ABSTRACT
Although there were some rites in which they were not permitted to participate, the majority of religious activities did allow for the presence of women, and sometimes for their active participation. The chorus of women in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata mentions various religious duties which they had carried out for the city-state, and Euripides points quite clearly to the important role which women played in cult. While two of the examples he gives are the oracular priestesses at Delphi and Dodona, he also mentions rites for the Fates and ‘Nameless Goddesses’, which were mystery celebrations only for women. 1
