6/13/2002: Ancient transgendering

[Undertoad]

If you think these times are odd... just look into history. Recently the remains of a guy who was at least transvestite were found in ancient Roman town in Britain, and this is a reconstructed painting of him/her. The remains were found 20 years ago, but only recently have they figured out why the male skeleton was wearing women's jewelery. Turns out he was a Gallus, who worshipped Cybele.

If you Google Cybele and castration, you learn stuff...

It turns out that, in Roman times, we're talking like about 200 B.C. or so -- there came about a group of worshippers of the goddess Cybele. It was basically a cult of priests that might have been a sort of counter-movement to the Hittites. (The Hittites were ultra-manly men, warriors who perfected iron and horse-driven attacks and stuff and who thus conquered a large amount of the known world at the time.)

This cult of priests were called Galli, or the singular Gallus. They believed that they were the living embodiment of Attis, a demi-god who was driven insane by Cybele when she found that she was completely unable to seduce him. (Apparently Cybele was a serious hotty.) One story has it that Attis ran off and castrated himself under a pine tree, throwing the gems into the branches and letting his blood sorta fertilize it. They myths are mixed on whether Attis didn't take to Cybele because he was charmed by someone else. The myths are also mixed on whether Attis was actually Cybele's son.

This story turned into a festival in Roman times and is probably part of the tradition that became the Christmas tree. The tree itself represents the phallic symbol; the "balls" of decoration represent Attis' original pair. <i>Merry Christmas everybody!</i>

Anyway, to join the Galli sect, a man would be castrated and then would wear the garments of women. They believed that this practice "made them whole", in a perfect union of God and Goddess. The whole thing was proceded by baptism in the blood of a bull (if one could afford it).

Hey, we can even bring this whole thing around to modern times. One major thing remains as a concept introduced by these myths: <i>mandatory celibacy for priests</i>.