A gallus (pl. galli ) was a eunuch priest of the Phrygian goddess Cybele (Magna Mater in Rome) and her consort Attis , whose worship was incorporated into the state religious practices of ancient Rome .
53-752: Cybele's cult may have originated in Mesopotamia, arriving in Greece around 300 BCE. It originally kept its sacred symbol, a black meteorite, in a temple called the Megalesion in Pessinus in modern Turkey. The earliest surviving references to the galli come from the Greek Anthology , a 10th-century compilation of earlier material, where several epigrams mention or clearly allude to their castrated state. Stephanus Byzantinus (6th century CE) said
106-482: A "third gender" in Roman society. Jacob Latham has connected the foreign nature of Magna Mater and her priests' nonconforming gender presentation. They may have existed outside Roman constructions of masculinity and femininity altogether, which can explain the adverse reactions of Roman male citizens against the galli's transgression of gender norms. Some scholars have linked the episode of the self-castration of Attis to
159-547: A 20th-century historian) "carrying a vessel called a kernos " and entering "the pastos or marriage-chamber". The signs of their office have been described as a type of crown, possibly a laurel wreath, as well as a golden bracelet known as the occabus. They generally wore women's clothing (often yellow), and a turban, pendants, and earrings. They bleached their hair and wore it long, and they wore heavy makeup. They wandered around with followers, begging for charity, in return for which they were prepared to tell fortunes . In Rome,
212-436: A narrow line: preserving cult traditions while not violating Roman religious prohibitions. Some argue that the archigallus was never a eunuch, as all citizens of Rome were forbidden from eviratio ( castration ). (This prohibition suggests that the original galli were either Asian or slaves.) Claudius , however, lifted the ban on castration; Domitian subsequently reaffirmed it. Whether or not Roman citizens could participate in
265-598: A number of meteor showers during the ongoing Second Punic War , the Romans, after consulting the Sibylline Books , decided to introduce the cult of the Great Mother of Ida ( Magna Mater Idaea , also known as Cybele) to the city. They sought the aid of their ally Attalus I (241-197 BC), and following his instructions, they went to Pessinus and removed the goddess' most important image, a large black stone that
318-499: A ritual of self-flagellation , whipping themselves until they bled. Some are also said to have castrated themselves. The Day of Blood was followed by a Day of Joy and Relaxation ( Hilaria and Requietio ) to celebrate Attis' resurrection. This was followed by a rest day, and then a day of revelry during which an image of Cybele was bathed in the Little Almo River ( Lavatio ). This Ancient Rome –related article
371-537: A sign of the rise of Christianity in Pessinus, Emperor Julian the Apostate made a pilgrimage to Pessinus and wrote an angry letter concerning the disrespect shown to the sanctuary of Cybele. In ca. 398, Pessinus was established as the capital of the newly established province of Galatia Salutaris (in the civil Diocese of Pontus ), and became the seat of a Metropolitan Archbishop . The region later became part of
424-501: A translation into Latin, which does not contain any reference to Attis. Some editions of the text also omit "Attis" in the Greek password. The Eleusinian Mysteries, reported by Clement of Alexandria , include a similar formula: "I fasted; I drank the kykeon [water with meal]; I took from the sacred chest; I wrought therewith and put it in the basket, and from the basket into the chest." Clement also reported (as paraphrased by
477-486: A tributary valley of the Sakarya River on the high Anatolian plateau at ca. 950 m above sea level, 13 km from the small town of Sivrihisar . Pessinus remains a Catholic (formerly double) titular see . As yet, the temple area, which was excavated between 1967 and 1972, is the only well-studied area of Pessinus. It was studied thoroughly by M. Waelkens (current director of Sagalassos excavations) in
530-473: A wine amphora from Thasos, probably dating from the first quarter of the 3rd century BC, is proof of this trade and is at the same time the earliest written document discovered at Pessinus. Very soon after 25 BC the urbanization and transformation of the Pessinuntian temple state into a Greek polis began. Constructions such as a Corinthian temple and a colonnaded street ( cardo maximus ) were erected with
