The names of the Mother(s)

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Meter, Meter Theōn, Meter Kybeleia, Pontia, Zerynthia, Reskynthis, Kotyto, Ganea, Tereia, Aksiokersa, Bendis, Basileia: these are all names and epithets of a prominent female deity worshipped in ancient Thrace and the western Black Sea region, as attested by ancient authors, dedicatory inscriptions, images on coins and reliefs, and numerous statuettes.[1]

Inevitably, a question arises: are these the names and epithets of a single Mother Goddess, or do they designate distinct goddesses?

What unites and what differentiates them?

Was the Mother of Gods that the Greeks worshipped in the western Black Sea colonies the same deity as the Mother Goddess that was worshipped by the Thracians in the region under different names? If so, how were the two related?

And a particularly interesting question – what does our evidence reveal about the interactions between communities with different religious and cultural traditions, since the Black Sea lies at the outskirts of the Greek and Roman worlds and was a well-known area of cultural interaction?