SERAPIS, or SARAPIS, the Greek name of an Egyptian deity, introduced into Egypt in the time of Ptolemy I., or Soter. This monarch is said to have seen the image of a god in a dream, commanding him to remove it from the place where it was; and Sosibins, a traveler, having recognized it as existing at Sinope, Soteles and Dionysius were sent from Egypt, and brought it from Sinope to Alexandria. On its arrival it was examined by Timotheus the interpreter and the celebrated Manetho, who called it Serapis, and appear to have identified it with Osorhapis, or Osiris united with Apis, i.e., Osiris, in in his character of the Egyptian Pluto, as a deity of similar character. The figure, in fact, appears to have been one of Hades or Pluto, having at its side Cerberus, and a dragoil or snake. According to sonic authorities, the statue of Serapis was sent to Ptolerny II., or Philadelphus, because that monarch had relieved the city of Sinope from famine by supplying it with corn, and the statue was placed in the Serapeum, at the promontory of Rhaeotis. The Serapis of the Ptolemaic period, however, was not an Egyptian, but a Greek deity, whose temple was not admitted into the precincts of Egyp tian cities, and only found favor in the Greek cities founded in Egypt. It is said that 42 temples were erected under the Ptolemies and Romans to this god in Egypt. His resem blance to Osiris consisted in his chthonic or infernal character, as judge of the dead and ruler of Hades. About his nature and attributes the Greeks themselves entertained very different ideas, some considering him allied to the sun, others to 2Eseulaplus or Hades. The god had a magnificent temple at Alexandria, to which was attached the celebrated library; another at .Memphis, iu the vicinity of the cemetery of the mummies of the Apis, which has been recently excavated by M. Marlette; and another temple at Canopus.
From recent discoveries, it appears that he represented or was identified with the Hesiri Api, or Osorapis, the "Osirified " or "dead Apis," who was also invested with many of the attributes of Osiris, and considered, while living, to be the incarnation of the god Ptah•Socharis-Osiris, the tutelary divinity of Memphis. The worship of Serapis, introduced into Egypt by the Ptolemies, subsequently-became greatly extended in Asia Minor; and his image, in alliance with that of Isis and other deities, appears on many of the coins of the imperial days of Rome. In 146 A.D. time worship of the god was intro duced into the city of Rome by Antoninus Pius, and the mysteries celebrated on May 6; but they were not long after abolished by the senate, on account of their licentious character. A celebrated temple of Seraphs also existed at Puteoli (Pozzuoli), near Naples, and the remains of it are still seen, and present curious geological phenomena. In Egypt itself the worship of the deity subsisted till the fall of paganism, the image at Alexandria continuing to be worshiped till destroyed, 398 A.D., by Theophilus, arch bishop of that town. Busts of Serapis are found in most museums, and his head or figure engraved on certain stones was supposed to possess particular mystic virtues. His temples were oracular, the votaries consulting him by sleeping and dreaming in them; and at Alexandria the priests connected his worship with the healing art.— Plutarch, De Isitl, s. 28; Clemens, Orat. Adhort. p. 21; Tacit. Mist. iv. c. 83, 84; Simla), xvii. p. 552; Macrobius, Saturn, i. 7, 25; Nixon, Dell' Edifizio di Pozzuoli detto ii Templo di Serapide (Nap. 1773); Wilkinson, and Cust, iv. p. 360; Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c. 28.