In the Graeco-Roman Cult of Cybele and Attis: a Cognitive Historiographical Approach

JCH 5.1-2 (2018–19)] JCH (print) ISSN 2051-9672 https://doi.org/10.1558/jch.39915 JCH (online) ISSN 2051-9680

The Rites of the Day of Blood (dies sanguinis) in the Graeco-Roman Cult of Cybele and Attis: A Cognitive Historiographical Approach

Panayotis Pachis1 Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece Email: [email protected]

Abstract: The cult of Cybele and Attis was an ancient cult disseminated throughout the entire Roman Empire. Among the rites held by its followers, there were the so-called Day of Blood (dies sanguinis) which, according to the Calendar (or Chronography) of Philocalus (354 CE), was celebrated on 24 March. On this day the worshipers and priests (galli) of Cybele/Attis flagellated themselves until they bled profusely, and with their blood they sprinkled Cybele’s effigy as well as the altars of the temple, while the initiates castrated themselves and offered their testes to the goddess as a real-life imitation of what happened mythologically to the goddess’ consort Attis. The present contribution offers a preliminary systemization of this glaringly maladaptive and quite puz- zling belief-behaviour complex in the anthropological and neurocognitive frame of the so-called extreme rituals, highlighting the specific in-group benefit reaped by worshipers and initiates (e.g., community cohesion through costly signalling and credibility- enhancing displays). Keywords: Cybele and Attis; extreme rituals; maladaptive beliefs; sex and gender in Antiquity; Cognitive Science of Religion

Introduction

The present contribution expands the Journal of Cognitive Historiography Call for Papers on “Toxic Traditions: Pathological and Maladaptive Beliefs, Biases and Behaviours” by reaching back in time to a quite peculiar Graeco- Roman cult. The interdisciplinary tools provided by cognitive historiography offer new and previously overlooked possibilities for framing historical investigations so that historians can identify relevant real-world variables that have escaped the “presentist” focus of contemporary experimental- ists. Recent advances in cognitive sciences have highlighted how the very processes through which people acquire a sense of themselves and shape

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020, Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX. Panayotis Pachis their identity are determined not just by socio-cultural settings but also by specific, universal cognitive principles and operations. The investiga- tion of these processes could help us understand both the mindset and the attitudes of what appears to us as the most flamboyant and extravagant ancient Graeco-Roman cults which, in contrast to official, and quite bland, traditional religions, “offered special experiences to the people of this era with luxurious rituals, ascetic trials, and complex rules of ritual purification” (Pachis 2018: 16). In particular, the aim of this article is to present a “vertical integration” of Natural Sciences and Humanities (Slingerland 2008; Martin and Eidinow 2014; Ambasciano 2019: 167) in order to explore the role of the so-called “extreme rituals” during the dies sanguinis in the Graeco-Roman worship of Cybele and Attis. On this day, the galli, a group of castrated priests, flagellated themselves with swords and axes in a state of ecstasy prompted by furious dancing and music, and shed their blood all over Cybele’s effigy and the altars of the temple. The climax of these “ecstatic performances” was reached by the castration of the initiates (Martin 1987: 83–84). Why did the worshipers voluntarily reduce their genetic fitness and risk other concomi- tant health hazards (e.g., infections, haemorrhage) by castrating themselves through such a bloody and violent public display? Using the above rites as case study, I will try to tackle this question from the anthropological and neurocognitive perspective of the so-called extreme rituals.2

The Day of Blood (dies sanguinis): Between Institutional Acceptance and Moral Repugnance

The orgiastic and gruesome ceremony that was performed during the so- called Day of Blood (dies sanguinis) on March 24, according to the Calen- dar of Philocalus (354 CE), was part of the annual March celebrations that were held in honor of the Anatolian goddess Cybele and her companion Attis (CIL l2 p. 312; Hepding 1903: 51; see Vermaseren 1966: 42 n. 2; Nilsson 1974; 644; Carcopino 1942: 49–50; Lambrects 1952; Fasce 1978: 54, n. 9; Sfameni Gasparro 1983: 224). These festivities were also a basic part of the annual mourning for Attis and were regarded as imitation (imitatio) and repetition of the myth that refers to the goddess’ consort’s self-mutilation and subsequent death (Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.17.5; Minucius Felix, Octavius 22. Cf. Vermaseren 1966: 39 n. 2, 44; Pachis 1988: 92–101, 182–90; Roller 1999: 237–59; Lancellotti 2002; van Haperen 2018: 33; see also the discussion in Alvar 2008: 256–57). The dies sanguinis was nothing less than a collective celebration of those individuals who decided to imitate Attis (Graillot 1912: 127–28; Alvar 2008: 256–57).

