A Serapeum is a temple or other religious institution dedicated to the syncretic Hellenistic-Egyptian god Serapis, who combined aspects of Osiris and Apis in a humanized form that was palatable to the Ptolemaic Greeks of Alexandria. There were several such religious centers, each of which was a Serapeion or, in its Latinized form, a Serapeum. Temple of Hephaestus, an Doric Greek temple in Athens with the original entrance facing east, 449 BC (western face depicted) For other uses, see Temple (disambiguation). ... Syncretism is the attempt to reconcile disparate, even opposing, beliefs and to meld practices of various schools of thought. ... The term Hellenistic (derived from Héllēn, the Greeks traditional self-described ethnic name) was established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen to refer to the spreading of Greek culture over the non-Greek people that were conquered by Alexander the Great. ... Serapis can refer to: A series of British ships named HMS Serapis. ... For other uses, see Osiris (disambiguation). ... In Egyptian mythology, Apis or Hapis (alternatively spelt Hapi-ankh), was a bull-deity worshipped in the Memphis region. ... cleopatra ruled seneca for 10 years before she ruled Egypt. ... ---- Alexandria (Greek: , Coptic: , Arabic: , Egyptian Arabic: Iskindireyya), (population of 3. ...

Alexandrine Serapeum

The Serapeum of Alexandria in Ptolemaic Egypt was a temple built by Ptolemy III (reigned 246–222 BC) and dedicated to Serapis, the syncretic Hellenistic-Egyptian god who was made the protector of Alexandria. By all of the detailed descriptions, the Serapeum was the largest and most magnificent of all temples in the Greek quarter of Alexandria. Besides the image of the god, the temple precinct housed an offshoot collection of the great Library of Alexandria. The geographer Strabo tells that this stood in the west of the city. Nothing now remains above ground. ---- Alexandria (Greek: , Coptic: , Arabic: , Egyptian Arabic: Iskindireyya), (population of 3. ... The Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt began following Alexander the Greats conquest in 332 BC and ended with the death of Cleopatra VII and the Roman conquest in 30 BC. It was founded when Ptolemy I Soter declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt, creating a powerful Hellenistic state from southern Syria... The Greeks began to build monumental temples in the first half of the eighth century BC. The temples of Hera at Samos and of Poseidon at Isthmia were among the first erected. ... Ptolemy III Euergetes I, (Ptolemaeus III) (Evergetes, Euergetes) (246 BC-222 BC). ... Serapis can refer to: A series of British ships named HMS Serapis. ... Syncretism is the attempt to reconcile disparate, even opposing, beliefs and to meld practices of various schools of thought. ... The term Hellenistic (derived from HéllÄ“n, the Greeks traditional self-described ethnic name) was established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen to refer to the spreading of Greek culture over the non-Greek people that were conquered by Alexander the Great. ... 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. ... Inscription regarding Tiberius Claudius Balbilus of Rome (d. ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ...

Excavations at the site of the Column of Diocletian in 1944 yielded the foundation deposits of the Temple of Serapis. These are two sets of ten plaques, one plaque each of gold, of silver, of bronze, of faience, of sun-dried Nile mud, and five of opaque glass. They are all doubly inscribed in Greek and in Egyptian hieroglyphs, with the statement that Ptolemy III Euergetes built the Serapeion. The foundation deposits of a temple dedicated to Harpokrates from the reign of Ptolemy IV were also found within the enclosure walls. Parmaniskos was assigned as architect. Sub galleries beneath the temple were most probably the site of the mysteries of Serapis. In 1895 a black diorite statue representing Serapis in his Apis bull incarnation with the sun-disk between his horns was found at the site: an inscription dates it to the reign of Hadrian (117-38). Faience or faïence is the conventional name in English for fine tin-glazed earthenware on a delicate pale buff body. ... Apis can refer to the following: Apis — An Egyptian god Apis — A Bee genus Apis — In Greek mythology a prophet. ... Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus (January 24, 76 – July 10, 138), known as Hadrian in English, was a Stoic-Epicurean[] Roman emperor from 117 – 138, and a member of the gens Aelia. ...

