{{Short description, Ancient Roman priestess
Sacerdos Matris Deum Magnae Idaeae was the title of the Priestess of the goddess
Cybele
Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya, Kubeleya'' "Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian: ''Kuvava''; ''Kybélē'', ''Kybēbē'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest ...
in
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...
.Meghan J. DiLuzio: A Place at the Altar: Priestesses in Republican Rome '
The office was introduced when the cult of Cybele was officially introduced in Rome in 204 BC. The Priestess of Cybele served alongside a male priest of Cybele as the two leaders of the cult; together, they supervised the ''
galli
A ''gallus'' (pl. ''galli'') was a eunuch priest of the Phrygian goddess Cybele (Magna Mater in Rome) and her consort Attis, whose worship was incorporated into the state religious practices of ancient Rome.
Origins
Cybele's cult may have o ...
'', the assistants, who performed other tasks around the liturgy, such as providing the holy music. Officially, the Priestess as well as the priest were to be from
Phrygia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River.
Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...
, the home country of the Goddess; in practice, they may not always have been from Phrygia, but they were always foreigners. In contrast to the priest, who castrated himself, the priestess performed no bodily changes of herself.
The priestess and the priest lead the official procession of the Goddess during the festival '' ludi Megalenses'': they were dressed with the image of the Goddess on their breast, beat a
sacred drum
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...
called ''tympana'', and performed a ritual form of beggary called ''metragyrtai'', while the galli played the procession music. Additionally, the Priestess carried a small figure depicting the Goddess.