PART
2 – Ch.XII.9
(The
principal prehistoric divinities of
XII.
9. Rhea, ‘Rea, ‘Ree, ‘Reia.
While in
ante-Homeric religion Saturn was
considered the personification of the supreme being of the sky, Rhea, his wife, represented in a newer
form the divinity of the earth which gave birth to everything, Gaea, Tellus or Terra.
Her honorific
titles on the territory of ancient Hellada were: Megale Mater ton theon (Diodorus Siculus, lib. I. 31. 4),
Mater ton theon (Ibid. lib. V. 49. 2), megale theos (Pausanias, lib. I. 31. 4), Ma
(Stephanus Byz.), and thea
pammator ‘Reie (C. I. G. 6012c).
The Romans called
Rhea in their public cult Magna deum
Mater (Lucretius, R.N. II. v.
591); Deum Mater (Ovid, Metam. X. 103-104, 686; Livy, lib. XXIX. c. 10); Terra Mater (Macrobius, Sat. I. c. 12); Ops
(or Opis); and Maja (Macrobius, Sat. I.
10; Ovid, Fast. VI. V. 285;
The name Rhea, in
old Pelasgian language, was just a simple appellative, with the meaning of “
In Greek legends
the name Rhea is sometimes replaced, or better said interpreted, with the term Basilea (Diodorus Siculus, lib. III. c.57), while in the official Roman cult
with the appellative “
[1. From the Greek name of Basilea and the Pelasgian name of Rea, the tradition noted by Diodorus
Siculus had made up two sisters, out of whom the first, being older, had
received the name of the Great Mother].
Rhea, also called Opis by the Romans, and
Rhea was especially
worshipped though as the “Mother of the
mountains”, as reigning over the forests, valleys and springs, as the protective
divinity of the shepherds, of the flocks, Mater oreia, Mater montium (Diodorus
Siculus, lib. III. 58), and as Mater
ferarum, the mistress of the wild animals (Lucretius, R. N. lib. II. v. 590 seqq). In this quality, to the
Great Mother or Rhea were consecrated especially the heights of the mountains,
the springs, the rivers (Pausanias,
lib. VIII. 44. 3) and the caves (Ibid. lib. X. 32. 4; Preller, Gr. Myth.
The legendary
figure of Niobe from
The cult of the
Great Mother or Rhea was especially honored in prehistoric antiquity on the
As divinity of
mountains and agriculture, Rhea or the Great Mother was one of the most
worshipped and popular figures in the religion of the Pelasgian tribes migrated
to
The Sibylline
books, whose origin was reduced to the most ancient times of the Roman state,
contained an archaic tradition regarding the holy simulacrum of Rhea or the
Great mother, which had been in the hands of the Phrygians from the most
obscure antiquity, exactly as the image of Diana from the Tauric peninsula was
in the possession of the Pelasgians of Cappadocia, according to their tales.
“The Mother”,
writes Ovid (Fast. IV. v. 259),
loved the mountain Dindymos, the
mountain Cybele, the fine mountain Ida with its springs, and the wealthy
citadel of
But the fathers of
In the northern
parts of Istru and the Black Sea, the cult of the telluric divinity, or the
Great Mother, had been preponderant even from the most remote ante-historical
times [2].
[2. As
On the
The term of Matron
or Matroum, considered as archaic
even during the times of Pausanias
(lib. V. 20. 9), appears on the former
Motru is even today the name of a significant
river in the western parts of
Motru is the name of a monastery situated near this river, in Gorj district.
Another monastery, built as a fortress on the hill
located at the confluence of the rivers Motru and Jiu, which enjoyed a certain
celebrity during Romanian history, is called even today Motru or Gura-Motrului
(TN – the mouth of Motru - Frundzescu,
Dictionar top. al Romaniei). Another mountain from the upper region of this
river, and two other hills from its lower part, have also the name of Motru.
These are precious
historical reminders of the fact that once, in this fine and fertile
At the place where
today the tower of Severin rises on some ancient ruins, a portico for travelers and merchants, dedicated to the Great Mother
(C. I. L. III. nr. 1582), had been built during Roman domination, proof that
near this colonnade there existed in Roman times a commercial market and a
renowned temple consecrated to the great divinity of the shepherds and
agriculture.
