ARCIGALLO. - A priest of Cybele, of rank superior to the ordinary galli. From the rather abundant epigraphic material that has come down to us, it appears that, in the imperial age, the office of a. was not only recognized by the authorities, but also held in high esteem; and since the a. mentioned therein are all Roman citizens, it is evident that they could not have undergone the castration which Roman laws declared incompatible with the enjoyment of Roman citizenship. And if, on the other hand, writers of the imperial age reproach the a. with the same ignominy as the ordinary galli, it must be concluded that they mistakenly believed that one could not attain the rank of a. without first having passed through that of gallo.
We have four figurative representations of a., which, however, are reducible to two, since the first three reproduce the same personage. The latter come from a tomb in the necropolis of Porto on the Isola Sacra, and are of interest above all because of the large crown, which we know to have been of gold and which we find frequently mentioned by writers. Still more interesting is the relief in the Museo Capitolino, in which the a. is depicted with all his attributes: a crown with three medallions—Jupiter in the centre and two of Attis at the sides; the breastplate with the image of Attis, the whip for self-flagellation, the tambourine, the tympana, the flute with the pastoral staff, the mystic cista.