Votive relief for Kybele

Only the lower part of this votive relief to Kybele is preserved, and only half at that – as indicated by the tenon under the righthand portion. The bottom border preserves traces of the tooth chisel, while the left edge of the relief depicts a pilaster overlain by the figures and thus pushed into the background.
The goddess sits on a richly ornamented throne, facing right. In her outstretched right hand she holds an offering bowl; in her left, a tympanon. She wears a diadem and earrings, an Ionic chiton with pinned sleeves, and a mantle, which she has pulled over her head like a veil. The lavish decoration of the throne – legs carved into volutes, backrest topped with pine cones, armrests supported by sphinxes – and the presence of a foot stool underscore the dignified ceremonial nature of the scene. Lying beside the throne is a young lion, Kybele’s animal companion. These attributes allow the goddess in the relief to be identified as Kybele, a very important deity in the Phrygian pantheon. Priests of Kybele played the tympanon (a sort of tambourine) at orgiastic festivals to hail the goddess’ arrival on a cart drawn by lions and panthers. The lion connotes her eastern origins as a lion goddess and “Mistress of Animals,” as well as signalling her connection to goddesses like Ishtar in Babylon and Astarte in the Phoenician-Assyrian realm.
Several figures stand before the goddess: a young goddess in a chiton and mantle, hair tied back, torch in hand; and a young man, recognizable from his right leg and arm holding a pitcher. The former must be Hekate or Kore, the latter Hermes Kadmilos. In the fifth century BC, merchants and slaves brought the cult of Kybele to Greece – much to the dismay of the Greek upper classes, who reviled the orgiastic rituals and their self-castrated priests, ecstatic dances, and frenetic music that led the worshippers to rapture. Many Greeks, however, chose to worship Kybele. As a healing goddess she protected new mothers and children. The popularity of her cult spread most notably in the Hellenistic period, and was introduced into Rome in 204 BC as the cult of “Magna Mater.” The Berlin relief is most likely based on a monumental cult image made by Agorakritos for the sanctuary of Kybele in Athens.