History suggests that the celebration of the Magna Mater is the oldest known religious cult in the world.
From six thousand years we find Magna Mater known by various images and by various names, but in each situation, she is known for one common attribute: "The Mother of the Gods". She was known as Cybele in the region of the Aegean Sea, Damkina, Goddess of Fecundity to the Babylonians... fecundity referring to her 'marriage with the earth and sky'. Among the Euphrates she was called Koubaba, in Greece, Gaia or Gheea "Mother Earth". She was known as Terra, from the Latin 'Terra Mater', the Goddess of miners in the Eastern area of Europe. Egyptians called her Isis; in Akkadia her name was Ishtar.

Magna Mater transcends world history: her mysteries and many presentations have inspired poets and artists, simple mortals or kings, with many kings dedicating her temples in great number. For many religions she is eternal, existing from the beginning of time, the bearer of the world and all life populating this planet (plants, animals and humans). The Romans identified this Goddess with the Greek Rhea, and gave her the name Magna Mater, the Great Mother. Although the priests of the cult were men who had castrated themselves in front of her image, most of her followers were women. They worshipped the Goddess in various temples, each one independent of one another. Some temples, however, became more influencial than others. They were located mainly in Phrygia, Greece and Italy. In Pessinus, a city in Northern Asia, a simulacrum of the divinity was worshipped: a black stone of conical shape, speculated to be a meteorite. Another major temple was in Delphi, which was later reconsecrated to Apollo. This temple became even more famous for the Oracle attributed to Apollo.

In each temple of the Goddess the High Priestess had the greatest status, followed by the Archigalli. Immediately subordinate in status were the ordinary priestesses. The lowest in status were the Galloi.

During Roman Republican times the cult appears to have been embraced as a consequence of the second Punic War's negative effects on the republic, but also out of a desire of the Patrician order to have an religious cult of its own, with its own particular rites and traditions...likened to the cult of Ceres adopted by the Plebian order.

In the year 204 BC, the Punic War resulted in disstrous consequences for both the Roman army ,and the safety and security of Rome herself. Hannibal was plundering the Roman countryside. Many people were losing hope; their religious faiths were waning. In a search for solutions to these bleak circumstances, the Oracles of the Sibylline Books were consulted. They revealed that Hannibal could be defeated only if the Idaean Mother of the Gods were brought from Pessinus, Frigia to Rome. Apollo's Oracle of Delphi was consulted also, and this advice was no different from that of the Sibylline consultation: Magna Mater had to arrive in Rome.

But as the legends tell us, a minor earthquake hit that region around this time and many heard the voice of Cybele, who declared that Rome was worthy to become the City of All Gods. Soon after, Attalus agreed to the request of the Roman delegation, and Rome's ambassadors set sail in possession of the revered black conical stone, the simulacrum of Cybele, Mother of the Gods.

Because the ship carrying the Mother of the Gods was expected to arrive at Ostia Harbour, the Senate nominated the most prominent of Rome's citizens, and a few Vestals to welcome the arrivals. One of the citizens selected was Publius (of Gens Cornelia) Scipio Nasica; another was one of Rome's most noble women, a Vestal Virgin named Claudia Quinta.

The legends reveal that Claudia had been previously accused of having broken her Holy vows. When the ship arrived, abruptly the winds suddenly blew the ship into the harbour, and it it was grounded in the mud. Claudia, praying to the Goddess Cybele, used her belt and laid her hands on the ropes: the ship was released. With this act, her purity as a Vestal Virgin was of little question.

Censors M. L. Salinator and C. Cl. Nero immediately began the construction of an edifice on the Palatine Hill, one worthy of housing the Black Stone.

It took 13 years to build this new sanctuary (between 204 and 191 BC). On April 11, 191 BC, Praetor Marcus Iunius Brutus inaugurated and dedicated the temple. On this date, the Magna Mater was enthroned as the Sacred Protectress of the City. In honour of this occasion the Ludi Megalenses were instituted and celebrated for the first time. From then on, at the beginning of April of each subsequent year for a very long time, a procession carrying the Goddess image took place throughout the week, with the accompaniment of the clash of cymbals, until the final day of the Megalesia, recognized as the Goddess' birthday, on which great games were held in her honour in the Circus Maximus.