Maarten J. Vermaseren was a scholar of Greco-Roman religion, and this Thames and Hudson book is his standard scholarly study of the myth and cult of Cybele and Attis, the Anatolian mother goddess and her consort whose worship spread across the Roman world. Its strength is that Vermaseren was among the leading specialists of his generation on Roman-era mystery cults, and the book draws on archaeological and literary evidence together. Its limit is its age, the book is now decades old and later scholarship on Roman religion and mystery cults has continued to develop, so a claim about the current state of scholarly interpretation should be checked against more recent work alongside this still-cited standard study.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Published by Thames and Hudson as Maarten J. Vermaseren's scholarly synthesis of the Cybele and Attis cult, written by an established specialist archaeologist of the subject for that publisher's serious academic history list. NotesScholarly study of the myth and cult of Cybele and Attis.
Citation
AuthorMaarten J. Vermaseren
PublisherThames and Hudson
Publication Year1977
Source TypeScholarly work
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Attis, Deities This source names Attis directly: "of the myth and cult of Cybele and Attis, the Anatolian mother goddess and her consort whose worship spread across the Roman world."
This source names Cybele directly: "study of the myth and cult of Cybele and Attis, the Anatolian mother goddess and her consort whose worship spread across the Roman world."
Claims Backed By This Source (40 claims)
This source backs 40 claims across the atlas. As facts: 24 well-attested, 3 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 9 holds. Plus 4 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Myths & Sacred Narratives, 14 claims: 8 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 4 holds, 1 general references.
- Deities, 9 claims: 4 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate, 2 holds, 1 general references.
- Sources, 9 claims: 7 well-attested, 2 holds.
- Articles, 4 claims: 4 well-attested.
- Cultures, 2 claims: 1 holds, 1 general references.
- Religions, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
Well-attested
24Myths & Sacred Narratives
Scholarly debate
3Myths & Sacred Narratives
Holds
9Myths & Sacred Narratives
General References
4Myths & Sacred Narratives
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