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The role of Alexandria in the Mediterranean Scholars and Scholarly Thought |
Another sphere where interaction between Alexandria and the Mediterranean region was particularly active was that of religion and religious thought. Before dealing with this aspect, however, it might perhaps be in order to mention the role played by Alexandria in this respect was in fact, a new phase on a course which had already started between Egyptian and other shores of the Mediterranean. We learn from Plato's dialogues, for instance, that the cult of Ammon was recognised by the Athenians at an earlier date than the time of the Peloponnesian wars (Alcibiades II, 148-9) and that this deity's oracle was held in awe in the same way as those at Dodona and Delphi (Nomoi, 738).
A papyrus (P. Zenon Cairo, I, 59034) dating back to 257 B.C. contains a rather significant letter to that effect, from a certain Zoilus, a citizen of Aspendos in Asia Minor, to Apollonius, supervisor of the financial affairs in Egypt at the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. From the letter we learn that while Zoilus was consecrating his time to the service of Sarapis (at Aspendos) to gain his blessings for the work of Apollonius with King Ptolemy (in Egypt), the god used to appear to him in his sleep and bid him go to Apollonius in Alexandria to convey to him the god's warnings to complete a temple and a shrine for him there. When Zoilus showed some lassitude in effecting the god's bidding he fell ill and again Sarapis appeared to him in his sleep and repeated his warning. At this juncture a friend from Cnidus (an island off the south-western tip of Asia Minor), offered to enforce the required buildings, but this seemed not to satisfy the god, so Zoilus fell ill once more for a few months. At the end of the letter, he asks Apollonius to appease Sarapis by completing the temple and the shrine in question.
The cults of the two deities had already found their way to Rome, partly through Greek sailors, before the middle of the second century B.C.. Their presence was felt to such a degree as to make one of the two consuls pass a decree in 168 B.C., in which he ordered the demolition of their shrine (Valerius Maximus, I, 3-4). Yet despite the fact that their worship was checked more than once and in more than one way, whether under the Republic or at the time of the Empire, the two cults continued to gain ground in both periods and both on the populist and the official score.
The religious interaction between Alexandria and Rome did not limit itself to the sphere of pagan cults. During the second half of the second century Alexandria and Rome were beginning to take up a new role in the protracted confrontation between pagan and Christian polemists. Since the apostolic times this confrontation had taken the shape of literary wrangling, accusations, explanations. Although this phase still persisted, a new phase had already begun. Instead of dwelling on these peripheral issues, largely emotional in their nature, matters were taking a new turn. The contenders concerned themselves now with the core and credibility of their respective creeds as a way of life. About 178-80 Celsus, a Greek philosopher advocating the cause of paganism, of which Rome - with its Emperor Cult - was the staunch protagonist, wrote the first comprehensive polemic against Christianity, the Aléthés Logos or True Doctrine. Denouncing Christianity as being based on sheer belief and therefore addressing itself mainly to the blind faith of the ignorant and the uncultured, he depended in his arguments on the reasoning of Greek philosophers and the precedent of wisdom found in the truly inspired Greek poetry.
In his Pretrepticus or 'Exhortation', (passim) Clement draws ad lib on Greek poets, dramatists, historians and philosophers to shed the necessary light on his arguments. His approach - abundantly testified by quotations from Homer and Hesiod to Euripides, ideas from Heracleitus and Democritus to Plato, the peripatics and the stoics, and, among others, facts from Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon - centres on the fact that the Greek literary, historic and philosophic legacy, rather than constituting an obstacle in the way of a cultivated pagan who wishes to turn to Christianity, was actually a preparation on the way to the ultimate truth contained in the new creed. Origen followed his master's trend in so far as his object was to expound a way of Christian life. However, while Clement's address was not directed to Celsus per se, but was intended rather as a criticism of pagan ways and pagan thought on the one hand and a presentation of the assets of the Christian creed in the other, Origen's was a direct reply, point by point to Celsus' treatise (Contra Celsum, passim). Again, while both men avoided a directly hostile attitude in dealing with the pagan ideas, Origen was, perhaps more subtle in doing so. While never losing sight of his objective, he would grant a point or two in his opponent's argument , but would always end by proving the Christian standpoint in the light of Greek philosophical reason. Photos: 1) Bust of the god Serapis with a bushel on his head to indicate a plentiful harvest. (Graeco-Roman Museum, Alexandria); 2) Wooden statue of the god Serapis (Graeco-Roman Museum, Alexandria); 3) Statue of a Ptolemaic Queen depicted as the goddess Isis (Graeco-Roman Museum, Alexandria); 4) Icon of the Apostle St. Mark in Alexandria. (Patriarchate of Alexandria).
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It is not surprising, therefore, that various areas in the Mediterranean region should continue to adopt a number of Egyptian cults emanating from Alexandria after its foundation. Two of these cults, particularly connected with the city were Isis and her consort Sarapis, who formed with their son Harpocrates (a synonym of Horus) the Alexander Triad. For reasons outside the scope of the present survey the cults of these two deities, either singly or as a pair, found their way to the Asian and European shores of the Mediterranean.
Apart from the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean , where we have just mentioned two of the many centres of the cult of Sarapis, the European shores of that sea had also adopted this cult as well as that of Isis, in a rather big way. However, I shall confine myself here to one major centre in this respect, namely Rome, the city and the state.
Under the first triumvirate (43 B.C.) the cult of Tsis and Sarapis was officially recognised (Cassius Dio, XLV II, 15). Eight decades later, during the reign of Caligula (A.D. 37-41), the first state temple of Isis was erected. In 69 Otho was the first Roman emperor to worship Isis, setting an example for several later emperors who worshipped either or both deities. Sometime between the middle of the second and the middle of the third century Minucius Felix (Octavius, XXII) could say about Isis and Sarapis, "They were once Egyptian, now they are Roman deities." Three and a half centuries after the rise of Christianity, the cult of Isis seems to be still holding its ground in Rome; in 349 we find Nicomachus Flavius, the Roman consul officially celebrating the feast of the goddess (Antologia Latina, I, 16).
Two of the Alexandrian Christian fathers, Titus Flavius Clemens, or Clement of Alexandria, as he is more commonly known, (c.150 - between 211 and 216) who eventually became head of the Catechitical School at Alexandria before having to leave the city in 202, and Origenes Adamantius or Origen (185/186 - 252-5), his pupil and successor in his post, undertook successively to refute Celsus' arguments. Both were steeped in Greek philosophy and one of them at least, Clement, had a wide acquaintance with Greek literature and mysteries; and so they set on their task depending on the same sources as their opponent.