Pessinous was the main cult centre of the cult of Cybele (Kybele).
- Strabo: Pessinus is the greatest of the emporiums of that part of the world, containing a temple of the Mother of the gods, which is an object of great veneration. They call her Agdistis. The priests were in ancient times potentates, I might call them, who reaped the fruits of a great priesthood, but at present the prerogatives of these have been much reduced, although the emporium still endures. The sacred precinct has been built up by the Attalic kings in a manner befitting a holy place, with a sanctuary and also with porticoes of white marble. The Romans made the temple famous when, in accordance with oracles of the Sibyl, they sent for the statue of the goddess there, just as they did in the case of that of Asclepius at Epidaurus1.
Sources:
- Strabo, Geography Book XII, Chapter 5
- A. Verlinde, 2012, The Temple Complex of Pessinus. Archaeological Research on the Function, Morphology and Chronology of a Sanctuary in Asia Minor (unpublished PhD thesis, Ghent University). This dissertation is in the process of being published as a monograph (forthcoming, 2013: Monographs of Antiquity).
- http://www.archaeology.ugent.be/pessinous/