to the sacred; but it may be that the gods of minor states (in all cases identified with the great god) continue to occur, accompanied in several cases by their local retinue. Finally there comes the group of moving beings, which alone tells us that the scene which we are looking on is the picture of a rite, and not a mere commemoration of an alliance. What then is this rite? There is little direct evidence to answer us. In the central group are the images of male and female deities, accompanied by a youth, Nature’s divine Triad. We cannot hope at this stage of our knowledge to penetrate the mystery of the symbolism seen in the mountains, the lions, and the goats. But from what is known of the cult of Cybele in her various forms, and of Attis, her lover-son, whose attributes are distinguished yet identified in the separate cults of Baal and Sandon of Tarsus, there can be little doubt as to the main object of the ceremony.[573] The rejuvenescence of Nature, symbolised by the divine nuptials of the Goddess of Earth with the God of Fertility, is the central motive; and the fruits of the earth are the issue. But though we recognise the nature of the cult, we do not feel justified in presupposing anything but a general resemblance between the local worship and the rites practised elsewhere in later times. That which we do see in this monument is a national religious ceremony of the Hittites, at which the local deities of the chief states, or the divine personages representing them, were present. In this ceremony the image of the national god was borne upon the shoulders of his priests[574] to the shrine of the Mother-Goddess, which was found in the local sanctuary of the capital. The objective was that the earth should be fertile and yield her produce, that the fruits should ripen and the ears of corn grow fat. As to the season when this ceremony took place, there is little suggestion. The spring-time is that which seems to us appropriate; but if the grotesque figures in the left-hand series[575] really stand upon a wine-press, and if the group of men[576] on the same side really hold sickles in their hands, then the harvest-time is indicated. On the other hand, the ceremony may have been seasonal or irregular, or adapted to some great date of the Hittite calendar. Speculation on the point is useless. As to the further nature of the rites we remain likewise in ignorance, realising only the dance or march of the men and the presence of the women, and having only the knowledge which has been handed to us of rites practised at the shrine of the goddess in other places.