Listed 20 sub titles with search on: Mythology for destination: "FRYGIA Ancient country TURKEY".
Corybantes, (Korubantes). The ministers or priests of Rhea, or Cybele, the great mother of the gods, who was worshipped in Phrygia. In their solemn festivals they displayed the most extravagant fury in their dances in armour, as well as in the accompanying music of flutes, cymbals, and drums. Hence korubantismos was the name given to an imaginary disease, in which persons felt as if some great noise were rattling in their ears. The Corybantes are often identified with the Idaean Dactyli, and are thus said to have been the nurses of Zeus when he was suckled by the goat Amalthea in Crete.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Cybele, Phrygian goddess who was incorporated into the Greek pantheon. She
was worshipped as a Mother Goddess, and was often identified with the likes of
Rhea, Demeter, Hecate or Aphrodite. She was also considered to be the mother of
the mystic Dionysos Sabazius, that the Orphic mystery cult principally worshipped.
Cybele fell in love with Atys and made him her priest. Before he took
his vows, he could no resist having a final affair with the nymph Sagaritis. In
a fit of jealousy, Cybele punished him for this and drove him temporarily insane.
When he recovered, Atys was mortified to discover that he had emasculated himself
during his insanity. He then wanted to commit suicide, but Cybele turned him into
a fir tree. After these events, all priests in Cybele's service had to castrated
themselves, and the fir tree became her holy tree.
Another version tells us that Cybele really was the daughter of the
Phrygian king Maeon. She eloped with Atys since her family disagreed with their
relationship, and for this he king killed Atys. This drove Cybele mad with grief
and she would let no one come near the corpse. She roamed the countryside and
sang lamentations accompanied by cymbals.
Because Atys was not buried his corpse caused a plague, and on oracle
said his remains must be burned to stop the epidemic. The decay was too far gone,
though, and an image of him was burned instead. Cybele was from then on worshipped
as a goddess.
There is yet another version that tells us Hera was jealous of Atys,
and killed him by sending a boar. He was then buried under Mt. Agclistis, and
there a cult to him and Cybele was founded.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
Dindymene (Dindumene), a surname of Cybele, derived either from mount Dindymus
in Phrygia, where a temple was believed to have been built to her by the Argonauts
(Apollon. Rhod. i. 985, with the Schol.; Strab. xii.; Callim. Epigr. 42; Horat.
Carm. i. 16. 5; Catull. 63, 91; Serv. ad Aen. ix. 617), or from Dindyme, the wife
of Maeon and mother of Cybele (Diod. iii. 58).
Genitrix, that is, "the mother", is used by Ovid (Met. xiv. 536) as a surname of Cybele,
in the place of mater, or magna mater, but it is better known, in the religious
history of Rome, as a surname of Venus, to whom J. Caesar dedicated a temple at
Rome, as the mother of the Julia gens (Suet. Caes. 61, 78, 84; Serv. ad Aen. i.
724). In like manner, Elissa (Dido), the founder of Carthage, i s called Genitrix.
(Sil. Ital. i. 81)
Maeandrus (Maiandros), a son of Oceanus and Tethys, and the god of the winding river Maeander in Phrygia. He was the father of Cyanea and Canaus, who is hence called Maeandrius. (Hes. Theog. 339; Ov. Met. ix. 450, 473.)
Gordys (Gordus), a son of Triptolemus, who assisted in searching after Io, and then settled in Phrygia, where the district of Gordyaea received its name from him. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Gordieion ; Strab.16.2.5)
King of Phrygia, son of Zeus, and father of Pelops and Niobe
Perseus Encyclopedia
Midaσ. The son of Gordius and Cybele. He was the wealthy but
effeminate king of Phrygia, a pupil of Orpheus, and a great patron of the worship
of Dionysus. His wealth is alluded to in a story connected with his childhood,
for it is said that while a child, ants carried grains of wheat into his mouth
to indicate that one day he should be the richest of all mortals. Midas was introduced
into the satyric drama of the Greeks, and was represented with the ears of a Satyr,
which were afterwards lengthened into the ears of an ass. He is said to have built
the town of Ancyra, and as king of Phrygia he is called Berecynthius heros.
