Description

In the Hellenistic period, a time of great openness to new gods and sects, the cults of eastern Egyptian deities had begun to spread through Greece. In Thera, the Egyptian gods Serapis, Isis, and Anubis had begun to be worshiped by the 3rd century BC. The sanctuary was an unusual outdoor construction, a terrace made by filling in the area between natural rocky sides with soil. Two tanks next to the sanctuary provided the necessary holy water for religious needs. At that time, Thera belonged to the Ptolemies, who were also the rulers of the Hellenistic kingdom of Egypt.