Religion

There can be no aspect of Roman Egypt more complex or more difficult to understand than religion. In effect, Rome inherited pharaonic religion, on which a classical gloss had been superimposed, largely during the preceding Ptolemaic period. Visitors to the ancient temples of Egypt usually think that they are looking at masterpieces of the Dynastic era, but in many cases—Dendera, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Esna and Philae, for example—the extant structures are substantially Ptolemaic and Roman.

Although the first and most striking aspect of Egyptian religion is polytheism, there were a number of overriding beliefs (for further discussion, see the section on New Kingdom religion at the beginning of Chapter 10). Thus, such gods as Ra, the sun, Geb, the earth, and Nut, the sky, seem to have been worshipped almost everywhere in Egypt. There was, however, also a tendency towards monotheism. Ra was the Source of everything, Ptah is described as ‘the heart and tongue of the gods’, and in the mid-fourteenth century bc Akhenaten decreed that Aten was the one god that should be worshipped. Another readily observed feature of Egyptian religion is the partiality for animal cults. For example, Horus is represented by a falcon and Hathor by a cow. It was not, however, the animals themselves that were the focus of the worship, but the gods that chose to take on their forms. From this arose the custom of mummifying animals, often by the thousand: crocodiles, baboons, cats, the Oxyrhnchus fish, and so on.

Each of this plethora of gods had his or her own role to play, but the situation is far from simple, because their roles changed through time, and gods could merge together so as to become all but indistinguishable from one another. Thus Horus, the falcon, shown with a sun disc, is often indistinguishable from the sun-god Ra. Amun was originally the god of water and air, but later became the god of physical reproduction, the giver of life.

After Alexander’s conquest in 332 bc, Greek culture became implanted, not only in the Greek cities of Alexandria, Naukratis, and Ptolemais, but also in the Greek communities scattered throughout the land. The Greeks identified their own gods within the Egyptian spectrum. Thus, Horus was equated with Apollo, Thoth with Hermes, Amun with Zeus, Hathor with Aphrodite, and so on. How the beautiful Athene would have reacted to being equated with the hippopotamus-goddess Taweret, we do not know.

A good example of this process of hellenization is the god Pan. He was equated with Amun-Min, the god of sexual reproduction, who had an important sanctuary at Koptos. The city is at the end of desert roads leading to the east. Amun-Min thus became the god of the east and was shown with an incense burner, perhaps symbolizing the spices and perfumes of the orient. From these beginnings, during the Roman period, Pan became the god of the Eastern Desert, the capricious guardian of the desert routes. He is shown not as the Pan of Greek mythology, but as the ithyphallic Min, his erection clearly inherited from his previous life.

During Ptolemaic times, a new god called Serapis was invented with the object of giving a greater degree of political and religious unity. Unlike the traditional pharaonic-period deity Osirapis, from whom he derived, he is shown not as an animal but as a bearded man, not unlike Zeus: of all the Egyptian gods, he is the most similar to a GraecoRoman god. Serapis became immensely popular at Memphis, the old capital of Egypt, and then at Alexandria, when the seat of government was moved there. Eventually the cult gained adherents in Sabratha and Lepcis, Rome, and later Ephesus and the Danube provinces.

Another very popular god in Roman Egypt was Isis, sometimes identified with Hathor. She was both wife and sister to Osiris, who was judge and ruler of the dead and supreme god of the funerary cult. Her role was that of a prototype for motherhood and the faithful wife. She was much adored by women, to whom she was queen of heaven and earth, of life and death. She looked favourably on all women’s activities to such an extent that she was at one time the goddess of prostitutes as well. As in the case of Serapis, Isis’ worshippers were to be found all over the empire, particularly in Spain. The rituals associated with her cult changed little from pharaonic times: at dawn her statue would be uncovered and adorned with jewels while the sacred fire was lit—all to the accompaniment of sacred music.

Just as the gods of Roman Egypt were essentially Egyptian gods, so temple architecture forms a continuum with Dynastic and Ptolemaic temples. The exception is the Paneion, which because of Pan’s special role in the desert may be situated away from habitation in remote spots. Often they were no more than a rock on which travellers would write their dedications. A fine example of this is to be seen in the Wadi Hammamat.

