Egyptian
and Ptolemaic origins
In Memphis the Apis bull was the most sacred of animals, and
something of a national mascot for all Egypt. In life the
animal was considered a manifestation of the creator deity
Ptah. But in death the creature was considered as embodying
Osiris. When the animal died it was treated as if Osiris had
died, and was given lavish rites due its station.
We therefore cannot repeat an old and now demonstrably false
adage that Ptolemy Soter invented the god Serapis, for the
conflation of
Osiris with the Apis bull was an ancient Egyptian tradition.
However, we might be able to say with somewhat more truth
that Ptomely Soter reinvented the cult, or at least gave it
new marketing for a new audience.
Accustomed as they were to Homeric deities and beautiful
anthropomorphic depictions of said gods in art, what the
Greeks (and later Romans) objected to most in Egyptian
religion was its inherent animal fetish. The Greeks who
theoretically were in awe of Egypt's
ancient and mysterious legacy were most often in practice
derisive of its animal headed deities. Thus if Ptolemy were
to promote an
Egyptian cult to his Greco-Macedonian companions,
iconographically the deity had to be rendered more aesthetically
pleasing to Hellenic
sensibilities. Serapis was often portrayed as a benign Pluto,
with elements of other deites such as Dionysus and Zeus.
The refashioned cult of Serapis did indeed begin to pentrate
into the Hellenic psyche. Under Ptolemy III a Serapeum was built in
Alexandria that quickly became one of the largest and most prestigious
sanctuaries in Antiquity. In this large complex of buildings,
which included an annex to the famous Library of Alexandria, the cult
practiced incubation - sleeping to obtain divinely inspired dreams,
usually a prophecy as to how to cure an illness.
Serapis thus resembled Pluto iconographically, was linked
mythologically with Osiris as lord of the underworld, and in cult
shared powers of some of the Greek healing gods. He could also be
indentified with Dionysus-Sabazius as another resurrected vegetation
deity. His consort Isis could be linked with the Greek Demeter or Greek
Aphrodite. These identifications helped the cult of Isis and Serapis
spread to other Hellenes throughout the Mediterranean.
Journey to Rome
Sailors, traders and emmigrants from
Alexandria did much to further the spread of the cult. We find cults of
Isis and Serapis formed as private associations throughout
many major port towns of the Mediterranean, with official
temple cults erected not long thereafter. Egyptian slaves sold in
foreign markets often carried the cult with them to new lands.
Interestingly enough, foreign merchants and slave traders were just as
likely to adopt the cult, for they found in Isis and Serapis universal
deities with powers to grant great boons.
Serapis made a home fairly early at Delos, one of Apollo's
island sanctuaries. It seems there was even some rivalry between these
two
gods of healing, not least of which is because the cult of
Serapis was linked with Ptolemaic imperialism.
From the slave trade at Delos, Serapis and Isis spread to the
Italian ports. In importance and prestige Isis always seemed to eclipse
her
consort. The conservative Republican senate treated the cults
with suspicion and did not allow them to be permitted within the sacred
city limits. Private chapels to the gods were ordered
destroyed - but they were quickly rebuilt by the faithful. The cults
were increasingly practiced not only by Greco-Oriental slaves and
emmigrants, but by native Italians as well.
With the memory of Cleopatra in mind, who had proclaimed
herself Isis on earth, Augustus was not keen on officially promoting
any Egyptian cult in Rome, and in fact discouraged it. Yet within the
house of the imperial family one can see paintings with a strong
Egyptian
theme! Tiberius was no hypocrite; he despised the cult and in
fact strongly persecuted it after a sex scandal involving the cult
became
public.
Imperial
Ascendance
Caligula was descended through Marc Antony,
and perhaps it is not suprising a touch of Alexandrian devotions
remained with the family.
Caligula's chamberlain was an Egyptian who perhaps assisted
the emperor in the study of the cult's mysteries. Caligula had a temple
to Isis built on the Field of Mars.
From now on the Nilotic gods would be at home on the Tiber.
The Flavian and Severan dynasties became duly enamored with the Nilotic
cults. Vespasian claims to have been proclaimed emperor by an
oracle from Serapis, and with the deity's help performed a healing
"miracle."
But it was not until Caracalla that Serapis finally moved out
under an Isiac shadow. The emperor erected a special cult to Serapis as
god of healing and issued coins with his likeness. After a
retreat to the Serapaeum at Alexandria , he was bestowed with the title
philosarapis, or beloved of Sarapis. The zenith came when
Caracalla constructed a gigantic temple to Serapis which seems to have
dwarfed
that to Captoline Jupiter, who had for centuries been
officially the patron god of Rome. The Serapia of April 25th may have
been to
celebrate the commemoration of this temple.
By Caracalla's reign Serapis was increasingly equated with
such other deities as Mithras and Helios, and became a solar and sky
deity.
Mithraeum in Caracall's baths show such syncretic
insciptions. The number of Egyptian slaves serving in the imperial
household seems
to have been large. From Emperor to slave the religion of
Serapis thrived. There was no port in the empire where it did not
spread,
but always it was linked to that of the Isiac cult. Apuleius
does however inform us that the Mysteries of Serapis were separate from
that of Isis.
The related cults of Isis and Serapis would remain a major
religious force in the Roman empire until their outlaw by Christian
emperors.
In many ways, the destruction of the Serapeum at Alexandria
signified the death of paganism in Antiquity.
Robert Turcan. Cults
of the Roman Empire
Geraldine Pinch Egyptian
Mythology
Apuleius The
Golden Ass
