Magna Mater and Terra Mater

In Portus the worshippers of Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods, explicitly linked the cult to the port. They made Portus part of her name: Magna Deum Mater Utriusque Portus or Portus Augusti et Traiani Felicis. A temple or shrine seems to be mentioned in an inscription that is, unfortunately, still unpublished.

The importance of the cult in Portus is evident from a law that is surely linked to arrivals and departures of Emperors:

Is qui in Portu pro salute imperatoris sacrum facit ex vaticinatione archigalli a tutelis excusatur.	He who sacrifices in the harbour for the well-being of the Emperor on the basis of foretelling by the high-priest of Cybele receives an exemption from the guardianship.
Fragmenta Vaticana 148.

A first inscription is on a marble altar. It comes from Portus or the Isola Sacra. The place of discovery is described as follows: "Prostrata ad Tiberim, ubi Ripam dicunt, ex Portu sive Hostia asporatata" (CIL XIV, 39). The fact that Portus is mentioned at all means that it was found on the east side of Portus or of the Isola Sacra. It is unlikely that it comes from the Field of the Magna Mater in Ostia, given its location.

	AEMILIA SERAPIAS TAVROBOLIVM FECIT ET ARAM TAVROBOLATAM POSVIT PER SACERDOTE S(uo) (or: SACERDOTES) VALERIO PANCARPO IDIB(us) MAIS ANVLLINO II ET FRONTONE CO(n)S(ulibus)
	Aemilia Serapias made a sacrifice of a bull, and the altar belonging to it she placed, through her priest Valerius Pancarpus, on the ides of May, Anullinus for the second time and Fronto being consuls.
Marble altar. May 15, 199 AD. W. 0.475, h. 0.89, d. 0.435. Musei Vaticani, Galleria Lapidaria, inv. nr. 9287. EDR143741. Photo: Van Haeperen 2019, fig. 291.

If the altar does come from the Isola Sacra, then it is to be linked to either Ostia or Portus. Further confusion is caused by a funerary altar found in 1824 in Ostia, in the Porta Romana necropolis. It mentions a sacerdos Isidis Ostiensis et Matris Deum Transtiberinae, so there was a shrine of the Magna Mater on the other side of the Tiber, on the Isola Sacra, but was it near Ostia or close to Portus?

[D(is)] M(anibus) [s(acrum)] L(ucius) VALERIVS L(uci) FIL(ius) FYRMVS SACERDOS ISIDIS OSTENS(is) ET M(atris) D(eum) TRASTIB(erinae) FEC(it) SIBI	Dedicated to the gods of the underworld. Lucius Valerius, son of Lucius, Fyrmus, priest of the Isis of Ostia and of the Mother of the Gods beyond the Tiber,      made this for himself.
Marble altar. Second century AD. W. 0.59, h. 1.00, d. 0.48. Musei Vaticani, Gregoriano Profano, inv. 10762. EDR144126. Photo: Arachne 21651.

Above the inscription we see the deceased, standing in a niche, with a Phrygian cap on his (damaged) head. He is surrounded by objects and animals related to the two priesthoods. In his left hand is a horn or a scroll, in his right hand a whip (flagellum). On his left shoulder is a feline head. To the left of the niche we see a vessel with a snake (uraeus) as handle, and a table made of a double lotus flower supporting two baskets, one decorated with a radiate bust (Sol?), the other perhaps with a lotus flower. To the right are a rooster and another table supporting a vessel.

A funerary inscription that emerged in Rome, but must come from Portus (given the text), explicitly links the Magna Mater and Portus. It has been assigned to the second half of the second or the first half of the third century AD.

D(is) M(anibus) SALONIA CARPIME SALONIAE EVTERPE SACERDOTI M(atris) D(eum) M(agnae) PORT(us) AVG(usti) ET TRAIANI FELICIS PATRONAE SVAE OPTIMAE BENE MEREN TI FECIT ET SIBI ET SALONIO HERMETI SALONIO DORAE SA LONIAE TERTIAE ET EOR(um) FILIS PARS DIMIDIA INTRANTIB(us) LAEVA M(arcus) CVTIVS RVSTICVS TIBICO M(atris) D(eum) M(agnae) PORT(us) AVG(usti) ET TRAIANI FELICIS FECIT SIBI ET CVTIAE THE ODOTE ET LIBERTIS LIBER TABVSQ(ue) POSTERISQ(ue) EORVM PARS DIMIDIA AD DEXTRA	To the gods of the underworld. Salonia Carpime made this for Salonia Euterpe, priestess of the Great Mother of the Gods of the Port of Augustus and Happy Trajan, her excellent patroness, who well deserved it, and for herself and for Salonius Hermes, Salonius Dora, Salonia Tertia and for their children. The half for those entering to the left. Marcus Cutius Rusticus, flutist of the Great Mother of the Gods of the Port of Augustus and Happy Trajan, made this for himself and for Cutia Theodote and for their freedmen and freedwomen and for their descendants. The half to the right.
Marble slab. C. 150-250 AD. Musei Capitolini, Palazzo Nuovo, Sala del Fauno, inv. nr. 2681. EDR148245. Photo: EDCS-05700408.

