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In the Eye of the Beholder

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In the Eye of the Beholder IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: THE PARADOX OF THE ROMAN PERCEPTION REGARDING THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE EUNUCH PRIEST IN IMPERIAL ROME Silvia de Wild Supervisor 1: dr. M. (Martijn) Icks Second Reader: dr. M.P. (Mathieu) de Bakker MA Classics and Ancient Civilizations (Classics) Student number: 11238100 Words: 22.603 June 25, 2020 [email protected] 2 IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: THE PARADOX OF THE ROMAN PERCEPTION REGARDING THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE EUNUCH PRIEST IN IMPERIAL ROME University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Humanities Amsterdam Centre for Ancient Studies and Archaeology (ACASA), Classics and Ancient Civilizations: Classics (MA) Silvia de Wild Schoolstraat 5 8911 BH Leeuwarden Tel.: 0616359454/ 058-8446762 [email protected]/ [email protected] Student number: 11238100 Supervisor: dr. M. (Martijn) Icks Second Reader: dr. M.P. (Mathieu) de Bakker Words: 22.603 (appendix, bibliography, citations, source texts and translations not included) June 25, 2020. I herewith declare that this thesis is an original piece of work, which was written exclusively by me. Those instances where I have derived material from other sources, I have made explicit in the text and the notes. (Leeuwarden, June 25, 2020) 3 I would like to thank dr. L.A. (Lucinda) Dirven for sharing her time and expertise on this subject. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Research question 6 Methods and overview 7 1. Introduction 9 2. The imperial (r)evolution of the cult of Cybele and Attis 16 3. Eunuch priests in the eye of an ass: a case study on the perception of the wandering priests in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses 8.24 - 9.10 30 4. The presentation of galli in epigraphy 51 5. Conclusion 66 Appendix: illustrations of material evidence 69 Bibliography 84 5 RESEARCH QUESTION The galli, priest-castrates of the goddess Cybele or Mater Magna, the Great Mother of Gods, were reviled in Roman literature for their voluntary castration and their exotic unmanly appearance, yet they remained the priestly symbol of the Romanized public state cult that was modelled on the worship of the patron deity of the temple state Pessinus in Asia Minor. This paradox of acceptance and repulsion has led to many debates among modern scholars. This thesis will add to the discussion by examining the perception of the gallus within Roman society in the imperial age, focusing on the period when all reorganizations of the Mater Magna cult were fully implemented: the second century to the third century AD. How did the Romans perceive and identify a person who presented himself as a gallus after the imperial re-organization of the cult of Mater Magna as a public state cult? 6 METHODS AND OVERVIEW 1. Introduction, status quaestionis. In the first chapter, I shall give an overview of the current academic debate on the perception and social position of the gallus, which started in the second half of the twentieth century AD. The outcome of this debate will serve as a hypothesis that will be further tested through social-historical, textual, iconographical and epigraphical analysis. 2. The imperial (r)evolution of the cult of Cybele and Attis In this chapter, I will discuss the position of the cult of Cybele and Attis within the framework of the imperial ideology of Augustus and his successors. I will base my conclusions on examining and interpreting primary literary sources, supported by additional archaeological evidence. 3. Eunuch priests in the eye of an ass: a case study on Apuleius’ Metamorphoses 8.24 - 9.10 To illustrate the complexity of studying the ancient perception of the eunuch priest provided by literary sources from antiquity, I will present a case study on the episode of the wandering priests in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses (8.24 - 9.10), a passage that is often used as an example of the negative attitude of the Romans towards the gallus’ castrated status and foreign identity, which led to a generalizing premise that caused the “gallus paradox” in modern studies. The case study will shed a light on the social status and the livelihood of the wandering priests by examining the narrated world rather than the biased view of the overt narrator. Through narratological analysis, I also believe that the identity of Apuleius’ “priests” has been misunderstood: by adding certain frames that were probably not found in the original (Greek) version of the novel, Apuleius reveals his wandering priests of Dea Syria to be swindlers instead of genuine priest-castrates. 7 4. The presentation of galli in epigraphy The second case study will analyse a selection of iconographical and epigraphical material from the Roman Empire on the galli and the archigalli, focusing on the second and early third century AD, in order to present a better picture on their social status and (self-)portrayal. 