Poem 14
HYMN TO THE MOTHER OF THE GODS
THE goddess commonly identified by the Greeks with Rhea and the Asiatic Cybele was almost certainly in her origin Hellenic, and was widely worshipped, from early times, as simply μήτηρ θεῶν. At Athens, for example, her cult was important, in the Μητρῷον (see Frazer on Paus.i. 3. 5, Harrison M. M. A. A. p. 43 f.). The absence of a personal name (Rhea or Cybele) is therefore no indication of a late date. Nor is there any question of Orphic influence in the hymn. Two Orphic hymns are dedicated to the goddess; one (xiv) mentions Ῥέα by name, the other (xxvii) calls her the Mother of the Gods. Whatever the date of the present hymn, it is far removed from the spirit of the Orphic compositions, and, as Baumeister remarks, is quite Homeric.
Commentary on line 1
For Rhea cf. h. Dem. 60, 442, 459, h. Aphr. 43. She appears as mother of the gods in Il. 15.187, Theog. 453 f., 625, 634; as mother of gods and men Orph. h. xiv. 9, xxvii. 7.
