tes the Roman soldiers learned to revere
Ma, the great goddess of the two Comanas, who was worshiped by a whole
people of hierodules in the ravines of the Taurus and along the banks of
the {54} Iris. Like Cybele she was an ancient Anatolian divinity and
personified fertile nature. Her worship, however, had not felt the
influence of Thrace, but rather that of the Semites and the Persians,[11]
like the entire religion of Cappadocia. It is certain that she was
identical with the Anahita of the Mazdeans, who was of much the same
nature.

The rites of her cult were even more sanguinary and savage than those of
Pessinus, and she had assumed or preserved a warlike character that gave
her a resemblance to the Italian Bellona. The dictator Sulla, to whom this
invincible goddess of combats had appeared in a dream, was prompted by his
superstition to introduce her worship into Rome. The terrible ceremonies
connected with it produced a deep impression. Clad in black robes, her
"fanatics," as they were called, would turn round and round to the sound of
drums and trumpets, with their long, loose hair streaming, and when vertigo
seized them and a state of anesthesia was attained, they would strike their
arms and bodies great blows with swords and axes. The view of the running
blood excited them, and they besprinkled the statue of the goddess and her
votaries with it, or even drank it. Finally a prophetic delirium would
overcome them, and they foretold the future.

This ferocious worship aroused curiosity at first, but it never gained
great consideration. It appears that the Cappadocian Bellona joined the
number of divinities that were subordinated to the _Magna Mater_ and, as
the texts put it, became her follower (_pedisequa_).[12] The brief
popularity enjoyed by this exotic _Ma_ at the beginning of our era shows,
nevertheless, the growing {55} influence of the Orient, and of the
religions of Asia Minor in particular.

After the establishment of the empire the apprehensive distrust in which
the worship of Cybele and Attis had been held gave way to marked favor and
the original restrictions were withdrawn. Thereafter Roman citizens were
chosen for _archigalli_, and the holidays of the Phrygian deities were
solemnly and officially celebrated in Italy with even more pomp than had
been displayed at Pessinus.

According to Johannes Lydus, the Emperor Claudius was the author of this
change. Doubts have been expressed as to the correctnes