Attis.

A mythical Phrygian youth whose legend became associated with the worship of the fertility goddess Cybele, Attis (Atys) was said to be the son of Nana, daughter of the river-god Sangarios. He was born from the nut of an almond tree, which his mother had eaten or placed in her womb or on her breast. In the most popular accounts, Attis grew to be a beautiful youth and was beloved of Cybele. When he fell in love with the wood nymph Sagaritis, Cybele, in a jealous rage, killed the nymph by cutting down the tree in which she lived. Attis went mad with grief, castrated himself, and died at the foot of a pine tree; from his blood violets grew. Some say that Attis was conjoined with the pine tree or was transformed into a pine. The myth of Attis as sacrificial vegetation deity is often considered a counterpart to that of Adonis.

The figure of Attis is rare in the Greek tradition, but he gained importance in Rome during the reign of Claudius, and after about 150 ce became equal to Cybele herself in the organization of her cult. Cy-bele’s priests castrated themselves and feigned madness in ritual commemorations of his death. During the late Empire, he was given the status of a solar deity.
Classical Sources. Catullus, Carmina 63, “Attis.” Diodorus Siculus, Biblioteca 3.58.4!]?. Virgil, Aeneid 6.785—90. Ovid, Fasti 4.i83ff., 6.321?; Metamorphoses 10.104, 56off., 686-702. Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.17.9-12. Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods 20, “Aphrodite and Eros.”

See also Cybele.