Short History

The Temple of the Magna Mater was built on the Palatine Hill between 204 and 191 BC, for purposes of receiving and housing the revered Black Stone, transported to Rome from the Asian city of Pessinus, where it was worshipped as a simulacrum of Cybele, the name by which the Magna Mater was known in this city. During the Second Punic War, the Sibylline Books advised the Romans to search in Pessinus for this Black Stone representing the Mother of the Gods, as a means of recovering the support and protection of the Gods they felt they had lost, because of the profound negative impact of this war on Rome.

The Black Stone was received by Publius Scipio Nasica, then considered the 'best man' of Rome, who went to greet this simulacrum of Cybele in a ship. The vessel, which nearly sank, and became stuck in mud close to Rome, was assisted safely to shore with the aid of a Vestal, Claudia Quinta, who prayed to the Goddess for divine assistance in this matter, and afterwhich used her garment belt as a means to help pull the ship out of peril. A sudden gust of wind of paranormal velocity is said to have blown the ship, and the Magna Mater, safely into the arms of Rome.

The Black Stone was initially housed in the Temple of Victory (Aedes Victoriae), built in 294 BC by Consul Lucius Postumius Megellus. Later, in 193 BC, Marcus Porcius Cato added a place dedicated to the Victoria Virgo.

In April of 191 BC, the Romans completed and consecrated this temple on the Palatine Hill to the Magna Mater.

In 111 BC, an aedile, Quintus Memmius, set fire to the temple and took with him the Black Stone. However, the statue of Claudia Quinta, housed inside, remained undamaged. The temple was later restored by Metellus Numidicus, Consul 110 BC, and the cult of the Magna Mater resumed officially and was of a pacific nature.

Burned again in 3 BC, the structure was extensively damaged by mysterious circumstances.
Augustus, a devout patron of the Religio of Cybele (Magna Mater), began restoration in 3 AD.

The cult gradually grew to entertain a rather large following right up until the time of the interdiction of Paganism. As time passed, the whereabouts of the Black Stone could not be traced. However, according to the writings of witnesses, the temple was still standing as late as the Fourth Century AD.