Attis is mythologically presented as Cybele’s favourite consort (πάρεδρος, “paredros”), a relationship that is common in all Eastern cults – and particularly in those of Semitic origin. Castration is an especially important element that bears great significance in the overall structure of this particular myth. Despite its exceptional nature, mythological castration was normally found in relevant religious narratives of the East, of Greece, and specifically of all those that are directly associated with the so-called creation myths (Roller 1999: 247–50). The main protagonists of the rituals were the galli who, after being initiated into this cult, were directly involved in the ritual life of the worship community (van Haeperen 2011: 476–77; 2012: 300–301; 2018: 30, 32; Bricault 2018: 177 n. 109; the institutional position of the galli is con- tested; Sanders 1972, for instance, claims that the galli officially belonged to the lower clergy of the cult). Their presence is oftentimes found in both Christian and pagan writers: the former wished to express their contempt towards such practices, while the latter characterized the galli in order to state, mostly through a satirical style, their disadvantage within an andro- centric society which was heavily centred around virilitas and outlawed foreign practices like castration (van Haeperen 2011: 476 nn. 54–55; about the name gallus, galli, see Lane 1996; Pachis 1996: 195). These particular rites of Cybele’s cult were considered to be against the traditional customs and habits of the Romans (mos maiorum). As such, they were initially met with resentment by the Romans according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus (2.19.2): no Roman citizen took part in them by law and by decree of the Senate, not even as a spectator. Indeed, the Cybele worshipers occupied a lower social position when compared to the rest of the Roman citizens (Williams 2010). While the cult was accepted in Rome as early as 205/204 BCE, and her temple built on the Palatine Hill (Pensabene 1982; Vermaseren 1977a: 38–60; Borgeaud 1996: 89–107; Roller 1999: 263–85), the ban on Roman citizens to be initiated as galli was temporarily lifted under Claudius only to be restated under Domitian, while the archigallus, the head and supervisor of the galli, always had to be an uncastrated Roman citizen (Vermaseren 1977: 96–97; the sources are not straightforward about the diffusion of castration among the worshipers ranks, though, which might have also been subjected to diachronic and diastratic changes; cf. Fear 2015: 47; Klöckner 2017: 362). The archigallus, according to relevant testimonies of the time, does not belong to the group of castrated individuals and is therefore a Roman citizen. Generally speaking, the archigalli, under the supervision of the quindecimviri sacris faciundis (fifteen members of a collegium whose main politico-religious occupation was the consultation of the sacred Sybil- line books), had the task of overseeing all the other galli, as well as offering

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020 Panayotis Pachis the appropriate honours for the prosperity and salvation of the emperor during the taurobolium, another gory ritual in which, according to Chris- tian sources, a bull was slaughtered and his blood shed over the worshipers as a promise of a new life (another interpretation has only the blood of the bull’s testicles sprinkled over those who did not want to castrate themselves; see Iles Johnston 2004: 103). Despite their status, the archigalli took part in the ecstatic rituals of the dies sanguinis, participating in this way in the intense emotional events of this special day (van Haeperen 2011: 470, 473–74; 2012: 300). The Romans’ disapproval of these practices as well as of those who took part in them is surprising considering that the cult might have undergone a process of Roman re-invention and local adaptation (Latham 2012). As a matter of fact, all relevant evidence about the performance of these rituals in honour of Cybele and Attis are solely based on information drawn from the urban environment of the city of Rome. Until proven otherwise, the absence of compelling evidence concerning the presence of galli in the probable birthplace of the cult (i.e., Asia Minor before the Hellenistic age), suggests that the re-invention hypothesis should be taken in serious con- sideration as is the case for other late antique Mediterranean mystery cults (Burkert 1987).3 As a result, we may consider that the dies sanguinis might have been a potentially new or re-elaborated element that complemented this worship after its official admittance into the Roman urban and ritual settings. Another piece of evidence that reinforces this position is that the presence of Attis as a πάρεδρος of Cybele was attested for the first time in the Greek world particularly in the Piraeus during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, and initially “confined within “foreign communities” (Lancellotti 2002: 73; see Roller 1994, 1999: 177–82; Pachis 1996: 202). In Athens, Attis held quite a peripheral position in the goddess’ worship (Vermaseren 1977a: 32–35; Pachis 1996: 198–99; Borgeaud 1996: 31–55; Roller 1999: 162–69). I should again emphasize at this point that there is no unequivocal epigraphic or archaeological evidence that testify to the presence of Attis in Asia Minor before the Roman conquest (Lancellotti 2002); and yet, to complicate things further, as already anticipated, the special relationship between Cybele and Attis, as shown in the mythical narratives, is commonplace in the Eastern cults (e.g., Burkert 1996: 47–51). Additionally, references to this celebration by the eminent writers of Roman antiquity offer further examples of the Romans’ contemptuous attitude toward the East, as well as their general aversion to similar kind of practices (Roller 1999: 301–309; Latham 2012). Of particular importance, in this case, is the testimony of the Roman poet Catullus, who mentioned the case of a young Roman who castrated himself and fell into despair after he

