As already presented, the Midas Monument is a high rock-cut relief in the shape of a pedimented temple front that lies on the cliff side of the citadel of the ancient Phrygian city of Mida (Yazılıkaya in Turkish), province of Eskişehir in northwest nowadays Turkey.

The monument bears a dedication on the upper left hand side in Old Phrygian by Ates, son of Arkias, that has “ΜΙΔΑΙ ΛΑFΑΓΤAEI FΑΝAKTEI ΕΔΑΕΣ” to the effect of ‘Midai (She of Mida, Cybele) overlord and leader of people dwells/is present here,’ likely fashioned in the late eighth century BC.

It was initially erroneously taken for King Midas’s tomb, hence its name, due to the presence of the name ‘Midai’ in the above mentioned inscription, yet the latter eventually turned out to be yet another epithet of Phrygian supreme goddess Cybele, apparently as patron and protector of the city.

For that matter, the site served as a sanctuary of Cybele herself where a statue of the goddess would be placed in the entrance-shaped niche at the bottom of the monument, potentially representing a ‘spiritual doorway,’ during rituals or ceremonies.

So let’s probe into this inscription breaking it down part by part.

ΜΙΔΑΙ

To begin with, I am very confident that the city of Mida followed the same naming pattern as other ancient cities that lay under the aegis of Cybele whether Mycenaean and later Achaean, such as Athenai (Athens) and Thebai (Thebes), or also very likely other Phrygian counterparts, such as Kolossai or Kelainai, to the effect of ‘Midai.’

Along these lines, Cybele herself would take up the name of each city that evoked her as a protector by means of an epithet in a form that would spell ‘She/The Lady of (name of the city).’

Thereby Cybele carried the epithet ‘Αθηνή’ (Atḗnē), spelling ‘She/Lady of Athens,’ ‘Θηβή’ (Tḗbē), meaning ‘She/Lady of Thebes,’ or ‘Μυκηνή’ (Mukḗnē), meaning ‘She/Lady of Mycenae,’ as an instance.

The reasoning behind the plural names of ancient cities is far from clear but, looking at the form ‘Midai’ (Cybele) for Mida in the inscription in discussion, I am beginning to speculate that the suffix ‘-ai,’ voiced as ‘a-i’ (very similar in both sound and function to later Latin ‘-ae’), may have not had a plural function initially but rather shaped a feminine possessive form of the name referred to.

The above argument can be supported by Phrygian male patronyms such as ‘ΑΡΚΙΕϝΑΙΣ,’ meaning ‘son of ΑΡΚΙΑΣ,’ where the respective suffix ‘-ais’ (voiced as ‘a-i-s’) comes at the end of the possessive adjective, corresponding to the female ‘-ai’ above.

Therefore, the name ‘ΜΙΔΑΙ’ in the inscription most certainly shapes a feminine possessive form spelling ‘She/Lady of Mida’ in this case. By implication, ‘ΑΘΗΝΗ’ (Atḗnē) would have been ‘ΑΤΕΝΑΙ/ΑΘΗΝΑΙ’(1) and ‘ΘΗΒΗ’ (Tḗbē) would have been ‘ΤΕΒΑΙ/ΘΗΒΑΙ’(1) respectively as epithets of Cybele in earlier stages.

As the letter ‘H’(2) with a similar sound (long ‘e’) came along, as well as other developments, the use of the suffix ‘-ai’ could then have been likely gradually delegated to eventually help form plural feminine nouns later.

Many modern historians suggest that there were sisterhoods of priestesses devoted to Cybele(3) bearing her epithet, such as ‘Athenai’ or ‘Thebai,’ in the respective cities which may have eventually influenced such a switch in function into plural of the suffix ‘-ai’ with female names.

Therefore, ancient cities under the aegis of Cybele seem to have eventually ended up carrying the respective (plural) name of the sisterhood of priestesses dedicated to her therein.

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(1) Same pronunciation as ‘Atena-‘i’ and ‘Teba-‘i’ respectively.

(2) Eventually, ‘H’ supplanted ‘ai’ as suffix in feminine possessive forms in tongues/dialects such as Phrygian and Ionian (which carries a profound Phrygian platform).

(3) More precisely, modern historians say that it is the very same goddess in all those ancient cities, which adds up.

Cybele is clearly the protectress of Athens and most likely Thebes, venerated as principal goddess, so it follows that she would have been of Mycenae as well.