Ma (goddess)

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Ma ( ancient Greek Μᾶ , Latin Ma-Bellona ; Greek also ancient Greek Ἄρτεμις Ταυροπόλιος Artemis Tauropolios ) is an Anatolian goddess. The basic meaning of her name is "mother", with which her affiliation with the Anatolian mother goddesses like Cybele becomes clear. However, her function as the goddess of war and victory is also important. Their common epithets are ἀνίκητος ( aníkētos , “invincible”) and ἡ νικηφόρος ( hē nikēphóros , “the one who brings victory”).

Their original cult center was Komana in Cappadocia . The temple there was already important at the time of the Hittite ruler Šuppiluliuma I (probably in the middle of the 14th century BC). A second cult originated in Komana Pontika . Both places were temple states with a high priest as ruler who came in rank just after the local kings. According to Strabo , whose information can only be trusted to a limited extent, there were 6,000 hierodules in each of the two cult sites , that is, temple servants of both sexes, some of whom were involved in “ temple prostitution ”. The orgiastic cult, which attracted pilgrims from afar, and was associated with weapon dances and self-tearing, was strange to the Greeks. Strabon, our most important source, identified the goddess venerated here with the Greek Enyo , the largely pale female counterpart of Enyalios , a nickname of Ares or an independent battle god alongside him.

When the Romans got to know the cult during the Mithridatic Wars , they identified the deity with the war goddess Bellona , and later also with Virtus . The violence and victoriousness of the goddess made a great impression on Sulla .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Richard L. Gordon: Ma . In: Hubert Cancik et al. (Ed.): The New Pauly . Brill Reference Online; accessed on August 2, 2018, doi: 10.1163 / 1574-9347_dnp_e715230 .
  2. ↑ Karl Strobeld, Eckart Olshausen: Comana . In: Hubert Cancik et al. (Ed.): The New Pauly . Brill Reference Online; accessed on August 2, 2018, doi: 10.1163 / 1574-9347_dnp_e618810 .
  3. ↑ Richard L. Gordon: Enyo . In: Hubert Cancik et al. (Ed.): The New Pauly . Brill Reference Online; accessed on August 2, 2018, doi: 10.1163 / 1574-9347_dnp_e330920 ;
    Richard L. Gordon: Enyalios . In: Hubert Cancik et al. (Ed.): The New Pauly . Brill Reference Online; accessed on August 2, 2018, doi: 10.1163 / 1574-9347_dnp_e330900 .