(no subject)

"...Arnobius transcribes the Phrygian cult myth of Cybele and Attis, the picturesque details of which would otherwise not have come down to us...: Papas, the Phrygian Zeus, cohabited with a rock, Agdos, who bore a bisexual {perhaps 'hermaphroditic' is intended?} monster Agdistis; to tame the latter, the gods tied the sleeping Agdistis's phallus to a tree; as he started up from slumber the organ was torn off, thus reducing Agdistis to the female Cybele. From the blood-soaked ground sprung up a pomegranate tree, the fruit of which was plucked by Nana, (daughter of the river Sangarios); it disappeared in her lap and impregnated her; she subsequently bore Attis, who in due time castrated himself in his orgiastic devotion to Cybele..."

...

WHAT. No, really, WHAT.


Actually, I think this is my new favorite paragraph. I mean, there's just so many things that just might seem strange, like, oh, I don't know, impregnating a rock, and they're all presented as normal and straightforward. Because people castrate themselves in orgiastic devotion all the time.

PS. 'Picturesque' = not exactly the word I would have used.