Serapis

Originally Demotic wsjr-ḥp, ("Osiris-Apis"), the name of the deity is derived from the syncretic worship of Osiris and the bull Apis as a single deity under the Egyptian name wsjr-ḥp.{{sfn|Stambaugh|1972|pp=1–4}} This name was later written in Coptic as {{Langx|cop|ⲟⲩⲥⲉⲣϩⲁⲡⲓ|label=none}} Userhapi; Greeks sometimes used an uncommon form Sorapis ({{langx|grc-x-koine|Σόραπις}}), slightly closer to the Egyptian name(s).{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

The earliest mention of a "Sarapis" occurs in the disputed death scene of Alexander (323 BCE),{{cite book |author=Arrian |title=Anabasis |at=VII. 26}} but it is something of a mixup: The unconnected Babylonian god Ea (Enki) was titled Šar Apsi, meaning "king of the Apsu" or "the watery deep",{{efn|In the Babylonian Talmud a "Sar Apis" is mentioned as an idol believed to have been named after the biblical Joseph.{{cite book |title=Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Avodah Zara |page=43a |url=https://www.sefaria.org.il/Avodah_Zarah.43a.5?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en}}}} and Ea as Šar Apsi seems to be the deity intended in the description of Alexander's death. Since this "Sarapis" had a temple at Babylon, and was of such importance that only Sarapis is named as being consulted on behalf of the dying king, Sarapis of Babylon appears to have radically altered perceptions of mythologies in the post-Alexandrian era. His significance to the Hellenic psyche, due to the mention in the story of Alexander's death, may have also contributed to the choice of the similar-sounding Osiris-Apis as the chief Ptolemaic god, even if the Ptolemies understood that they were different deities.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

File:Votive tablet Serapis Met 21.88.172.jpg

Sarapis ({{lang|grc|Σάραπις}}, earlier form) was the most common form in Ancient Greek until Roman times, when Serapis ({{langx|grc-x-koine|Σέραπις}}, later form) became common.{{cite book |title=Suda |at=[http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/sigma/117 sigma, 117]}}{{efn|Consulting the unabridged Lewis and Short Latin lexicon shows that "Serapis" was the most common Latin version of the name in antiquity.{{L&S|Serapis|ref}}
{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Charlton |first2=Charles |last2=Short |year=1879 |title=A Latin Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |page=1630 |isbn=978-0-19-864201-5 |url=https://archive.org/stream/latindictionaryf00andr#page/1630/mode/2up |via=Internet Archive }}
{{cite book |title=A Latin Dictionary|year=1879 |page=1678 |isbn=978-0-19-864201-5 |url=https://archive.org/stream/latindictionaryf00andr#page/1678/mode/2up |via=Internet Archive }}

}}For example, see Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) 03, 07768; CIL 03, 07770; CIL 08, 12492.
All known occurrences can be obtained from a search at {{cite web |editor1=Clauss, Manfred |editor2=Kolb, Anne |editor3=Slaby, Wolfgang A. |editor4=Woitas, Barbara |title=Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss / Slaby (EDCS) |publisher=Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt |url=http://db.edcs.eu/epigr/epi.php?s_sprache=en |lang=en}}

A serapeum ({{langx|grc-x-koine|σεραπεῖον}} serapeion) was any temple or religious precinct devoted to Serapis. The most renowned serapeum was in Alexandria.{{efn|

"Of the Egyptian sanctuaries of Serapis the most famous is at Alexandria", Pausanias noted{{cite book |author-link=Pausanias (geographer) |author=Pausanias |title=Description of Greece |at=1.18.4}} in the 2nd century CE, while describing the serapeion erected by Ptolemy at Athens, on the steep slope of the Acropolis: "As you descend from here to the lower part of the city, is a sanctuary of Serapis, whose worship the Athenians introduced from Ptolemy."

