The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia. A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion

A study of the way in which a goddess of Anatolia, the Phrygian and Lydian Mother of the Gods, or Cybele in the Greco-Roman world, was established as the patron deity of the state archives of Athens in the fifth century BCE. The role of this goddess as the patroness, or source, of sovereign power, represented especially in the Lydian kingdom, and supported later by the Achaemenid Persian rulers of Lydia, reveals the negotiation of power relations between the Greek and Persian realms in the fifth century BCE.

Among maternal deities of the Greek pantheon, the Mother of the Gods was a paradox. She is variously described as a devoted mother, a chaste wife, an impassioned lover, and a virgin daughter; she is said to be both foreign and familiar to the Greeks. In this erudite and absorbing study, Mark Munn examines how the cult of Mother of the Gods came from Phrygia and Lydia, where she was the mother of tyrants, to Athens, where she protected the laws of the Athenian democracy. Analyzing the divergence of Greek and Asiatic culture at the beginning of the classical era, Munn describes how Kybebe, the Lydian goddess who signified fertility and sovereignty, assumed a different aspect to the Greeks when Lydia became part of the Persian empire. Conflict and resolution were played out symbolically, he shows, and the goddess of Lydian tyranny was eventually accepted by the Athenians as the Mother of the Gods, and as a symbol of their own sovereignty.

This book elegantly illustrates how ancient divinities were not static types, but rather expressions of cultural systems that responded to historical change. Presenting a new perspective on the context in which the Homeric and Hesiodic epics were composed, Munn traces the transformation of the Asiatic deity who was the goddess of Sacred Marriage among the Assyrians and Babylonians, equivalent to Ishtar. Among the Lydians, she was the bride to tyrants and the mother of tyrants. To the Greeks, she was Aphrodite. An original and compelling consideration of the relations between the Greeks and the dominant powers of western Asia, The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia is the first thorough examination of the way that religious cult practice and thought influenced political activities during and after the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.

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Work Title The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia. A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion
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Open Access
Creators
  1. Mark Munn
Keyword
  1. Mother of the Gods
  2. Kybele
  3. Kybebe
  4. Lydia
  5. Phrygia
  6. Persia
  7. Athens
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Book
Publisher
  1. University of California Press
Publication Date 2006
Subject
  1. Ancient history and religion
Language
  1. English
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Deposited November 11, 2024

