The Temple of Cybele In First Century Rome Was Similar In Style To The Temple Of Concord, With Six Massive Columns Across The Front But Without Columns Along Either Side.
Archaeologists tell us the Temple of Cybele was a prostyle, Roman hexstyle design.
Temple of Concord, Agrigentum, Sicily.
Cybele’s Temple in first century Rome resembled this temple but without the side columns. Roman hexstyle temples featured six massive columns across the front, similar to the Temple of Concord at Agrigentum (a Greek city on the island of Sicily). The well preserved ruins of the Temple of Concord still exist today.
Prostyle Temple Design
This is a prostyle, hexstyle temple, with six columns across the front but without columns along the entire length of each side.
According to the University of Chicago, the Temple of Magna Mater - Cybele, (This Link will open in a new page), was a prostyle, Roman hexstyle, Corinthian temple, with columns across the front but without columns along the length of both sides."It was decided to attribute the actual ruins (pictured below - Photo A), to the Temple of the Magna Mater because of the statue of the goddess found near the edifice, and now in the close Domus Tiberiana, and to an inscription found on the right side of the façade, that says: M(ater) D(eum) M(agna) I(daea). A coin of Faustina the elder confirms this, showing the entire shape of this temple of Corinthian order. Another confirmation is given by a relief of Claudian age, now at Villa Medici, with the representation of the same facade." | The primary difference between the Temple of Magna Mater (Cybele) on the Palatine Hill in first century Rome and the Temple of Concord is that Cybele’s Temple had six columns across the front (at the top of the white stone steps) but did not have columns along the length of both sides. A few of the white stone steps of Cybele's Temple are still visible today (see earlier photo on this page).
Temple of Concorde, Agrigentum, Sicily, with its massive columns, resembles Cybele’s Temple in ancient Rome.
On the edge of the Palatine Hill lie the ruins of an ancient temple, the Temple of Cybele, the Magna Mater, near which have been found inscriptions to the Magna Mater (the Great Mother of the gods).
Photo A
Ruins of Cybele’s Temple, on the Palatine Hill in modern Rome.
These ruins included a huge seated female figure, Cybele, on a throne, the base of which features lion’s paws. Lions were the traditional attendants of Cybele, the Magna Mater and Rome's reigning fertility goddess. The stone walls of the base upon which the Cybele figure sat are 12’ thick. The ruins of Cybele's prostyle, Roman hexstyle temple indicate that the original temple was 56’ wide and 108’ long. Cybele’s main Temple on the Palatine Hill (there were five Cybele temples in ancient Rome), was destroyed in the 4th century AD. Today only a few ruins remain.
In Cybele's Temple, castrated, transvestite Galli priests offered themselves sexually to male worshipers. This pagan same sex activity is what Paul describes in Romans 1:27 "And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet."
Temple of Concorde, Agrigentum, Sicily, models an architectural style similar to Cybele’s Temple on the Palatine Hill in first century Rome.
This cultic same sex, sexual activity in Cybele's Temple does not equate to modern homosexuality anymore than rape equates to heterosexuality. Idolatry, fertility goddess worship and shrine prostitution frame the historical setting in which first century Christians received Paul’s letter to Rome. Romans 1:26-27"For this cause [idolatry] God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." | In Romans 1, Paul addressed a particular religious situation in the city of Rome. Traditionalists view Paul’s words in vs. 26-27, especially the phrase against nature as a universal prohibition of homosexuality, a generic prohibition of any and all homoerotic practice. This view ignores the context of Paul’s argument and the most basic rule of hermeneutics. Scripture cannot mean now what it did not mean then. Paul’s words in Romans 1 are neither generic nor theoretical. In Romans 1, Paul was addressing a real situation faced by Christians in first century Rome. He was not making a sweeping, universal condemnation of any and all same sex activity, divorced from the cultural and historical context of his argument against idolatry. If Paul's words in Romans 1:26-27 were not a universal reference to homosexuality in the first century, then Romans 1:26-27 are not a universal reference to homosexuality now. Reading into the text what Paul did not say (a universal prohibition of homosexuality) is called eisogesis - wrongly interpreting the text. That kind of faulty interpretation is unworthy of Christians who love the word of God. Paul's words to the Christian community in ancient Rome come from his knowledge of the first century world in which he lived. His carefully tailored argument in Romans 1 is set in the specific context of Gentile and Jewish history, complete with first century illustrations familiar to his first century readers. Paul’s readers were intimately acquainted, as we are not, with Greek, Jewish and Roman culture and the shrine prostitution which permeated those ancient cultures. Fertility goddess Cults Flourished In RomeAs residents of the Imperial City, ancient Romans personally observed the thousands of statues of false gods, the hundreds of pagan temples, the pagan worshipers thronging the grand streets for religious festivals. Commentators who ignore the historical and religious context of Romans 1 entirely miss the point of Paul's argument against idolatry and shrine prostitution. Fertility goddess worship and shrine prostitution flourished in first century Rome and are precisely what Paul addressed in Romans 1. Attempts by nongay Christian traditionalists, to divorce Romans 1 from its historical context is due more to their support of an antigay agenda than a desire to honestly understand Romans 1. A Cybele Fountain In Spain This Spanish fountain, honoring Cybele, the pagan fertility goddess of ancient Rome, depicts Cybele riding in her chariot pulled by lions.