experienced the end of the state of exalted frenzy produced by the cult’s sensory pageantry (Catullus LXIII; cf. Wagner 1962: 247; Roller 1999: 304–307). Although not a historiographical document per se, but a poetic interpretations confined within specific authorial intents, this carmen exemplifies the Roman self-awareness of the disheartening loss of personal and social agency through the obliteration of the eunuch’s civil rights (see Ulpian, Digest XLVIII 8.4.2; Valerius Maximus VII.7.6; Suetonius, Domitian 7; cf. van Haeperen 2018: 32, 38). And yet, “there was an ambivalence at the heart of the cult” (Nauta 2004: 618–19), for, notwithstanding these extreme religious practices, Cybele and her cult undoubtedly held a significant position in the traditional Roman pantheon, not least because of political concerns relating to the legitimization of the pseudohistorical Trojan ancestry of Rome (Roller 1999: 274–75; Nauta 2004). The significance of the presence of this cult for Rome can be further understood by what Lynn E. Roller states (1999: 309):

The Magna Mater lies within the group of officially recognized state cults, yet outside the bounds of decent behavior, thereby, offering the chance of an illicit, and potentially titillating, experience. The male participant in the cult could toy with transvestitism, bisexuality, and emotional release, all within one of Rome’s most hallowed shrines. Thus the appeal of the cult appears to lie in the narrator’s need to come to terms with both sides of his nature, the lawful and the lascivious.

This celebration, and the cult as a whole, was finally introduced into the official calendar of Rome during the reign of Claudius (Hepding 1903: 165; Fasce 1978: 54 n. 9; van Haeperen 2011: 473; regarding the testimonies about these feasts from the time of Claudius, i.e., 41–54 CE, to the 4th cen- tury, see Sfameni Gasparro 1983: 223–24; Pachis 1988: 154–55 n. 3). Once it was incorporated into the formal Roman ritual system, the cult of Cybele expressed its institutional loyalty to the Roman state by redirecting its main soteriological preoccupations from the closed circle of its community, to the welfare and prosperity of all Romans, the emperor, and the entire empire (CIL XIII 7317; cf. Hepding 1903: 165 n. 4; Garnsey et al. 2015: 194).4 Later on, emperor Elagabalus (or Heliogabalus), who reigned from 218 to 222 CE, is said to have “toss[ed] his head to and fro among the castrated devotees of the goddess, and he infibulated himself, and did all that the eunuch priests are wont to do” (Aelius Lampridius, Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Helioga- balus 7; Nilsson 1974: 653 n. 1; the veracity of the source is historiographi- cally disputed).

