Asian Religions In Rome?

[Guest Maris]

Hello,

 

I consider myself a Roman Pagan. I was raised Baptist by parents who had converted from Roman Catholicism. My favorite deities are Mars and Venus. I do have interest in other religions and philosophies, such as Gnosticism and some of the Eastern ones, such as Buddhism, Taoism, and so forth.

 

I had a question about something. Did any of the Eastern philosophies and religions, such as Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Confucianism, etc. have any practitioners in the Ancient Roman world? For example, were there Roman Buddhists, etc.?

 

Any information that anyone can offer about any of this would be well appreciated. Thank you.

 

Sincerely,

Dante

[Ursus]

I do believe Buddhism penetrated the outer reaches of the Empire in the Hellenistic East. That's not to say there were large numbers of Buddhists or other Far East religions in the empire.

[Princeps]

Caracalla tried to strengthen Eastern philosophical influence I think. He was "unsucessful".

[Tobias]

Mithraism was a pretty prominent one; it revolved around the worship of the god Mithras, and was an offshoot from the Persian and Indic god Mithra and other Zoroastrian deities. It was practiced in the Roman Empire from the first century B.C. and reached its height around about the third and fourth centuries A.D, when it was a very popular religion among Roman soldiers. Mithraism declined after Theodosius' decree in 391 A.D. prohibited all pagan rites, and it appears to have become extinct after a while.

Edited July 18, 2006 by Tobias

[Ursus]

Let's make a distinction between Far Eastern and Hellenized Near Eastern religions. The original poster seemed to be asking about Far Eastern religions. Mithraism, and Caracalla's interest in Serapis, would be along the lines of hellenized Near Eastern religions.

[Q Valerius Scerio]

I can't remember where I read it, but someone tried to link Philo's Therapuetai with Buddhists, although I think it has been thoroughly debunked.

[Tobias]

Let's make a distinction between Far Eastern and Hellenized Near Eastern religions. The original poster seemed to be asking about Far Eastern religions. Mithraism, and Caracalla's interest in Serapis, would be along the lines of hellenized Near Eastern religions.

 

 

Fair enough, my mistake!

[DecimusCaesar]

The Greek general Menander converted to Buddhism after an invasion of India and it became popular in many Greek controlled areas in the east like Sogdia and Bactria, but I have looked in the Classical Dictionary and they do not have Buddhism listed there and there is nothing about Buddhism listed in the section on Roman religion, even so it might have had a small number of followers in the Roman east but it was not a large enough following to attract the attention of the authorities.

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

The question of any far eastern religion influence on the greaco-roman world is currently a hugely debated topic between the scientists but the current common view is that if maybe some elements of it could have got from India to Greece as early as the 6th or 5th century BC the whole religions did not come, only maybe some ideas ( but could'nt those idea have come simultaneously in two minds thousands of kilometers appart... ). Thus the answer would be no, no boudhism of other far eastern religion in the lands of the Imperium Romanorum, only maybe some slight early influences.