583-464: Is said to have ruled a greater Phrygian realm from Pessinus, but archaeological research since 1967 showed that the city developed around 400 BC at the earliest, which contradicts any historical claim of early Phrygian roots. According to ancient tradition, Pessinus was the principal cult centre of the goddess Cybele , the Phrygian Meter ("Mother"). Tradition situates the cult of Cybele in
SECTION 10
#1732765467629636-549: The Byzantine Anatolic Theme . In late 715 AD, the city of Pessinus was destroyed by an Arab raid, along with the neighboring city Orkistos . The area remained under Byzantine control until lost to the Seljuk Turks in the latter 11th century, after which Pessinus became an inconspicuous mountain village at 900m height, gradually getting depopulated since it was fully protected. Circa AD 398, Pessinus
689-457: The lex Pompeia . From the inscriptions it appears that Pessinus possessed several public buildings, including a gymnasium, a theatre, an archive, and baths. A system of water supply has been discovered through gutters and terracotta pipes. The most impressive public construction of the early Imperial period was the canalisation system, the earliest part of which dates from the Augustan age. It
742-534: The 1980s and between 2006 and 2012 by Verlinde (Ghent University), who built on the findings of the former to analyze and reconstruct the architecture of the Corinthian peripteral temple, of which only the massive foundations remain. Investigations led to several observations, such as the Tiberian date (25-35 AD) of the cult building and its identification as a temple of the imperial cult (Sebasteion). As such, it
795-682: The Celts settled in the north-central region of Anatolia which became known as Galatia. The tribe of the Tolistobogii occupied the Phrygian territory between Gordium and Pessinus. It is doubtful that the temple state actually stood under Galatian control at this early stage. According to Cicero (Har. Resp. 8.28) the Seleucid kings held deep devotion for the shrine. Roman involvement in Pessinus however has early roots. In 205/204 BC, alarmed by
848-513: The Flavian period, there was a college of ten priests, not castrated, and now Roman citizens, but still using the title "Attis". Pessinus Pessinus ( Greek : 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 Ballıhisar , in
901-536: The Roman general Marius planned to fight the Germanic tribes , a priest of the galli named Bataces prophesied Roman victory and consequently the Senate voted to build a victory temple to the goddess. Dionysius of Halicarnassus claimed that Roman citizens did not participate in the rituals of the cult of Magna Mater. Literary sources call the galli "half-men," leading scholars to conclude that Roman men looked down upon
954-584: The Syblline books identified these events as prodigies , signs of divine anger against Rome and warnings of Rome's imminent destruction, which should be expiated by Rome's official import of the Magna Mater and her cult; with the goddess as an ally, Rome might see an end to the famine and victory over Carthage. In 204 BCE, the Roman Senate officially adopted Cybele as a state goddess. Her cult image
1007-427: The back of a theatre, which combined a central staircase with two cavea wings for spectators. It was claimed by Verlinde that this theatrical area was ritual and used for gladiatorial fights, as the theatre contained raised seats with a protective parapet, which was typical for gladiatorial theatres in the Greek east. Given that such gladiatorial combat was as a rule intertwined with the imperial cult, Verlinde argued that
1060-482: The cavea where the spectators were seated, was constructed, but it was repaired or embellished by Hadrian. Other monumental buildings, erected under the reign of Tiberius, included the marble peripteros temple of the provincial Imperial cult, a Sebasteion, on a hill at the north-western end of the canal, a stairway combined with a theatre in front (with an orchestra where religious and other performances such as gladiator fights took place). The colonnaded square lower down
1113-437: The cult of Magna Mater, or whether its members were exclusively foreign-born, is therefore the subject of scholarly debate. The remains of a Roman gallus from the 4th century CE were found in 2002 in what is now Catterick , England, dressed in women's clothes, in jewelry of jet, shale, and bronze, with two stones in his mouth. Pete Wilson, the senior archaeologist at English Heritage, said, "The find demonstrates how cosmopolitan
SECTION 20
