by various authors

“ The origin of the name of Galli is not absolutely certain, but it was doubtless a native Phrygian word: of course it has nothing to do with the Galatae or Gauls, whose first appearance in these countries dates only from B.C. 278. There is no reason to reject the tradition which derives it from a river in Phrygia: there were two small rivers called Gallus, both tributaries of the Sangarius, and the one which flows by Pessinus must be meant, whose water was fabled to cause this particular form of religious madness. ”

“ In their wild, enthusiastic, and boisterous rites the Galli recalled the legends of the Corybantes (Hor. Carm. 1.16, 5 ff.; Lucan 1.565 ff.) . According to an ancient custom, they were always castrated (spadones, semimares, semiviri, nec viri nec feminae) , and it would seem that, impelled by religious enthusiasm, they performed this operation on themselves (Ov. Fast. 4.237; Plin. Nat. 11.261, 35.165; Martial, 3.81, 11.74; Juv. 6.512 ff.) .
The worship of the Magna Mater was introduced at Rome in B.C. 204, towards the close of the Second Punic War. ”

“ The myths of Marsyas and Hyagnis, the reputed inventors of the flute, gather round the same region, and are doubtless connected with the use of that instrument in the orgiastic worship of Cybele (cf. Dict. Biogr. art. Marsyas) . The Phrygian language was Indo-European, as appears from the extant inscriptions (Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. i. App. p. 666) ; and the worship of Cybele has been thought to be also Indo-European ”