Flint Knives, Blood, and Noise: The Ritual Itself

Let us now delve deeper into the ritual itself. Before the celebrations, the pine tree, which was dedicated to Attis, was moved by the dendrophoroi (collegium dendrophorum) and was placed beside the altar of the sanctu- ary (CIL II 6520, 3; VI 64; XIV 324; cf. Hepding 1903: 96 nn. 68, 149–55; Nilsson 1974: 644; Vermaseren 1977a: 113–24; Sfameni Gasparro 1983: 224; Borgeaud 1996: 131–35). The atmosphere that prevailed in the temple revealed the dysphoric nature of the ceremony, suggesting a general state of mourning (Pachis 1988: 65; Roller 1999: 317–18; Lisdorf 2009: 181–82; Latham 2012; Haeperen 2018: 30). Cymbals, flutes, and drums that were beaten furiously accompanied with their deafening sounds the wild dance of the galli (Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum reigionum 22.1; Lucretius, De rerum natura II 620; Apuleius, Metamorphoses VIII 27; Catul- lus, Carmina LXIII 21; Statius, Thebais X 170–75; cf. Hepding 1903: 158 n. 3; Fasce 1978: 54)5, who were singing songs of a similar rhythm and content (Hippolytus, Adversus haereses V 9; cf. Hepding 1903: 34–35; Vermaseren 1966: 42 and nn. 3–4. About gallaion ologygma, see Pachis 1996). These musical instruments were constantly present during the ceremonies and as such they were depicted in the reliefs discovered in the shrines of Cybele and Attis throughout the Roman Empire (Vermaseren 1997b). Characteristically, while dancing the galli were holding whips, called “ankles” or “knucklebones” (astragaloi, ἀστράγαλοι), as well as sharp knives (Pachis 1988: 155–56 n. 12). Influenced by the music which became louder and louder, they kept swirling all the more powerfully. Thus, the galli entered into a stated of manic frenzy, a sort of ecstasy, with their untied hair waving in the air and their facial expressions unmistakably conveying this state of mind (about mania, cf. Ustinova 2018: 169–216). During their continuous swirling, the galli along with the archigallus kept flagellating themselves with whips, while cutting their arms and shoulders (Propertius, Elegiae III 15 [III 22]; Statius, Thebais X 170; Apuleius, Metamorphoses VIII 28; Minucius Felix, Octavius XXII 4, XXIV 4; Tertullian, Apologeticus I 25; Lucian, Tragoedopodagra 115; cf. Vermaseren 1966: 42; Fasce 1978: 54 n. 9; Lisdorf 2009: 181–82). Apparently, this masochistic action did not seem to cause any pain; on the contrary, as the sources reported, it seemed to induce a paradoxical pleasure. Their blood was spilled on the pine tree, the altar, and the statue of the goddess (Pachis 1988: 156, and n. 15). The presence of blood everywhere created a truly horrific image, complemented by deafening music and wild dances. When ecstasy would reach its ritual peak, the initiates would take off their clothes and with a sharp flint knife or a fragment of broken pottery would castrate themselves (Pachis 1988: 65–66;

Roller 1999: 317–18; Lisdorf 2009: 182–83). I should mention here that the castration of the new galli was made solely with a flint knife since, according to the standards of worship, the use of any iron knife was strictly forbidden (Catullus, Carmina LXIII. Cf. Wagner 1962: 247 n. 196, 248 n. 198; Foucart 1975: 64–65. Regarding the use of petra samia during these festivities, see Plinius, Naturalis historia XXXV 165; Juvenal, Saturae III 81, 3, VI 514; Minucius Felix, Octavius XXIV 4; Ovidius, Fasti V 237; cf. Fasce 1978: 58). Some have claimed that this particular custom might be a survival of an ancient, pre-metallurgy, Neolithic ritual (Fasce 1978: 58). However, considering the continuous Graeco-Roman re-invention of apparently ancient rituals, it is quite difficult to discern whether this is truly the case (cf. Schell- ing and Rüpke 1987/2005). The newly castrated galli, having now offered their vital force to the goddess, were finally devoted to her worship (on the cognitive-cultural “illusion” which tied “renouncing procreation” and the loss of something corporeal with a promise of salvation, see Burkert 1996: 48). The sacrifice of the fanatici galli (Livy, XXXVII 9, 9) can be seen as an act of absolute commitment by which they acquired ritual chastity (Juvenal, Saturae II 116; Minucius Felix, Octavius XXIV 4; Lactantius, Divinae institutiones I 21.26; Servius, Commentarius in Vergillii Aeneidos IX 115; Aelius Lam- pridius, Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Heliogabalus 7; Firmicus Mater- nus, de errore profanarum religionum VIII2; Augustinus, de civitate dei VII 24; Prudentius, Peristephanon X 1059–1062; cf. Hepding 1903: 160–65; Wagner 1962: 247–51; Vermaseren 1966: 43; Nilsson 1974: 644; Pepin 1982: 262–67; Chirassi-Colombo 1982: 325; Sfameni Gasparro 1971: 467–68; 1985: 69, 74–79, 82–83; Nock 1972). The decision of undergoing castration and endure the pain was neurophysiologically supported by the state of euphoria brought about by the ritual high sensory stimulation. After the state of agitation and exhilaration, these individuals would come into a state of serenity – if not regretful, such as was the case in Catul- lus’ carmen. This was the exact moment that, having being subjected to psychological priming through exposition to the mythical script, most of the new galli probably felt they had the permanent protection of the goddess, having already demonstrated their absolute submission and respect to the omnipotent Phrygian goddess. Their imitation of Attis’ action sig- nalled not just a closer relationship with Cybele herself, but their direct identification with her – the ultimate goal of the adherents of this cult (Wagner 1962: 248, 250; Sfameni Gasparro 1985: 75–76; cf. Fasce 1978: 55 who maintains that the identification of these priests with the goddess could be deemed as a type of “mystical marriage”).

