The name is Latin for 'Great Mother', the implication being that she is mother of all the gods. But her image – that of a well-endowed woman seated on a lion (or panther or leopard) throne and holding fruit or flowers – is first discovered in Çatalhöyük, in western Anatolia (Asian Turkey), and probably dates from 6000BC. If this clay figurine represents a deity, the image has elements that survive into classical times 6000 years later. She emerges as the Phrygian (central Asian Turkish) CYBELE, who became hugely popular in both Greece and Rome. The Greeks amalgamated her with RHEA and the Romans with TERRA (MATER) and TELLUS, but her enduring characteristics also associate her with GAEA and ISIS
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