The exclusion of women in the Mithraic mysteries: Ancient or modern? (Archaeological and epigraphical preconceptions on the theory of universal cultic exclusivity)

The following paper deals with the scholarly supposition that females were excluded from the ancient mystery cult of Mithraism. This notion has been p art of scholarly dialogue about the religion since Franz Cumont, the father of modern Mithraic studies, introduced it in the late nineteenth century. Though many of his conclusions about Mithraism have been challenged or refu ted in the past thirty years, the particular idea that the cult excluded wo men has persisted, and actually has become taken for granted by most schola rs. Thanks to the publication of much important archaeological and epigraph ical evidence during the past fifty years, a reexamination of this notion i s now possible. By surveying a few examples of Mithraic inscriptions and ic onography in light of heretofore discounted textual clues from such ancient authors as Porphry, Jerome, and Tertullian, it will be argued that the the ory of universal female exclusion from Mithraism is untenable. In order to demonstrate this, it will be necessary to challenge and scrutinize the work of the only modern scholar to explore gender within ancient Mithraism, Ric hard Gordon. Instead of starting from a preconceived notion of exclusion an d attempting to explain away the various exceptions to this rule, this arti cle will tally these "exceptions" to conclude simply that women were involv ed with Mithraic groups in at least some locations of the empire. Some poss ible implications of this conclusion then will be suggested.