This miraculous feat proved Claudia's reputation and the goddess's willingness to become Rome's protector. Soon after, Rome had a good harvest, then defeated the Carthaginian leader Hannibal. Accounts of Cybele's arrival and her transformation into Rome's Magna Mater were embellished over time with circumstantial details, and formed part of the goddess's founding festival, Megalesia.

These stories, and the pageants of Megalesia, were used to promote the goddess herself,