We also find the
same remains of temples and ancient sanctuaries, dedicated to the Mother of
gods, in the wonderful region of Olt, in both its fir forests and its limitless
meadows. These sanctuaries were called here by the pastoral and rustic
population, either Motru, or Mamu (Frundzescu, Dictionar top. al Romaniei).
But among all these
sacred places, the most important temple of the Mother of gods seems to have been that from Gura-Motrului [3].
[3. We also find important traces
about the antique cult of Rhea, on the
Mane was the
honorific title of Saturn, and Manesa appears as a folk name given to
the Great Mother divinity. Various
heights of the Carpathians bear this name].
The old history of
this monastery has been lost, but the remains of the palaces here and the
building of this monastery after the archaic custom, as a fortress on a
hilltop, tell us that the sanctuary from Gura-Motrului had once a great renown
and an expansive cult, exactly like the magnificent temple of Apollo at the
mouths of the Danube [4].
[4. The Great geographical dictionary of
The Column of Trajan (Froener, pl.130) shows on
the territory of Dacia, in the parts of today Oltenia, a circular temple of the Great mother, where can also be observed two
priests of the goddess, sacerdos tunicis
muliebribus].
On the territory of
ancient Hellada, the cult of the divinity of Earth had always the character of
a foreign religion, imported from the barbarian lands (Plato, Cratylus,
Suidas has preserved a precious historical note
about the beginning of the cult of the Great Mother in
“A man”, writes he,
“called Metragurtes, traveling through
This was, according
to Greek traditions, the origin of the Matrou
and the cult of the Mother of gods with the Athenians.
The name Metragurtes is not a personal name, but
an ethnic name, from the locality of origin of this priest of the Great Mother
[5].
[5. One of the Dactyli, ancient priests of the Great Mother, had the name Scythes (Pauly, Real-Encyclopadie, p.55). Cecrops, the first king of Attica, about whom Macrobius tells us (Sat. I. 10) that he consecrated there an altar
to Saturn and Rhea, was, as we shall later see, one of the heroes of the
Pelasgian race from Istru].
This form of Metragurtes supposes a locality with
the name of Metra-gora, as the ancient Greeks formed the ethnic names of
Gabalites from Gabala and Abderites from Abdera (Stephanos Byz.). But a locality with the name of Metra-gora
never existed, either on the
Exactly as the cult
of Apollo extended towards Delphi, Delos and Troy, through the shepherds from
north of the Istru, through the prophets and preachers of this solar cult, in
the same way the religion of the Great Mother was also imported in Greece
through the ambulant priests from the barbarian lands, especially those of the
pious Hyperboreans, who sent their gifts in wheat sheaves towards the southern
parts.
Various traces from
the religion of the Mother of gods, still preserved in the folk traditions
(legends, carols, incantations), as well as numerous traces of the cult and the
simulacra of this divinity through the Carpathians of Dacia, tell us that the
religion of the great Mother, of Gaea, Rhea, or the personified Earth, was once
the principal religion of this country.
On antique monuments,
the divinity of Earth, or the Mother of gods, is usually represented sitting,
either on a throne, as a matron or queen (
Her clothes were
adorned with precious stones and various metals (Albericus, De deorum imagine, c. 12), and this evokes the costume
and affluence of the wealthy Agathyrses, also called chrisophoroi.
The famous statue
which Phidias, the most illustrious sculptor of Greece, had made for the Matrou
of Athens, represented the Mother of gods sitting on the throne, holding in one
hand a tympanon (TN - bucium), while in the lower part of the throne were
figured some lions (Pausanias, lib.
I. 3.5; Arrianus, Periplus, IX. 1),
as emblem of power, and especially an attribute of one who reigned over all the
animals of the earth.
To Rhea or the Great
Mother was also consecrated the fir tree
(pinus), a tree which we see even today figured, as a living ornament, near the
entries and altars of the churches of Romania, primitive sacred symbol of a
disappeared pastoral-mountainous religion [6].
