Art in Cultural Context

Cybele is an ancient figure who represented the mother goddess and in her was granted the ability to create and populate the world according to her desires. She was both the most powerful of the gods and also an amalgamation of the most powerful of the goddesses. In both Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, cults which worshipped Cybele were established and elaborate temples were constructed in her honor which lasted throughout centuries. The woman was not just another goddess in the pantheon of deities established by the ancient empires, but was a uniquely powerful entity that people would worship and pray to in times of difficulty and suffering. She had within her the powers of many of the goddesses, including the Earth goddess Gaia, the Minoan goddess Rhea, and the goddess of the harvest Demeter, taking the role of each of these mythological mothers. So strong...
[ View Full Essay]