The temple of Hathor at Dendera provides a good idea of the appearance of a late Ptolemaic-Roman temple. The propylon (north gate) is the work of Domitian and Trajan, but the main focus of the complex, the beautifully preserved temple of Hathor, was constructed between 125 BC and AD 60. The front of the building has a massive fagade marked by six columns with Hathor-headed capitals surmounted by a cornice. The entrance leads to a hypostyle hall, built in the twenty-first year of Tiberius by Aulus Evilius Flaccus, with the aid of the inhabitants of the town and district, and its roof is supported by Hathor-headed columns. The hall leads through to an inner hypostyle hall and two ‘vestibules’, the inner of which contains the sanctuary, surrounded by a number of chapels. The ornament is characteristically Egyptian, but many of the subjects are Roman emperors. Thus we see Tiberius before the gods, Claudius making an offering to Hathor and Ihy, and representations of Augustus and Nero. The whole complex is a strange experience for a student brought up on classical scholarship.

Another fine example of a Roman temple is Trajan’s kiosk at Philae, preserved on an island between Aswan and the High Dam. This elegant and finely proportioned building has fourteen columns with bell capitals and screen walls, two of which are decorated with scenes Representing Trajan making offerings to Isis, Osiris, and Homs. The symbolism of all these temples must have had a very special message to the population of Roman Egypt. Here there is no question of the emperor as god; he is seen as a supplicant to the great gods of old Egypt.

However, from the mid-first century ad onwards a new phenomenon appeared on the religious scene: Christianity. It seems to have taken root in Alexandria, whence it spread to the rest of the country. No doubt, with so many cults in existence, one more could be accepted and absorbed. However, Christianity was an uncompromising religion that did not see itself on a par with the others and actively sought to win converts from paganism. The old order was threatened, and from the mid-third century onwards persecution began in a sporadic way until its culmination in the great purges of Diocletian, begun in AD 303.

In the third century ad there emerged a new trend in religious practice that was to sweep the world. The desert is a religious testing ground, away from the hurly-burly of ordinary life where survival depends on reliance on God. Christ had already set the scene when he spent forty days and forty nights in the desert undergoing the temptations of the devil. In the late third century, according to tradition, two young rich men, Paul the first hermit and Anthony the first monk, each separately left their homes in the Nile Valley to live in the solitude of the wilderness. How they survived is not really a mystery, because holy men everywhere are treated with respect and fed by people they encounter. Since they both settled by springs, no doubt they would have been visited by Bedouin who would have known of the water source and had rights there. Eventually, despite his isolation, the fame of Anthony spread and even the emperor Constantine wrote to him asking for prayers. He was visited by his old disciples, various dignitaries, pilgrims, and, of course, curious sightseers. The coming and going of visitors led to the establishment of a caravanserai, which eventually developed into a monastery—the most significant monastery in Christendom, from which all others derived.

Burial customs are, of course, intimately connected with religious practices. It is not surprising, therefore, that the practice of mummification persisted alongside paganism—in some cases as late as the fourth century ad. The poor might receive the simplest burial as plainly bandaged mummies, but the rich would be given an elaborate mummy case, as pharaonic tradition dictated. During the Roman period encaustic portraits painted on board were set into the head of the mummy case. These minor works of art are some of the most vivid and realistic to be seen anywhere in the Roman world. No doubt they would be commissioned from a highly skilled artist and, as they have an almost photographic degree of realism, they appear to have been executed while the individual was still alive. It has been suggested that they were painted during the prime of life and success, and were then kept for their eventual funerary use.

In Alexandria, there is evidence for an alternative style of burial, perhaps reflecting a different taste amongst the wealthy inhabitants of Greek origin. In the Kom el-Shugafa (the hill of the potsherds) is a complex of catacombs dating to the second century ad. It comprises a circular stairwell leading to a complex of burial chambers and a banqueting hall where mourners visiting the tombs could dine in close proximity to the deceased. While it was originally designed for the wealthy, it seems to have been extended to the poorer classes, for there are many small niches to accommodate unpretentious burials. Artistically the decoration is of some interest, deriving elements from both the Greek and the Egyptian canons. There are false sarcophagi decorated with masks, ox skulls, and festoons, but elsewhere are reliefs depicting deities such as Anubis or Thoth.