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Headword: Sarapis
Adler number: sigma,117
Translated headword: Sarapis
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
Archbishop Theophilus[1] destroyed his statue in Alexandria[2] at the time of [emperor] Theodosius the Great.[3] Some said this [depicted] Zeus, some [said it was] the Nile[4] because it had on its head the bushel and the cubit, that is to say the measure of water; others [said that it was] Joseph, others [said that it was] Apis,[5] a rich man and king in the Egyptian city Memphis.[6] When a famine had occurred he provided food for the Alexandrians out of his own [stores], and after his death they built in honour of him a temple, in which a bull was bred, bearing a sign [distinctive] of the farmer and having some marks on the skin; [the bull] was also named after him and called Apis. The coffin of this Apis, in which his body lay, was transferred to Alexandria and they created a composite name out of the coffin [soros] and Apis and they called him Sorapis, but those afterwards [called him] Sarapis. An immense and brilliant temple for him was built by Alexander [sc. the Great].[7]
Greek Original:
Sarapis: toutou en Alexandreiai katheile Theophilos ho archiepiskopos to xoanon epi Theodosiou tou megalou. touto de hoi men Dia ephasan einai, hoi de ton Neilon dia to modion echein en têi kephalêi kai ton pêchun, êgoun to tou hudatos metron, alloi de ton Iôsêph, heteroi de Apin tina gegonenai anthrôpon euporon kai basilea en Memphidi polei tês Aiguptou. limou de genomenou tois Alexandreusin ek tôn idiôn trophên paresche, teteleutêkoti de autôi naon anestêsan, en hôi bous etrepheto, sumbolon pherôn tou geôrgou kai tina de echôn en têi chroiai episêma, hostis ek tês prosêgorias autou kai autos Apis ekaleito. tên de soron toutou tou Apidos, en hê to sôma ekeito autou, en Alexandreiai metênenkan kai apo tês sorou kai tou Apidos suntheton onoma pepoiêkotes ekaloun auton Sorapin, hoi de meta tauta Sarapin. toutou naos hupo Alexandrou ektisthê pammegethês kai panu lampros.
Notes:
George the Monk, Chronicon 583.20-584.12. The destruction of the Serapeum (AD 391) is also recounted in Sozomenus, Historia Ecclesiastica 7.15.2-10.
Sarapis is a deity typical of the religious syncretism of Hellenistic Egypt and, later, the Roman Empire. See generally Richard Gordon in OCD4 s.v., and more specialised bibliography below; cf. Wikipedia entries for Serapis and Serapeum at web addresses 1 and 2. In the Suda cf. mu 23 and sigma 1011. Also see Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris passim. On the origins of Sarapis, see Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus 4.48; Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 10.12.24-25; Origen, Against Celsus/Contra Celsum 5.38.29-38.
[1] Patriarch of Alexandria AD 385-412. Wikipedia entry at web address 3.
[2] alpha 1119.
[3] theta 144.
[4] nu 289.
[5] alpha 3201 and alpha 3217.
[6] mu 583.
[7] alpha 1121.
References:
Merkelbach, R., Isis Regina - Zeus Sarapis. Die griechisch-ägyptische Religion nach den Quellen dargestellt, Stuttgart 1995
Roeder, G., 'Sarapis', RE I A,2 (1920), pp. 2394-2426
Schmid, E. Die Einführung des Sarapis in Alexandria, Naumburg 1909
Stambaugh, J.E., Sarapis Under the Early Ptolemies, Leiden 1972
Associated internet addresses:
Web address 1,
Web address 2,
Web address 3
Keywords: aetiology; architecture; art history; biography; Christianity; chronology; dialects, grammar, and etymology; food; geography; history; mythology; religion; zoology
Translated by: Ioannis Doukas on 27 May 2007@19:19:07.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (augmented primary note; more keywords; tweaks and cosmetics) on 28 May 2007@04:28:10.
David Whitehead (another keyword) on 3 May 2011@10:18:36.
David Whitehead (more keywords; tweaking) on 22 December 2013@05:17:12.
David Whitehead on 9 August 2014@10:03:42.
Catharine Roth (added alternative title) on 7 December 2014@22:36:30.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 4 January 2015@01:02:39.
Catharine Roth (tweaked link 3) on 27 January 2022@01:09:09.

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