The introduction of foreign cults into Greece had always been easy. Eastern deities, such as Adonis, had already been introduced in Classical times. The most representative centers of the congregation of all manner of cults were the large ports and the cities founded during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. For instance, in Thessalonike the gods of the East, particularly of Egypt (Serapis, Isis, Harpokrates), already had many devotees in the Hellenistic years.
In those days there was a tendency to identify these eastern divinities with Greek ones (e.g. Serapis with Pluto, Isis with Demeter), or lent them their properties (e.g. Isis Lochia from Artemis Lochia, the protector of women giving birth). At the same time older minor Greek deities were promoted (e.g. Asklepios to Zeus Asklepios). The ceremonial of worship of these gods borrowed elements from the more elaborate eastern tradition.
This multiple identification of gods and a propensity to unify the worship, which intensified in the pre-Christian Roman years, led to a monotheistic trend, manifested either by attributing all properties to a single pagan god (Serapis Pantheos, the All Gods), or accepting the new monotheistic religion of Christianity.
Zeus
The main divinity of the Macedonians was Olympian Zeus, incarnation of royal authority, and father of the gods and of mankind, in particular of Makedon, mythical progenitor of the Macedonian people.
Zeus was worshipped everywhere, but the most illustrious center of his cult was the Macedonians' sacred city of Dion at the foothills of Mount Olympus. There the Olympia, a religious festival, were held every October, in the Macedonian month Dios (whose name derives from the name Zeus).
The Olympia lasted nine days, and were held in honour of Zeus and his nine daughters, the Muses. At this great festival the Macedonians foregathered for one of the two annual assemblies of the 'ethnos'.
Herakles
Herakles son of Zeus was worshipped in Macedonia as a god rather than a simple hero. First the royal house of the Temenidai and later that of the Antigonids invoked him as Patroos (forefather), that is as mythical progenitor of their dynasty whose origins derived from the Heraklidai of Argos.
Herakles, the god of prowess, was the natural protector of youths when they came of age, but also of manumitted slaves. He was also invoked as Kallinikos or Epinikos, the giver of military might and physical vigour.
Above all, however, in Macedonia Herakles was invoked as Kynagidas, protector of hunters in general and of the 'kynegoi' (hunters) in particular, a special corps of youths at the royal court. His most famed sanctuary was at Beroia near the ancient Macedonian capital of Aigai. His symbols, the lion-skin and the club, were both national and royal emblems and adorned the coins and seals of the Macedonians.
Asklepios
In Macedonia Asklepios was worshipped as a major deity from earliest times, probably under the name of Darron or Tharron (he who gives courage). With his associates Apollo and Hygeia, he was the giver of health and of material and spiritual prosperity to the people of the kingdom.
The Macedonian kings held the god of healing in particular veneration and evinced great interest in the progress of medicine; Philip II, for example, elevated the priests of Asklepios to the position of 'eponymous' magistrate (the one after whom each calendar year is named).
Among the dozens of Asklepios' sanctuaries the most renowned were at Dion, Beroia, Morrylos (in Central Macedonia), and Amphipolis.
Dionysos
Dionysos was a god associated with the pre-Hellenic Mother of the Gods. His cult, whatever its origins and exact nature, was widespread in Macedonia: there, he was not merely the Dionysos of Classical tradition, but also a Zeus-Dionysos, often attested as Zeus Hypsistos (the Highest).
Protector of children, both boys and girls, invoked as Agrios (the Savage), Epikryptos (the Very Hidden), or Pseudanor (the False Man), Dionysos oversaw the ceremonies upon reaching adolescence and the ritual disguises which accompanied them. His cult inspired a series of works of art and literature, from Euripides' "Bacchae" to the 'krater' (mixing bowl) of Derveni; in these works one can see the initiates' belief in the promise of another better world.
More on Greek Gods and mythology soon...