Agdistis

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For plume moth genus, see Agdistis (moth).

Phrygian statue of Kybele/Agdistis from the mid-6th century BCE at or near Hattusa

Agdistis (Ancient Greek: Ἄγδιστις) was a deity of Greek, Roman and Anatolian mythology, possessing both male and female sexual organs. She is closely associated with the Phrygian goddess Cybele.[1]

Her androgyny was seen[by whom?] as symbolic of a wild and uncontrollable nature. It was this trait which was threatening to the gods and ultimately led to her destruction.[2]: 20, 92 

Mythology[edit]

According to Pausanias, on one occasion Zeus unwittingly begot by the Earth a superhuman being which was at once man and woman, and was called "Agdistis".

In other versions, there was a rock, called "Agdo", on which the Great Mother slept. Zeus impregnated the Great Mother, which brought forth Agdistis.[3]

The gods were afraid of the double-gendered Agdistis. One deity[a] put a sleeping draught in Agdistis' drinking well.

After the potion had put Agdistis to sleep, Dionysus tied Agdistis' foot to Agdistis' male genitalia (φαλλός) with a strong rope. When Agdistis awoke and stood, Agdistis ripped his penis off, castrating himself.[3] The blood from his severed genitals fertilized the earth, and from that spot an almond[b] tree grew.

Nana, daughter of the river-god Sangarius, was once gathering the fruit of this tree; she stored some almonds[b] in her bosom,[3] but they disappeared. She consequently became pregnant with Attis.[4]: vii. 17. § 7.9-13 [c] After giving birth to Attis, Nana abandoned him, and the infant was taken in by human foster-parents.[citation needed]

When he had grown up, Attis was of such extraordinary beauty that the now-conventionally female Agdistis fell in love with him, despite in effect being his father. His foster-parents, however, intended him to become the husband of the daughter of the king of Pessinus, and he accordingly went to the Pessinian royal court.[d]

At the moment when the marriage song had commenced, Agdistis appeared in her full glory, and all the wedding guests were instantly driven mad, causing both Attis and the king of Pessinus to castrate themselves, and the bride to cut off her breasts. Agdistis then repented of her deed, and obtained from Zeus the promise that the body of Attis would not decompose.

This is the most popular account of an otherwise mysterious affair, which is probably part of a symbolic worship of the creative powers of nature. Pausanias also mentions a hill in Phrygia named "Agdistis", at the foot of which Attis was reported to have been buried.[4]: i. 4. § 5 [e]

Cult of Agdistis[edit]

The distinction between the west-Anatolian mother goddesses is entirely muddy:

Although primarily an Anatolian goddess, the cult of Agdistis covered a good deal of territory:

  • By 250 BC it had spread to Egypt
  • In the mid-Aegean islands and mainland Greece, her cult notably could be found in
  • In mainland and coastal Anatolia
    • Inscriptions found at Sardis from the 4th century BC indicate that priests of Zeus were not permitted to take part in the mysteries of Agdistis.[9]
    • Inscriptions honoring Agdistis have been found at Mithymna
    • In the 1st century BC, her shrine in Philadelphia, Anatolia, required a strict code of behavior. At that location – and others – she is found with sister deities ("theoi soteres").[10]
    • Some time after 80 BC her cult is found on Lesbos
  • Also after 80 BC Agdistis' cult is found in far-off Panticapeum, on the eastern shore of the Crimea.

There is epigraphic evidence that in some places[where?] Agdistis was considered a healing goddess of a wholly benevolent nature.[2]

In an attempt to understand the contradictory representations and syncretism of the Anatolian mother goddesses, scholars have hypothesised that Agdistis is part of a continuum of androgynous Anatolian deities,[citation needed] including an ancient Phrygian deity probably named Andistis[citation needed] and one called Adamma,[citation needed] stretching all the way back to the ancient kingdom of Kizzuwatna in the 2nd millennium BC.[citation needed]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Some versions name the Roman god Liber, others the Greek god Dionysus.
  2. ^ a b In some accounts, the tree and its gathered fruit is a pomegranate.
  3. ^ In some versions, Attis was born directly out of the almond.[3]
  4. ^ In some versions, the king betrothes Attis to his daughter to punish Attis for his incestuous relationship with his father, the now-female Agdistis.[2]
  5. ^ A somewhat different story is given by Arnobius, in which Attis is beloved by both Agdistis and Cybele.[2][5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Agdistis". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. Boston, MA. p. 67.
  2. ^ a b c d Lancellotti, Maria Grazia (2002). Attis, between Myth and History: King, priest, and god. Amsterdam: Brill. pp. 20, 92. ISBN 90-04-12851-4.
  3. ^ a b c d Turner, Patricia (ed.). "Agdistis". Dictionary of Ancient Deities. Vol. 1. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 24.
  4. ^ a b Pausanias. Description of Greece.
  5. ^ Arnobius. Adversus Gentes. ix. 5. § 4; comp. Mimic. Felix, 21[clarification needed]
  6. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, s.v.[full citation needed]
  7. ^ Strabo. [no title cited]. xii. p. 567;[full citation needed] comp. x. p. 469
  8. ^ a b Gasparro, Giulia Sfameni (1985). Soteriology and Mystic Aspects in the Cult of Cybele and Attis. Amsterdam: Brill Publishers. p. 34. ISBN 90-04-07283-7.
  9. ^ Turcan, Robert; Nevill, Antonia (1996). The Cults of the Roman Empire. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 31–34. ISBN 0-631-20047-9.
  10. ^ Walton, Francis Redding (1996). "Agdistis". In Hornblower, Simon (ed.). Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

External links[edit]

  • The dictionary definition of Agdistis at Wiktionary
  • "Agdistis". Greek mythology. Mythology Index (mythindex.com).
  • "Agdistis". Greek mythology. Hellenica (mlahanas.de). Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. — information about Greece and Cyprus
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