Originalveröffentlichung in: Paul McKechnie, Philipe Guillame (Hg.

), Ptolemy II Philadelphus and his world

(Mnemosyne: supplements Vol. 300), Leiden ; Boston 2008, S. 387-408

THE GOD SERAPIS, HIS CULT AND THE BEGINNINGS

OF THE RULER CULT IN PTOLEMAIC EGYPT*

Stefan Pfeiffer

When Egypt became the kingdom of the Ptolemies, they found a

thousand-year-old culture with a flourishing religiosity focused on the
Pharaoh. In order to establish a stable power base in the country, the
foreign rulers had to respond to the needs of their Egyptian subjects,
who made up most of the population of their kingdom. For their official
public image, the Ptolemies therefore assumed not only the Hellenistic
portrayal of a basileus, but they also became Egyptian Pharaohs. On the
bas-reliefs in Egyptian temples, the Ptolemaic kings are depicted during
sacrifices to the Egyptian gods as native Pharaohs.
The obvious appropriation of pharaonic tradition occurred, on the
one hand, because of the basic necessity of adapting to the native
environment; on the other hand, the prerogatives and modes of public
display accompanying the office of the Pharaoh seem to have held a
great attraction for the foreign ruler. The two colossal statues, about
40 ft/ 12 m high, found during underwater excavations at Qait-Bey,
Alexandria, and said to be Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II, demonstrate
how much, for example, the royal couple were concerned with an
identification with Egypt and especially with the Egyptian kingship.1
Ptolemy is depicted here as Pharaoh, his consort as Isis, both at the
main entry harbour to Egypt. The first thing that foreigners saw
of the ruler upon landing in Egypt was thus his depiction as the
Egyptian Pharaoh. Accordingly, Ptolemy II placed a strong accent

* The present article was written as a part of the project segment A 1 “Creation
and Development of a Multi-Cultural Society in Graeco-Roman Egypt” in the SFB
project 600 sponsored by the German Research Association (DFG) “Foreigners and
the Poor: Changing Patterns of Inclusion and Exclusion from Classical Antiquity to
the Present Day” at the University of Trier. I am most grateful to Frankie Kann for
the English translation; for the discussion, I am grateful to the research centre Graeco-
Roman Egypt in Trier. The abbreviations of the quoted papyri can be found in “The
5th Edidon of the Checklist of Greek, Latin, Demotic and Coptic Papyri, Ostraca and
Tablets” at http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/papyrus/texts/clist.html.
1 Vei'sse (2004), 193; Corteggiani (1998), 103; Empereur (1998), 76-77.
388 STEFAN PFEIFFER

on the Egyptian perception of his rule, not only for his Egyptian
subjects but also for the Hellenistic oikumene, Hellenistic Greek for
‘the inhabited part of the world’. The Greeks and Macedonians who
came to Egypt also seemed to have been quite impressed with the
Egyptian religion and its universe of deities. Baines, for example, has
recently demonstrated that, within the country’s administrative elite,
there was very quickly no distinction according to ethnic classification,
because the inhabitants liked to switch between cultures and religions.2
In addition, the immigrants were given the opportunity through the
interpretatio Graeca of viewing their popular Greek gods in equivalents to
the Egyptian gods. Thus, Zeus was the Egyptian Amun, Aphrodite the
Egyptian Isis. The cult of the Graeco-Egyptian god Serapis, created
by Ptolemy I or at least strongly promoted by the dynasty, became
of great importance for the leadership elite of the kingdom and their
identification with it.3 4In the second generation, the Ptolemies took a
second approach to bind the subjects to them and to the kingdom:
Ptolemy II introduced an official ruler cult. In the course of Ptolemaic
propaganda, and based on Greek ideas, the monarch developed into
a god king, who together with his consort was accorded a divine cult.
Ptolemy II did thus not in any way stop at the religious expression of
the Egyptian cult of the Pharaoh—before Ptolemy II, the Pharaoh was
never a god; only his office was divine; the traditional Pharaoh himself
never became the object of a deity cult.
In this chapter, the god Serapis and his importance for the Hellenis­
tic ruler cult are to be an example of how the newly created official
ruler cult was linked to the Serapis cult from the previous generation in
order to offer the subjects of various ethnic origins a common focus for
their religiosity. This close connection of the Serapis and the ruler cult
has already been noted in various places in research,* but nowhere has
a connection between both phenomena been investigated. However,
before we can make a connection between the ruler cult and the Ser­
apis cult, we need to look in the following at the deity Serapis himself,
his origins and his cult.

