B.’s monograph examines how the introduction of the goddess Kybele/Magna Mater to Rome during the middle and late Republic shaped Roman identity. B. argues that the Republic’s political expansion facilitated multicultural and multiethnic influences, laying the foundation for the Roman Empire’s diverse image, which began to take shape under Augustus.
B.’s main argument is that socio-religious developments in the Roman Republic have had lasting effects on political life and identity, a topic rarely covered in English-language scholarship. The book’s examination of this period and its aftermath in the early Empire makes it essential reading for those interested in the cult of Kybele across the Mediterranean. The monograph includes an introduction, ten chapters, a conclusion, three appendices, a bibliography, an index locorum and a general index.
B. analyses the worship of the goddess Kybele, beginning with her Phrygian (Chapter 1, ‘Phrygian Matar’) and Greek origins (Chapter 2, ‘Greek Meter’). These two introductory chapters are short and well constructed, intended to give readers a necessary overview of the evolution of Kybele before touching on Roman ground. Some aspects might have needed more depth, but given the clear focus on the Roman form of Magna Mater, the information is sufficient.
Chapters 3 and 4 analyse the geopolitical context for the arrival of Kybele in Rome, while Chapter 5 examines Attis and the Galli priesthood, known for ecstatic rites and self-emasculation. B.’s main contribution in these chapters is her systematic tracing of all available written sources about Attis and the priesthood, challenging false conclusions and distorted interpretations from nineteenth- and twentieth-century research. The cult personnel, along with the worship of Attis, are well integrated into Roman ways of worshipping Magna Mater, even if the Romans did not follow the extreme aspects of the cult practices. Still, the iconography, myths and practices of the Hellenistic cult were well known in Rome.
Chapter 6, ‘Ancient Acculturation vs. Modern Orientalism’, explores how Roman multiculturalism shaped religion, the book’s central theme. Chapter 7 thoroughly analyses how the Romans constructed a new myth for Magna Mater, drawing on extensive textual evidence.
Subsequently, Chapters 8 and 9 turn to the worshippers of Magna Mater and her largest festival, the Megalensia. Dedicants and religious ceremonies form a vital part of any cult practice in the ancient world. Examining these aspects alongside the goddess’s evolving identity in Rome and political developments from the late Republic to the early Empire is indispensable for understanding the value and belief systems.
The political aspects, which deepen with the reign of Augustus, are again treated in Chapter 10, ‘Changing with the Times in the Late Republic and Early Empire’. The main example is Magna Mater as a protecting and helping goddess for the Trojans and Aeneas on their way to found Rome, as described in the written sources of the early Imperial period, first and foremost in Virgil’s Aeneid. In this telling the goddess becomes an important helping deity, not only for the Romans in general but also especially for the family of Augustus. With a look to the rich architectural renewal and extension of Rome under the reign of the first emperor, this marks the literary counterpart of those efforts. Another important part of the new socio-religious concept of the Roman Magna Mater is the Megalensia and the Ludi Megalenses, which shifted in the late Republic from a showcase of Roman collective identity to outlets for the elite’s political interests within a religious context.
The appendix is divided into three sections, each collecting source material on Kybele and Magna Mater. B. lists and organises both epigraphic sources and textual passages relating to the worship and cult of the Magna Mater, providing a useful tool for further research and references. Appendix A provides a chronological collection of literary references to Magna Mater from 204 bce to 54 ce, including the quotation of each and a one-sentence summary of it. Appendix B is a collection of the Phrygian Epithets of Matar in addition to the introductory chapter on the origins of Magna Mater. B. provides a quotation of the inscription, a suggested translation and a selected bibliography to each epithet. Appendix C follows with the known Roman epithets of Magna Mater, also with their quote and a translation.
B. incorporates archaeological findings in her analysis to re-evaluate earlier research. She discusses and mentions notable sanctuaries of Magna Mater in and around Rome. It would have been helpful to compare these with provincial sites like Mainz. The evolution of the myth and worship of Kybele in the late Republic and early Empire was crucial to the cult’s spread in Roman provinces. B. proves the implementation of Attis and the Galli, the most ‘exotic’ features of the cult, to be strategically manifested and willingly inserted through a Roman lens.
The result of various identities of Kybele/Magna Mater being mingled, newly shaped, and evolving during her presence in late Republican and early Imperial Rome has already been described by F. Van Haeperen (Étrangère et ancestrale. La mére des dieux dans le monde romain [2019]). However, Van Haeperen’s focus differs, concentrating on how the goddess’s identity and function are shaped in the Western Roman provinces. Van Haeperen’s work is missing in the otherwise comprehensive bibliography of B.’s compilation. P. Borgeaud (Mother of the Gods: From Cybele to the Virgin Mary [2004]), for example, is cited, and Van Haeperen, amongst others, has based her research on his observations. This can be seen, for example, in the further development of the expression ‘étrangére et ancestrale’, originally coined by Borgeaud. B. focuses on discussing the counterparts of foreign traits versus Roman ways of worshipping Magna Mater, bringing a new facet to this field of research.
In her conclusion B. argues that Kybele/Magna Mater became a Roman concept, strategically adapted from the Hellenistic world and incorporated into Roman religion. She explains how Roman myth – skilfully constructed as beginning with the Sibylline prophecy and Claudia Quinta – helped shape Kybele’s new Roman character. The often-stated ‘foreign’ practices have Italic roots and traditions, as B. describes and illustrates. Combined with the political inclinations evolving from the Republican to the Imperial era, Kybele/Magna Mater is one of the best examples of religious aspects becoming integral to socio-political agency.
The book is therefore a skilful new investigation into the evolution of Kybele/Magna Mater towards and as a Roman goddess. B. unpacks the processes of adaptation through which an ‘oriental’ or Hellenistic deity is ultimately integrated into Roman religious and political interactions.
