Cybele

The statue is representing a seated mature woman. On her head she wears a so-called mural crown formed as a city wall in ashlar masonry with seven corner turrets and three gates. The wall is surmounted by a parapet with merlons. With her left hand she originally supported a frame drum similar to a tambourine, while beside there once stood a lion. She is Cybele, the great Oriental Mother Goddess. From early times she was venerated in Greece, and later in Rome where she was called Magna Mater, the great mother. Representations of the goddess were widespread and small marble temples, naiskoi, wherein the goddess sits, are found all over the Mediterranean.