2 Baines (2004), 33--61.

3 Basic information: Huss (1994), 58-68; cf. Fraser (i960), 2, n. 1.
4 Bommas (2005), 44; Brady (1978), 22-23; Fraser (i960), 18 and 24; Fraser (1972), I,
227; 263; Grimm (1983), 73; Holbl (1994), 94; Holbl (1993), 25.
 THE GOD SERAPIS 389

The Pharaoh and the Apis Bull

Prom time immemorial, in Memphis, the old capital of the Pharaonic

kingdom, the living Apis bull along with Ptah was accorded special
veneration. Since the period of the Old Kingdom, the cult of the bull
thrived in an extremely close religious relationship to the Egyptian
Pharaoh.3 According to Kessler, the Apis led “to the merging of the
king with the transregional king-father-god, the creator god Ptah”.6
With the words of Holbl, we may state that the king as bearer of the
divine office was theologically related to the Memphite Apis, when it
played a significant role during “the royal calendar and coronation
festivals and, as city god on the king’s standard, protected him at his
enthronement.”7 Thus the Apis was a royal god to the fullest extent.
The first and most important act conducted by Alexander the Great
after the ‘liberation’ of Egypt from foreign Persian rule was to sacrifice
to the bull: “Thence he crossed the river and went to Memphis, where
he sacrificed to the gods especially Apis, and held athletic and musical
games.”8 For the first time, we find Egyptian divinity cult united with
Greek cult elements—which is how we must view the games. Not only
Alexander the Great worshipped Apis, but the Ptolemies especially
were to become aware of the legitimising significance of Apis for their
power.9 Thus they also made particular use of the deceased Apis, that is,
the Osiris-Apis. According to Diodorus for example (I 84.8), Ptolemy I
donated 50 silver talents to its burial.10

Osiris-Apis, Osiris and Serapis

When it died, every Apis bull was transformed into the deity Osiris-
Apis.*11 This deity had already been worshipped under the name Oso-
rapis by the Greeks living in Memphis, the so-called Etellenomemphites

5 Thompson (1988), 199-207; Kessler (1989). See also Steve Vinson’s contribution in
this volume.
6 Kessler (1989), 74.
7 Holbl (1994), 73.
8 Arrianus, Anabasis III, 1,3-4; see Holbl (1994), 9.
9 See Assmann (1996), 414-415.
10 Thompson (1988), 212-265; Crawford (1980), 12-15.
11 For the different connections between Osiris and Apis, see Kessler (2000), 163,
172-188, who, unfortunately, cites no sources that can confirm his thoughts; cf. also the
remarks by Schmidt (2005), 292.
390 STEFAN PFEIFFER

of the pre-Hellenistic era.12 Ptolemy I and his advisory staff proba­

bly then subjected the Osiris-Apis to a partial interpretatio Graeca. The
specifically Memphite deity was, however, not given the name of any
of the known Greek deities (such as Zeus), but Osiris-Apis received the
name Serapis.13 We see the deity for the first time with this name in the
sources since the reign of Ptolemy I.14 With the appellation Serapis, the
god Osiris-Apis bore a Graecised Egyptian name, which was phonet­
ically still recognisable as an originally Egyptian name for this deity.15
The new name Serapis was in all likelihood promoted by the rulers, for
only in this way can the spread of the form Serapis and not in the form
Osorapis be explained throughout the oikumene.16
Yet the bilingual temple dedication plaques of the Serapieion in
Alexandria document the equation of Osiris-Apis with Serapis.17 More­
over, the cult temple of Osiris-Apis in Memphis is described in the
papyri as Serapieion, that is, as Temple of Serapis.18 Naturally, the Ser­
apis of Alexandria displayed other local characteristics than those of
Serapis of Memphis or, for example, of Kanopos,19 a peculiarity inher­

