Attis I have eaten from the drum, I have drunk from the cymbal; I have carried the sacred dish; I have stolen into the inner shrine. trans. by M.W.Meyer. A god of growth and fertility in Asia Minor, also venerated in Greece. His service remained more Asian than Greek, however, and was connected to that of Cybele. Because of his manifestations of intense sadness and ecstatic joy, his service resembles that of Adonis. Attis was thought to be beloved by Cybele and when he refused her love, in her rage she unmanned him. His followers sometimes did the same. Attis is portrayed on coins from the Roman era and on tombstones. He is represented as a young man in tight-fitting clothes and a Phrygian headdress and shepherds staff. In ancient Rome, cults were certain elements of eastern religions were combined with elements of Greek and Roman religions. Well-known examples are the mystery cults of Isis, Cybele, and Attis (Phrygia) and of the old-Iranian Mithra. All these cult forms offer their adepts secret knowledge and rebirth through initiation. This initiation consists of cleansing rites, fasting, and the consecration itself. Sometimes it is accompanied by orgiastic rites, such as wild dances, self-mutilation, or castration like the priests in the cult of Cybele. The sacral meal is often also a part of the initiation. "Copyright (c) 2000 Encyclopedia Mythica. All rights reserved." http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/articles/a/attis.html Attis Attis was a vegetation deity of the type commonly worshipped in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East before the arrival of the Indo-Europeans into those areas. His annual birth, death, and resurrection not only symbolized, but actually realized, for ancient man the recurrent cycle of the seasons and the annual renewal of the crops that constituted the food supply. As a vegetation deity the fertility of the earth was in his care. Thus, like the Syrian Adonis (the consort of Astarte/Aphrodite) and the Babylonian-Assyrian Tammuz (beloved of Ishtar), Attis was the consort of Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods, who was worshipped in central and western Anatolia (i.e. the inland districts of central and western Turkey). And like his parallel gods, Attis was the lesser deity in the divine partnership. Thomas J. Sienkewicz The boy, Attis, wasn't aware of Cybele's love, but what would it have mattered? In time, he saw the king of Pessinus' beautiful daughter, fell in love, and wished to marry her. The goddess who grew insanely jealous and angry, drove Attis mad for revenge. Running crazy through the mountains, he stopped at the foot of a pine-tree. There, while he rested, he castrated and killed himself. From his blood sprang violets while the tree took care of his spirit. Body and spirit might have been safe, but still his flesh would have decayed had not Zeus stepped in to aid Cybele in Attis' resurrection.

"Another youthfull god,born in a cave at around the turning of the Winter Solstace, was the Phrygian Attis,sometimes said to be the son of the Goddis Isis, sometimes the son of Cybele,who may be one and the same. As the Great Mother Goddess of Anatolia(Modern Syria),Cybele was known throughout the classical world for a considerable time before the third century B.C.,at which time she became part of the Roman Pantheon. Formally welcomed into Rome in the year 204,B.C., she virtually became the national goddess, and after the Emperor Claudius adopted her as a personal deity in the first century A.D.,she was widely honored under the title Magna Mata(Great Mother).
Rites celebrating the story of her son,Attis, took place throughout the agricultural year,reaching a climax at the Vernal Equinox. The central story of religion concearned Cyble's passionate and forbidden love for her own son,who was said to have been driven mad by his mothers desire for him. As a result, Attis castrated himself under a pine tree,which consequently became a symbol of his sacrafice.
Attis's followers called him "Father" and Cybele "Mother" and worshiped him in an anual festival at the Vernal Equinox in which a pine tree was first decorated and then cut down.(A tradition that may well have been a distant echo in the decoration of pine tree's during the Solstacea)in memory of the gods act of self mutilation. His priests were called Galoi and were themselves eunuchs. they would often slash thier own arms or whip themselves into a frenzy of adulation.
As one of the "vegetation" gods(others include the Mesopotamian Tammutz and the Greek Adonis),Attis is percieved as growing to full strength with the sun,then drying of being cut down,to return again each year. In this way he shares the attributes of many of the youthful wonder gods,who bring with them the promise of the returning Midwinter sun and the blessings of the new year."
The Winter Solstace:The sacred traditions of christmas
by John Matthews:
Quest books 1998

Cybele
by Dr Anthony E. Smith
Cybele was the goddess of nature and fertility. Because Cybele presided over mountains and fortresses, her crown was in the form of a city wall. The cult of Cybele was directed by eunuch priests called Corybantes, who led the faithful in orgiastic rites accompanied by wild cries and the frenzied music of flutes, drums, and cymbals. Her annual spring festival celebrated the death and resurrection of her beloved Attis.
Her Greek mythology counterpart was Rhea
"Copyright (c) 1999 Encyclopedia Mythica. All rights reserved."