Factual information is a wonderful antidote for ignorance.Cybele the fertility goddess (this Link will open in a new page) was worshiped throughout the Roman Empire and was also depicted on Roman coins. It is impossible to separate Paul's words in Romans 1 from the fertility goddess worship that permeated first century Rome. In the heart of Rome, a temple to Cybele was constructed in 194 BC. When fire destroyed the original temple, Augustus rebuilt it in 3 BC. Cybele, a prominent first century fertility goddess, was sometimes called (Magna Mater) or Great Mother and (Mater Deum) or Mother of the gods. First century Romans worshiped her as the Sacred Protectress of Rome. Roman Coins Testify To Cybele's Influence
Cybele, on this ancient Roman coin, is called Mater Deum, "Mother of the gods."
By the first century AD, when Paul wrote Romans 1, the Cybele cult was one of the most powerful in the Roman Empire.Click here for more photos and information about the fertility goddess Cybele, the Mater Deum, “mother of the gods” on ancient Roman coins. (This Link will open in a new page).
Cybele worship included orgiastic sexual rites and ritual bloodletting by priests and priestesses, similar to the practice of Baal worshippers in the Old Testament. “And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.” I Kings 18:28. Some priests castrated themselves, accompanied by wild music and frenetic dancing. In the first century, religious festivals honoring Cybele were celebrated in the streets. Castrated, long haired priests preceded the image of the goddess, beating drums and cymbals, showing off their colorful clothing. The Unholy Priests Of CybeleThe priests of Cybele (this Link will open in a new page), were called gallus or galli, referring to their manmade eunuch status. They were physically castrated to further their sexual service to the fertility goddess. Male worshipers would engage in anal sex with the priests, as an offering to the goddess. This is the shameful activity Paul was referring to in Romans 1:27.
Bas Relief of an Archigalla priest of Cybele. An Archigalla was a head priest.
"Galli, castrated, male, eunuch priests, were found in many goddess cults. They functioned as representatives of the goddess, offering themselves sexually to male worshippers. These religious practices flourished in first century Rome..." A Dictionary Of Greek And Roman Antiquities, Third Edition, Appleton, 1874, p. 566, Galli definition. Fertility goddess Names In The Ancient Near East“The religions which developed these ideas were all based on a maternal figure, found under different names throughout a great part of the Near East. To the Phoenicians she was Astarte; to the Phrygians, Cybele; to the Babylonians, Ishtar; to the Thracians, Bendis; to the Cretans, Rhea; to the Ephesians, Artemis; to the Canaanites, Atargatis; to the Persians, Anaitis; to the Cappadocians, Ma. But though her names differ, her attributes are the same - she is always the mother who succours and helps, and who bestows fertility. This composite figure was generally known as Magna Mater, the great mother, and it was said that she was mother of all the other gods... ‘On certain days a multitude flocks to the temple, and the Galli in great numbers, sacred as they are, perform the ceremonies of the men and gash their arms and turn their backs to be lashed [I Kings 18:28]. Many bystanders play on the pipes, while many beat drums; others sing divine and sacred songs. All this performance takes place outside the temple... As the Galli sing and celebrate their orgies, frenzy falls on some of them, and many who had come as mere spectators afterwards are found to have committed the great act [self castration].”
(Sex In History, Gordon Rattray Taylor, 1954, Book 3, ch 12). |  |
This idolatry and shrine prostitution are primarily what Paul addressed in Romans 1, not homosexuality and not lesbianism.
Painting of a Galli priest of Cybele.
Paul grounds his Romans 1 argument in historical fact, dealing with what Christians witnessed in Rome every day, the idolatry and shrine prostitution which surrounded the worship of false gods.For a more detailed study of Romans 1, which opens in a new page, visit Romans 1:18-32 -Paul, the goddess Religions and Homosexuality by Jeramy Townsley.
Here's Your Opportunity To Help Others By Sharing Additional Insights And Historical Information About The Context Of Romans 1:26-27
Your factual insight and spiritual perspective about the Romans 1:26-27 passage could be helpful to thousands of gay and lesbian Christians in more than 103 countries around the world.
Gay Christian 101 - Spiritual Self-Defense For Gay Christians.There are four popular analogies which are used to validate Gay Relationships as blessed by God. Click here to examine these four popular analogies. Here is a real-life example of a prominent gay partnership in scripture - the amazing true love story of Jonathan and David is the greatest human love story in the Bible. Jesus identified the sin of Sodom and it was not homosexuality. I am saying that the Holiness Code was aimed at Israel, in a specific place, the land of Palestine, in a specific time period, while Israel was in the land, living under the Law. And what some Christians wrongly interpret as a universal prohibition of all gay relationships is, in reality, a prohibition of shrine prostitution in worship of the Canaanite fertility goddess. What was a sodomite in the Bible? Was it a homosexual, as many conservative preachers insist or was a sodomite in the Bible always a shrine prostitute who worshipped the Canaanite fertility goddess? Those who believe that the Centurion’s pais was only a servant and not the same sex partner of the gay Centurion, cite Greek lexicons to prove their case. Since most Biblical Greek lexicons do not mention beloved or same sex lover as possible meanings of pais, most nongay Christians insist same sex lover could not possibly be the meaning of pais. You’ve read about the historical context of Romans 1. Click Here To Return To Gay Christian 101.com Home Page. In Gay Christian 101: Spiritual Self-Defense For Gay Christians, I list 18 possible ways to interpret the Levitical Holiness Code, where it is alleged to deal with homosexuality. Family Values in the Bible are so different from Traditional family values as taught by Focus On The Family that modern Christians would totally reject the "family values" practiced by Abraham and Sarah, Ruth and Boaz and many of the heroes of faith in the Old Testament. Did you know that Christians are not required to keep the Old Testament Law to be right with God?
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