Women In Control: Questions about Female Supremacy

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Three thousand years ago the state religion of Phrygia (in what is now Turkey) was centered around the worship崇拜侍奉 — adoring service of the Mother Goddess女神 — a woman treated as divine, there called Cybele. In many parts of the eastern Mediterranean, the Mother Goddess女神 — a woman treated as divine (under a variety of names), was served by a priesthood that often consisted of feminized males.

The Romans followed a Sibylline prophecy that the enemy could be expelled and conquered if the Goddess女神 — a woman treated as divine were brought to Rome, together with her sacred symbol, a small stone reputed to have fallen from the heavens. By the end of the Roman Republic, the Cybele religion had attained prominence and under the empire it became one of the most important cults in the Roman world.

Cybele's priests, the Galli, castrated themselves on entering her service. The castration was justified by the myth that the Goddess女神 — a woman treated as divine Cybele had a lover, the fertility god Attis. The fable goes that he had emasculated himself under a pine tree, where he bled to death. Violets were created and sprung to life from the blood of Attis. In this fable, the Goddess女神 — a woman treated as divine Cybele later raised Attis from the dead as a woman.