CYBELE (MAGNA MATER)
This statue from the Getty Museum
depicts Cybele in her classic
pose. She is seated on a throne, wearing a turreted crown, and accompanied by lions. According to Margarete Bieber, The Statue of Cybele in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu, 1968), the statue dates to about 150 A.D., a time when there was a revival of interest in Cybele’s cult in the Roman empire. The Romans were becoming increasingly drawn to mystic elements in her cult. They turned to her for purification from their sins (the earth continually renews and cleanses herself) and salvation from eternal death (the earth never dies, but constantly brings life out of death).