In the stress of the second Punic war the Romans resolved to receive the Great Mother from Mount Ida among the gods of their state, but no sooner had the gift of their friend and ally, king Attalus of Pergamum, arrived in Rome, than they were seized with horror at the nature of the goddess and the character of her priesthood. The decree of the senate went forth forbidding Roman citizens to take part in the worship of the goddess. Only on one day in the year might the revolting procession of the priests leave the temple on the Palatine, when on the 27th of March the image of the goddess was bathed in the little river Almo.