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The Dissemination of Egyptian Religion In The Roman Empire By Gary Marshall “Religion, although conservative, does not remain static.” (Macdonald, 1977,37) When it comes to the study of Roman religion, Macdonald’s comment makes for a fine summation, especially in assessing the widespread popularity of deities that originated out of ancient Egypt. To comprehend the spread of cult activity during the Roman empire, it is necessary to take a step back in time to the reign of Ptolemy I, and understand how Eastern religions could come to be so readily accepted within classical society. Greaves et al (1990) observe that as early as the 5th century BC that educated Greeks had begun to doubt the existence of traditional gods, especially in the face of the enormous variety of Asian religions, and that this was bound to lead to fundamental changes. These changes begin with the rule of Ptolemy I (305-285 BC) who began by deifying Alexander, later Ptolemy II was to deify both his father and himself, but as Greaves et al (1990,117) are quick to point out, it is, “Doubtful that they satisfied religious needs on any broad scale.” The shrines of the Cult of Rulers would be a focus for loyalty of the Greek subjects, aswell as prestigious priesthoods, reserved for Greeks, such as in Alexandria and Ptolemais (Bowman,1986). But as Ellis (1992) ascertains, there are no records of Greeks serving as priests in native Egyptian cult centres, yet Ptolemy wished to ensure the preservation of traditional Egyptian religious institutions, he in fact regarded this as a fundamental policy, set down in decree on March 7th 238 BC in Canopus (Bowman 1986). If Ptolemy was to establish a unified kingdom, then there would need to be a considered degree of religious synchronicity, in other words, “The need to put Egyptian religious traditions and characteristics into a form which was comprehensible to the Greeks.” (Bowman 1986,175). To this end Ptolemy carefully adapted Serapis from the cult of Osiris, the Greek inhabitants of Egypt demonstrated an open belief in the efficacy of the local deities, supplicating to them to obtain oracles, yet Bowman (1986) believes it to be misleading to regard the identification of Osiris/Serapis as simple equivalence. Rather Ptolemy’s creation was a combination of Greek and Egyptian religion, best illustrated by the inherent theriomorphism in Egyptian cult expression and the classical aversion to the portrayal of gods in animal form (Green 1978). Serapis was, “Not meant for native Egyptians”(Ellis 1992,41), but rather was designed to unite cosmopolitan Alexandria, and act as a tool of foreign policy to spread Egyptian culture. The Greeks were not exporting Greek religion, rather they were subscribing to Asian and Egyptian cults in a consumable form, Plutarch’s account of Osiris is more specific, he observed that the Egyptian priests wanted the name to be overtly composed of that of Osiris and Apis, Osorapis in the demotic, Serapis in the Greek, establishing Apis as the beautiful manifestation of the soul of Osiris. This deliberate exporting of Egyptian deities can be seen in the adoption of Serapis as tutelary deity of Alexandria in 305 BC, the Serapeum there was not only a cult centre, but one of learning, and the seat of the library. This would provide the mechanism for the spread of Egyptian cults and their ultimate adoption within the Roman Empire. |