From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins: Sex and Category in Roman Religion by Ariadne Staples Page B
Authors: Ariadne Staples
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articulated by the establish- ment of the exclusively male rite at the Ara Maxima in conscious opposition to the exclusively female rite of Bona Dea. This also marked, in Roman perception as expressed in myth making at any rate, the beginning of the notion of a religious system. The impor- tance of the two cults of Hercules and Bona Dea was that they were defined in terms of each other; they complemented each other; they were linked by a relationship of meaning. It was this that marked out the religion defined as Roman from the one represented by Faunus. However chaotic a polytheistic system such as the Roman might appear to us, to the Romans it was an ordered, meaningfully
structured system. The Roman conception of religious chaos was symbolized by Faunus.
The Ara Maxima existed in historical times, 87 providing a tangi-
ble link between the religious past and present. In this sense it might well be regarded as the earliest Roman shrine. Significantly it was also, in terms of its aetiology, the first expression of the concept of exclusively male ritual space. Note that according to the logic of Rome ’ s myths, female ritual space was not a Roman creation. Bona Dea with her female rites was already part of the enchanted land- scape into which Hercules intruded, and which he ended up by dominating. None the less that female space needed to be incorpo- rated into the new system, for it was that which defined and com- plemented the newly created male space. Together they constituted the germ of the new Roman system. Cicero, in his harangues against Clodius, was certainly not exaggerating the importance of the cult of Bona Dea to the civic religion. It is arguable that he did not go far enough when he described the cult as one which ‘ we received from our kings and is coeval with our city ’ . 88 The perceived antiquity of Bona Dea ’ s cult, with the particular meanings that antiquity was invested with, clearly constituted a large part of its significance.
BONA DEA AND THE MYSTERIES OF MITHRAS
We come now to the problem of status. Were the male and female cultic spaces perceived to have an equal status, or in the patriarchal society of the time was the female cultic space marginal to a central masculine space? This is the current orthodoxy on Roman reli- gion. 89 In this section I shall argue that in Rome, male and female cultic space were equally important to the civic system. It is time to rethink the notion that Roman religion placed a negative value on the female and a positive value on the male.
The mysteries of Mithras, like the cult of Hercules, were, to the best of our knowledge, forbidden to women. 90 But in contrast to the cult at the Ara Maxima the cult of Mithras occupied a space marginal to the public cults of Rome. This was an ancient mystery religion of uncertain oriental origin 91 which did not reach its classic western form until the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD. 92 It was especially popular among the Roman legions, which were also undoubtedly responsible for the wide dissemination of the cult throughout the Roman empire. According to Plutarch, Mithras was
introduced to Rome by the Cilician pirates conquered by Pompey. 93 But it is unlikely that the initiates were at this stage anything more than a tiny sect operating on the fringes of society, and with no effect on the dominant ideology of the day. Cumont in 1913 writes of the mysteries in the time of the Republic, ‘ L ’ action de ses sectateurs sur la masse de la population é tait à peu pr è s aussi nulle que celle de soci é t é s bouddhiques dans l ’ Europe moderne. ’ 94 The mysteries were therefore not part of the religious system which included the cult of Bona Dea and Hercules Invictus. But they provide a useful analyti- cal tool with which to evaluate the relative importance of male and female cultic space.
The mysteries of Mithras, like the cult of Hercules, did not admit women to its rites. But the dynamics of this
structured system. The Roman conception of religious chaos was symbolized by Faunus.
The Ara Maxima existed in historical times, 87 providing a tangi-
ble link between the religious past and present. In this sense it might well be regarded as the earliest Roman shrine. Significantly it was also, in terms of its aetiology, the first expression of the concept of exclusively male ritual space. Note that according to the logic of Rome ’ s myths, female ritual space was not a Roman creation. Bona Dea with her female rites was already part of the enchanted land- scape into which Hercules intruded, and which he ended up by dominating. None the less that female space needed to be incorpo- rated into the new system, for it was that which defined and com- plemented the newly created male space. Together they constituted the germ of the new Roman system. Cicero, in his harangues against Clodius, was certainly not exaggerating the importance of the cult of Bona Dea to the civic religion. It is arguable that he did not go far enough when he described the cult as one which ‘ we received from our kings and is coeval with our city ’ . 88 The perceived antiquity of Bona Dea ’ s cult, with the particular meanings that antiquity was invested with, clearly constituted a large part of its significance.
BONA DEA AND THE MYSTERIES OF MITHRAS
We come now to the problem of status. Were the male and female cultic spaces perceived to have an equal status, or in the patriarchal society of the time was the female cultic space marginal to a central masculine space? This is the current orthodoxy on Roman reli- gion. 89 In this section I shall argue that in Rome, male and female cultic space were equally important to the civic system. It is time to rethink the notion that Roman religion placed a negative value on the female and a positive value on the male.
The mysteries of Mithras, like the cult of Hercules, were, to the best of our knowledge, forbidden to women. 90 But in contrast to the cult at the Ara Maxima the cult of Mithras occupied a space marginal to the public cults of Rome. This was an ancient mystery religion of uncertain oriental origin 91 which did not reach its classic western form until the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD. 92 It was especially popular among the Roman legions, which were also undoubtedly responsible for the wide dissemination of the cult throughout the Roman empire. According to Plutarch, Mithras was
introduced to Rome by the Cilician pirates conquered by Pompey. 93 But it is unlikely that the initiates were at this stage anything more than a tiny sect operating on the fringes of society, and with no effect on the dominant ideology of the day. Cumont in 1913 writes of the mysteries in the time of the Republic, ‘ L ’ action de ses sectateurs sur la masse de la population é tait à peu pr è s aussi nulle que celle de soci é t é s bouddhiques dans l ’ Europe moderne. ’ 94 The mysteries were therefore not part of the religious system which included the cult of Bona Dea and Hercules Invictus. But they provide a useful analyti- cal tool with which to evaluate the relative importance of male and female cultic space.
The mysteries of Mithras, like the cult of Hercules, did not admit women to its rites. But the dynamics of this
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