Mysteries of the Mother of the Gods (2)

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The marriage of Attis.

Arnobius of Sicca, Adversus nationes 5.7:
The maiden who had been the bride, whom Valerius the pontifex writes was named Ia, covers the breast of the lifeless one (= Attis) with soft wool, sheds tears with Acdestis, and slays herself. When she dies, her blood is changed into purple violets. The Mother of the Gods digs under these, from which an almond grows, signifying the bitterness of burial. She then bears away the pine tree under which Attis had robbed himself of his manhood, to her cave, and about the trunk of the motionless, joining in lamentations with Acdestis, she beats and wounds her breasts. Jupiter refuses Acdestis’s request that Attis might come back to life. But what is possible by concession of fate, this he grants without objecting: that his body should not decay, that his hair should ever grow, that the vary smallest of his fingers should live and alone react by continued motion. Satisfied with these favours, Acdestis, it is said, consecrated the body of Pessinus, and honoured it with annual rites and with sacred ministry.

Source (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Arnobius of Sicca, Adversus nationes 5.7

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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