Gender-nonconforming ancient Romans found refuge in community dedicated to goddess Cybele
Approved by the pope on March 25, 2024, the Vatican declaration asserts the Vatican’s opposition to gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy.
- Approved by the pope on March 25, 2024, the Vatican declaration asserts the Vatican’s opposition to gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy.
- Even in the ancient Roman Empire, individuals could transgress traditional conceptions of gender roles in various ways.
- As a scholar of Greek and Latin literature, I have studied the “Galli,” male followers of the goddess Cybele.
Cybele: Mother of the gods
In the philosophical treatise “Hymn to the Mother of the Gods,” Julian the Philosopher, the last pagan emperor of the Roman empire, writes about the history of the cult of Cybele. In this treatise, he describes the cult’s main figures and how some of its rites were performed.
- Often referred to as the Mother of the Gods, Cybele was first worshiped in Anatolia.
- Cybele’s cult gave rise to a group of male followers, or attendants, known as Galli.
- Among the surviving material evidence related to their existence are sculptures, as well as a Roman burial of an individual Gallus discovered in Northern England.
Attis: Cybele’s human companion
A statue from Ostia, Rome’s port city, depicts a reclining Attis, Cybele’s youthful male human companion.
- In their tellings of Cybele’s myth, Greek and Roman authors give differing versions for Attis’ self-castration.
- The Roman poet Catullus describes how Cybele puts Attis into a state of frenzy, during which he castrates himself.
Material evidence for the Galli
A relief sculpture from Lanuvium, now at the Musei Capitolini in Rome and dated to the second century C.E, is one of the few surviving representations of a Gallus.
- The sculpted figure is adorned with an elaborate headdress or crown, a torque necklace and a small breastplate, as well as ornate clothing.
- At Cataractonium, a Roman fort in Northern England, a skeleton was uncovered in the necropolis of Bainesse during excavations in 1981-82.
- An examination of the bones, however, revealed that the remains were those of a young man – likely in his early twenties.
Respect for Galli
- Galli, unlike other men in Rome or its empire, were able to openly present themselves or live as women, regardless of their assigned sex or how they identified.
- Catullus’ poem and comments by other authors indicate that they perceived the gender of the Galli as differing from Roman concepts of masculinity.
- However, the Galli were also, reluctantly, respected for the role they played in Cybele’s cult.
- It is tempting to see the Galli as nonbinary or transgender individuals, even though the Romans did not know or use concepts such as nonbinary or transgender.
Tina Chronopoulos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.