Syncretism in the Cult of the Syrian Goddess

In this thesis, I have undertaken to analyse the effect upon the cult of the Syrian goddess of the process of religious syncretism, which occurred through contact between the Aramaic speaking people of the city sacred to the goddess: Hierapolis/ Mnbg, and the peoples of the Hellenistic kingdoms and the Roman Empire. The purpose of my analysis is to examine the extent to which the syncretic developments observed in the cult of the Syrian goddess can be viewed as systematic and whether looking specifically at syncretism in a religion is useful in gaining insights into that religion, where a non-specific approach would not. From previous studies of syncretism in the fields of theology and anthropology, I have established a workable definition of the term religious syncretism and I have combined aspects of structural and cognitive approaches to syncretism. I have focussed on the types of syncretism called association and identification as this yielded the most significant results.