Editing Rhea (mythology) (section)

== Depiction in ancient literature ==
In [[Homer]], Rhea is the mother of the gods, although not a universal mother like [[Cybele]], the [[Phrygians|Phrygian]] [[Mother Goddess|Great Mother]], with whom she was later identified.

In the ''[[Argonautica]]'' by [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], the fusion of Rhea and Phrygian Cybele is completed. "Upon the Mother depend the winds, the ocean, the whole earth beneath the snowy seat of Olympus; whenever she leaves the mountains and climbs to the great vault of heaven, Zeus himself, the son of [[Cronus]], makes way, and all the other immortal gods likewise make way for the dread goddess," the seer [[Mopsus]] tells Jason in ''[[Argonautica]]''; Jason climbed to the sanctuary high on [[Dindymon|Mount Dindymon]] to offer sacrifice and libations to placate the goddess, so that the Argonauts might continue on their way. For her ''[[temenos]]'' they wrought an image of the goddess, a ''[[xoanon]]'', from a vine-stump. There "they called upon the mother of Dindymon, mistress of all, the dweller in Phrygia, and with her [[Dactyl (mythology)|Titias]] and [[Dactyl (mythology)|Kyllenos]] who alone of the many [[Dactyl (mythology)|Cretan Daktyls of Ida]] are called 'guiders of destiny' and 'those who sit beside the Idaean Mother'." They leapt and danced in their armour: "For this reason the Phrygians still worship Rhea with tambourines and drums".<ref>(Apollonius of Rhodes), Richard Hunter, tr., 1993. ''Jason and the Golden Fleece'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press), Book II, p. 29f.</ref>