Hellenistic religion

The Egyptian religion which follows Isis was the most famous of the new religions. The religion was brought to Greece by Egyptian priests, initially for the small Egyptian communities in the port cities of the Greek world.[9] Although the Egyptian religion found only a small audience among the Greeks themselves, her popularity spread under the Roman empire,[10] and Diodorus Siculus wrote that the religion was known throughout almost the whole inhabited world.[11]

Almost as famous was the cult of Serapis, an Egyptian deity despite the Greek name, which was created in Egypt under the Ptolemaic dynasty.[12] Serapis was patronized by the Greeks who had settled in Egypt. This religion involved initiation rites like the Eleusinian Mysteries.[13] Strabo wrote of the Serapeion at Canopus near Alexandria as being patronized by the most reputable men.[14]

The religion of Atargatis (related to the Babylonian and Assyrian Ishtar and Phoenician Ba`alat Gebal), a fertility- and sea goddess from Syria, was also popular. By the 3rd century BCE her worship had spread from Syria to Egypt and Greece, and eventually reached Italy and the west.[10] The religion following Cybele (or the Great Mother) came from Phrygia to Greece and then to Egypt and Italy, where in 204 BCE the Roman Senate permitted her worship. She was a healing and protecting goddess, and a guardian of fertility and wild nature.[10]

Another mystery religion was focused around Dionysus. Although rare in mainland Greece, it was common on the islands and in Anatolia.[15] The members were known as Bacchants, and the rites had an orgiastic character.[15]

These newly introduced religions and gods only had a limited impact within Greece itself; the main exception was at Delos,[9] which was a major port and trading center. The island was sacred as the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, and by the 2nd century BCE was also home to the native Greek religions that follow Zeus, Athena, Dionysus, Hermes, Pan, and Asclepius. But there were also cult centers for the Egyptian Sarapis and Isis, and of the Syrian Atargatis and Hadad.[16] By the 1st century BCE there were additional religions that followed Ba'al and Astarte, a Jewish Synagogue and Romans who followed the original Roman religions of gods like Apollo and Neptune.[16]

Coin depicting Antiochus IV, Greek inscription reads ΘΕΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ (King Antiochus, image of God, bearer of victory)

Another innovation in the Hellenistic period was the institution of cults dedicated to the rulers of the Hellenistic kingdoms. The first of these was established under Alexander, whose conquests, power, and status had elevated him to a degree that required special recognition. His successors continued his worship to the point where in Egypt under Ptolemy I Soter, we find Alexander being honored as a god.[17] Ptolemy's son Ptolemy II Philadelphus proclaimed his late father a god, and made himself a living god.[17]

By doing so, the Ptolemies were adapting earlier Egyptian ideas in pharaonic worship. Elsewhere, practice varied; a ruler might receive divine status without the full status of a god,[9] as occurred in Athens in 307 BCE, when Antigonus I Monophthalmus and Demetrius I Poliorcetes were honored as saviors (soteres) for liberating the city, and, as a result, an altar was erected; an annual festival was founded; and an office of the "priest of the Saviours" was introduced.[18] Temples dedicated to rulers were rare, but their statues were often erected in other temples, and the kings would be worshiped as "temple-sharing gods."[19]

A curse tablet.

There is ample evidence for the use of superstition and magic in this period. Oracular shrines and sanctuaries were still popular.[3] There is also much evidence for the use of charms and curses. Symbols would be placed on the doors of houses to bring good luck or deter misfortune for the occupants within.[2]

Charms, often cut in precious or semi-precious stone, had protective power.[2] Figurines, manufactured from bronze, lead, or terracotta, were pierced with pins or nails, and used to cast spells. Curse tablets made from marble or metal (especially lead) were used for curses.[2]

Astrology — the belief that stars and planets influence a person's future — arose in Babylonia, where it was originally only applied to the king or nation.[20] The Greeks, in the Hellenistic era, elaborated it into the fantastically complex system of Hellenistic astrology familiar to later times.[20] Interest in astrology grew rapidly from the 1st century BCE onwards.[20]

An alternative to traditional religion was offered by Hellenistic philosophy. One of these philosophies was Stoicism, which taught that life should be lived according to the rational order which the Stoics believed governed the universe; human beings had to accept their fate as according to divine will, and virtuous acts should be performed for their own intrinsic value. Another philosophy was Epicureanism, which taught that the universe was subject to the random movements of atoms, and life should be lived to achieve psychological contentment and the absence of pain.[7] Other philosophies included Pyrrhonism which taught how to attain inner peace via suspension of judgment; Cynicism (philosophy), which expressed contempt for convention and material possessions; the Platonists who followed the teachings of Plato, and the Peripatetics who followed Aristotle. All of these philosophies, to a greater or lesser extent, sought to accommodate traditional Greek religion, but the philosophers, and those who studied under them, remained a small select group, limited largely to the educated elite.[7]