Richard Gordon 80
One of the leading scholars of Mithraic studies, Richard Gordon celebrates his 80th birthday in this month. His revolutionary contribution for the study of Mithraism is unquestionable and still inspires dozens of young scholars.
Short presentation of his academic cursus honorum:
1. Higher Education
First degree: Jesus College, Cambridge: 1962-66, Classical Tripos (Ancient History option) Postgraduate: Jesus College, Cambridge: 1966-69; Supervisor: Prof. M.I. Finley. PhD topic: Mithraism in the Roman Empire (unpubl.) (1972)
2. Academic Posts
1969-70: Research Fellow, Downing College, Cambridge 1970-88: Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer in interdisciplinary topics (Ancient Civilisation) in the School of Modern Languages and European History, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK 1979-80: Visiting Fellow, Darwin College, Cambridge 1988- : Private Scholar 2007- : Honorary Professor of Greek and Roman Religion, Erfurt
Major publication in Mithraic Studies:
Gordon 1972
Gordon, R. L., Mithraism and Roman society”, Religion 2 (1972) 92-121.
Gordon 1975
Gordon, R. L., Franz Cumont and the doctrines of Mithraism”, Mithraic Studies , ed. J.R. Hinnells(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1975) 1: 215-48.
Gordon 1976a
Gordon, R. L., The sacred geography of a mithraeum” , Journal of Mithraic Studies 1.2 (1976) 119-65.
Gordon 1976b
Gordon, R. L., A new Mithraic relief from Rome”, JMS 1.2 (1976) 166-186.
Gordon 1976c
Gordon, R. L., A note on the ‘Mithraeum’ at Cyrene”, JMS 1 (1976) 210-221.
Gordon 1978a
Gordon, R. L., Iconographical notes on the Pojejena reliefs”, JMS 2.1 (1977-78) 73-78.
Gordon 1978b
Gordon, R. L., The date and significance of CIMRM 593 [British Museum, Townley Collection]”, JMS 2.1 (1977-78) 148-174.
Gordon-Hinnells 1978
Gordon, R. – Hinnells, J., “Some new photographs of well – known Mithraic reliefs”, JMS 2.1(1977-8) 198-223.
Gordon 1980a
Gordon, R. L., Reality, evocation and boundary in the Mysteries of Mithras”, JMS 3 (1979-80) 19-99.
Gordon 1980b
Gordon, R. L., Panelled complications”, JMS 3 (1979-80) 200-227.
Gordon 1988
Gordon, R. L., Authority, salvation and mystery in the Mysteries of Mithras” ,J.M.C.Toynbee MemorialVolume , eds. J. Huskinson, M. Beard, J. Reynolds (Newnham College, Cambridge, 1988),45-80.
Gordon 1994a
Gordon, R. L., Mystery, metaphor and doctrine in the Mysteries of Mithras” in Studies in Mithraism: Papers associated with the Mithraic Panel organized on the occasion of the XVIthCongress of the International Association for the History of Religions, Rome 1990 , ed. J. 4 R. Hinnells ( Rome: ‘L’Erma’ di Bretschneider, 1994) 103-124.
Gordon 1994b
Gordon, R. L., Who worshipped Mithras?”, Journal of Roman Archaeology 7 (1994), 459-74 (review ofM. Clauss, Cultores Mithrae [1992]), JRA 7 (1994) 459-474.
Gordon 1996
Gordon, L. R, Image and Value in the Graeco-Roman World: Studies in Mithraism and religious art Variorum Collected Studies series (Aldershot, 1996)
Gordon 1998
Gordon, R. L., Viewing Mithraic art: the altar from Burginatium (Kalkar), Germania Inferior,” ARYS 1 (1998) 227-258.
Gordon 2002
Gordon, R. L., Persei sub rupibu s antri’: Überlegungen zur Entstehung der Mithrasmysterien,” in: Ptujim römischen Reich/Mithraskult und seine Zeit: Akten des intern. Symposion Ptuj, 11-15.Okt. 1999 Archaeologia Poetovionensis 2 (Ptuj, 2001 [2002]) 289-301.
Gordon 2004a
Gordon, R., Small and miniature reproductions of the Mithraic icon: reliefs, pottery, ornaments and gems, in M. Martens and G. De Boe (eds.), Roman mithraism: the evidence of the small finds. Papers of the international conference, Tienen, 7-8 November 2001, Amsterdam 2004, 259–283.
Gordon 2004b
Gordon, R. L., Interpreting Mithras in the late Renaissance, 1: the ‘monument of Ottaviano Zeno’ (V.335) in Antonio Lafreri’s Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae (1564),” in Electronic Journal of Mithraic Studies 4 (2004) (illustrated).
Gordon 2004c
Gordon, R. L., Traj ets de Mithra en Syrie romaine ” , Topoi (Lyon: Maison de l’Orient) 11.1 (2001 [2004]) 77-136.
Gordon 2005
Gordon, R. L., Ritual and hierarc hy in the Mysteries of Mithras ” , in: Divinas dependencias, 2 in: ARYS4 (2001 [2005]) 245-74. Reprinted in J.A. North and S.R.F. Price (eds.), The Religious History of the Roman Empire: Pagans, Jews and Christians (Oxford 2011) [= Oxford Readings in Classical Studies] 325-365.
Gordon 2006
Gordon, R. L., Mithras Helios astrobrontodaimôn? The re -discovery of IG XIV 998 = IGVR 125 in South Africa,” Epigraphica 68 (2006) 155-94.
