Today, Johnny Miller (The University of Tennesse, Knoxville) talks about his research looking at gender and sexual identities in the ancient Mediterranean.

Johnny’s studies are concentrated on the Cult of Cybele, or, according to the Romans, Cybele was considered the Magna Mater (“Great Mother”). Worship of her spread into the Roman world from the east, and her priests (the Galli) castrated themselves upon entering her service. Why did they do this and what was the socioreligious function of worshipping Cybele? While our conceptions of transgender identity likely cannot be extrapolated to accurate understandings of gender in classical times, what can we say about gender identity (or other aspects of identity like sexual identity) in the early historical period?

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Show notes

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