Quotes About Galli

Prominent among the Hettite priests were the Galli or eunuchs, who on the days of festival cut their arms and scourged themselves in honour of their deities. Such actions remind us of those priests of Baal who 'cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.

The cult was supervised (like that of Ceres) by foreign priests (a Phrygian man and woman), as well as by galli (priests of Cybele) castrated like Attis, the companion who was both lover and son to the goddess. They emerged from the sanctuary only on procession days, notably when they went to bathe the idol in the waters of the Almo, on 27 March.

As the law ruled out castration, a procedure had to be provided that would confer an equivalent 'sacrament' on those who wished to remain Roman citizens. It was a special problem for the archgallus, who was officially in charge of the galli but, as a Roman priest, could not be castrated.