Buddhist Egypt

Asoka, as part of his campaign to spread Buddhism around the globe sent learned missionaries to many parts of the world. In some areas, such as Burma and Sri Lanka, they were very successful. In most of the Hellenistic world, less so. So how about Egypt?

For whatever reason (more interest in Asoka's part in prosyletising in the Far West, a single brilliant missionary, or very fortuitious circumstances) we get a best-case-scenario for Buddhist prosyletising in Egypt. Would Ptolemy support or repression be best for helping the religion spread? How would the religion fuse with native Egyptian beliefs? How about the conflict between the traditional priesthood and the new faith?

One possibility could be that, like China, the traditional beliefs of Egypt (ma'at, the divine Pharoah, etc) could vie and contend with the imported Buddhism, each occasionally having the upper hand. This competition could have the effect of helping to keep the traditional religion fresh and dynamic enough that it does not decline as OTL.

As one who walks the Middle Path (and occasionally falls off) I'm not sure if it could take over Egypt. The Greeks might deify the Buddha and add him to their pantheon, which is something I don't think the Buddha would have wanted. What I can say is that Egyptian monks would have had their hands full during the Islamic Conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries.

I think that a deification of the Buddha, as occured in Hinduism, is likely in this scenario as a reaction by the established priesthood. I realise this is a low probability scenario for a host of reasons, but I'm assuming best case scenario at least at the beginning.

As for Islam, thats not really here nor there. As the PoD is in the mid 3rd century BC, it likely butterflies away not only Islam but Christianity as well (though analogous monotheisms may develop). One thought I had was the possibility that with some Buddhist influence from both sides, Arabia might go Buddhist too. So a later demographic expansion in Arabia could take a form more reminiscent of Genghis Khan than OTL Mohammed.

Supposedly Ptolemy II recieved letters from Ashoka. What if he converted?

Egyptian gods were combined all the time, which is why you had Amun-Ra, Osiris-Sokar and even Serapis (Osiris-Apis). The Buddha could easily be fused with one of the Egyptian gods. Probably Osiris, or maybe Serapis or Ptah.

I could see Avalokiteshvara fusing with Isis similar to how he fused with Guan Yin in China.

I remember reading once (I think it was in a Joseph Campbell book) that "Buddha" was etymylogically related to "Ptah." Not sure how true that was.

The Therapeutae sect showed some superficial similarity to Buddhist monks.

Anyway, it seems like damn near any old belief would flourish in Egypt. Were there many atomists in Alexandria in the time of Ashoka? I think they'd take well to it.

The more I think about it, the more a top-down approach might be the best move. It was in the Ptolemies interest to maintain the idea of Pharaonic divinity, so you would have to convert them. In OTL Buddhism in Alexandria seems to have been a marginal influence at best, to have it expand without converting the ruling classes would risk an official backlash.

The Kiat said:

As one who walks the Middle Path (and occasionally falls off) I'm not sure if it could take over Egypt. The Greeks might deify the Buddha and add him to their pantheon, which is something I don't think the Buddha would have wanted. What I can say is that Egyptian monks would have had their hands full during the Islamic Conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries.

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Well, the Buddha is already a Christian Saint, IIRC.Not directly of course, but rather due to a story. A story that basically was based on the Buddha's life, and was believed to be actual events that were occurring at their time by Medieval Europeans. Basically, they canonized him b/c they thought of him as the perfect Christian, and because in the story he fights Islam.

The Kiat said:

As one who walks the Middle Path (and occasionally falls off) I'm not sure if it could take over Egypt. The Greeks might deify the Buddha and add him to their pantheon, which is something I don't think the Buddha would have wanted. What I can say is that Egyptian monks would have had their hands full during the Islamic Conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries.

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But this is what happened in Gandhara anyway.

What if Ashoka decides to convert Arabia instead? The Arabs might me more open to new religions than the Egyptians who already had a glut of religious cults.

Buddhism spread to China via trade routes and not Ashoka's missions, and from what I have read first spread in India through trade routes along the Ganges. It was clearly more poplar with traders and householders than with the rulers. When Arab trade expands, they might spread it to people they traded with (they were rather good at proselytizing via trade) So, in addition to the silk road transmission of Buddhism, we might sea a Arabian Sea transmission of Buddhism.

Now, I don't know much on Buhdsim, so help me out here. The Egyptians ruler was beleived to be thier God, so it is a bit compormising with other releigions. Could Buhdism compete with te beleifs of the Pharoh being divine?

catboy637 said:

Now, I don't know much on Buhdsim, so help me out here. The Egyptians ruler was beleived to be thier God, so it is a bit compormising with other releigions. Could Buhdism compete with te beleifs of the Pharoh being divine?

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Sure. Ancient India had an emperor cult, and Buddhism caught on there without a problem. If I recall, Buddhism posits that Realm of Gods are just a realm above us, but work under the same karmic laws as mortals. Many Buddhist syncretizers, especially in Japan, argued that even their gods needed to be "saved" by Buddha's enlightenment. So if Buddha's philosophy applies even to heavenly being it should apply to God-Emperors and divine kings.

catboy637 said:

Now, I don't know much on Buhdsim, so help me out here. The Egyptians ruler was beleived to be thier God, so it is a bit compormising with other releigions. Could Buhdism compete with te beleifs of the Pharoh being divine?

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Coptic Christianity managed to do it. The Egyptian religion was by then so old and falling apart. Eventually even the priests had forgotten what the rites meant, which lead to the rise of a bastardized, Hellenized Egyptian religion by the time of Roman rule.

The growth of Buddhism in Alexandria would have been so fricken' awesome. It would butterfly away all that gnostic/platonic crap. There would be something else entirely.

catboy637 said:

Now, I don't know much on Buhdsim, so help me out here. The Egyptians ruler was beleived to be thier God, so it is a bit compormising with other releigions. Could Buhdism compete with te beleifs of the Pharoh being divine?

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Because Egypt was administered by Rome-appointed officials, and they no longer had their own native monarchy, the native Egyptian Priesthood became redundant to local government. And culturally, they became surplus to requirements. With the death of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, the priests had lost their divine figureheads. The old clerical families would lose their prestige.

If Rome never conquered Egypt, Buddhism would have just become another moderately successful minority cult. If Egypt had managed to maintain itself as a distinct Pharoanic soveriegn nation through the millenia, there would be no monumentum behind Coptic Christianity to take over as the national religion, even if other nations elsewhere had become Christianized.