12 Holbl (1994), 93.

13 Swiderek (1975), 674, based on Wilcken Urkundm der Ptolemaerzeit, 86-87. Bommas
(2005), 25, thinks that the creation of the god can be traced to the Hellenomemphites
living in Memphis, which is also possible.
14 The oldest documentation for the god Serapis is a fragment from the writings
of Menander (Korte, fr. 139), who died in 291BC, cf. Fraser (i960), 2, n. 1; Weinreich
(•930. i3-x5; Vidman (1970), 31.
15 Despite doubts in the research, I think Mussies’ explanation is quite possible: that
the initial sound O in the name OSerapis was felt to be the vocative case by the creators
of Serapis (Mussies [1978]); Bommas is of the opinion that the O (IT) in Osiris (Wsjr)
could not drop out, that the name Serapis thus could not be a short form for OSerapis
at all. However, the Egyptian personal name Weser-maat-Ra, which can be rendered in
the Greek as Zmanre> shows that this is at least possible (Ltiddeckens and Thissen [2000],
128 and 134). Bommas (2005), 25, in contrast, believes that the name Serapis should
be understood etymologically as the translation of the expression “Apis proclaims (the
oracle)” (set /l/>is)--docu men lation, however, does not yet exist. Another possible but also
controversial view is that the Greeks took the O to be an article, this was most recently
the opinion of Quack (2001), see, however, the contrasting opinion of Wilcken Urkundm
der Ptolemaerzeit, 86.
16 In this case, Wilcken Urkundm der Ptolemaerzeit, 87, seems the most convincing to
me.
17 Cf. Tod (1942); Grimm (1998), 84-85; see also the Roman Demotic-Greek ded­
ication to Serapis: Vleeming (2001), No. 260, and the notice of the “great temple of
Osiris-Apis which is in Rhakotis”: Ray (1976), No. 3, verso 18-20.
18 Borgeaud and Volokhine (2000), 71-72; Bommas is of a different opinion (2005),
24.
19 Cf most recently Kiss (2004).
 THE GOD SERAPIS 391

ent in most Egyptian deities. That also explains why the deity retained
the old name Osorapis especially in the Memphite Serapieion, there
where the cult of the deceased Apis bull held pride of place.20
A ‘simple’ interpretatio Graeca of the Egyptian god, that is, equating it
with a Greek deity, was not possible, however, and most certainly was
not what the founder of the cult in Alexandria, Ptolemy I, wanted.
For Serapis, established as the kingdom’s god,21 was to unite in its
nature many more basic functions than any other Greek deity could
offer. Among these were its specifically Egyptian features: presumably
primarily the success and good fortune guaranteed by the Apis and
perhaps also the possible convergence of the king with Ptah accom­
plished in completion of the ritual during the feast. Serapis could also
have assumed from Apis the task as oracle deity.22 In addition, how­
ever, power over the underworld and the guarantee of fertility for the
land embodied by the pan-Egyptian God Osiris were of unusual signif­
icance.
Despite the emphasis on the Apis aspect in the name, the Osiris
element of the deity in public and private perception of the cult clearly
played the leading role.23 For Egyptians, Serapis was often nothing
other than an interpretatio Graeca of Osiris. Thus they were able to render
the Greek personal name Sarapion in the Egyptian form with ‘The
son of Osiris’.24 How close Osiris and Serapis were in the Egyptian
imagination can be demonstrated as well by a bilingual dedication.
In Greek, the inscription reads: “To Serapis, the great god, Paniskos,
son of Sarapion.” The Demotic ‘translation’ reads: “Koptite Osiris,
Foremost of the Gold House, gives life to Pamin, son of Pa-sher-Usir”.25
The Egyptian Pamin/Paniskos thus viewed Serapis as an interpretatio
Graeca for Osiris of Koptos, just as he rendered his theophoric name
“He of Min” in the Greek with “He who is consecrated to Pan”. But
he not only translated the name Osiris as the recipient of the donation
with the name Serapis but chose for the equivalent of his patronymic

20 See UPZ I 19,3 (163BC); 54,22 (161BC); 57,7 (164-161BC); 106,10-11 (99BC);
107,12 (99 BC); 108,10 and 22 (99 BC); a temple of Serapis in Oxyrhynchos/Fayyum
would be called Osorapieion as late as the 3rd century AD: PSI X 1128,22.
21 Cf. Fraser (1972), I, 227 and 263.
22 Cf. Bommas (2005), 25.
23 Cf. Stambaugh (1972), 37.
24 Luddeckens and Thissen (2000), 232. However, the name could also simply be a
consonant transfer into Demotic (ibid., 933).
25 Vleeming (2001), No. 250 A and B.
392 STEFAN PFEIFFER

“Child of Osiris” the Greek form Sarapion.26 Other documents show,

however, that Osiris and Serapis were to be viewed as two distinct
deities. Thus they could occur side by side in dedications.27 Serapis is
normally to be viewed as a deity all his own.
If we look at the Greek view of the deity, it can be said that, with
this deity, aspects of the father god and saviour god Zeus and the
underworld god Pluto were also merged with aspects of the fertility god
Dionysos and the healing god Asklepios.28 The perception of Serapis as
a Greek deity occurred, however, only among the Egyptians, who were
never able to become reconciled with worshipping him. For Greeks
and, later, Romans—the god was an Egyptian god: the consort of Isis.