#17327654676291166-653: The death of the monarch, under Emperor Augustus the kingdom of the Galatians was annexed by the Roman Empire as the province of Galatia . Pessinus became the administrative capital of the Galatian tribe of the Tolistobogii and soon developed into a genuinely Graeco-Roman polis with a large number of monumental buildings, such as a colonnaded street and a Temple of the Imperial Cult. The priest list on
1219-403: The early Phrygian period (8th century BC) and associates the erection of her first "costly" temple and even the founding of the city with king Midas (738-696 BC?). However, the Phrygian past of Pessinus is still obscure, both historically as archaeologically. For example, the geographer Strabo (12.5.3) writes that the priests were potentates in "ancient times", but it is unclear whether Pessinus
1272-461: The epigraphically attested cult of the emperor, was once again confirmed. He also observed that there is a consistency of such theatre-temples, which were influenced by late Republican sanctuaries in Italy (e.g. the sanctuary of Hercules Victor at Tivoli), being associated with the imperial cult. The sanctuary of Augustus at Stratonicea, which was a theatre-temple as well, may have served as a model for
1325-641: The following incumbents, so far of the Metropolitan (highest) rank: It has since been vacant. In 1905 Pessinus of the Armenians was established as the Armenian Catholic Metropolitan Titular archbishopric of Pessinus (Italian: Pessinonte (Curiate Italiano), Latin: Pessinuntin(us) Armenorum). In 1915 it was suppressed, having had a singular incumbent, of the Metropolitan (highest) rank: The temple area at Pessinus
1378-521: The galli castrated themselves and wore women's clothing, accessories and makeup, some modern scholars have interpreted them as transgender . Firmicus Maternus said "they say they are not men... they want to pass as women." He elaborated, "Animated by some sort of reverential feeling, they actually have made this element [air] into a woman [ Caelestis , the goddess]. For, because air is an intermediary between sea and sky, they honor it through priests who have womanish voices." The galli may also have occupied
1431-572: The galli. But Roman disapproval of the foreign cult may be more the invention of modern scholars than a social reality in Rome, as archaeologists have found votive statues of Attis on the Palatine hill, meaning Roman citizens participated on some level in the reverence of Magna Mater and her consort. The archigallus was a Roman citizen who was also employed by the Roman State and therefore walked
1484-422: The gladiatorial fights of the temple. In the 3rd century AD, the area was monumentalized with a new ellipse-shaped theatre and a vast marble square with a monumental funerary crypt (a funerary Heroon). This coincided with the further monumentalization of the cardo maximus , which received monumental city gates in the form of arches at its southern and northern extremity. The mythological King Midas (738-696 BC?)
1537-471: The head of the galli was known as the archigallus , at least from the period of Claudius on. A number of archaeological finds depict the archigallus wearing luxurious and extravagant costumes. The archigallus was always a Roman citizen chosen by the quindecimviri sacris faciundis , whose term of service lasted for life. Along with the institution of the archigallus came the Phrygianum sanctuary as well as
1590-476: The latter complex, the Pessinuntian square was reconstructed by Verlinde as a 'quadriporticus' with a Rhodian peristyle, that is with a high (Ionic) colonnade to the north, and three lower wings with Doric columns. The quadriporticus was an annex of the Hellenistic citadel on the promontory to the east, which preceded the early imperial temple. The combination of a Hellenistic palace and a gymnasium (school)
1643-744: The left hand anta of the temple of Augustus and Roma in Ankara reveals that by the end of Tiberius' principate two citizens of Pessinus held the chief priesthood of the provincial imperial cult in Ancyra: M. Lollius in AD 31/32 and Q. Gallius Pulcher in AD 35/36. Strabo called Pessinus an 'emporion,' a trading centre, the largest west of the Halys river . It may be assumed that products from the Anatolian highlands were traded, especially grain and wool. A stamped handle of
Galli - Misplaced Pages Continue
1696-548: The marble from the quarries located at İstiklalbağı, ca. 6 km north of the city. The boundaries of Pessinus must have been fixed, as were those of the newly founded colony of Germakoloneia (near Babadat), which received part of the area inhabited by the Tolistobogioi. It has been argued that Pessinus and the other Galatian cities received a constitution based on that of the cities in Pontus-Bithynia, imposed by