[6. The gold chair (throne), chariot
(TN – car) and tympanon (TN –
bucium) of Rhea are mentioned even today in Romanian folk incantations:
…the
Mother of God, from the gate of the sky…
On
silver ladder descended, on golden chair
sat, proudly declared:
Do
not wail, as I will give you, in your right hand, golden “bucium”,
In four corners of the
world it shall echo, all the goddesses shall get together…
(Marianu, Incantations, p.10, 100-102)
And
the Mother of God….”bucium” of real gold
In
my right hand has placed,
Bugle of gold, in my left hand has
placed…
(Marianu,
Spells, p.126-137)
The
Mother of God met them
From
her gold chariot she told them….
(Teodorescu,
Folk poetry, p.391)]
The primitive
simulacra of the Great Mother, which once existed, and partly still do in the
Carpathians of our countries, generally bear the name of Babe, s. Baba (TN – Old
women).
The origin of this
name is very old. The primitive meaning of the word “baba” in Romanian language is “grandmother”
(Hasdeu, Marele Dictionar).
This word also
existed in Latin rustic language, exactly like tata (TN – father) and papa
(mos).
Plautus (Stichus, V. 7.3) gives all these
expressions under the form of Babae,
Tatae, Papae.
The same word appears
also in the antique geographical nomenclature.
In Phrygia or in
Pisidia, a locality was named Baba,
from the ethnic word Babanos, which has been preserved in
inscriptions; one Baba-nomon was in
Pontus, westwards from Amasia; Baba
or Babae was the name of a city in
Mauritania Tingitana, which during the time of Augustus had received the rights
of Roman colony; and finally Babyle
(Babyle)
was a locality on the territory of the Odrysii in Thrace (Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie).
In the Italian
language this word appears in the masculine form of “babbo”, “babu”, with the
meaning of tata (In Romania, Valcea
district, Babeni village, babu is a
title of respect which the nephews and nieces give to the uncle). In modern Greek language baba, as well as baba of the Slavs of the
This name,
otherwise synonymous with megale mater, had a national
religious character.
Rhea, the supreme
feminine divinity, was considered as the Great Mother of the gods and of the
human genus, exactly as Saturn, worshipped as the father of gods, and the
genealogical originator of the Pelasgian tribes, was called “Mos” (avus, senex, presbytes)
[7].
[7. As the most majestic heights of
the Carpathians were once consecrated to the supreme divinity of the sky, Saturn, under the name of Tatal, Tatra, Tartar(os), Manea, Mosul
and Popau (Papaeus), similarly a
very considerable number of crests, caves and natural pyramids of the
Carpathians were dedicated once to the cult of the Great Mother, as Terra Mater
and Dea montium, under the name of Tatoia, Matra, Mama, Tartaroia, Manesa
and Papusa (the feminine form of Papaeus, in Macedonian Romanian pap and pap aus). Compare the personal names Olympos and Olympusa (Apollod. II. 7. 8), Thoon and Thoosa (Homer, Iliad. V.
152; Odyss. I. 71).
The Great Mother as divinity of the
earth was worshipped in our countries also under the archaic name of Popina. In
The origin of the name is archaic.
We still find in the ancient cult of the Latin and Etruscan tribes, traces of
worship of a divinity of an old woman called Juna Populonia, by its primitive character identical with the Great
Mother (Macrobius, Sat. III. 11; Preller-Jordan, R. M. I. 279). Virgil (Aen. X. 172) presents her under
the name of Populonia mater, and on
an inscription from
In the Greek
legends which Diodorus Siculus
communicates to us, Rhea was also named presbitata (lib. III. c. 57; Isis,
the daughter of Rhea also had the epithet of ancient - Ibid. I. 11.4). The name “babe” (TN – old women) had also been attributed in antiquity to
other national Pelasgian divinities, as a title of respect. Homer gives Juno the epithet presba
too, but with the meaning of “venerated” (Iliad, V. v.721; VII. v.383).
Saint Augustin (De Civ. Dei. III. 2) mentions “baba Vinerea” (TN – old woman Friday)
of the pagans (aviam Venerem). And on an inscription from