Cultfor the Deity

The cult for Serapis forged Greek and Egyptian elements into some­
thing new which appealed especially to the non-Egyptian subjects of
the kingdom but also to the subjects of other Diadochi states.29 Primar­
ily the appearance of the god was Greek; possibly the cult statue cre­
ated by Bryaxis was to become the model: a statue depicting a seated
man with a beard (as a mark of the father deity), wearing the kalathos
on his head (as a mark of the fertility deity), with the three-headed dog
Cerberus seated at his side, the guardian of the underworld (to indi­
cate the underworld deity).30 In addition, significant elements of the
tradition of Greek Mysteries appear to have been incorporated into the
cult rituals.31 The annual replacement of the temple priests in many

26 On the identification of both gods in the Osiris sanctuary of Abydos, cf. SB I 169;
I 1046; I 1053-1059; I 3731; 3742; I 3750/52; I 3776; Stambaugh (1972), 37-38; Fraser
(i960). 6, n. 6; cf. also the grave stele Bernand (1992), No. 92, where Osiris is identified
with Serapis.
27 Stambaugh (1972), 50-51; see, for example, Vidman (1969), No. 3132-3133, from
Mysia: “Serapis, Isis, Anubis, Harpokrates, Osiris, Apis, Helios”; see also OGIS I 97,4-
7, which Fraser (1972), 253, translates as “Osoros who is also Serapis”. I do not think it
is possible to translate the Greek conjunction “te kai” as an equivalent of “ho kai” and
would prefer to translate “Osoros and Serapis”.
28 Stambaugh (1972).
29 Huss (2001), 245-247; Fraser (i960), 19: “I would suggest that, in creating Serapis,
Ptolemy did not have the Egyptian population in his mind at all, but aimed at giving
the Greek population of Egypt ... a patron deity.”
30 See Hornbostel (1973); Schmidt (2005), who rejects a creation by Bryaxis.
31 Bommas (2005), 31, even assumes that the cult for Serapis was wholly Greek,
which I think goes too far.
 THE GOD SERAPIS 393

cult sites outside Egypt can also be traced back to Greek influence.32
The existence of the temple servant office of a neokoros could also indi­
cate a strong Greek influence.33 On the other hand, many typically
Egyptian priestly titles are represented in the Serapis cult, for exam­
ple, the prophets, stolistai (responsible for clothing the deity), chanters
and pastophorai (bearers of the deity’s dwelling during processions).34
The Egyptian element in the deity’s appearance is indicated by the
atef crown in some depictions, a crown the bearded god can be seen
to wear on coins since the time of Ptolemy II.35 But the cult and festi­
val trappings associated with the deity likely assumed Egyptian forms
of expression as well.36 Furthermore, the Serapis priesthood seems to
have been subject to an Egyptian training. For example, a sacred law
from Priene has been preserved from the end of the third century BC
according to which only Egyptians were allowed to perform cult pro­
ceedings for Isis, Serapis and Anubis.37 On Delos as well, initially only
Egyptians, descendants of a Memphite immigrant, practiced as priests
of the deity.38 And, finally, the union of Greek and Egyptian elements
can be found most significantly in the Serapieion in Alexandria, which
was a Greek temple, but which contained a Nilometer and the subter­
ranean galleries emulated from the Memphite Serapieion.39
The amalgam of Greek and Egyptian cult forms arising in such a
manner are repeated even in the legend of the founding of the cult,
handed down to us in greatest detail by Plutarch and Tacitus.40 They
report that Serapis appeared twice to Ptolemy I in a dream. According
to the story, the deity had given the king the task of bringing his
statue located in Sinope on the Black Sea to Alexandria.41 The god was
worshipped in Sinope under the name Pluto. The king learned that the