}}

Serapis was depicted as a Greek god in general appearance with Egyptian trappings, sometimes identified either as Pluto (Hades), Osiris, Dionysus, Ammon, Zeus, Jupiter, Pan, Asclepius, and Dis Pater.{{efn|As noted by Stambaugh, these associations could be sifted through the history of "court propaganda, scholarly theory, or popular piety". The ancient Hellenistic authors associated Serapis either with Pluto (Heraclides of Pontus; Archemachus of Euboea), Apis the bull (Nymphodorus of Syracuse; Phylarchus), Apis the king of Argos (Aristeas of Argos; Varro), with both Osiris and Apis (Athenodorus of Tarsus), and finally with both Helius and Zeus (Pseudo-Callisthenes; Macrobius).{{sfn|Stambaugh|1972|pp=1–4}}}} The depictions of Serapis combined iconography from many Egyptian Greek cults, in most cases signifying the abundance and resurrection, namely, as the cornucopia horn and Calathus basket. Moreover, Serapis was generally considered to be the god of the underworld, healer, and protector of distressed, providing an asylum in his temple.{{sfn|Stambaugh|1972|pp=1–4}}

The Greeks had little respect for animal-headed figures, and so a Greek-style anthropomorphic statue was chosen as the idol, and proclaimed as the equivalent of the highly popular Apis.{{efn|"Apollodorus identifies the Argive Apis with the Egyptian bull Apis, who was in turn identified with Serapis (Sarapis)";J.G. Frazer's note to 2.1.1 of the Biblioteca of Pseudo-Apollodorus Pausanias also conflates Serapis and Egyptian Apis: "Of the Egyptian sanctuaries of Serapis the most famous is at Alexandria, the oldest at Memphis. Into this neither stranger nor priest may enter, until they bury Apis".{{cite book |author=Pausanias |title=Description of Greece |at=1.18.4}}}} It was named Userhapi (i.e. "Osiris-Apis"), which became Greek Sarapis,{{sfn|Stambaugh|1972|p=3}} and was said to be Osiris in full, rather than just his ka (life force).{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

File:Egyptian - Pendant with Image of Sarapis - Walters 571524 - Front View B.jpg, Baltimore.]]

The cult statue of Serapis that Ptolemy I erected in Alexandria enriched the texture of the Serapis conception by portraying him in a combination of both Egyptian and Greek styles.{{sfn|Stambaugh|1972|pp=1–2}} The statue suitably depicted a figure resembling Hades or Pluto, both being kings of the Greek underworld, and was shown enthroned with the modius, a basket/grain-measure, on his head, since it was a Greek symbol for the land of the dead. He also held a sceptre in his hand indicating his rulership, with Cerberus, gatekeeper of the underworld, resting at his feet. The statue also had what appeared to be a serpent at its base, fitting the Egyptian symbol of rulership, the uraeus.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

{{Ancient Greek religion}}

There is evidence that the cult of Serapis existed before the Ptolemies came to power in Alexandria: a temple of Serapis in Egypt is mentioned in 323 BCE by both Plutarch{{cite book |author=Plutarch |title=Life of Alexander |at=76}} and Arrian.{{cite book |author=Arrian |title=Anabasis |at=VII, 26, 2}}

File:Altes Museum - Oberbeamter im Serapis-Kult.jpg, Berlin ]]

Ptolemy I Soter made efforts to integrate his new Egyptian subject's religions with that of their Hellenic rulers. Ptolemy's project was to find a deity that would win the reverence of both groups alike, despite the curses the Egyptian priests had chanted against the gods of the previous foreign rulers (e.g. Set, who was lauded by the Hyksos).{{efn|Alexander the Great had attempted to use Amun for the same purpose, but Amun was more widely known in Upper Egypt, and not as popular in the more Mediterranean-oriented Lower Egypt, where international Hellenistic culture influenced Egyptians more, and where the foreign resident Greek population was larger.}} The common assertion that Ptolemy "created" the deity is derived from sources which describe him erecting a statue of Serapis in Alexandria.{{sfn|Stambaugh|1972|pp=1–2}} According to Plutarch, Ptolemy stole the cult statue from Sinope in Asia Minor, having been instructed in a dream by the "unknown god" to bring the statue to Alexandria, where the statue was pronounced to be Serapis by two religious experts. One of the experts was of the Eumolpidae, the ancient family from whose members the hierophant of the Eleusinian Mysteries had been chosen since before history, and the other was the scholarly Egyptian priest Manetho, which gave weight to the judgement both for the Egyptians and the Greeks.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

Plutarch may not be correct, however, as some Egyptologists allege that the "Sinope" in the tale is really the hill of Sinopeion, a name given to the site of the already existing Serapeum at Memphis. Also, according to Tacitus, Serapis (i.e., Apis explicitly identified as Osiris in full) had been the god of the village of Rhakotis before it expanded into the great capital of Alexandria.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