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  • Updated Keyword, Subject, Language, and 5 more Show Changes
    Keyword
    • Mother of the Gods, Kybele, Kybebe, Lydia, Phrygia, Persia, Athens
    Subject
    • Ancient history and religion
    Language
    • English
    Publisher
    • University of California Press
    Publisher Identifier (DOI)
    • https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pps4c
    Description
    • A study of the way in which a goddess of Anatolia, the Phrygian and Lydian Mother of the Gods, or Cybele in the Greco-Roman world, was established as the patron deity of the state archives of Athens in the fifth century BCE. The role of this goddess as the patroness, or source, of sovereign power, represented especially in the Lydian kingdom, and supported later by the Achaemenid Persian rulers of Lydia, reveals the negotiation of power relations between the Greek and Persian realms in the fifth century BCE.
    Publication Date
    • 2006
    Publisher's Statement
    • Among maternal deities of the Greek pantheon, the Mother of the Gods was a paradox. She is variously described as a devoted mother, a chaste wife, an impassioned lover, and a virgin daughter; she is said to be both foreign and familiar to the Greeks. In this erudite and absorbing study, Mark Munn examines how the cult of Mother of the Gods came from Phrygia and Lydia, where she was the mother of tyrants, to Athens, where she protected the laws of the Athenian democracy. Analyzing the divergence of Greek and Asiatic culture at the beginning of the classical era, Munn describes how Kybebe, the Lydian goddess who signified fertility and sovereignty, assumed a different aspect to the Greeks when Lydia became part of the Persian empire. Conflict and resolution were played out symbolically, he shows, and the goddess of Lydian tyranny was eventually accepted by the Athenians as the Mother of the Gods, and as a symbol of their own sovereignty.
    • This book elegantly illustrates how ancient divinities were not static types, but rather expressions of cultural systems that responded to historical change. Presenting a new perspective on the context in which the Homeric and Hesiodic epics were composed, Munn traces the transformation of the Asiatic deity who was the goddess of Sacred Marriage among the Assyrians and Babylonians, equivalent to Ishtar. Among the Lydians, she was the bride to tyrants and the mother of tyrants. To the Greeks, she was Aphrodite. An original and compelling consideration of the relations between the Greeks and the dominant powers of western Asia, The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia is the first thorough examination of the way that religious cult practice and thought influenced political activities during and after the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.
  • Added Creator Mark Munn
  • Added Munn 2006, THE MOTHER OF THE GODS, ATHENS, AND THE TYRANNY OF ASIA, a Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion.pdf
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    • https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
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  • Updated Publisher Identifier (DOI), Description, Related URLs, and 1 more Show Changes
    Publisher Identifier (DOI)
    • https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pps4c
    Description
    • A study of the way in which a goddess of Anatolia, the Phrygian and Lydian Mother of the Gods, or Cybele in the Greco-Roman world, was established as the patron deity of the state archives of Athens in the fifth century BCE. The role of this goddess as the patroness, or source, of sovereign power, represented especially in the Lydian kingdom, and supported later by the Achaemenid Persian rulers of Lydia, reveals the negotiation of power relations between the Greek and Persian realms in the fifth century BCE.
    • A study of the way in which a goddess of Anatolia, the Phrygian and Lydian Mother of the Gods, or Cybele in the Greco-Roman world, was established as the patron deity of the state archives of Athens in the fifth century BCE. The role of this goddess as the patroness, or source, of sovereign power, represented especially in the Lydian kingdom, and supported later by the Achaemenid Persian rulers of Lydia, reveals the negotiation of power relations between the Greek and Persian realms in the fifth century BCE.
    • Among maternal deities of the Greek pantheon, the Mother of the Gods was a paradox. She is variously described as a devoted mother, a chaste wife, an impassioned lover, and a virgin daughter; she is said to be both foreign and familiar to the Greeks. In this erudite and absorbing study, Mark Munn examines how the cult of Mother of the Gods came from Phrygia and Lydia, where she was the mother of tyrants, to Athens, where she protected the laws of the Athenian democracy. Analyzing the divergence of Greek and Asiatic culture at the beginning of the classical era, Munn describes how Kybebe, the Lydian goddess who signified fertility and sovereignty, assumed a different aspect to the Greeks when Lydia became part of the Persian empire. Conflict and resolution were played out symbolically, he shows, and the goddess of Lydian tyranny was eventually accepted by the Athenians as the Mother of the Gods, and as a symbol of their own sovereignty.
    • This book elegantly illustrates how ancient divinities were not static types, but rather expressions of cultural systems that responded to historical change. Presenting a new perspective on the context in which the Homeric and Hesiodic epics were composed, Munn traces the transformation of the Asiatic deity who was the goddess of Sacred Marriage among the Assyrians and Babylonians, equivalent to Ishtar. Among the Lydians, she was the bride to tyrants and the mother of tyrants. To the Greeks, she was Aphrodite. An original and compelling consideration of the relations between the Greeks and the dominant powers of western Asia, The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia is the first thorough examination of the way that religious cult practice and thought influenced political activities during and after the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.
    Related URLs
    • https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pps4c
    Publisher's Statement
    • Among maternal deities of the Greek pantheon, the Mother of the Gods was a paradox. She is variously described as a devoted mother, a chaste wife, an impassioned lover, and a virgin daughter; she is said to be both foreign and familiar to the Greeks. In this erudite and absorbing study, Mark Munn examines how the cult of Mother of the Gods came from Phrygia and Lydia, where she was the mother of tyrants, to Athens, where she protected the laws of the Athenian democracy. Analyzing the divergence of Greek and Asiatic culture at the beginning of the classical era, Munn describes how Kybebe, the Lydian goddess who signified fertility and sovereignty, assumed a different aspect to the Greeks when Lydia became part of the Persian empire. Conflict and resolution were played out symbolically, he shows, and the goddess of Lydian tyranny was eventually accepted by the Athenians as the Mother of the Gods, and as a symbol of their own sovereignty.
    • This book elegantly illustrates how ancient divinities were not static types, but rather expressions of cultural systems that responded to historical change. Presenting a new perspective on the context in which the Homeric and Hesiodic epics were composed, Munn traces the transformation of the Asiatic deity who was the goddess of Sacred Marriage among the Assyrians and Babylonians, equivalent to Ishtar. Among the Lydians, she was the bride to tyrants and the mother of tyrants. To the Greeks, she was Aphrodite. An original and compelling consideration of the relations between the Greeks and the dominant powers of western Asia, The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia is the first thorough examination of the way that religious cult practice and thought influenced political activities during and after the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.