City
Pesinunte
Ballıhisar
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Pessinus, near the village of Ballıhisar in Turkey, was a temple state once governed by the priests of Cybele, the Great Mother. The Roman historian Ammianus reports that some derived the name from the Greek word for falling, because her image was said to have dropped from the sky. Around 205 BC her sacred stone was carried to Rome, with the promise of victory over Hannibal. The Greek geographer Strabo called the town the greatest market of the region. Oddly, the map gives this famous sanctuary no temple drawing, only the usual pair of towers.