After the Ritual: A New Social and Personal Identity

The identification of the galli with the goddess was manifested in a number of ways. After the ceremony, they constantly dressed in women’s clothing and had a variety of ornaments in their long hair (Wagner 1962: 251; Fasce 1978: 57; see also the relevant reliefs of galli during the Graeco-Roman period: Vermaseren 1977b: plates CXL-CXLIII, CCLXXXIV-CCLXXXV, CCXCVI-CCXCVII; Roller 1999: 294 and fig. 70; van Haeperen 2018: 31). Their behavior can be interpreted as an attempt to adopt the image of the goddess. This is further suggested by their names kybeboi and metroleptoi (κύβηβοι καὶ μητρόληπτοι (Photius, Bibliotheca s.v. κύβηβος. See also Livius, Ab Urbe condita Libri XXXVII 9.9, Cicero, De legibus IX 23; cf. Wagner 1962: 250 n. 217). Eventually, the galli’s castration, as well as their identification with the goddess, led to their belief in the bestowment of bliss and earthly salvation upon them (Nilsson 1974: 647; Chirassi-Colombo 1982: 325; Sfameni Gasparro 1985: 75–76, 81–82). The young galli devoted themselves through specific rituals to the worship of the goddess offering to her their vital sexual power and testes (vires) (Wagner 1962: 249, and ns. 203– 204; Fasce 1978: 57; Pachis 1988: 158 n. 25). Finally, we should not forget the direct connection of Cybele with fertility, which could have offered some sort of overarching symbolic justification for such practices (Roller 1999: 318–19, 323–25). According to Carsten Colpe, the act of self-castration should be connected and interpreted according to the dual nature of the galli, who alleg- edly embodied both Attis and Cybele. Colpe further claims that these individuals, who apparently did not feel comfortable with their given nature (semiviri), tried to free themselves from it and acquire the one that really suited them. Broadly speaking, Colpe’s position could be justified by some evidence which depict the galli as semiviri and semimares (“half-men”) (Colpe 1969: 36. Cf.. Ambrosiaster, Quaestiones Veteri et Novi Testamenti CXV 18; Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum IV 2. 29-30; see Pachis 1988: 66; van Haeperen 2018: 30–31). In addition, we encounter the characterization of Cybele as Berecyntia Mater, which in the context of a passage from the Aeneid signals “weakness” and “effeminacy” (Roller 1999: 303; see Vergilius, Aeneid VI 784). Finally, we could also refer to the distinc- tive appearance of the galli, as it has been described above, in a number of reliefs that were created during imperial times. Craig Williams (2010), instead, focuses on the literary depiction of the galli by male Roman authors as an expression of the perceived decadence of the Roman mos maiorum through a subversion of the Roman idea of a “proper” masculinity:

[In Suetonius’ writings] the gallus on stage is called a cinaedus [i.e., a complex Roman slur that suggested a sexually subordinated and passive role and the adoption of Eastern, non-Roman effeminacy]; in Juvenal’s second satire the narrator, disgusted at the hypocritical Socratic cinaedi he sees everywhere in Rome, wonders what keeps them from going all the way and becoming galli, “cutting off their useless piece of meat in the Phrygian manner”; and the narrator of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, transformed into an ass, is sold to an effeminate old man whom he calls a cinaedus, one of a gang of devotees of the Syrian Mother Goddess who, while not explicitly said to be eunuchs, are certainly effeminate and make a living by going from town to town and putting on feverish displays of dancing and self-mutilation (Williams 2010: 196).

