SERAPEUM, the name given to two celebrated Egyptian temples, one at Alexandria, the other at Memphis, dedicated to the god Seraphs. There was also a temple of the same name at Babylon, where the friends of Alexander the Great wished to transport Lim during his last illness (Arrian, Anab.; vii. 56.) The temple of Serapis at Alexandria was preceded byan older one dedicated at Ithaeotis. (Jul. Valer., ' Alex. °rt.,' I. xxxL) All these temples derived their name from the god Serapis, who was affirmed by Manetho to be Pluto, or the Jupiter of Sinope. (Plutarch, 'Ink] and Osirid,' xxxviL) Of the many etymo logies proposed for the name of the god, that of St. Clement of Alexandria is now recognised to be the correct one, Serapis being composed of two words signifying the Osiris, or deceased Apia, from the name of Osiris having been applied to all 'mortals after death, and to the bull considered as a demigod. Recent discoveries at Memphis have shown that the Serapeum was the cemetery of the Apis, and close to the Apeum where the bull dwelt during his life. The Apeum was established here after the time of the l'sammetichi, where it still existed in the days of Hcrodotus (ii. 21). But the Serapeum or mortuary temple of the Apis was founded by Shacmgam, the son of Rameses II.. who removed thither the tomb of the sacred hulL This temple was discovered by I& Marietta, at the west end of a dromos of sphinxes lying to the north of the Pyramids of Sakkara. It seems to have been enlarged and repaired till the days of Neththerhebi or Neetancbes I., of the 30th dynasty. Another temple, lying on the east end of the same dromoe, seems to have been that erected in Ptolemaic times, and continued to be used for the Apis and the worship of Serapis till the days of the Emperor Julian, and even later. This Serapeum at Memphis was called the Great, to distinguish it from that of Alexandria, which was surnamed " the most illustrious." It comprised, or was a portion of, a group of buildings, consisting of the Aetarteum, dedicated to Astarte; the Anubetun, to Anubis ; the Asclepeum, or Temple of .lEaculapius, in which libations were daily offered ; the dwellings of the hierarchy; and the apartments or hospital of the sick who flocked to the temple for the sake of the cure of their maladies, which was supposed to be effected through 'the dreams accorded by the god during their sleep in the sacred edifice. Oue
hundred and forty-six papyri discovered in the adjacent ruins, and now dispersed through the museums of Europe, relating to the quarrels and litigations of the functionaries of the temple, have thrown knelt light on its administration. They all date from the 18th to the 24th year of Ptolemy Philomctor, and describe the temple as connected by a dromos of sphinxes with the city of Memphis, and which had not then, as in the days of Strabo, been buried in the sand. (Strabo, xviL 807, c.) The temple was under the direction of prefects, delegates, vicars, subadministrators, and storekeepers, and two female priestesses called Didymi, or " twins," whose office was to serve Asculapiiis and Serapis, and a peculiar class of hierodules, who voluntarily dedicated themselves to the service of the gods, and lived in celibacy and sochf: alon within the precincts. These persons derived no support from the revenues of the temple, and were Dither maintained by their families or the alma of visitors to the sacred edifice. They had in their hands the charge of affairs, but could not go beyond the precincts, and lived to all intents a cloistered or monastic life. This institution is men tioned as late as Antoninus Pius, and is evidently that from which rnonachism Inca been borrowed. (Peyron, B., ' Papiri Greet, p. 14.) There were also many officers attached to the worship of the Apis, who had two shrines, into which he entered at pleasure, and from which passage augury was taken by the priests. The sacred bull was attended by a herdsman while living, and an entaphiastes or embalmer when dead. (l'eyron, B., 'rapid Cireci,' p. 8.) His mother also participated in his honours, and had a shrine assigned her in the Apeum. Extra ordinary care and vast sums were expended both by native and Greek monarchs in embellishing these shrines ; and if the old capital of Memphis was comparatively neglected during the sway of the great Theban dynasties, this was amply compensated by the magnificent donations of the later Saitic dynasty and the Ptolemies. Apia is mentioned on monuments of the 4th dynasty, and his shrme must have been established as early as the building of the oldest Pyramids.