There are several stories connected with Midas, of which the
following are the most celebrated: Silenus, the companion and teacher of Dionysus,
had gone astray in a state of intoxication, and was caught by country people in
the rose-gardens of Midas. He was bound with wreaths of flowers and led before
the king. These gardens were in Macedonia, near Mount Bermion or Bromion, where
Midas was king of the Bruges, with whom he afterwards emigrated to Asia, where
their name was changed into Phryges. Midas received Silenus kindly; and, after
treating him with hospitality, he led him back to Dionysus, who allowed Midas
to ask a favour of him. Midas in his folly desired that all things which he touched
should be changed into gold. The request was granted; but as even the food which
he touched became gold, he implored the god to take his favour back. Dionysus
accordingly ordered him to bathe in the source of Pactolus near Mount Tmolus.
This bath saved Midas, but the river from that time had an abundance of gold in
its sand.
Midas, who was himself related to the race of Satyrs, once
had a visit from a Satyr, who indulged in all kinds of jokes at the king's expense.
Thereupon Midas mixed wine in a well; and when the Satyr had drunk of it, he fell
asleep and was caught. This well of Midas was at different times assigned to different
localities. Xenophon places it in the neighbourhood of Thymbrium and Tyraeum,
and Pausanias at Ancyra. Once when Pan and Apollo were engaged in a musical contest
on the flute and lyre, Midas was chosen to decide between them. The king decided
in favour of Pan, whereupon Apollo changed his ears into those of an ass. Midas
contrived to conceal them under his Phrygian cap, but the servant who used to
cut his hair discovered them. The secret so much harassed this man that, as he
dared not betray it to a human being, he dug a hole in the earth, and whispered
into it, "King Midas has ass's ears." He then filled the hole up again,
and his mind was relieved. But on the same spot a reed grew up, which in its whispers
betrayed the secret. Midas is said to have killed himself by drinking the blood
of an ox.
A tomb found at Dogan-lu, in Phrygia, is called "the tomb
of Midas" from the one legible word, midai, upon it.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
A Phrygian, father of Attis.
Anchurus (Anchouros), a son of the Phrygian king Midas, in whose reign the earth opened in the neighbourhood of the town of Celaenae in Phrygia. Midas consulted the oracle in what manner the opening might be closed, and he was commanded to throw into it the most precious thing he possessed. He accordingly threw into it a great quantity of gold and silver, but when the chasm still did not close, his son Anchurus, thinking that life was the most precious of all things, mounted his horse and leapt into the chasm, which closed immediately. (Plut. Parall. 5.)
Agdistis: An androgynous monster, sprung from seed of Zeus, mutilated by gods, loves Attis.
Attis or Atys (Atus). A mythological personage in the worship of the Phrygian goddess Cybele-Agdistis. The son of this goddess, so ran the story, had been mutilated by the gods in terror at his gigantic strength, and from his blood sprang the almond-tree. After eating its fruit, Nana, daughter of the river Sangarius, brought forth a boy, whom she exposed. He was brought up first among the wild goats of the forests, and afterwards by some shepherds, and grew up so beautiful that Agdistis fell in love with him. Wishing to wed the daughter of the king of Pessinus in Phrygia, he was driven to madness by the goddess. He then fled to the mountains, and destroyed his manhood at the foot of a pine-tree, which received his spirit, while from his blood sprang violets to garland the tree. Agdistis besought Zeus that the body of her beloved one might know no corruption. Her prayer was heard; a tomb to Attis was raised on Mount Dindymus in the sanctuary of Cybele, the priests of which had to undergo emasculation for Attis's sake. A festival of several days was held in honour of Attis and Cybele in the beginning of spring. A pine-tree, felled in the forest, was covered with violets, and carried to the shrine of Cybele as a symbol of the departed Attis. Then, amid tumultuous music and rites of wildest sorrow, they sought and mourned for Attis on the mountains. On the third day he was found again, the image of the goddess was purified from the contagion of death, and a feast of joy was celebrated, as wild as had been the days of sorrow. The poem of Catullus which deals with the story of Attis, in galliambic metre, is one of the weirdest and most powerful productions in all literature.