Attis

Attis or Atys (in Greek old Ἄττις or Ἄτυς ) is a divinity of origin Phrygie, Parèdre of the goddess Cybèle, of which he is at the same time the son and the lover. It can be compared with Adonis, parèdre of Aphrodite - Astarté, or Tammuz, parèdre of Ishtar. Its Culte with mysteries was spread in Greece, then in all the Roman Empire.

Myth

In the Phrygian version of the myth, Zeus gives rise to the Hermaphrodite Agditis while masturbating on Cybèle - or, according to the version, by spreading its Sperme on the ground during its sleep. Frightened by its force, the gods émasculent it; blood of Agditis is born the Amandier. Chick, girl of the god-river Sangarios, picking a fruit of the tree and holds it against it: it falls pregnant. It gives rise to a boy, who is exposed. Raised by wild goat's milk cheeses, Attis becomes an young man of a beauty such as Cybèle-Agditis of éprend. However, it is intended for the girl of king de Pessinos - or, according to the version, it loses its virginity in the arms of a naïade, Sagaritis. Furious, Cybèle strikes Attis madness, which flees on the Mont Didyme, where it émascule. Blood of Attis is born the pine, always green

In the version Lydie, Attis is not a Eunuque of the Large Mother, wire of Phrygian king Kalaos, who imports as a Lydie the worship of Cybèle. Zeus, jealous, sends a Sanglier which kills Attis. Hérodote delivers a historicized version of the myth in its Enquête : Atys (sic) is the son of the king Crésus, killed by accident by Adraste, host of its father, during a hunting for wild boar.

Worship

The worship of Attis existed in minor Asia, in Greece of north (as from third century BC), particularly in Macedonia, like in Rome. It is mainly known in its Roman version: the worship of Cybèle and sound parèdre is imported with Rome in 204 av. J. - C., on the basis of prophecy of the Livres Sybillins.

Under the reign of Claude, the principal festivities are celebrated at the beginning of the Printemps by representing the legend. A procession of Cannophore S (“carry-reed”) there was a prelude to. With the equinox, a pine was cut down and transferred onto the Palatin with the sanctuary of Cybèle by the brotherhood of the Dendrophore S (“carry-tree”): wrapped like a corpse, it appeared dead Attis. The following day, day of sadness and Abstinence, the faithful ones fasted and deplored. The priests or Wales were whipped and gashed, and the neophytes, émasculaient themselves in their turn ritually with a sharp stone. After one night, where they were supposed to link with the goddess, like Attis, the jubilation burst, appeared in masquerades and banquets.

Iconography

The monuments represent Attis as a Phrygian shepherd, with the bonnet, the stick of the shepherd, the Syrinx and the Tympanon, its costume sticking leaving the belly to overdraft. It typically carries pants Perse (Anaxyrides), split all length on the front of each leg, attache only by intervals, so as to leave its sex discovered.

One of its emblems is the Coq ( Wales ), because Attis was the first of Wales. One also sees it with Cybèle, in the same tank trailed by Lion S.

Sources

Catulle to read in ligne (song LXIII: Attis ).
(I, 34-45).
(XXV, 311 and suiv.).
(IV, 221-246), (X, 103).
(I, 4,5; VII, 17,9-10).
(XII, 5,3).

See too

External bonds

Attis and the poem of Catulle on the site of Monmouth College.

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