Gordon-Alvar 2006
with J. Alvar and C. Rodríguez Cao, “The mithraeum at Lugo ( Lucus Augusti ) and itsconnection with Legio VII Gemina ” , JRA 19.1 (2006) 266-77.
Gordon 2007
Gordon, R. L., Institutionalised religious options: Mithraism. In: Rüpke, J. (ed.), The Companion of Roman Religion, Blackwell-Wiley, 2007, 392‐405.
Gordon 2009a
L.R. Gordon, The Roman Army and the Cult of Mithras: a critical view, in Y. Le Bohec and Ch. Wolff (eds.), L’armée romaine et la religion, Paris 2009, 379–450.
Gordon 2009b
Gordon, R. L., The Mithraic b ody: the example of the Capua Mithraeum,” in: G. Casadio & P.A. Johnston (eds.), Mystic Cults in Magna Graecia , Symposium Cumanum, June 19-22, 2002(Austin: Texas U.P., 2009) 290-313.
Gordon 2012
Gordon, R. L., Mithras” , Reallexikon für Antike u. Christentum vol.24/Lfg. 193 (2012) cols. 964-1009.
Gordon 2013a
Gordon, R. L., On Typologies and History: ‘Orphic Themes’ in Mithraism”, in G. Sfameni Gasparro, A. Cosentino and M. Monaca (eds.), Religion in the History of European Culture. Proceedings of the Ninth EASR Conference and IAHR Special Conference, 14 – 17 Sept.2009, Messina . Biblioteca dell’Officina di Studi Medievali 16 (Palermo 2013) vol. 2, 1023-1048.
Gordon 2013b
Gordon, R. L., The Miles -frame in the Mitreo di Felicis simo and the practicalities of sacrifice” (Comment on A. Chalupa and T. Glomb …. ), Religio: Revue pro Religionistiku 21.1(2013) 33-38.
Gordon 2015a
Gordon, R. L., From Miθra to Roman Mithras”: Appendix to M. L. West, “Ancient Greece” in M. Stausberg and Y. Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina (eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism (Malden and Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015) 451- 456.
Gordon 2015b
Gordon, R. L., Entries “Cautes &Cautopates” and “Mithraeum” in Eric Orlin (ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions (New York & London 2015) 171 and 603f.
Gordon 2016
Gordon, R. L., Den Jungstier auf den goldenen Schulter zu tragen . Mythos, Ritual und Jenseitsvorstellungen im Mithraskult”, in K. Waldner, W. Spickermann, R.L. Gordon (eds.), Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire . Potsdamer Altertumswissenschaftliche Beiträge 57 (Stuttgart 2016) 219- 253.
Gordon 2017a
R. Gordon, Persae in spelaeis solem colunt: Mithra(s) between Persia and Rome. In: R. Strootmann and M.J. Versluys (eds.), Persianism in Antiquity, Stuttgart 2017, 289–327.
Gordon 2017b
Gordon, R. L., Nature, order and well -being in the Roman cult of Mithras”, in A. Hintze and A. Williams (eds.), Holy Wealth: Accounting for this World and the Next in Religious Beliefand Practice: Festschrift for John R. Hinnells . Iranica 24 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2017), 93-130.
Gordon 2017c
Gordon, R. L., From East to West: Staging religious experience in the Mithraic t emple”, in S. Nagel, J. -F. Quack and C. Witschel (eds.), Entangled Worlds: Religious Confluences between Eastand West in the Roman Empire. The Cults of Isis, Mithras and Jupiter Dolichenus. Proceedings of the Colloquium held at Heidelberg 26-29 Nov. 2009. OrientalischeReligionen in der Antike 22 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017) 413-442.
Gordon 2017d
Gordon, R. L., Projects, performance and charisma: Managing small religious groups in the RomanEmpire”, in R.L. Gordon, G. Petridou, and J. Rüpke (ed s.), Beyond Duty: Religious Entrepreneurs and Innovators in the Imperial Era . RGVV 66 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2017) 275-313.
Gordon 2019a
R. Gordon, The cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity. Review of Walsh, David: The cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity development, decline and demise ca. A.D. 270-430, Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2018, in ARYS Antigüedad Religiones y Sociedades 17 (2019), 461–475.
Gordon 2019b
Gordon, R. L., Staging Mithras: Mystagogues and meanings’, Politica Antica 89 (2019) 141-170.
Gordon -Martens-Ervynck 2020
with Marleen Martens and Anton Ervynck, “ The Reconstruction of a Banquet and Ritual practice at the mithraeum of Tienen (Belgium): New Data and Interpretations ” , in M.M.McCarty and M. Egri (eds.). The Archaeology of Mithraism . BABesch Supplementaryseries (Leuven: Peeters, 2020) 11-22
Gordon 2021a
R. Gordon, A brief history of Mithraic studies, in L. Bricault, R. Veymiers and N. Amoroso (eds.), The Mystery of Mithras: Exploring the Heart of a Roman Cult / Le Mystère Mithra. Plongée au cœur d’un culte romain, Morlanwelz 2021, 51–61.
Gordon 2021b
Gordon, R. L., with Andreas Hensen. ‘Das Mannheimer Mithras -Relief: Studien zu seiner Herkunft und Ikonographie’, in J. Lipps, S. Ardeleanu, J. Osnabrügge, C. Witschel (eds.), Die römischenSteindenkmäler in den Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Mannheim . MannheimerGeschichtsblätter, Sonderveröffentlichung 14 (Mannheim 2021) 173-189 (184-189);eidem: Kat. Nr. 88-89, 465-471 (467-471): Entry on CIMRM 397.
Roman religion 