Or, On the Politics of Self-Harm
Cybele and the Societal Pressure Valve
In ancient Rome, one of the strangest cults sanctioned by the state was that of the Lydian deity Cybele. This imported worship of "the Great Mother" demanded of her priests to ritually castrate themselves.
This act of self-harm was done in imitation of Attis, Cybele's lover. After falling in love with a mortal woman, Cybele brought upon him a terrible madness that caused him to castrate and kill himself. The priests of Cybele hoped that they can seek the favor of the goddess by imitating willingly that which the Lady of Wild Nature inflicted upon her disloyal lover as a punishment.
It is very peculiar that a State as dedeicated to Order, manliness and the pereptuation of its population, allowed and even sanctioned such a cult, dedicated to mayhem and ritual mutilation.
My favorite theory is that every society requires a "safety valve" through which all the insticts opposite to its guiding ethos can be released without danger.
Otherwise, such passions have no other venue except a direct rebellion against the established order, or the emergence of two opposing ethoses, each representing a faction completly and utterly hateful to the other.
Although the Roman Republic was often torn between two factions, she was always spared from such a complete and absolute division. At the height of her Civil Wars, both sides worshipped the same gods in the same manner, obeyed the same virtues or succumbed to the same vices.
The Thanatic drive of self harm was contained at Cybele's temple and yearly festival as a symbol and a warning of all that Rome is guarding Man's world against - madness and mayhem may be indulged-in at the Presence of the Great Mother, but they must not invade the Realm of Jupiter, Sustainer of the State.