Cinaedi and galli disrupt the strict morality of the Roman urban environment by presenting an eastern moral code which is antithetical to that of the traditional mos maiorum:

[T]he cinaedus and above all the gallus are ideological scare-figures for Roman men: a man who flaunts his breaking of the rules of masculinity can be said to have taken the first step on the dangerous road toward becoming a castrated priest of the Mother Goddess. Thus cinaedus is a multifaceted insult. To call a Roman man a cinaedus is to associate him with the East […] there was already a tendency to create a gendered contrast between decadent, effeminate Easterners and virtuous, masculine Romans), with dancing (a disgraceful profession that was often gendered as effeminate), and with the sexual role of being penetrated (Williams 2010: 196).

And yet, despite this utterly negative out-group impression (driven by the perceived galli’s despicable adoption of a feminine subordination through eastern lasciviousness), in the ever-expanding social re-organization of the cosmopolitan Graeco-Roman Mediterranean, this cult could have also offered a good-enough way to resolve psychosocial problematic self- perceptions (in turn, caused by the dominant, oppressive androcentrism and patriarchal, sexual, coercive, top-down control of subordinates) to allow worshipers to create a politically legitimized and religiously sanc- tioned community for marginalized minorities involved in the construction of a sort of additional nonbinary sexual option (cf. Hallett and Skinner 2010; Endres 2015). Such a cult, notwithstanding its glaringly biological maladaptiveness, could have resulted in an overall socially positive trade-off, for the decrease in genetic fitness of the individuals (that is, the ability to pass the genes to the next generation) would be compensated by:

a. An overall social gain by reducing inter-social conflict insofar as the cult created the preconditions for a thriving subculture and

community, supplying the worshipers with a sense of belonging (notwithstanding Catullus’ carmen); b. An increase in the cult ability to gain visibility and increase social and financial capitals, thus improving their status and benefiting all the followers (cf. also Slone and Van Slyke 2015).

Thus, to recap, the introduction of these belief-behaviour complexes and diverse groups into the Roman social environment upsets the Roman establishment, which, thanks to its socio-religious institutional norms, was nonetheless called upon to accept the cult in order to appease the goddess herself and maintain a balance of the human-gods relationship (pax deorum; Scheid 2001). The result was the institutional legitimization of a marginal sexual subculture and its foreign cult (albeit mostly confined within their temple), a political fact that probably gave also a societal voice to a previously suppressed local group (which however, as we have seen, will continue to be the object of satirical derision), and increased the sub- system complexity and structural resilience of society as a whole. On the other hand, the Roman acceptance of the cult stood out as a clearly impe- rialistic manifesto to propose Rome as the natural political heir of the Hel- lenized Asia Minor through religious piety (see Scheid 2001: 117–19 for an overview).

Extreme Rituals: Effects on Mind, Brain, and Community

The overall structure of the rituals performed by the galli in order to become part of the cult of Cybele and Attis allows us, to place them within the anthropological framework of extreme rituals. Research on extreme rituals constitutes one of the most prominent areas of neuroanthropological inquiry in recent years‚ particularly in contemporary ethnographic and experimental research as well as in the cognitive study of religion (Xygalatas et al. 2011; 2013a; Xygalatas et al. 2013b; Xygalatas 2014; Fischer and Xygala- tas 2014; Fischer et al. 2014; Whitehouse and Lanman 2014). According to such a growing body of research, dysphoric rituals associated with pain and suffering constitute a historically widespread, manifold psycho-biological complex by means of which it is possible to create a strong community cohesion among the participants (Fischer and Xygalatas 2014: 346–48). Extreme ritual practices can be regarded as a particular subset of human social technologies, by way of which the worshipers of a given cult are able to create a strong and stable cross-societal link through the shared, collective experience of high ordeal rites under the protection and blessing of a culturally postulated superhuman agent (Fischer and Xygalatas 2014:

