery cult of Attis and Cybele: 'There is a temple in which, in order to be admitted to the most secret part, the candidate solemnly affirms: “I have taken food from the tympanum (de tympano manducavi), I have drunk from the cymbala (de cymbalo bibi), I have learned the secrets thoroughly, I have become mystés of Attis”.