Serapis

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Serapis

Serapis (Latin spelling, or Sarapis in Greek) was a syncretic

Syncretism

Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term may refer to attempts to merge and analogy several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity allowing for an inclu...
Hellenistic-Egyptian

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
god in Antiquity

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome....
. His most renowned temple was at Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria , with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports....
,. Under Ptolemy Soter, efforts were made to integrate Egyptian religion with that of their Hellenic rulers. Ptolemy's policy was to find a deity that should win the reverence alike of both groups, despite the curses of the Egyptian priests against the gods of the previous foreign rulers (i.e Set who was lauded by the Hyksos

Hyksos

The Hyksos were an Asiatic people who invaded the eastern Nile Delta, in the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt initiating the Second Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt....
).

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Serapis (Latin spelling, or Sarapis in Greek) was a syncretic

Syncretism

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
god in Antiquity

Classical antiquity

Alexandria

Hyksos

The Hyksos were an Asiatic people who invaded the eastern Nile Delta, in the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt initiating the Second Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt....
). Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
had attempted to use Amun

Amun

Amun, reconstructed Egyptian language Yamanu , was the name of a deity in Egyptian mythology who gradually rose from being an abstract concept to the patron deity of Thebes, Egypt and one of the most important deities in Ancient Egypt before fading into obscurity....
for this purpose, but he was more prominent in Upper Egypt

Upper Egypt

File:Ancient Egypt map-en.svgUpper Egypt is a narrow strip of land that extends from the Cataracts of the Nile section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Asyut is sometimes known as Middle Egypt....
, and not as popular with those in Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the Fertile Crescent Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....
, where the Greeks had stronger influence. The Greeks had little respect for animal-headed figures, and so a Greek-style anthromorphic statue was chosen as the idol

Cult image

In the practice of religion, a cult image is a man-made object that is venerated for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents....
, and proclaimed as the equivalent of the highly popular Apis

Apis (Egyptian mythology)

In Egyptian mythology, Apis or Hapis , was a bull-deity worshipped in the Memphis, Egypt region.According to Manetho, his worship was instituted by Kaiechos of the Second dynasty of Egypt....
.It was named Aser-hapi (i.e. Osiris-Apis), which became Serapis, and was said to be Osiris

Osiris

Osiris was an Egyptian mythology, usually called the god of the Afterlife.Osiris is one of the oldest gods for whom records have been found; one of the oldest known attestations of his name is on the Palermo Stone of around 2500 BC....
in full, rather than just his Ka

Egyptian soul

The Ancient Egyptians believed that a human soul was made up of five parts: the Ren, the Ba, the Ka, the Sheut, and the Ib. In addition to these components of the soul there was the human body ....
(life force).

History

The earliest mention of a Serapis is in the disputed death scene of Alexander (323 BC). Here, Serapis has a temple at Babylon

Babylon

Babylon was a city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, sometimes considered an empire, the remains of which can be found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad....
, and is of such importance that he alone is named as being consulted on behalf of the dying king. His presence in Babylon would radically alter perceptions of the mythologies of this era, though fortunately it has been discovered that the unconnected Babylonian god Ea (Enki

Enki

Enki was a deity in Mesopotamian mythology, later known as Ea in Babylonian mythology. He was originally chief god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia and also to Hittite and Hurrian areas....
) was titled Serapsi, meaning king of the deep, and it is possibly this Serapsi which is referred to in the diaries. The significance of this Serapsi in the Hellenic psyche, due to its involvement in Alexander's death, may have also contributed to the choice of Osiris-Apis as the chief Ptolemaic god.