5. Conclusion By interpreting and comparing the outcomes of these chapters, I will try to reframe and answer my research question and provide a foundation for further research. 8 1. INTRODUCTION: AN OVERVIEW OF THE ACADEMIC DEBATE ON THE GALLI IN THE GREEK AND ROMAN WORLD When the Romans adopted the cult of Cybele, the “Mother of the mountains” or “Great Mother” (Mater Magna) from the Galatian temple state Pessinus in the third century BCE, they were also introduced to Pessinus’ eunuch priests known as galli. Already in the days of the Republic, a temple for the goddess was built on the Palatine, where she was served by indigenous priests.1 Under the Principate of Augustus, the role of Mater Magna as a protective deity of the state was enlarged: within imperial state ideology, Mater Magna and her cult attendants became a symbol of Rome’s mythical and heroic past and the Empire’s future greatness.2 The inclusion of the “Phrygian” galli in the imperial state cult of Cybele led to an interesting paradox within the Roman community: whereas all the foreign insignia of the galli, including the rite of self-castration, were considered to be a vital element within the Romanized cult, a person who presented himself as a gallus outside these ritual cultic performances was deemed “un-Roman” by Roman society and conceived with contempt in most of the surviving sources from antiquity.3 The gallus’ conflicting position has been questioned and researched within the fields of sociology, anthropology, religious studies, ancient history and classical studies. The first debates on interpreting the social position on galli were triggered around the same time as the interest in the cult of Cybele and Attis was aroused by the excavations at Pessinus (Ballıhisar, Turkey), the centre of the Phrygian cult, led by Pieter Lambrechts (1967-73).4 During the seventies and eighties of the last century, religious historian Maarten Josef Vermaseren recorded all known monuments related to the Cybele cult in Corpus Cultus Cybelae Attidisque (CCCA). In his book Cybele and Attis, the myth and the cult (1977), which served as an introduction to this corpus, Vermaseren gathered historical sources to picture an overall 1 Dionysius of Halicarnassus 2.19.3-5. 2 Lynn. E. Roller, In Search of God the Mother: The Cult of Anatolian Cybele (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1999), 299. 3 Cf. Martial, Apuleius, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Juvenal. For literary sources, see Maarten Jozef Vermaseren, Cybele and Attis, the myth and the cult, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1977), chapter 3 and 5; Roller, God the Mother, chapter 10. 4 Pieter Lambrechts, Attis. Van herdersknaap tot god (Brussels: Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie, 1962); Pieter Lambrechts, Raymond Bogaert, “Asclepios, archigalle Pessinontien de Cybele,” in Hommages a M. Renard, Vol. 2. Ed. J. Bibauw (Brussels: Latomus, 1969), 404-414. 9 impression of the cult and its priests. He attributes the negative eye of the Romans on the galli mostly to the gallus’ voluntary act of castration, something that must have “bewildered the Romans as an incomprehensible act of insanity” and led to mocking remarks by Roman writers, who held the opinion that these semiviri or half-men were only to be pitied.5 The CCCA still serves as a useful basis for historians because of its source material, but it lacks a level of scientific debate (and does not aim at that); moreover, following the publication of the CCCA, new source material has been discovered. The mere fact that the galli remained to serve a very visible, irreplaceable role in the Roman worship of Mater Magna by performing their “effeminate” and “oriental” ritual dances at the national festivals, suggests that they could not have been total outsiders within the Roman community. Studying the galli from a historical anthropological and behavioural point of view, ancient historian Mary Beard (1992; 1994) observes that the galli were the priestly symbol of the cult, even though other Roman officials held the responsible positions.6 The inspirational, shamanic aspect of the priesthood as well as the “flamboyantly foreign” and frenzied behaviour of the eunuch priests however, conflicted at points with the Roman norms on priesthood and may have been perceived as dangerous, especially since Roman religion and political power were traditionally inextricably linked.7 Lynn Roller (1997) explored the identity of the gallus within the field of gender studies, seemingly unaware of the work done by Beard. Roller notes that it is “important to understand that we are not examining the actual circumstances of the lives of these eunuch priests, but rather the ancient perception of them”,8 since we do not possess any direct sources from the eunuch priests themselves. Roller states that in antiquity, it was necessary to have gender “to play the biological and social role assigned to one’s gender to be fully human.”9 Galli deprived themselves willingly of their gender and were therefore perceived as disgusting, pitiful creatures in the Graeco-Roman world.
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