Religious traditions and syncretism at Alexandria’s Western Necropolis

Abstract

This paper explores the complex interplay of religious traditions in the funerary landscapes of Alexandria’s Western Necropolis from the Ptolemaic to the Roman period. Drawing on archaeological, iconographic, and architectural evidence, it examines how Alexandrian tombs—particularly those at Anfushi, Kom el-Shoqafa, and the so-called Persephone Tombs—became sites of dynamic cultural negotiation. Greek, Egyptian, and later Roman elements coexisted and interacted within the same hypogea, producing highly syncretic visual and ritual programs. The study demonstrates that funerary practices were not merely expressions of personal piety or ethnic identity but reflected broader social, political, and religious currents in a cosmopolitan city. Egyptian deities such as Osiris and Anubis appear alongside Greek figures like Persephone and Hermes, while Roman visual conventions influence the staging of funerary scenes. Rather than simple juxtapositions, these combinations reflect an evolving Alexandrian religious language shaped by hybrid identities and multicultural living. The necropolis functioned not only as a place of burial but as a stage for the performance of identity and the negotiation of afterlife expectations. Through this lens, the tombs of Alexandria reveal a religious and aesthetic world in which the boundaries between traditions were porous, fluid, and continually reimagined.