Britannica Sources used in this answer

How did the cult of the Great Mother and Attis reach Rome?

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painted Greek vase — mystery religion Painted Greek vase showing a Dionysiac feast, 450–425 bc; in the Louvre, Paris.

The cult of the Great Mother, known as Cybele, reached Rome in 204 BCE during the Second Punic War, when the Roman Senate acted upon the instructions of the Sibylline Books.12

Following a prophecy that suggested the enemy could be defeated if the "Idaean Mother" were brought to Rome, the Romans transported her sacred symbol—a small black stone—from her cult center in Pessinus, Phrygia. Along with the stone, her priests were brought to the city and installed in a temple on the Palatine Hill.12

While the Great Mother’s worship was eventually established on a firm footing, the ecstatic and frenzied nature of her rites—which included the self-mutilation of her priests, the Galli—was initially considered too extreme for Roman citizens. Consequently, Romans were originally forbidden from participating in these ceremonies, a restriction that was not lifted until the time of the empire. In its fully developed form, the cult was accompanied by the worship of her consort, the fertility god Attis, whose myth and associated rituals became central to the religion.12