THE CULT OF SERAPIS.

The cult of Serapis was the one of ancient Egyptian religion that have survived the longest into the Greek and Roman periods.
The name Serapis is a combination of Osiris and Apis. He is actually the deceased Apis, a fertility god from Memphis in the shape of a bull, who had become immortal as Serapis, hence the connection with the Egyptian god of the Underworld, Osiris. The god was already being worshiped as god of the Underworld in Memphis (2nd BC), so he was not a new deity, but his cult was.
Serapis as reincarnation of the fertility god Apis, is a fertility god himself as well. This is clearly shown by the corn measure the deity wears on his head. Furthermore Osiris is a cereal god as well, and god of the underworld. Like the Greek god of the underworld Hades he is accompanied by a 3-headed dog. This dog has a strong resemblance to the Greek Cerberus, but usually a snake is twined around his body and he bears the head of a dog, a wolf, and a lion. As a revived god, Serapis is also a healing god with a reputation at least equal to that of the Greek Asclepius. His healing power is symbolized by the snake. As god of the sea he replaced the Greek Poseidon as well. Because the Greeks were not interested in the traditional Egyptian's animal gods, so Serapis was made in human form, but his traditional name was preserved. Being worship as a fertility and underworld god, he became a medicine god, patron of the sailors and his followers even regarded him as the new chief god instead of Zeus. At his temple. the Serapeum in Alexandria, he was represented as a robed and bearded figure, with a three headed dog at his right hand, and a scepter in his left hand. In this role he was a sun god, and a god of fertility and healing.
Ptolemy chose Serapis as the god to be worship by the Greeks as well as the Egyptians, and Serapis's jurisdiction extended as well and became the most popular god of the new Hellenistic capital Alexandria. Although the deity was Egyptian, his cult itself was purely Greek-Hellenistic, spreading to the entire Greek-Roman World, and his mystery cults became a threat to the traditional Roman religion. Emperors Augustus and Tiberius banned the cult but nevertheless it became increasingly more popular and reached their peak in the 3rd century CE.
The universal Serapis was therefore the right god for the Gnostic movement in Egypt. This philosophic-religious movement in the first centuries CE was a combination of Eastern religious ideas from Syria, Persia and Judaism, and Greek philosophical elements from Plato and Neo-Platonism, from Pythagoras and Neo-Pythagoreanism and from Stoicism. Gnostics believed knowledge was the only way to salvation. To them religion was thinking about the questions of life and studying secret texts, although important mystical aspects were involved as well. Furthermore they considered everything as a struggle between god and evil. There were several different fractions however, namely Jewish, Christian, and pagan Gnostics. Because they believed the World was created by the Highest God, the pagan Gnostics needed a deity superior to all the others.
In the Egyptian city of Alexandria, the most important intellectual centre in the Mediterranean and an important Gnostic centre, Serapis was an obvious choice. Serapis became the object of a mystery cult with similarities to other mystery religions as Christianity and the Mithras cult, which were both strongly influenced by Gnostic movement.




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