GALLI

The priests of Cybele were so named at Rome from the country (Galatia or Gallo-Gracia) in which Pear in us, the head quarters of her worship, was situated: also termed Curetes, Corybantes, and Idaei Dactyli. Cybele, the mother of the gods, was introduced to Rome from Asia on the occasion of a pestilence by the advice of the Sybil line oracles {Lie. 29. c. 14.), and her worship became In lime one of the most popular in the city. Her priests were eunuchs, of which Lucretius (lib. ii.) gives the alleged reason. They are described as the vilest of mankind by the Roman satirists, yet they had extraordinary power over the vulgar. Juvenal describes them among the low companions of his debauched consul Damasippus: Et res up in at i CP intia tympana Garli. [s. 500]