October
14
/ 2022
The galli were priests who formed the cult of the goddess Cybele (Magna Mater in Rome) and her consort Attis. Because of the galli’s adoption of women’s clothing and jewelry, self-castration, and preference for anal intercourse, all of which violated Roman gender norms, they present an interesting juxtaposition to what was expected of men in ancient Rome. It is thought that the cult originated in Mesopotamia and then traveled to Greece around 300 BC. It then arrived in Rome as the cult of Magna Mater in the 3 rd century BC. Originally, its sacred symbol, a black meteorite, was located in a temple named Megalesion in modern-day Turkey. It is thought that the word galli, or galloi in Greek, can
