29 October 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

New Museum being Built for the Stolen Goddess Cybele in Western Turkey

A marble statue of the Anatolian mother goddess Cybele, which was returned to its native home of Turkey’s Afyonkarahisar will now be displayed at a new museum being built in the city where it was first discovered.

This 1,700-year-old Cybele statue is considered the giver and protector of wealth and abundance in prehistoric times. It was smuggled from Turkey and sold in Israel in the 1970s. Thanks to the hard work of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Turkish Consulate General in New York, the artifact was recovered before being auctioned at an auction house in the United States in December 2020.

After being shown in the Istanbul Archeology Museum for a period, the marble figure will be relocated to the newly built museum in Afyonkarahisar. The construction of the museum in Afyonkarahisar, meanwhile, has restarted and is expected to finish by May or June of next year.

Afyonkarahisar Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Mehmet Tanır provided information about the museum.

“We will exhibit the Cybele mother goddess in an important place. Of course, this will not be just an archeology museum. As the ministry, we are also trying to raise awareness here. In addition to having archeological artifacts, the museum will also have exhibits related to music, one of the rare works in the city,” Tanır said.



📣 Our WhatsApp channel is now LIVE! Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates, just click here to follow us on WhatsApp and never miss a thing!!



The marble statue of Cybele features lions on either side.
The marble statue of Cybele features lions on either side.

Tanır noted that the music museum, along with Turkey’s first Egg and Art Museum, would be incorporated into the new complex. “Therefore, we are talking about a museum that contains many units. In other words, we will have prepared a place where people who enter can stay for a long time with pleasure,” he stated.

Tanır also gave information about the part of the museum where Cybele would be exhibited, saying that the ancient statue would be placed in the East Roman exhibition hall where artifacts belonging to the Roman period or periods preceding or following it would be displayed.

The history of Cybele dates back to prehistoric times as in the Mediterranean basin the mother goddess has been worshipped for thousands of years. The statue of Cybele features lions on either side of the goddess, pointing to her dominance over nature and animals.

Depending on the social and economic standing of the person, these offerings could range from a simple pebble to intricate sculptures.

As stated in its inscription, the Cybele statue was presented to the 12 Olympians, the 12 major Greek deities, as a votive offering by Asclepiades of Sideropolis.

On the statue’s pedestal is written: “Hermeios’ son, Asclepiades from Sideropolis erected the votive statue to Twelve Olympians.”

Related Articles

4,000-year-old War Memorial of Banat-Bazi in Syria

28 May 2021

28 May 2021

Archaeologists have identified a memorial monument built before 2300 BC in the Banat-Bazi region in Syria. Known as the “White...

5000-year-old fingerprint found in Orkney pottery

23 April 2021

23 April 2021

Fingerprints were found on a pottery dating back 5,000 years in the Orkney archipelago, located in the northern region of...

New Discoveries of Sanxingdui Ancient City to be Announced

19 March 2021

19 March 2021

Sanxingdui, which literally means “Stacks of Three Stars”, is a cultural relic of the Kingdom of Shu in ancient China....

White grape pips found in the Negev dated may be the oldest of its kind worldwide

29 April 2023

29 April 2023

Researchers from the University of York, Tel Aviv University, and the University of Copenhagen provide new insight into the mystery...

Ancient Roman Chalice Contained Pig Fat Discovered in a 6th-century Anglo-Saxon Tomb in England

11 December 2024

11 December 2024

During excavations in Scremby, Lincolnshire in 2018, archaeologists uncovered an enameled copper alloy chalice in a 6th-century AD female grave....

Archaeologists found a noble woman buried beside her ‘husband’ 1,000 years ago with the top of her face hollowed out

4 November 2023

4 November 2023

Archaeologists unearthed the 1,000-year-old remains of a woman with her face and head hollowed out buried next to her husband...

Iran wants UNESCO recognition for 56 of its historic caravansaries

10 October 2021

10 October 2021

Iran wants 56 Caravanserais from various periods, from the Sassanids (224 CE-651) to the Qajar period (1789-1925), to be included...

Archaeologists Discovered a New Pyramid Resembling Teotihuacán in Tikal

17 April 2021

17 April 2021

Researchers discovered a new pyramid complex in the Tikal in Guatemala. About 65 km south of El Mirador in the...

3D printing technology was used for the restored relic restoration of an ancient palace in Liangzhu Archaeological Site

11 July 2021

11 July 2021

Six rebuilt massive wooden pillars of an old palace have been exposed to the public for the first time at...

1900 years old a Customs Inscription from the Lycian civilization reveals Anatolia’s strategic importance in maritime trade

16 September 2023

16 September 2023

A Customs Inscription from the Lycian civilization, located in Andriake port in the southern province of Antalya’s Demre district, tells...

1,500-Year-Old Stained Glass and Mosaics Discovered at Harran Cathedral Excavation in Türkiye

7 February 2025

7 February 2025

Recent excavations at the historic Harran archaeological site, which is included on UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List, have yielded rare...

Turkish researchers use Artificial Intelligence to read cuneatic Hittite tablets

9 January 2023

9 January 2023

Thanks to a project implemented in Türkiye, 1,954 ancient Hittite tablets are being read for the first time using artificial...

New evidence pushes the origins of the Great Wall back by 300 years

19 February 2025

19 February 2025

Recently discovered evidence from the Changqing district of Jinan, located in East China’s Shandong Province, reveals that the origins of...

Computational Analysis Points to a Non-Traditional Garden of Eden Location – Beneath the Pyramids?

30 April 2025

30 April 2025

A radical new theory proposed by a computer engineer suggests that the biblical Garden of Eden may not be in...

A 3,300-year-old tablet found at Büklükale from Hittite Empire describes catastrophic invasion of four cities

11 March 2024

11 March 2024

Archaeologists have unearthed a 3,300-year-old clay tablet depicting a catastrophic foreign invasion of the Hittite Empire in Büklükale, about 100...