Two funerary inscriptions of people involved in the cult were found in the Isola Sacra necropolis. The first is a marble urn, found in 1930, not on its original location. It has been dated to the Trajanic-Hadrianic period. The inscription is between two columns that support a tympanum with two sparrows pecking at an insect. Below the inscription is the portrait of the deceased in a shell held by two amorini.

D(is) M(anibus) CVLCIAE METROPOLI TYMPANISTRIAE M(atris) D(eum) M(agnae) VTRIVSQ(ue) PORTVS	To the gods of the underworld. For Culcia Metropolis, tambourine player of the Great Mother of the Gods of Both Ports.
Marble urn. Trajanic-Hadrianic. W. 0.30, h. 0.32, d. 0.30. Disappeared. Inv. nr. 1319. EDR073440. Photo: CGBC 1200004219.

The second inscription is on a marble slab, found in 1930 near the urn of Culcia Metropolis and perhaps belonging to tomb 128. It has been assigned to the Hadrianic period.

C(aius) IVLIVS SPICLVS SACERDOS M(atris) D(eum) M(agnae) ET AESCVLAPIS FECIT SIBI ET VLPIAE METROPOLI CONIVGI TIMPANIS(triae) PVBLICAE ET FILIS ET NEPOTIBVS	Gaius Iulius Spiclus, priest of the great Mother of the Gods and Aesculapius, made this for himself and for Ulpia Metropolis, his wife, public tambourine player, and for their children and grandchildren.
Marble slab. Hadrianic. W. 0.47, h. 0.225. Museo Ostiense, inv. nr. 18368. EDR101683. Photo: Van Haeperen 2019, fig. 293.

One of the most remarkable discoveries in Portus is a group of three reliefs, all depicting a high priest in the cult of the Magna Mater. The depictions were found together near tomb 75 of the Isola Sacra necropolis, in 1929. The first is a lid of a sarcophagus with the reclining priest. Several details show that this man was an archigallus in the cult: his clothes, the bracelet on his right wrist, the pine branch in his right hand, and the basket (cista mystica) with a snake at his feet. On his head was a crown, made separately, not preserved.

Lid of a sarcophagus with a priest of Cybele. W. 2.20, d. 1.10, h. of the head 0.22.
Third century AD. Museo Ostiense, inv. nr. 158. Photo: Wikimedia, Sailko.

The man is also depicted on two marble reliefs that clearly belong together. They were somehow facing each other, but the original placement is not clear. One of the relieves has grooves in the upper and lower edge, which might be evidence of a turning mechanism. On the left relief the priest, holding torches, is standing in front of a statue of Attis, who holds a syrinx (panpipes) and pedum (shepherd's crook). The statue is on a base in the shape of an altar, standing in front of a pine tree, from which a tintinnabulum (a wind chime) is hanging down.

Relief of a priest of Cybele. W. 0.40, h. 0.62.
Third century AD. Museo Ostiense, inv. nr. 159. Photo: Wikimedia, MumblerJamie.

On the right relief the priest is sacrifing in front of a statue of the Magna Mater, standing on a pillar and between two torches. She has a turreted headdress (mural crown). In front of Cybele is a small Mercurius, with caduceus (herald's staff) and money pouch.

Relief of a priest of Cybele. W. 0.40, h. 0.62.
Third century AD. Museo Ostiense, inv. nr. 160. Photo: Wikimedia, MumblerJamie.

A head of Attis in the Episcopio of Portus was found at an unspecified location.

Head of Attis.
Museo Ostiense, inv. nr. 1724. Photo: ICCD F011969B.

Also from the Isola Sacra necropolis comes a base supporting a relief with a Phrygian cap, two burning torches, a crescent moon and a star. It has been interpreted as a reference to the Anatolian moon deity Men, who was identified with Attis.

Relief with a Phrygian cap, torches, crescent moon and star.
Museo Ostiense, inv. nr. 929. Photo: Wikimedia, Sailko.

In 1965 a dedication to Terra Mater, in Greek, was found near the Isola Sacra necropolis. It was made by Kaminas and Serapion, who may have been overseers of an estate, for good crops. Giulia Sacco links the donation to the Magna Mater, as Mater Deum Agraria. In Ostia a signum Terrae Matris was donated to the dendrophori (EDR144050).

[Μ]ητρὶ Γῇ πρὸς δέξιν καρπῶν καλῶν ΦΥ Καμινᾶς καὶ Σερ[α] πίων εὐσεβεί[ας] δ(ῶρον) [ἀ(νέθηκαν)]	Marble base. W. 0.57, h. 0.63, d. 0.57. Found in 1965 near the Isola Sacra necropolis. Date: second century AD. Sacco 1979, 241-246. EDR118551. Photo: EDR.