The Importance of Religion in the Hellenistic Empire

Raziib: The elite in the Hellenistic empires tended to be ethnically Greek and identifying only with Greek culture. So you could assimilate to that, which happened periodically, but that's a big ask to transition your whole ethnicity. On the other hand, religion is a more discreet package, and you can still retain your ethnicity while switching religions. Raziib: It allows in an imperial system, multi-ethnic societies to bind themselves together and have a common currency of communication.