Cybele Mother Goddess with various local manifestations in Asia Minor, Greece and Rome, appearing in literature and sculpture from about the 5th century BCE onward. She presides over the gods, humans and beasts.
Sir William Smith in his Smaller Classical Dictionary says
The Corybantes were her enthusiastic priests, who with drums, cymbals, horns, and in full armour, performed their orgiastic dances. In Rome the Galli were her priests (Sir William Smith, Smaller Classical Dictionary [revised by E. H. Blakeny and John Warrington], New York: Dutton, 1958).
In Rome citizens were originally banned to participate in her ceremonies. Not until the rise of the Roman Empire were the common people allowed to take part.
The lion was sacred to her. In statues, reliefs and coins she’s often depicted with a lion on either side of her throne.
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