345–46; Norenzayan 2013: 95–96, 99).6 The same feeling is shared by the galli after joining the cult of Cybele and Attis as this association seems to be the only place able to offer them a safe refuge, protecting them from the negative, and paradoxical attitude of the wider socio-political Roman state which accepts the goddess and the cult and yet cannot truly tolerate their practices. As we have seen, the key element that characterized the performance of the Cybele rituals was its high sensory pageantry, with intense and vigorous dance, music, or monotonous chanting that resulted in particular somatic effects. The ultimate religious aim was to acquire an absolute state of purity, the sine qua non condition to become a member. Therefore, the ecstatic, manic possession and flagellation endured by those individuals could be considered akin to the “ritualistic cleansing and purification of the body through pain” described by modern-day anthropology (Fischer and Xygala- tas 2014: 347, 352–52; Fischer et al. 2014). Moreover, a fundamental rule in the devotional life of the galli was their complete sexual abstinence though chastity in order to preserve their absolute devotion to the goddess, which indicates a further dysphoric renounce to physiological pleasure (see Roller 1999: 323–324; Alvar 2008: 256–57 and n. 180). The general frame of these rituals allows us to discuss at this point the importance of emotions, whose investigations during the recent years have received broad acceptance in the field of neuroscience and cognitive neuroscience, largely through the research of Antonio Damasio (1994; 1999). His views on both the somatic marker hypothesis and the brain’s emotional systems are critical to cognition: a neurophysiological loop results from the connection of bodily feelings and emotional states which impacts decision- making processes, including rationality, and real-life choice-selection based on previous experiences (Martin 2005: 350). Since Darwin’s time, emotions have been seen as a product of the evolutionary process (Tooby-Cosmides 1992; Boyer 2001: 26; Smail 2008: 113; Pyysiäinnen 2003). Emotions, as a constitutive part of social life provide reliable communication signals among people (Tooby-Cosmides 1992: 27; Pyysiäinnen 2003: 95–96, 100; Alcorta and Sosis 2006). Humans are born to feel emotions, and challeng- ing emotions is an acquired and difficult social skill (Berezin 2005). This is particularly important as emotions and culture are interconnected (Geertz 2010: 311; 2009: 428; Crook 2004: 39–47). The study of emotions as part of human cognition is extremely important to people’s religious lives, which further contributes to their significance for the field of cognitive study of religion (Geertz 2010: 311). The Cybele and Attis cult involved the creation of a high degree of sensory pageantry, which led to the activation of episodic memory

(Whitehouse 2000: 7, 119–22; McCauley and Lawson 2002; Slone 2006: 9; Xygalatas 2012a: 151–58, 164–66). Through these rituals, the members of such cults experienced traumatic emotions that left indelible memo- ries. These ritual acts fit Whitehouse’s characterization of such events as imagistic mode of religiosity (Whitehouse 1996; 2000: 21–33, 177; 2004: 148–51; Whitehouse and Lanman 2014; McCauley and Lawson 2002: 195– 98, 222–29; Martin 2005: 354–55; Slone 2006: 9; Xygalatas 2012a: 137–38, 144–50, 158–60, 163–67, 187–88; Lisdorf 2009; Pachis 2009; Larson 2016: 191–98, 222–29, 276). The individual’s high level of arousal were related to neurophysiological mechanisms, such as opioids (dopamine and mainly endorphins) that triggered the brain’s opioid receptors and the pain-offset psychological mechanisms (Pachis 2009: 222; Xygalatas 2008; 2012a; 2012b; Fischer et al. 2014). The latter is directly connected with the rise of post-ritual bonding and euphoria as experienced in the aftermath of these rites, as well as to the activation of the brain’s pleasure and rewards systems. According to Whitehouse, the end result was a spontaneous exegetical reflection, a mythology-inspired, personally relevant, meaning- making process by which each individual sought to understand the evoked emotional reasoning (Whitehouse 2004: 70–73, 113–17). The initiates made sense of what they had to endure thanks to the mythical scaffolding provided by the cult itself, i.e., Attis’ sacrifice, and the memory of the initia- tory trauma encouraged, as Whitehouse described, a “boundary-conscious ritual communit[y], [whose internal emphasis was] on cohesiveness and solidarity”. An “egalitarian ethos” could be hypothesized since “revelations [were] not mediated by leaders” (the archigalli) who were just institutional supervisors (cf. Whitehouse 1996: 72). If not overcome by resentment and regret over their life-changing decision, novices were overwhelmed by feelings of gratitude, which further intensified their feeling of absolute obedi- ence to the will of the deity. This feeling can also be approached from the evolutionary prospects for gratitude based on the costly signaling theory of religious behaviour (Emmons and McNamara 2006; Bulbulia 2004; Irons 2001: 292–309; Sosis 2003: 91–127). Human communities adopt certain elaborate rituals in order to deter free-riders and signal social commitment through infallible, hard-to-fake, and foolproof behaviours, like circumcision, snake handling, or, in our case, castration. Finally, given the mythical and physical presence of the goddess herself during the ritual (thanks to her simulacrum), the sense of gratitude for having been initiated into her circle of worshipers created a direct and personally meaningful bridge of communication between the faithful and the divine agent (Emmons and McNamara 2003; Emmons and McCullough 2004). From the perspective

