Hyenas or Lionesses? Mithraism and Women in the Religious World of the Late Antiquity
Only men were initiated into the Mysteries of Mithras. This conclusion was for the first time drawn by Franz Cumont as early as 1899. After having put together the corpus of all literary, archaeological, and epigraphic evidence relevant to this religion, the Belgian scholar immediately became aware of one remarkable fact: all the monuments and dedicatory inscriptions were made only by men. Cumont believed that this situation was caused by the practice of a rigorous ascetic discipline, which prevented women from striving for the initiation into the Mysteries of Mithras and from moving up their initiatory ladder. As a result, women occupied only inferior positions among the Mithraists. Cumont considered this rule to be valid for all Mithraic communities in the west. Nevertheless, he was aware of the existence of several finds which disturbed his scheme. Neoplatonist Porphyry might have mentioned initiatory grade “lioness” in one of his works narrowly corresponding with the funerary inscription from North African Tripolis (ancient Oea), which also uses the title “lioness” when speaking about a woman. However, Cumont considered these cases to be isolated and anomalous, possibly reflecting the extraordinary ways in some local communities influenced by the Orient.
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Just finished a book on the Dionysus by “Carl Kerenyi”
There appears to be divisions between male and female ceremonies as well. Originally there seemed to be predominantly an all female college of women for the most secretive mystery rites. Wine and vine Dionysos ceremony’s seemed to have male participants. Overtime there was the braking of the taboo as well.
There is reason to believe that sexual deviance may be provoked if the two sexes were both present during certain ritual.
Some ceremonies mentioned virgin priestess conceiving a horned or divine child. Made me think of the Virgin Mary and of course Alexander the Grates mother’s Olympias the notorious Witch and keeper of serpents. Who claimed Alexzander was son of the Apollo not king Philip.
If females were not allowed in Mythric cults maybe it was for practical reason to prevent distraction and unrestrained desire that could easily take hold and distract from the goal at hand.
Hi Levin: It’s quite a common point of view in religious contexts to worrying about to what extent can libido distract some men and women from a supposed true purpose. It’s also probable that social factors played a part. In ancient societies (and not so ancient), sexual and gender roles were clearly defined. Just as there were no female soldiers or women had no political rights, to vote or to run for office, in ancient Rome, they also didn’t take part in many other areas of life. Roles were clearly marked and as you mention, women had some private cults where men weren’t allowed either. The cult of Mithras, in that regard, was simply a male one. I remember that not so long ago, and probably still today, there were lots of institutions and conferrees in Europe that were exclusively male, and until quite recently nobody really thought of that as discriminatory, but of course, times have changed (maybe not in essence but definitely in form!)
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