Cybele is asteroid #65 and of the type X/ P/ C. Cybele’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 3.43 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.11, a period of revolution of 2 325 days, and an inclination of 3.5 degrees. Cybele was discovered by the German astronomer Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel at the Marseille Observatory (Observatoire de Marseille). Cybele is 302 × 290 × 232 km in size and most likely orbited by an asteroid-moon.

Cybele is eponymous for a group of asteroids, that orbit the Sun in a larger distance than the Hecuba-gap and are in a 7:4 orbital resonance with Jupiter. The asteroids of the Cybele-group have semi-major axes between 3.27 and 3.70 Astronomical Units. The asteroids of the Cybele-group furthermore have inclinations of less than twenty-five degrees and and eccentricities of less than 0.3. The orbital resonance with Jupiter stabilizes the orbits of these asteroids.

Cybele is named after the mother goddess Kybélē (Κυβέλη), whose cult had members everywhere in the Roman Empire. The Romans called her Magna Mater, meaning The Great Mother. The cult of Kybélē (Κυβέλη) was adopted from Phrygia, which now is part of Turkey, and spread from there through Thrace, Greece, and then all of Europe. Many priests of that cult castrated themselves. This habit must have been more rampant than modern transgender women because the Roman Empire as well as the Catholic Church prohibited self-castration. These laws make me wonder what kind of mental illness could cause you to do such a self-mutilation. It was the cult of Kybélē (Κυβέλη) and probably not far from recent ideologies, which make men wish to be women and ignore that fact that such a wish can’t be realized by mutilating oneself. The mythological explanation in the cult of Kybélē (Κυβέλη) is that Kybélē (Κυβέλη) is the female half of the hermaphrodite deity Ágdistis (Ἄγδιστις), who came into being because the god Zeus lost sperm on a rock, in a common variant of the tale because he had a wet dream. Ágdistis (Ἄγδιστις) was so powerful that other deities feared Ágdistis (Ἄγδιστις). Perhaps because Ágdistis (Ἄγδιστις) united both sexes, albeit the hermaphrodite child of Hermes and Aphrodite was seen as nothing else than a failure. Other gods attacked Ágdistis (Ἄγδιστις) and removed the male body parts of Ágdistis (Ἄγδιστις) and buried them. From there grew a fruit tree. Different variants of the tale know different places for the place, where this happened, and different species of fruit tree. Then the different variants agree that a girl named Nána (Νάνα) ate a fruit from that tree and became pregnant this way. This Nána (Νάνα) is the daughter of the river god Sangarios (Σαγγάριος), that today is the river Sakarya in Turkey and the third-longest river, that today runs through Turkey. When Nána (Νάνα) was pregnant, but couldn’t present a father, Sangarios (Σαγγάριος) locked her up in her room. She didn’t get anything to eat or drink, so that she would have died if Kybélē (Κυβέλη) wouldn’t have fed and nourished her. Kybélē (Κυβέλη) even gave ambrosía (ἀμβροσία) to Nána (Νάνα), so that Nána (Νάνα) must have become immortal. Nána (Νάνα) sometimes is interpreted as being Kybélē (Κυβέλη) herself or an avatar of herself. Nána (Νάνα) gave birth to Áttis (Ἄττις), who is known as the male half of Ágdistis (Ἄγδιστις), when Kybélē (Κυβέλη) is the female half of Ágdistis (Ἄγδιστις). Sangarios (Σαγγάριος) took Áttis (Ἄττις) away from Nána (Νάνα) and abandoned Áttis (Ἄττις) in the wilderness, where he then was raised by a ram. As soon as Áttis (Ἄττις) was found by humans, he should marry the daughter of king Midas of Pessinus (several kings had the name Midas) in Phrygia. But Kybélē (Κυβέλη) was in love with Áttis (Ἄττις) and because they both were parts of Ágdistis (Ἄγδιστις), so Kybélē (Κυβέλη) felt to have the right to own Áttis (Ἄττις). So Kybélē (Κυβέλη) went to the wedding and cursed everybody there with insanity. The princess killed herself. Even Áttis (Ἄττις) wasn’t spared. He ran out and castrated himself, but he, unlike Ágdistis (Ἄγδιστις), wasn’t immortal and died of loss of blood. Violets grew from the blood. Violets also grew from the corpse of the princess. Kybélē (Κυβέλη) went to Zeus and asked him to bring Áttis (Ἄττις) back to life. But Zeus only granted that the body of Áttis (Ἄττις) wouldn’t deteriorate. A pine tree then grew from the corpse. Kybélē (Κυβέλη) was grieving and wandered around. To where she came, there a famine followed. The people asked an oracle for advice and the oracle knew the solution that a yearly feast must be held for Áttis (Ἄττις) and priests, who were eunuchs, must maintain the cult of Kybélē (Κυβέλη). The cult of Kybélē (Κυβέλη) merged with other cults. The cult of Mithras, that was known for copying from other cults, for example copied the ceremonial costumes from the cult of Kybélē (Κυβέλη). Some people also see the Catholic Cult of Mother Mary as a continuation of the cult of Kybélē (Κυβέλη).

The discoverer of the asteroid Cybele, Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel, named the asteroid Maximiliana after the reigning regent Maximilian II of Bavaria. But many other astronomers protested this choice because asteroids still had to be given names from mythology exclusively. So the somehow involuntary democratic decision was made to name this asteroid Cybele.

Asteroid #65 represents the overly dominant mother. She decides who gets enough food and who doesn’t. She decides who can marry into the family and who can’t. She doesn’t allow her children enough space to breathe.