Destruction of the Alexandrine Serapeum

Theophilus, Gospel in hand, stands triumphantly atop the Serapeum in 391

Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria was Nicene patriarch when the decrees of Emperor Theodosius I forbade public observances of any but Christian rites. Theodosius I had progressively made the sacred feasts into workdays (389), had forbidden public sacrifices, closed temples, and colluded in frequent acts of local violence by Christians against major cult sites. The decree that went out in 391, that "no one is to go to the sanctuaries, walk through the temples," resulted in many temples throughout the Empire that could be declared "abandoned" and the universal practice immediately began of occupying these sacred sites with Christian churches. Download high resolution version (434x646, 53 KB)Theophilus and the Serapeum. ... Download high resolution version (434x646, 53 KB)Theophilus and the Serapeum. ... Events All non-Christian temples in the Roman Empire are closed Quintus Aurelius Symmachus is urban prefect in Rome, and petitions Theodosius I to re-open the pagan temples. ... Theophilus and the Serapeum Theophilus of Alexandria, (died 412) was the Nicene patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt (385 - 412). ... For other senses, see Patriarch (disambiguation). ... An engraving depicting what Theodosius may have looked like, ca. ... Events All Pagan buildings in Alexandria, including the library, are destroyed Births Geiseric, king of the Vandals and Alans (approximate date) Deaths Gregory Nazianzus, theologian Categories: 389 ... Events All non-Christian temples in the Roman Empire are closed Quintus Aurelius Symmachus is urban prefect in Rome, and petitions Theodosius I to re-open the pagan temples. ...

In Alexandria, Bishop Theophilus obtained legal authority over one abandoned temple of Dionysus. He wanted to turn it into a church. While renovating the temple secret caverns were found. Their exposure excited crowds of non-Christians who fell upon the Christians. The Christians retaliated, while Theophilus withdrew, and the pagans retreated into the Serapeum, still the most imposing of the city's remaining sanctuaries, and proceeded to barricade themselves inside. They had taken quite a number of Christian captives. Some they forced to sacrifice at the burning altars. Those who would not were tortured and killed. Others had their shins broken and were cast into caves that had been built for blood sacrifices. Then the Pagans, being trapped in the Serapeum, began to plunder it. (Rufinus & MacMullen 1984) Dionysus with a leopard, satyr and grapes on a vine, in the Palazzo Altemps (Rome, Italy) Dionysus (Latin) or Dionysos (Greek) (from Ancient Greek: or ; in both Greek and Roman mythology and associated with the Italic Liber), the Thracian god of wine, represents not only the intoxicating power of wine...

A letter was sent by Theodosius that Theophilus should grant the offending Pagans pardon — but destroy pagan images. These had caused all the trouble. First, the temple of Serapis, the Serapeum, was levelled by Roman soldiers and monks called in from the desert. Next they moved on to the sacred buildings of Canopus. Destruction spread rapidly throughout Egypt. A marginal illustration on papyrus from a world chronicle written in Alexandria in the early 5th century shows the triumphant Theophilus (illustration, left); the cult image of Serapis, crowned with the modius, is visible within the temple at the bottom.(MacMullen 1984) Serapis can refer to: A series of British ships named HMS Serapis. ... Canopus (also: Canobus) was an Ancient Egyptian coastal town, located in the Nile Delta. ... Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ... Serapis can refer to: A series of British ships named HMS Serapis. ...

There is a second version of the destruction of the Serapeum. This begins with Bishop Theophilus closing down a Mithraeum. It appears the remains are ridiculed and human skulls were exhumed by the Christian workers and there was a charge of human sacrifices. The non-Christians attack as before and the story unfolds similar to the first. There is also a third version of the incident, and more, from Eunapius, the Pagan historian of later Neoplatonism. Here, a Christian mob applied military tactics to destroy the Serapeum and steal whatever was not destroyed. Afterwards in sacred places monks, rule with absolute power. Human skeletons of criminals and slaves, the Christians killed in the Serapeum, are placed in the temples of the Gods and are worshipped as martyrs. (Turcan, 1996) Eunapius was a Greek sophist and historian of the 4th century. ...

The destruction of the Serapeum attested by the Christian writers Rufinus and Sozomen was only the most spectacular such occasion, according to Peter Brown, The Rise of Western Christendom (2003, p. 73-74). The destruction of the Serapeum was seen by many ancient and modern authors as representative of the triumph of Christianity over other religions and an instructive example of the attitude of the most educated Christian class to pagan learning. Tyrannius Rufinus or Rufinus of Aquileia (between 340 and 345–410 CE) was a monk, historian, and theologian. ... Salminius Hermias Sozomen (c. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Saqqara Serapeum