1749-771: The name came from King Gallus, while Ovid (43 BC – 17 CE) said it derived from the Gallus river in Phrygia. The same word ( gallus singular, galli plural) was used by the Romans to refer to Celts and to roosters , and the latter especially was a source of puns. The cult of Magna Mater arrived in Rome sometime in the 3rd century BCE, towards the end of the Second Punic War against Carthage. There are no contemporary accounts of its arrival, but later literary sources describe its import as an official response to meteor showers, crop failures and famine in 205 BCE. The Senate and
1802-512: The north of England was." The archaeological site at Corbridge , a significant Romano-British settlement on Hadrian's Wall , has an altar to the goddess Cybele. A fourth-century cemetery was excavated at Hungate in York, where one of the burials has been identified as potentially that of a member of the Galli. This is based on the evidence that although the bones were identified as male, the person
1855-485: The priests gradually lost their privileges. The Mithridatic Wars (89-85 BC; 83-81 BC; 73-63 BC) caused political and economic turmoil throughout the region. When Deiotaros , tetrarch of the Tolistobogii and loyal vassal of Rome, became king of Galatia in 67/66 BC or 63 BC, Pessinus lost its status as an independent sacred principality. In 36 BC, rule over Galatia was transferred to king Amyntas by Mark Antony . At
1908-423: The rite of the taurobolium as it pertains to the Magna Mater, two aspects of the Magna Mater's cultus that the archigallus held dominion over. Shelley Hales wrote: "Greek and Roman literature consistently reinforces the sexual and racial difference of eunuchs by stressing how different they look. They were presented as wearing bright clothes, heavy jewellery, make-up and sporting bleached and crimped hair." Because
1961-492: The ritual castration of the galli. At Pessinus , the centre of the Cybele cult, there were two high priests during the Hellenistic period, one with the title of "Attis" and the other with the name of "Battakes". Both were eunuchs. The high priests had considerable political influence during this period, and letters exist from a high priest of Attis to the kings of Pergamon, Eumenes II and Attalus II, inscribed on stone. Later, during
2014-496: The sanctuary in Pessinus. The colonnaded square in front of the stairway-theatre was thought to have been part of the imperial complex. However, this was rejected by Verlinde who dated the complex to the late 2nd century BC. The architecture of the limestone complex (covered with stucco lustro ) emanates the style of Hellenistic palaestrae such as the Gymnasion of Eudemos at Miletus (late 3rd century BC). Being quite similar to
2067-511: The temple area (sector B) is the only thoroughly investigated area of the city, with the exception of the so-called Acropolis (sector I) near the northern entrance of the Ballıhisar valley. Since 2009, the city has been investigated by a team from the University of Melbourne , led by Gocha Tsetskhladze. Dies sanguinis Dies Sanguinis ("Day of Blood"), also called Sanguinaria ,
2120-420: The valley was reconstructed by Verlinde. In the past, this structure was wrongly situated in the Tiberian era, but it was shown that it was a monument of the Hellenistic age (late 2nd-early 1st century BC), and contemporary with the citadel that preceded the temple complex. Christianity reached the area in the 3rd century, and at the end of the 4th century, the temple of Augustus was decommissioned. Perhaps as
2173-521: Was a festival held in Ancient Rome on the spring equinox . Due to discrepancies in different calendar systems, this may be reflected as anytime between March 21 and 25. Festivities for the god Attis were celebrated from 15 to 28 March. Following two days of mourning for the annual death of the god Attis, the Day of Blood arrived. On this day the galli , priests of the goddess Cybele , carried out
Galli - Misplaced Pages Continue
2226-436: Was a typical phenomenon of the Greek world during the Hellenistic age. Carbon dating and ceramological analysis indicates that the palaestra (sports gym) was destroyed by a fire during the late Hellenistic age, suggesting that the colonnaded square as a functional entity was short-lived. After the quadriporticus was destroyed, it was not rebuilt during the early Roman period, as the area may have been used as an unpaved arena for