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020 The Rites of the Day of Blood of cognitive psychology, gratitude is a cognitive-emotional state usually associated with the idea that someone may have personally benefited from a relationship despite a feeling of unworthiness, or someone may have gained something due to the preferential treatment by another person or, in this case, a superhuman entity. In this way, both feelings of confidence and interpersonal relations are reinforced (Emmons and McNamara 2006; Crook 2004: 75, 111–13, 116–17, 122–23, 131–32, 200, 224; cf. Alvar 2008: 256–57 n. 180). Finally, it is interesting to point out that a cross-cultural perspective could add to the cognitive sex and gender topics involved in Graeco-Roman anthropology. Similar traditions can be found in Polynesian societies with gender-liminal males, called mahu in Tahiti and Hawaii and fa’afafine in Samoa (Besnier 1994; Williams 2010: 337 n. 101). Moreover, the hijra of India, who undergo castration to become, according to Williams, “neither men nor women” (Williams 2010: 337 and n. 101; van Haeperen 2018: 33. Cf. Nanda 1990; 1994; Roscoe 1996; Taylor 1997) adopt customs that are somewhat reminiscent of those of the galli (i.e., street performances, dancing, extreme rituals, devotion to a mother goddess) (Roller 1999: 320–25; Williams 2010: 337 and n. 101; cf. Serena 1990; 1994; Besnier 1994; Roscoe 1996; Taylor 1997).

Conclusions

The importance of incorporating the findings of cognitive science into the study of religiosity in antiquity (and vice versa) indicates that data from “dead minds” is data from human minds, and that the past is not (always) dead. From such a perspective, the study of the dies sanguinis, which was of particular importance during the annual Graeco-Roman festivities of the cult of Cybele and Attis, supplies an ideal case study worth investigating further. When seen through the lens of neurocognitive studies, this anthropology of the religious past is well suited to offer a counterargument to the historiographical conceptualization of toxic traditions, highlighting that even apparently futile, sub-optimal, and even potentially fatal behaviours motivated by counterintuitive religious ideas, can underlie socially adaptive strategies both for the group and the individual while strengthening the cohesion and the cooperativeness of the community through high ordeal rituals. However, more interdisciplinary research in the subfield of sex and gender studies in ancient history is needed if we want to have a clearer social picture of all these fascinating belief-behaviour complexes.

Endnotes

1. Panayotis Pachis is Professor of Religious Studies at the Aristotle University of Thessa- loniki, Greece. He is the editor of Studies in Hellenistic Religions (Cascade Books, 2018), Chas- ing Down Religion: In the Sights of History and the Cognitive Sciences, co-edited with Donald Wiebe (Equinox, 2014), and author of Religion and Politics in the Graeco-Roman World: Rede- scribing the Isis-Sarapis Cult (Barbounakis, 2010). The author would like to thank Dimitris Xygalatas, the editors of the Journal of Cognitive Historiography, and the anonymous reviewer for their valuable contributions regarding bibliography, suggestions, and criticisms. 2. Please note that, because of space limits, I won’t discuss here all the mythical variants, the archaeological documents, and past and contemporary (re-)interpretations of the cult according to other paradigms (cf. Casadio 2003). I refer the interested readers to the cited references. 3. The first relevant testimony about the presence of a gallus is found in epigrams dating to the the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE (Pachis 1996) as well as in a relief from Cyzicus in Asia Minor that dates back to 46 BCE (Roller 1999: 332–33 and fig. 76). 4. See also the relevant inscriptions pro salute imperatore, Duthoy 1969. Similar tenden- cies are observed in the Isis/Sarapis cult during the Graeco-Roman period; see Apuleius, Metamorphoses XI 17. 5. These dances were τὰ βακχικὰ καὶ κορυβαντικὰ σκιρτήματα; see Plutarchus, Amato- rius 759a12. Cf. also CIL VI 2265. For the cognitive aspects of dancing in ancient Greek religion, see Larson 2016: 148–56. 6. Norenzayan explains the above rites according to Joseph Henrich’s theory on Cred- ibility Enhancing Displays [CRED], arguing that behaviours and ideas are successfully spread due to a strong sense of commitment that stem from beliefs that are deemed credible thanks to related visible and tangible displays of commitment. See Henrich 2009; Ambas- ciano 2016: 1051 and n. 18.

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