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The Serapeum of Saqqara, a necropolis located near Memphis, Egypt, was the burial place of the Apis bull, the living manifestation of the god Ptah. It was discovered by Auguste Mariette, who excavated most of the complex. Unfortunately his notes of the excavation were lost, which has complicated the use of these burials in establishing Egyptian chronology. The problem with these series of sacred burials is that from the reign of Rameses XI through the 23rd year of Osorkon II – a period of about 250 years – only nine bulls are known: this number includes three burials not actually found, but assumed to exist by Mariette in a chamber he felt was too dangerous to excavate. Image File history File links Wiki_letter_w. ... Saqqara (Arabic: سقارة) is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, featuring the worlds oldest standing step pyramid. ... Look up necropolis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Memphis, coordiates , , was the ancient capital of the first nome of Lower Egypt, and of the Old Kingdom of Egypt from its foundation until around 1300 BC. Its Ancient Egyptian name was Ineb Hedj (The White Walls). The name Memphis is the Greek deformation of the Egyptian name of Pepi... In Egyptian mythology, Apis or Hapis (alternatively spelt Hapi-ankh), was a bull-deity worshipped in the Memphis region. ... Ptah In Egyptian mythology, Ptah (also spelt Peteh) was the deification of the primordial mound in the Ennead cosmogony, which was more literally referred to as Ta-tenen (also spelt Tathenen), meaning risen land, or as Tanen, meaning submerged land. ... A statue of Auguste Mariette in his home city of Boulogne-sur-Mer. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Ramses XI (reigned 1104 – 1075 BC) was the tenth and last ruler of the Twentieth dynasty of Ancient Egypt. ... Osorkons cartouche from his tomb in Tanis Usimare Setepenamun Osorkon II was a pharaoh of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Ancient Egypt and the son of Takelot I and Queen Kapes. ...

Egyptologists believe that there should be more burials, since the bulls usually had an average lifespan of 25-28 years, if they did not die sooner, but even after redating four burials, that Mariette had dated to the reign of Ramesses XI, and recalculating dates, there is still a gap of 130 years that needs accounting for. Some Egyptologists who favour changes to the standard Egyptian chronology, such as David Rohl, have seized on this discrepancy, and argued that the dating of the Twentieth dynasty should be redated some 300 years closer to the present in time; others assume that there must be more burials of these sacred bulls waiting to be discovered and excavated. Menmare Ramesses XI (also written Ramses and Rameses) reigned 1102 BC – 1073 BC or 1069 BC) was the tenth and final king of the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... David M. Rohl is a British Egyptologist and historian who has put forth several controversial theories concerning the chronology of Ancient Egypt and Palestine. ... The Twentieth Dynasty of ancient Egypt was founded by Setnakhte, but its only important member was Ramesses III, who modelled his career after Ramesses II the Great. ...

Canopus Serapeum

Another Serapeum was located at Canopus, in the Nile delta near Alexandria. This sanctuary was dedicated to Isis and and her consort Serapis, becoming one of the most famous cult centers of Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt. Its festivals and rites were so popular that the site became an architectural model for sanctuaries to the Egyptian gods throughout the Empire. Canopus (also: Canobus) was an Ancient Egyptian coastal town, located in the Nile Delta. ... NASA satellite photograph of the Nile Delta (shown in false colour) The Nile Delta (Arabic:دلتا النيل) is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. ... This article discusses the ancient goddess. ... In traditional usage, the cult of a religion, quite apart from its sacred writings (scriptures), its theology or myths, or the personal faith of its believers, is the totality of external religious practice and observance, the neglect of which is the definition of impiety. ... The Roman Empire ca. ... Motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR) The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, c. ...

At this Graeco-Roman site a sacred temenos enclosed the temple dedicated to the gods, which was located behind a propylaeum or peristyle court. Auxiliary shrines dedicated to other, less universal, Egyptian deities were found as well. These included those dedicated to Anubis (Hermanubis); Hermes Trismegistus, the syncretism of Thoth and Hermes; Harpocrates; and others. The complex was often associated with a sacred well or spring, representing in a sense the miraculous annual inundation of the Nile. This was aslso the case in sanctuaries devoted to the Egyptian gods in Roman-era Delos, where a central basin provided the water element central in the rites of Isis. Greek Temenos ([1], from the Greek verb to cut) (plural = temene) is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, a sanctuary, holy grove or holy... An entrance or vestibule to a temple or group of buildings. ... In Roman architecture a peristyle is a columned porch or open colonnade in a building that surrounds a court that may contain an internal garden. ... Anubis is the Greek name for the ancient jackal-headed god of the dead in Egyptian mythology whose hieroglyphic version is more accurately spelled Anpu (also Anup, Anupu, Wip, Ienpw, Inepu, Yinepu,Inpu, or Inpw). ... In classical mythology, Hermanubis was a god who combined Hermes (Greek mythology) with Anubis (Egyptian mythology). ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... , or , or [1] Thoth (Ramesseum, Luxor) Thoth, a Greek name derived from the Egyptian * (djih-how-tee) (written by Egyptians as ) was considered one of the most important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. ... Hermes bearing the infant Dionysus, by Praxiteles, found at the Heraion, Olympia, 1877 Hermes (IPA: , Greek IPA: ), in Greek mythology, is the Olympian god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and... The child Horus represented to the ancient Egyptians the new-born Sun, rising each day at dawn. ... The Nile (Arabic: ‎, translit: , Ancient Egyptian iteru, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the longest river, though not the most voluminous, in the world. ... The island of Delos, Carl Anton Joseph Rottmann, 1847 The island of Delos (Greek: Δήλος, Dhilos), isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, had a position as a holy sanctuary for a millennium before Olympian Greek mythology made it the birthplace of...

