Position:Home>History> What is syncretism all about?

Syncretism is the adoption by one religion of elements of another religion, usually in the form of deities introduced into the pantheon!.

You may be hard put to find examples of how syncretism was 'advantageously used by the Egyptian empire', because the empire period (essentially 18th-19th dynasties) does not seem to have adopted deities or indeed other alien elements from elsewhere!. The Egyptian pantheon itself changed emphasis, with Set coming into 'respectability' during the 19th dynasty, but the gods involved seem to have been 'home-grown'!.

The Babylonian empire (by which I assume you mean the neo-Babylonian Empire, c!.610-540, ruled by the Chaldeans) seemed to take some care to keep its pantheons separate, in that Chaldean deities (of which we know two, Buriash deity of the north wind and Shuriyash, the sun) did not take their place alongside the traditional Babylonian gods!. One reason for this was tradition: to become king in Babylon, one went through the ceremony of 'taking the hands of Bel', the deity of the city!. (Even Alexander the Great did this!.) It would have rather spoilt tradition for the kings of the neo-Babylonian empire to 'take the hands of Shuriyash'!. The other reason is that the Chaldeans considered their pantheon to be the private privilege of the ruling race, and kept it for themselves!.

Fortunately there is a good example of syncretism in Egyptian history and, by coincidence, it also involves a Babylonian deity (at least in the opinion of some)!. Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander's generals and the first king of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt, had a dream in which he was instructed to bring the statue of a deity named Serapis to Egypt and honour the god!. The statue was accordingly brought from Sinope (a city on the southern shore of the Black Sea) and Serapis became the most important deity of Ptolemaic Egypt, being introduced as the 'real' Osiris and taking up Osiris' traditional family position (husband of Isis, father of Horus) in the pantheon!.

The Roman historian Arrian makes, or seems to make, reference to a temple of Serapis in Babylon at the time of Alexander the Great's death!. This deity is considered to be Ea sar-apsi, or Ea, king of the deep!. Whether Ea served as the prototype for Serapis is an unresolved question, but Serapis syncretised very successfully, becoming part of the Egyptian pantheon (and even acquiring a later following in Rome, along with Isis)!.

That apart, I have encountered no 'advantageous uses' of syncretism by either empire!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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