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Cybele

Mythology
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Anatolian mother goddess worshipped with ecstatic rites involving drums, cymbals, and self-castration. Adopted into Greek religion as Meter (Great Mother), associated with mountains and wild nature.

Detailed Definition
The Great Mother, or Cybele, was a powerful earth and fertility deity attended by lions and eunuch priests. Her ecstatic rites influenced mystery cults. Poets reference her to symbolize primal nature, maternal ferocity, and the fusion of foreign and Hellenic religious traditions.
Example
Example in poetry:
Lucretius’s De Rerum Natura references the Great Mother (Cybele) in cosmological hymns; Catullus’s Attis poem dramatizes her ecstatic rites; Ovid’s Fasti details her Roman festival and myth; Virgil’s Aeneid links her to Trojan ancestry; Later poetry uses her as a symbol of primal, nurturing earth power; In allegory, she represents nature’s cyclical fertility and fury.
Additional Notes
The Great Mother (Cybele/Rhea) is a Phrygian earth-mother goddess adopted into Roman religion. Catullus 63 (Attis) dramatizes her ecstatic, violent rites. Students should explore her as a symbol of nature’s dual nurturing/destroying power. Her lion-drawn chariot and tympanon (drum) are key iconographic elements. Related: Attis, Magna Mater, mystery cults.
Also Known As
Mountain Queen Magna Mater Drum-Beating Earth Goddess
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