According to Plutarch

Plutarch

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. AD 46 ? 120 ? commonly known in English as Plutarch ? was a Ancient Rome historian , biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonism....
, Ptolemy stole the cult statue

Cult image

In the practice of religion, a cult image is a man-made object that is venerated for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents....
from Sinope

Sinope

Sinope can refer to:*Sinop, Turkey, a city on the Black Sea, historically known as Sinope*Sinope , in Greek mythology, daughter of Asopus and eponym of Sinop...
, having been instructed in a dream by the unknown god
Unknown God

In addition to the Olympian twelve and the innumerable Greek mythology, ancient Greece worshiped a deity they called Agnostos Theos, that is: the Unknown god....
, to bring the statue to Alexandria

Alexandria

Eumolpidae

The Eumolpidae were one of the sacred Eleusis families of priests that ran the Eleusinian Mysteries during the Hellenistic Greece. They popularized the cult and allowed many more to be initiated into the great secrets of Demeter and Persephone....
, the ancient family from whose members the hierophant

Hierophant

The role of the hierophant in religion is to bring the congregants into the presence of that which is deemed holy. The word comes from Ancient Greece, where it was constructed from the combination of ta hiera, "the holy," and phainein, "to show." In Attica it was the title of the chief priest at the Eleusinian Mysteries....
of the Eleusinian Mysteries

Eleusinian Mysteries

The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremony held every year for the Cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance....
had been chosen since before history, and the other was the scholarly Egyptian priest Manetho

Manetho

Manetho was an Egyptian historian and priest from Sebennytos who lived during the Ptolemaic dynasty, ca. 3rd century BC. Manetho wrote the Aegyptiaca ....
, which gave weight to the judgement both for the Egyptians

Egyptians

Egyptians is the name of the nationality and Mediterranean North African ethnic group native to Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to the Geography of Egypt, dominated by the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the Cataracts of the Nile to the Mediterranean Sea and enclosed by desert both to the Easte...
and the Greeks.

Plutarch may not however be correct, 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

Serapeum

Memphis, Egypt

Memphis was the ancient capital of the first Nome of Lower Egypt, and of the Old Kingdom of Egypt from its foundation until around 2200 BC and later for shorter periods during the New Kingdom, and an administrative centre throughout ancient history....
. Also, according to Tacitus, Serapis (i.e. Apis explicitly identified as Osiris in full) had been the god of the village of Rhakotis

Rhakotis

Rhakotis, or R?-Kedet, was the original name of the city of Alexandria on the northern coast of Egypt, before it was renamed by Alexander the Great....
, before it suddenly expanded into the great capital of Alexandria.

The statue suitably depicted a figure resembling Hades

Hades

Hades refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive case , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades"....
or Pluto, both being kings of the Greek underworld

Underworld

In the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term afterlife, referring to any place to which newly the dead souls go....
, and was shown enthroned with the modius, a basket/grain-measure, on his head, since it was a Greek symbol

Symbol

A symbol is something such as an entity, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention....
for the land of the dead. He also held a sceptre

Sceptre

A sceptre or scepter is a symbolic ornamental Staff held by a ruling monarch, a prominent item of royal regalia. While some sceptres resemble a Ceremonial mace, their use is quite different....
in his hand indicating his rulership, with Cerberus

Cerberus

Cerberus is the name given to the entity which, in Greek mythology and Roman mythology, is a multi-headed dog which guards the gates of Hades, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping....
, gatekeeper of the underworld, resting at his feet, and it also had what appeared to be a serpent

Serpent (symbolism)

Serpent is a word of Latin origin that is commonly used in a specifically mythology or religion context, signifying a snake that is to be regarded not as a mundane natural phenomenon nor as an object of scientific zoology, but as the bearer of some symbolic value....
at its base, fitting the Egyptian symbol of rulership, the uraeus

Uraeus

The Uraeus is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian spitting Egyptian cobra , used as a symbol of sovereignty, Royal family, deity, and divine authority in ancient Egypt....
.