The Emperor Hadrian (117-138) reconstructed a "Canopus" in his villa at Tivoli, in proportions unequalled in the grandeur of their conception: an immense rectangular tank representing a canal, 119 meters long by 18 meters wide, surrounded by porticoes and statues, leading to a Serapeum. Protected by a monumental dome, the sanctuary was composed of a public area and a more intimate subterranean part that was dedicated to the chthonic aspect of Serapis. To mark the inauguration of his temple, Hadrian struck coinage that carry his effigy accompanied by Serapis, upon a dais where two columns support a round canopy. In this manner the emperor became synnaos, the companion of the god's arcane naos and equal beneficiary of the cult of Serapis at Canopus. Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus (January 24, 76 – July 10, 138), known as Hadrian in English, was a Stoic-Epicurean[] Roman emperor from 117 – 138, and a member of the gens Aelia. ... The villas recreation of Canopus, a resort near Alexandria, as seen from the temple of Serapis Theatrical masks of Tragedy and Comedy in refined mosaic, from the villa (Capitoline Museum, Rome) The Villa of the Emperor Hadrian at Tivoli, Italy, even in ruined condition is one of the most... Categories: Architectural elements | Stub ... This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... For other uses, see Chthon (disambiguation). ... Naos (nay-os, from the Greek ναύσ ship, also known as Suhail Hadar, Zeta Puppis or ζ Puppis), a white supergiant in the constellation of Puppis, is one of the brightest stars in the Milky Way, in terms of absolute magnitude. ...

See also

• Serapis

Serapis can refer to: A series of British ships named HMS Serapis. ...

References

Alexandrine Serapeum

• Chuvin, Pierre, 1990 (B. A. Archer, translator). A Chronicle of the Last Pagans,(Harvard University Press). ISBN 0-674-12970-9 The incremental restrictions on "indigenous polytheism" of the governing class, chronicled from imperial edict to imperial edict.
• MacMullen, Ramsay, 1984.Christianizing the Roman Empire A.D. 100-400, (Yale University Press)
• Turcan, Robert, 1996.Cults of the Roman Empire (Blackwell) Bryn Mawr Classical review

Saqqara Serapeum

• Ibrahim Aly Sayed, Mohamad; David M. Rohl (1988). "Apis and the Serapeum". Journal of the Ancient Chronology Forum 2: 6–26. 
• Malinine, Michel; Georges Posener, and Jean Vercoutter (1968). Catalogue des stèles du Sérapéum de Memphis. Paris: Imprimerie nationale de France. 
• Mariette, François Auguste Ferdinand (1857). Le Sérapéum de Memphis, découvert et décrit. Paris: Gide éditeur. 
• Mariette, François Auguste Ferdinand (1892). Le Sérapéum de Memphis. Paris: F. Vieweg. 
• Thompson, Dorothy J. (1988). Memphis under the Ptolemies. Princton: Princeton University Press. 
• Vercoutter, Jean (1960). "The Napatan Kings and Apis Worship (Serapeum Burials of the Napatan Period)". Kush: Journal of the Sudan Antiquities Service 8: 62–76. 
• Vercoutter, Jean (1962). Textes biographiques du Sérapéum de Memphis: Contribution à l’étude des stèles votives du Sérapéum. Paris: Librairie ancienne Honoré Champion. 

David M. Rohl is a British Egyptologist and historian who has put forth several controversial theories concerning the chronology of Ancient Egypt and Palestine. ... A statue of Auguste Mariette in his home city of Boulogne-sur-Mer. ... A statue of Auguste Mariette in his home city of Boulogne-sur-Mer. ...

External links

• [1] Rufinus – "The Destruction of the Serapeum A.D. 391"
• [2] Michael Routery, "The Serapeum of Alexandria" The author has omitted important material from his cited references sources. Read with caution. The reason for the conflict that led to the barricading in the Serapeum has been changed from that of his source. Here it is the finding of human skulls and the charge of human sacrifice (Turcan 1992,p.126) instead of a conspiracy and a ridiculing of art work. (Notice the author has cited the next facing page Turcan 1992,p.127, odd numbered pages are on the reader's RH side.The LH had to be visible.)

• Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976: "Alexandria, Egypt: Serapeion"