Cybele and the Sea

Discussion in 'Religion Archives' started by Xylene, Feb 13, 2006.

  1. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    About 5300 BC, the shores of the Black Sea were inundated by the inrush of water from the Mediterranean Sea. Millions of people would have fled in all directions to escape the flood. It's my contention that these races shared a common culture that was relatively similar, that was based around the worship of the Great Mother Goddess, Cybele. When they spread all over Eurasia and the Near East in the wake of the flood, they would have carried the stories/legends/hero tales, and the names of their gods, wherever they went. Thus you'll find Cybele's name in many different cultures which seem to be presently unrelated and are widely seperated from each other.

    Kubaba in the Hittite culture, for instance--Cybele for the Phrigians, Greeks and Romans. Hepat was the name the Hurrians gave her. The Slavic races called her Kupalo or Kupalnitsa, while the tribes of Latvia and Lithuania called her Zemynele.

    It would be interesting to check the DNA of these various peoples and see how closely they're related, and whether they spring from common ancestors. If ever there was a home for a common family-tree for the world's ancient faiths, that might be it--the shores of the Black Sea.
     
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  3. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    Goddess worship was popular around the fertile crescent and ancient Crete, I don't think it's spread was necessarily the result of this flood, but it's an interesting premise.
     
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  5. yeah but the cult of cybele changed as it spread from one place to another, and by the time it was near its end, the rituals of certain cybele worshipping sects were completely different from those of other ones.this begs the question of whether they really worship the same thing. yes, the names are the same or similar, or traditions were passed down from one generation to another under a different name in a time of shifting demographics among a particular tribe or culture. i dont think the cybele worshippers are anywhere near old enough to attempt to find a common root for the worlds ancient faiths through shared ancestry. in addition to that, all of the people you are talking about probably did share a common ancestry since they are only spread out over central and eastern europe. and i believe you are also forgetting that for the greeks and romans, cybele worshippers were a very small sect, usually made up of immigrants, they were not adherents to the established religious tenets of the area in which they lived.
     
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  7. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    In the different cultures I mentioned, the various manifestations of Cybele shared certain characteristic roles--Mother and Guardian, Creator of Life, protector of the Family and Tribe, goddess of Time, Ceremonies, Fire etc. I was thinking that perhaps this pointed to a common origin for the worship of her cults, as they probably came from the same area when the Black Sea rose. An area the size of Florida was flooded by the inrush of the water, on the northern shore of the Black Sea--that would have held millions of people, and that diaspora would have spread in all directions, taking their ideas and their pantheons with them. Over time, the name and the forms of worship would have diverged gradually.
     

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