2nd century statuette of Roman goddess Cybele found in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv

Archaeologists working at the Forum site in Bulgaria’s city of Plovdiv have found a marble statuette of the Roman goddess Cybele, according to Bulgarian news sources.

Credit: The Sofia Globe

The statuette is believed to date from the second century CE and was part of the pantheon of Philippoupolis, the Greek name of Plovdiv, in ancient times.

The archaeological team headed by Maya Martinova-Kutova and Bilyana Grueva-Zdravcheva made the find.

In Roman mythology, Cybele was the universal mother, not only of the gods, but also of all humans, animals and plant life. Her equivalent in Greek mythology was Rhea. Cybele was worshipped in large parts of Asia Minor as well as in Thrace.

“The newly discovered statuette complements the series of pedestals for statues and reliefs found in the north of the Forum,” Martinova-Kutova said.

“In the northern part of the Forum, where the statuette was found, public life was flowing, people were flocking here, religious and other rituals were performed, so there is a lot of concentrated information about the history of ancient Philippopolis,” he said.

Recently, the same team of archaeologists discovered a marble plaque inscribed in Ancient Greek in the northern part of the Forum, which was part of an imperial letter written in response to a request on behalf of the city or the Thracian koinon, a union of cities.

Source: The Sofia Globe [October 27, 2019]