"'You are the King. A man. Do you admit me to your mystery of Mithras? Then ask no more about this.'" (Roma Mater, p. 378)
Earlier, another Queen had catalogued inequalities:
Romans honor women but give them no voice;
Greeks shut them away;
Mithraists do not admit them;
Christians do but in a subservient role.
It is good to have left a lot of that behind. A neighbor boasted to me that Wicca is the only religion where men and women worship together naked. My daughter retorted that Wicca will continue to be the only religion where men and women worship together naked! Without the nakedness, there is no distinction between men and women in our Zen group. A visiting "monk" may be male or female.
A Dianic friend has spoken of reviving women-only rituals but these would be conducted in private and would not affect social interactions. Meanwhile, I am not in any hurry to revive Mithraism or sacrifice white bulls!
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm not sure what you cited from THE KING OF YS about Roman women is quite accurate. I think the Romans were inclined to listen to advice from women who had BORNE children.
And, real world, actual, historical paganism was NOTHING like what your "neo pagan" friends seem to claim paganism was. Again, as so often, Poul Anderson was more realistic. I can't help but recall how he described Germanic paganism in his introduction to HROLF KRAKI'S SAGA as "...heathen rites bloody or obscene." With the Scandinavians also practicing human sacrifices.
I don't recall where, but I read a long defense of how women are treated in Christianity as being far better than in any other religion. Perhaps in Sarah Ruden's book PAUL AMONG THE PEOPLE?
Sean
I recall that in "Boat of a Million Years" Anderson portrayed the Muslim conquest of parts of the Roman Empire as bad for the women there.
I also recall some Muslim at the time of the Crusades being quoted as making fun of the 'Franks' for letting their women run around so freely.
I can well believe that Christianity was better for woman than Islam at least.
(A rather low bar to clear.)
Kaor, Jim! If anything Anderson softened how bad life could be for women under Muslim rule in THE BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS. Because, to be fair, not all Muslims treated women as harshly as the Koran, Hadiths, and Sharia law allowed them to do. But the horrible things happening to women in Afghanistan following the recent reconquest of that country by the Taliban warns us against complacency! I too recall reading of Muslim historians scandalized by how the "Franks" treated women in the Crusader states: riding and walking about without veils and/or being required to have male relatives escorting them, owning real property, or having a say in politics, etc. Ad astra! Sean
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