With his (i.e. Osiris') wife Isis

ISIS

ISIS is an industry standard interface for technologies, developed by Pixel Translations in 1990 .ISIS is an open standard for scanner control and a complete image-processing framework....
, and their son (at this point in history) Horus

Horus

Horus is a god of the Ancient Egyptian religion, most commonly known by the Greek language version Horus, of the Egyptian language Heru/Har....
(in the form of Harpocrates

Harpocrates

In Greek mythology, Harpocrates is the god of silence. Harpocrates was adapted by the Ancient Greece from the Ancient Egypt Horus. To the Ancient Egypt, Horus represented the new-born Sun, rising each day at dawn....
), Serapis won an important place in the Greek world, reaching Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, with Anubis

Anubis

Anubis is the Greek language name for a jackal-headed deity associated with mummy and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology. In the ancient Egyptian language, Anubis is known as Inpu, ....
being identified as Cerberus. In Rome, Serapis was worshiped in the Iseum Campense, the sanctuary of the goddess Isis

ISIS

Campus Martius

The Campus Martius , was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about 2 km? in extent. In the Middle Ages it was the most populous area of Rome....
and built during the Second Triumvirate

Second Triumvirate

The Second Triumvirate is the name historians give to the official political alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus , Marcus Aemilius Lepidus , and Mark Antony, formed on 26 November 43 BC with the enactment of the Lex Titia, the adoption of which marked the end of the Roman Republic....
. The Roman cults of Isis and Serapis gained in popularity late in the first century thanks to the god's role in the miracles that the imperial usurper Vespasian

Vespasian

Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 69 A.D. until his death in 79 A.D. Vespasian was the founder of the short lived Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 69 A.D....
experienced in the city of Alexandria

Alexandria

Flavian dynasty

The Flavian dynasty was a Ancient Rome imperial dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 69 and 96 AD, encompassing the reigns of Vespasian , and his two sons Titus and Domitian ....
on, Serapis sometimes appeared on imperial coinage with the reigning emperor. The great cult survived until 385, when a Christian mob destroyed the Serapeum

Serapeum

A Serapeum is a temple or other religious institution dedicated to the syncretism Hellenistic civilization-Ancient Egypt god Serapis, who combined aspects of Osiris and Apis in a humanized form that was palatable to the Ptolemaic dynasty of Alexandria....
of Alexandria, and subsequently the cult was forbidden by the Theodosian decree.

The early Alexandrian Christian community appears to have been rather syncretic in their worship of Serapis and Jesus and would prostrate themselves without distinction between the two. A letter inserted in the Augustan History, ascribed to the Emperor Hadrian

Hadrian

Publius Aelius Hadrianus , as emperor Imperator Caesar Divi Traiani filius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, and Divus Hadrianus after his apotheosis, known as Hadrian in English language, was Roman Emperor of Roman Empire from AD 117 to 138, as well as a Stoicism and Epicureanism philosopher....
, refers to the worship of Serapis by residents of Egypt who described themselves as Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
s, and Christian worship by those claiming to worship Serapis, suggesting a great confusion of the cults and practices:

The land of Egypt, the praises of which you have been recounting to me, my dear Servianus, I have found to be wholly light-minded, unstable, and blown about by every breath of rumour. There those who worship Serapis are, in fact, Christians, and those who call themselves bishops of Christ are, in fact, devotees of Serapis. There is no chief of the Jewish synagogue
Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer.Synagogues usually have a large hall for prayer , smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices....
, no Samaritan
Samaritan

The Samaritans , known in the Talmud as Cuthim , are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Ancestrally, they claim descent from a group of Israelite inhabitants who have connections to ancient Samaria from the beginning of the Babylonian Exile up to the beginning of the Common Era....
, no Christian presbyter
Presbyter

Presbyter in the New Testament refers to a leader in local Christian congregations, then a synonym of episkopos . In modern usage, it is distinct from bishop and synonymous with priest, pastor, Elder , or religious minister in various Christian denominations....
, who is not an astrologer
Astrologer

An astrologer practices one or more forms of astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a horoscope for the time of an event, such as a person's birth, and interprets celestial points and their placements at the time of the event to better understand someone, determine the auspiciousness of an undertaking's beginning, etc....
, a soothsayer
Soothsayer

A soothsayer is a person who claims to speak sooth: specifically one who predicts the future based upon personal, political, spiritual, mental or religious beliefs rather than scientific facts....
, or an anointer. Even the Patriarch
Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised Autocracy authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy....
himself, when he comes to Egypt, is forced by some to worship Serapis, by others to worship Christ.

Serapis

History

Gallery

See also