Graeco-Roman religion. The names of the Oriental deities
were Hellenised, and the barbaric crudities of the East were removed by
allegory and symbolism; the philosophers felt that the myths only
needed restatement to confirm their opinions, while the priests were
confident that the elements of truth in philosophy were those revealed
by the language and ritual of the cults.[1]

With considerable rapidity, therefore, Greek mythology, Greek
philosophy, and Oriental cults were being accommodated to one another,
and brought together in a new and highly complex religious system. For
political purposes the introduction into this system of the worship of
the emperors, living or dead, was of great importance. It tended to
unify the whole mass, and the imperial authorities adopted the {6}
position, with some reservations, that, provided a man accepted the
cult of Caesar and Rome, he could in addition be a member of any other
religion which pleased his fancy or soothed his soul.

There was one exception to the ease with which the Oriental cults
accepted the situation. Still inspired by the instinct which nine
hundred years before had made their prophets fight against syncretism,
the Jews resolutely refused to come to terms with heathen religions.
Some, indeed, accepted the Greek philosophy, as the writings of Philo
and the Wisdom Literature show; but with the cults or with the
mythology of the heathen no compromise was tolerated.

It would be interesting to know how far the imperial leaders perceived
the process of synthesis, but consciously or unconsciously they helped
it considerably by the policy which they adopted towards the local
councils, or Synedria--Sanhedrims--as they were often called.[2] They
were willing to encourage their continuance, allowing them to control
all local questions of religion, and indeed all local interests
generally, on condition that they made themselves also responsible for
the cult of Rome and of Caesar. In this way Caesar was introduced into
the local religion, and, what was much more important, the local
religion was absorbed into the unified system of the Empire. The
policy was almost uniformly successful: the one exception {7} was the
Sanhedrim of the Jews, which obstinately refused the imperial cult and
resisted Caligula's effort to introduce his statue with the same
successful pertinacity as had repelled the efforts of Antiochus
Epiphanes in the days of the Maccabees. The episode e