32 Vidman (1970), 37: “In the beginnings of the cult, there were, in contrast, often
many hereditary lifelong priestly offices”; ibid., 48.
33 Vidman (1970), 53-60.
34 Otto (1905), I, p. 115; Vidman (1970), 60-65.
35 Castiglione (1978), 208-232, pi. XIX XXVII.
36 Kessler (2000), 208-211; Wilcken Urkunden der Ptolemderzeit, 92-95, is still important;
he supposes it to have been an amalgam of Greek and Egyptian cult forms; Borgeaud
and Volokhine (2000), 75-76, emphasise the strong Egyptian or Memphite relation to
the Serapis cult.
37 Vidman (1969), No. 291.
38 Cf. Engelmann (1975); Vidman (1970), 35-36; Fraser (1972), 254.
39 Cf. McKenzie et al. (2004), in.
40 Tacitus, Annales IV, 83-84; Plutarch, de Iside 28; cf. Fauth (1976); Scheer (2000),
260-266.
41 Cf. most recently Borgeaud and Volokhine (2000), 38-46.
394 STEFAN PFEIFFER

statue was of Serapis after advice by the Egyptian priest Manetho and
the Athenian Timotheus, who was descended from the priestly caste of
the Eumolpidae that conducted the Eleusinian Mysteries. Whereupon
Ptolemy had the statue brought to his new capital city and had a new
cult site erected where an ancient Serapis and Isis sanctuary had stood.
The god had therefore already existed; only his appearance in the form
of the statue was new. Ptolemy’s support handed down in this manner
through the Greek Mysteries expert Timotheus and the Egyptian priest
Manetho may be considered as a reaction to the efforts of the king to
create a cult which united the tradition of the Greek Mysteries with the
Egyptian cult of the gods.

Serapis and the Greek Subjects

The earliest Greek inscriptions transmitted from Alexandria are dedi­

cations to Serapis and Isis.42 For example, the following statue dedica­
tion was found in the Alexandrian Serapieion, dating from the time of
Ptolemy I:
Delokfles had it (i.e. the statue) m]ade. Aristodemos, son of Dio[..]os,
Athenian, had it (dedicated) to Serapis and to Isis.43

It is most probable that the benefactor belonged to the classe superieurej4

so that the inscription may be considered as documentation for the
influence of the new cult on the ruling elite.45 During the reign of
Ptolemy II as well, there were two Alexandrian dedications to Ser­
apis. One is addressed solely to the deity,46 the second concerns the
endowment of a sacred precinct for Serapis and his cult companion
Isis:
On behalf of King Ptolemy, son of Ptolemy and Berenike, the saviours,
Archagathos, son of Agathokles, the overseer of the (nome [district])

42 Bernand (2001), Nos. 1 and 2.

43 Bernand (2001), No. 2; incorrectly cited by Borgeaud and Volokhine (2000), 58,
n. 92, as the dedication of an altar.
44 Bernand (2001), 18.
45 Even the Fayyum yielded a dedication to Serapis and Isis, established by a
Thessalonian soldier called Aristophanes, son of Aristophanes. The stone is dated to
the end of the 4th century BC (SB I 2596 = SEG XVIII 657 = XXIV 1207; for the
dating, see Launey (1987), 216, n. 1).
46 See Bernand (2001), No. 4. Some date the inscription to the rule of Ptolemy I; see
Borgeaud and Volokhine (2000), 58, n. 92, with additional literature.
 THE GOD SERAPIS 395

Libya and his wife Stratonike, (have dedicated) the temenos [precinct] to
Serapis and Isis.47

It is not surprising that the endowment of the temenos occurred for the
health and good fortune of the ruler, as Greeks often linked dedications
to deities with the hope for the protection and the health of the king.
Serapis especially was doubtless popular in this respect because of
his healing function as the guaranteeing deity. The dedication clearly
shows that the cult for Serapis had already been taken up by the
Greek elite during the reign of Ptolemy II and that the Greeks not only
worshipped the deity with a cult but even erected a sacred precinct for
the god out of their own pockets.
It is remarkable, however, that, in the present case, a sacred precinct
was provided for by private citizens for Serapis as well as for Isis. In
fact, no documentation exists showing that the royal dynasty founded
a temple at any time for both deities together,48 The great Alexandrian
Serapieion, for example, was a temple dedicated to Serapis alone but
one where naturally other deities—primarily Isis and Harpokrates—
were worshipped in side chapels. The king viewed Serapis primarily
as an independent deity perhaps because he wished to emphasise the
Apis aspect of the god.49 The Greek subjects, in contrast, seem to have
viewed the new deity primarily as an interpretatio Graeca of the pan-
Egyptian Osiris. When they spoke of Serapis, they were not thinking
principally of Apis but of Osiris, the god of the underworld and of
fertility who almost always appeared together with his cult companion
and consort Isis. The popular union of the two deities also found its
way into the official King’s Oaths, which have been known in the Greek
and Egyptian languages since the time of Ptolemy III.50 They read as
follows:
I swear by King Ptolemy, son of King Ptolemy and Arsinoe, the sibling
gods, and by Queen Berenike, the sister and consort of the king, and by
the sibling gods and the saviour gods, by their ancestors and by Isis and
Serapis.51