2279-601: Was already a temple state ruled by dynastai ("lords") in the Phrygian period. By the 3rd century BC at the latest, Pessinus had become a temple state ruled by a clerical oligarchy consisting of Galloi , eunuch priests of the Mother Goddess. After the arrival of Celtic tribes in Asia Minor in 278/277 BC, and their defeat at the hand of Antiochus I during the so-called 'Battle of the Elephants' (likely 268 BC),
2332-648: Was brought from her sanctuary in Asia Minor, and eventually into the city, with much ceremony. According to Livy, it was brought to the Temple of Victory on the Palatine Hill on the day before the Ides of April, and, from then on, the anniversary was celebrated as the Megalesia on April 4–10 with public games, animal sacrifices, and music performed by the galli. Over a hundred years later (according to Plutarch), when
2385-545: Was buried with jet bracelets, a material that is strongly associated with women. These aspects are also similar to that of the Gallus burial from Catterick. The galli castrated themselves during an ecstatic celebration called the Dies sanguinis , or "Day of Blood", which took place on March 24. On this day of mourning for Attis, they ran around wildly and disheveled. They performed dances to the music of pipes and tambourines, and, in an ecstasy, flogged themselves until they bled. This
2438-442: Was equal to two modules (1.52 m), which designates the temple as a 'systyle.' Furthermore, the extraordinarily large stepped podium seems to have been influenced by Hellenistic and early Imperial pseudodipteroi. Although the temple was Tiberian, the decorative sculpture was fashioned in a conservative Augustan manner, which suggests that the building may have been design in the late Augustan period (ca. 15 AD). The temple towered over
2491-569: Was established as the capital of the newly established Roman province of Galatia Salutaris (=Secunda), and became the seat of a Metropolitan Archdiocese , under the sway of the Patriarchate of Constantinople . Despite the Arab sack of the city in the 7th century, it had archbishops at least until the 11th century, but ultimately the see was suppressed, being truly in partibus infidelium under Turkish (Seljuk, later Ottoman) Muslim rule. It
2544-489: Was finally established that the excavated temple could not be identified as the Temple of Cybele, as explorer Charles Texier had done when he 'discovered' the foundations of the temple in 1834. Verlinde discovered that the building was designed on the basis of a grid, and that the governing module, determining the intervals and height of the columns, was equal to the lower diameter of the columns (0.76 m). Each intercolumnar space
2597-423: Was followed by a day of feasting and rest. A sacred feast was part of the initiation ritual. Firmicus Maternus , a Christian who objected to other religions, revealed a possible password of the galli: "I have eaten from the timbrel; I have drunk from the cymbal; I am become an initiate of Attis." That password is cited in the book De errore profanarum religionum . However, the password is written in Greek with
2650-469: Was meant to retain and carry away the waters of the Gallos, the seasonal river which traverses Pessinus and which was the main north-south artery ( cardo maximus ) of the city. From the 1st to the 3rd century AD the canal was continuously expanded until it finally reached a length of ca. 500 m and a width of 11 to 13 m. It is not known when exactly the large theatre, of which is preserved only the emplacement of
2703-587: Was nominally revived in the early 20th century, both in a Latin (extant) and in an Armenian Catholic (short-lived) line of apostolic succession . The following incumbents are historically known : The Roman Catholic archdiocese was nominally restored no later than 1901, when Pessinus of the Latins was recorded as Latin Metropolitan Titular archbishopric of Pessinus (Italian: Pessinonte (Curiate); Latin: Pessinuntin(us)). The titular see had
SECTION 50
#17327654676292756-452: Was rediscovered in 1834 by the French architect and archaeologist Charles Texier in the south of the village along the Gallos river, and was excavated under the auspices of Ghent University in 1967–1973 under the directorship of Pieter Lambrechts and in 1987–2008 under the directorship of John Devreker. Angelo Verlinde's 2012 PhD dissertation, published in 2015, is on the temple. As yet,
2809-481: Was said to have fallen from the sky, to Rome (Livy 10.4-11.18). Pergamum seems to have gained some control over Pessinus by the end of the third century BC. Pessinus was bequeathed a sanctuary by the Attalid kings, perhaps after 183 BC, when Galatia was subject to Pergamene rule. The first century BC was a very unstable period for Pessinus with many rulers reigning over central Anatolia. According to Strabo (12.5.3)
#628371