Cybele is an Anatolian mother goddess; she has a possible precursor in the earliest neolithic. She is only known goddess of Phrygia’s kingdom, and was probably its state deity. Her Phrygian cult was adopted and adapted by Greek colonists of Asia Minor. She was partially assimilated to aspects of the Earth-goddess Gaia, her Minoan equivalent Rhea, and the Harvest-Mother goddess Demeter. In Rome, Cybele was known as Magna Mater (“Great Mother”). Cybele was also mostly associated with fertile nature, mountains, town and city walls, as well as wild animals such as lions.
Sculpture of Cybele was unearthed in excavations launched by a team of 25 archeologists led by the head of the Department of Archeology in Gazi University, Prof. Dr. Süleyman Yücel Şenyurt, in the 2,300-year-old Kurul Kalesi, or the Council Fortress. The mother goddess sitting on her throne weighed a whopping 200 kilograms and was about 110 centimeters tall. Professor Şenyurt said that they were proud to unearth such an artifact in Turkey. He also said that the priceless statue would be later on transferred to the archeology museum in Ordu.
