the capital, who gave the priests their insignia. The
sacerdotal hierarchy and the rights granted to the priesthood and believers
were minutely defined in a series of senate decrees. These Phrygian
divinities who had achieved full naturalization and had been placed on the
official list of gods, were adopted by the populations of the Occident as
Roman gods together with the rest. This propagation was clearly different
from that of any other Oriental religion, for here the action of the
government aided the tendencies that attracted the devout masses to these
Asiatic divinities.

This popular zeal was the result of various causes. Ancient authors
describe the impression produced upon the masses by those magnificent
processions in which Cybele passed along on her car, preceded by musicians
playing captivating melodies, by priests wearing gorgeous costumes covered
with amulets, and by the long line of votaries and members of the
fraternities, all barefoot and wearing their insignia. All this, however,
created only a fleeting and exterior impression upon the neophyte, but as
soon as he entered the temple a deeper sensation took hold of him. He heard
the pathetic story of the goddess seeking the body of her lover cut down in
the prime of his life like the grass of the fields. He saw the bloody
funeral services in which the cruel death of the young man was mourned,
{59} and heard the joyful hymns of triumph, and the gay songs that greeted
his return to life. By a skilfully arranged gradation of feelings the
onlookers were uplifted to a state of rapturous ecstasy. Feminine devotion
in particular found encouragement and enjoyment in these ceremonies, and
the Great Mother, the fecund and generous goddess, was always especially
worshiped by the women.

Moreover, people founded great hopes on the pious practice of this
religion. Like the Thracians, the Phrygians began very early to believe in
the immortality of the soul. Just as Attis died and came to life again
every year, these believers were to be born to new life after their death.
One of the sacred hymns said: "Take courage, oh mystics, because the god is
saved; and for you also will come salvation from your trials."[21] Even the
funeral ceremonies were affected by the strength of that belief. In some
cities, especially at Amphipolis in Macedonia, graves have been found
adorned with earthenware statuettes representing the shepherd Attis;[22]
and even in Germany the gravestone