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syncretism the fusion of the beliefs and practices of one people group with those of another pluralism the acceptance of a wide variety of gods and religious beliefs Civic Cults involved the gods and goddesses of classical Greek mythology philosophy considered a way of life and treated like a religion in the Hellenistic-Roman period Platonism idea that true reality is not in the tangible objects but in the mental ideas that lie behind the visible; to fulfill his destiny man must escape or be delivered from the material world and become assimilated into the divine Aristotelianism idea that true reality is found in particular objects, each of which is the union of matter and a form characteristic of its kind Cynicism pursuit of individual freedom by the disregard of everything but wisdom and virtue; challenged all religious superstitions Epicureanism idea that pleasure and happiness is the beginning and the end of living the good life (but not in a self-indulgent manner) Stoicism virtuous living in accordance with the cosmic Reason (logos), which is the governing principle of all things Skepticism abandoned belief in anything absolute astrology the religion of the upper, educated classes in the beginning of the Hellenistic area magic a close relative to astrology; did not have the same public standing as religion/cults mystery religion secret cult in which initiated individuals were brought into a mystical union with a god; admission obtained individually and voluntarily; native to Greece Greek cults the Demeter (grain goddess) cult; the Dionysus cult Anatolian (Asia Minor) cults the Great Mother (Magna Mater) cult; the Sabazios cult Egyptian cults the Serapis cult, the Isis cult, the Osiris cult Persian cults Mithras cult emperor deification the practice of giving divine honors to rulers; initially this practice did not occur because emperors believed they were gods emperor cult was more political and economic than religious; essentially a worship of the state and emperor political submission what one expressed when worshipping the emperor, since it was viewed as a civic duty gnosticism idea that the true God is transcendent and unknowable ignorance gnostic salvation was deliverance from _________ about one's condition asceticism repudiating the physical body by the suppression of the appetites and desires of the body (fasting and celibacy) libertinism indulging the body in licentious behavior (gross immorality)