RHEA, re'a, an ancient Cretan earth-god dess, daughter of Uranus and Gaa, wife of her brother, the Titan Cronus, and by him mother of the Olympian deities Zeus, Hacks, Poseidon, Hera, Hestia, Demeter. She was early identi fied with the Asiatic nature-goddess, Cybele, the Great Mother, who was worshipped on mountains in Mysia, Lydia and Phrygia.. Her Cretan Curets: corresponded to the Phrygian Corybantes, many of whom' mutilated theth selves like Attis in the frenzy of their, orgies. Rhea was supposed at first to make her home in the towering hills of Asia Minor. It was her delight to tame the ferocious beaSts found in these wildernesses, as well as to protect the fair towns lying in their valleys. Thus she became known as Mater Turrita and was repre sented as wearing a crown, turreted like a wall. Rhea's supposed love for the Phrygian shep herd, Attis, gave much color to her worship.
In Pessinus, in Phrygia, there was a cave under Mount Dindymon, where was a large stone supposed to be the heaven-sent image of the goddess, as well as the tomb of Attis. This was the centre of her worship and here the first temple to Rhea is said to have been erected by King Midas. From this centre the worship spread to the neighboring towns and provinces, finally reaching Athens. The worship of Rhea continued long after the decadence of Phrygian civilization. Its introduction into Rome, during the Second Punic War, was the result of a prophecy of the Sibylline Fates which told that her image brought to Rome would expel a common foe. The stone in the cave at Pessinus was, therefore, placed in the temple of Victory in the capital city, a holiday being proclaimed to celebrate the event.