With his (i.e. Osiris's) wife Isis, and their son Horus (in the form of Harpocrates), Serapis won an important place in the Greek world. In his 2nd-century CE Description of Greece, Pausanias notes two Serapeia on the slopes of Acrocorinth above the rebuilt Roman city of Corinth, and one at Copae in Boeotia.{{cite book |author-link=Pausanias (geographer) |author=Pausanias |title=Description of Greece |at=2.4.5, 9.24.1 }}

Serapis figured among the international deities whose cult was received and disseminated throughout the Roman Empire, with Anubis sometimes identified with Cerberus. At Rome, Serapis was worshiped in the Iseum Campense, the sanctuary of Isis built during the Second Triumvirate in the Campus Martius. The Roman cults of Isis and Serapis gained in popularity late in the 1st century when Vespasian experienced events he attributed to their miraculous agency while he was in Alexandria, where he stayed before returning to Rome as emperor in 70 CE. From the Flavian Dynasty on, Serapis was one of the deities who might appear on imperial coinage with the reigning emperor.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

Like many pagan cults of its time, the cult of Serapis declined during the rule of Theodosius I as the emperor, a Christian, implemented religious laws to restrict paganism across the empire. The main cult at Alexandria survived until the late 4th century, when a Christian mob directed by Pope Theophilus of Alexandria destroyed the Serapeum in Alexandria{{Broken anchor|date=2025-06-04|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Serapeum of Alexandria#Destruction|reason= The anchor (Destruction) has been deleted.|diff_id=1147509387}} some time around 391 CE, during one of the frequent religious riots in the city.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

The origins of Serapis has been the source of speculation by both Jewish and Christian philosophers in ancient times. Tertullian in early 3rd century AD believed that belief in Serapis was inspired by Patriarch Joseph who is traditionally believed to have acceded to the office of chief administrator of Egypt.[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03062.htm Ad Nationem, book II, ch. 8] The same opinion was echoed in the Talmud.Tractate Avoda Zara, folio 43, p. A

Serapis as bull.svg|Serapis was sometimes depicted as a mummified man with the head of a bull

Head of a God, 1st century C.E., 58.79.1.jpg|Head of Sarapis, 1st century BCE, 58.79.1 Brooklyn Museum

File:Serapis Louvre AO1027.jpg|Head of Serapis, Carthage, Tunisia

BegramSerapis.jpg|Statuette possibly of Serapis (but note the herculean club) from Begram, Afghanistan

Serapis.JPG|Oil lamp with a bust of Serapis, flanked by a crescent moon and star (Roman-era Ephesus, 100–150)

Head of Sarapis 150 200 CE Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki.JPG|Head of Sarapis (150–200) from Salonica

SarapisHead.jpg|Head of Serapis, from a {{convert|12|ft|m|order=flip|adj=on}} statue found off the coast of Alexandria

File:Serapis on Roman Egypt, Alexandria, Billon Tetradrachm.jpg|Serapis on Roman Egypt, Alexandria, Billon Tetradrachm

File:Kopf des Serapis.jpg|Head of Serapis (Roman-era terracotta, Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst, Munich)

File:Huvishka with seated god Serapis ("Sarapo").jpg|Kushan ruler Huvishka with seated god Serapis ("Sarapo") wearing the modius, 2nd century CE.{{cite book |last1=Dani |first1=Ahmad Hasan |last2=Harmatta |first2=János |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia |year=1999 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=978-81-208-1408-0 |page=326 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DguGWP0vGY8C&pg=PA326 |language=en}}

File:Casa degli Amorini Dorati. Fresco. 09.JPG|Anubis, Harpocrates, Isis and Serapis, from Pompeii, Italy

File:Triptych Panel with Painted Image of Serapis - Google Art Project.jpg|A well-preserved painting of Serapis

• Greeks in Egypt

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{{refend}}

{{Commons category}}

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{{Ancient Egyptian religion footer}}

{{Greek religion}}

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Category:Serapis

Category:Egyptian gods

Category:Greek gods

Category:Underworld gods

Category:Hellenistic Egyptian deities

Category:Osiris

Category:Ptolemy I Soter

Category:Residents of the Greek underworld

Category:Joseph (Genesis)

Category:Supernatural beings identified with Christian saints