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Serapis (, Attic/Ionian Greek) or Sarapis (, Doric Greek) is a Graeco-Egyptian god. The Cult of Serapis was introduced during the 3rd century BC on the orders of Ptolemy I of Egypt〔"Sarapis" in ''The New Encyclopaedia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 10, p. 447.〕 as a means to unify the Greeks and Egyptians in his realm. The god was depicted as Greek in appearance, but with Egyptian trappings, and combined iconography from a great many cults, signifying both abundance and resurrection. A serapeum (Greek ''serapeion'') was any temple or religious precinct devoted to Serapis. The ''cultus'' of Serapis was spread as a matter of deliberate policy by the Ptolemaic kings, who also built an immense Serapeum in Alexandria. However, there is evidence which implies that cult of Serapis existed before the Ptolemies came to power in Alexandria - a temple of Sarapis (or Roman Serapis) in Egypt is mentioned in 323 BC by both Plutarch (''Life of Alexander'', 76) and Arrian (''Anabasis'', VII, 26, 2). The common assertion that Ptolemy "created" the deity is derived from sources which describe him erecting a statue of Sarapis in Alexandria: this statue enriched the texture of the Sarapis conception by portraying him in both Egyptian and Greek style. Though Ptolemy I may have created the cult of Sarapis and endorsed him as a patron of the Ptolemaic dynasty and Alexandria, Sarapis was a syncretistic deity derived from the worship of the Egyptian Osiris and Apis (Osiris + Apis = Oserapis/Sarapis)〔Youtie, H. 1948. “The Kline of Sarapis.” The Harvard Theological Review, vol 41, pp. 9-29.〕 and also gained attributes from other deities, such as chthonic powers linked to the Greek Hades and Demeter, and benevolence linked to Dionysus. Serapis continued to increase in popularity during the Roman period, often replacing Osiris as the consort of Isis in temples outside Egypt. In 389, a Christian mob led by the Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria destroyed the Alexandrian Serapeum, but the cult survived until all forms of pagan religion were suppressed under Theodosius I in 391. ==About the god== "Serapis" is the only form used in Latin,〔Consulting the unabridged ''Lewis and Short Latin lexicon'' shows that "Serapis" was the only Latin version of the name in antiquity: On the Internet Archive.〕 but both , ''Sárapis'' and , ''Sérapis'' appear in Greek, as well as ''Sarapo'' in Bactrian. His most renowned temple was the Serapeum of Alexandria.〔"Of the Egyptian sanctuaries of Serapis the most famous is at Alexandria", Pausanias noted (''Description of Greece'', 1.18.4, 2nd century AD), in describing the Serapeion at Athens erected by Ptolemy on the steep slope of the Acropolis: "As you descend from here to the lower part of the city, is a sanctuary of Serapis, whose worship the Athenians introduced from Ptolemy."〕 Under Ptolemy Soter, efforts were made to integrate Egyptian religion with that of their Hellenic rulers. Ptolemy's policy was to find a deity that should win the reverence alike of both groups, despite the curses of the Egyptian priests against the gods of the previous foreign rulers (e.g. Set, who was lauded by the Hyksos). Alexander the Great had attempted to use Amun for this purpose, but he was more prominent in Upper Egypt, and not as popular with those in Lower Egypt, where the Greeks had stronger influence. The Greeks had little respect for animal-headed figures, and so a Greek-style anthropomorphic statue was chosen as the idol, and proclaimed as the equivalent of the highly popular Apis.〔According to Sir J.G. Frazer's note to the ''Biblioteca'' of Pseudo-Apollodorus, 2.1.1: "Apollodorus identifies the Argive Apis with the Egyptian bull Apis, who was in turn identified with Serapis (Sarapis)"; Pausanias also conflates Serapis and Egyptian Apis: "Of the Egyptian sanctuaries of Serapis the most famous is at Alexandria, the oldest at Memphis. Into this neither stranger nor priest may enter, until they bury Apis" (Pausanias,''Description of Greece'', 1.18.4).〕 It was named ''Aser-hapi'' (i.e. ''Osiris-Apis''), which became Serapis, and was said to be Osiris in full, rather than just his Ka (life force). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Serapis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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