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Sep 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Atys, Attys, Attes Attis or Attin (Atus, Attus, Attes) A son of Nana, and a beautiful shepherd of the Phrygian town, Celaenae (Theocr. xx. 40; Philostr. Epist. 39; Tertul. de Nat. 1). His story is related in different ways. According to Ovid (Fast. iv. 221), Cybele loved the beautiful shepherd, and made him her own priest on condition that he should preserve his chastity inviolate. Atys broke the covenant with a nymph, the daughter of the river-god Sangarius, and was thrown by the goddess into a state of madness, in which he unmanned himself. When in consequence he wanted to put an end to his life, Cybele changed him into a firtree, which henceforth became sacred to her, and she commanded that, in future, her priests should be eunuchs.Another story relates, that Atys, the priest of Cybele, fled into a forest to escape the voluptuous embraces of a Phrygian king, but that he was overtaken, and in the ensuing struggle unmanned his pursuer. The dying king avenged himself by inflicting the same calamity upon Atys. Atys was found by the priests of Cybele under a fir-tree, at the moment he was expiring. They carried him into the temple of the goddess, and endeavoured to restore him to life, but in vain. Cybele ordained that the death of Atys should be bewailed every year in solemn lamentations, and that henceforth her priests should be eunuchs. A third account says, that Cybele, when exposed by her father, the Phrygian king Maeon, was fed by panthers and brought up by shepherdesses, and that she afterwards secretly married Atys, who was subsequently called Papas. At this moment, Cybele was recognised and kindly received by her parents; but when her connexion with Atys became known to them, Maeon ordered Attis, and the shepherdesses among whom she had lived, to be put to death. Cybele, maddened with grief at this act of her father, traversed the country amid loud lamentations and the sound of cymbals. Phrygia was now visited by an epidemic and scarcity. The oracle commanded that Attis should be buried, and divine honours paid to Cybele; but as the body of the youth was already in a state of decomposition, the funeral honours were paid to an image of him, which was made as a substitute (Diod. iii. 58, &c). According to a fourth story related by Pausanias (vii. 17.5). Atys was a son of the Phrygian king Calaus, and by nature incapable of propagating his race. When he had grown up, he went to Lydia, where he introduced the worship of Cybele. The grateful goddess conceived such an attachment for him, that Zeus in his anger at it, sent a wild boar into Lydia, which killed many of the inhabitants, and among them Atys also. Atys was believed to be buried in Pessinus under mount Agdistis (Paus. i. 4.5). He was worshipped in the temples of Cybele in common with this goddess (vii. 202; Hesych. s. v. Attes). In works of art he is represented as a shepherd with flute and staff. His worship appears to have been introduced into Greece at a comparatively late period. It is an ingenious opinion of Bottiger, that the mythus of Atys represents the two fold character of nature, the male
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Sep 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Alnond. Virgin impregnated by almond gives birth to Attis.
Baucis, a Phrygian woman, in whose humble dwelling Jupiter and Mercury were hospitably received, after having been refused admission by every one else in the country. Baucis and her husband Philemon were therefore saved by the gods when they visited the country with an inundation; and Jupiter made Baucis and Philemon priests in his temple; and when the two mortals expressed a wish to die together, Jupiter granted their request by changing them simultaneously into trees. (Ov. Met. viii. 620-724.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Gordius, (Gordios). An ancient king of Phrygia, and father of Midas, but originally a poor peasant. Internal disturbances having broken out in Phrygia, an oracle informed the inhabitants that a wagon would bring them a king, who would put an end to their troubles. Shortly afterwards Gordius suddenly appeared riding in his wagon in the assembly of the people, who at once acknowledged him as king. Gordius, out of gratitude, dedicated his chariot to Zeus, in the acropolis of Gordium. The pole was fastened to the yoke by a knot of bark; and an oracle declared that whosoever should untie the knot should reign over all Asia. Alexander, on his arrival at Gordium, cut the knot with his sword, and applied the oracle to himself.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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