47 Bernand (2001), No. 5; cf. Bagnall (1976).

48 Fraser (i960), 4-5: “Possibly, therefore, the association of the two in Egypt was due
rather to popular ideas than to official encouragement.”
49 There was a separate cult for the mother of Apis, the Isis cow, at the Serapieion
as well; see Thompson (1988), 194.
50 Wilcken Urkunden der Ptolemaerzeit, 84; Minas (2000), 167; a compilation of the oaths
can be found in the latter, p. 168, n. 643.
51 P.Eleph. 23,8-12; P.Tebt. Ill 1, 815, col. IV 21-23; cf. Minas (2000), 165; 163-171.
396 STEFAN PFEIFFER

Thus it is clear that Serapis and Isis, besides the reigning divine royal
pair and their ancestors, had become the most important gods of the
Ptolemaic kingdom, on whom oaths were taken. The ruling divine pair
on earth had thus found its counterpart in the cosmic divine pair Isis
and Serapis.52 In addition, the placement of Serapis and Isis alongside
the royal pair could point out that the cult for these gods was closely
tied to the cult for the other and thus also supported the identification
with the Ptolemaic kingdom and the royal dynasty.

foilos and his Dream of Serapis

The following illustrates how Greeks during the reign of Ptolemy II

actively attempted to participate in spreading the Serapis cult. A
petition from 257 BC to Apollonios, the “Finance Minister” (dioiketes)
of Ptolemy II, was submitted by a Greek named Zoilos from Aspendos
in Pamphylia (Asia Minor).53 At that time, the area belonged to the
Ptolemaic kingdom. Zoilos wrote that as he “was worshipping the
god Serapis for your good health (hugieia) and your success (euhemeria)
by the King Ptolemy (II), it happened that Serapis [enjoined] to me
several times in my dreams to sail to visit you and [tell you about]
this injunction: a [temple]54 must be built for him together with a
precinct (temenos) in the Greek quarter near the harbour, and a priest
must preside over the sacrifices and the cult on your behalf.”
Serapis appeared to the Greek as an oracle deity in a dream after the
Greek had prayed to the deity, evidently in private, for the good health
of Apollonios and his success with the king. In this manner Zoilos
placed the establishment of the cult and the temple in connection
with the well-being of Apollonios. If the temple were erected, then
Apollonios as well would continue to stand in the good graces of the
king and remain healthy.
The sacrifices in the projected temple were to be made then for
Serapis, but “on behalf of Apollonios”. This wording is extremely
unusual. Normally sacrifices were made to the respective deities in the

52 Stambaugh (1972), 32 -33, dedicated to Serapis and Isis as “cosmic counterpart for
the man and woman on the throne of Alexandria”.
53 Holbl’s statements demonstrate that this letter counts among the most commented
of the Zenon Archives (Holbl (1993), 29, with literature on the letter in n. 113).
54 I think that ‘altar’ as a possible reconstruction is less probable, as a temenos must
normally have a naos.
 THE GOD SERAPIS 397

temples, frequently “on behalf of the king”.55 It is also known from

other Ptolemaic documents that sacrifices dedicated to gods were made
in favour of functionaries56--but, as far as 1 know, these sacrifices did
not occur in a temple. In the present case, the dioiketes of the king had
assumed a royal position in the temple. From that alone, it can be seen
how much the petitioner acting as the endower of a cult wished to
influence Apollonios in his own favour.
Zoilos twice refused to grant the deity the wish expressed in the
dream, for which he was struck with grave illness. He finally wrote this
letter in which he described the whole story to the Finance Minister,
and he closed the letter by returning to the essence of his prayer:
It is therefore right, Apollonios, for you to follow the god’s commands
so that Serapis may be merciful to you and may gready increase your
standing with the king and your prestige (poludoxoteron), and make you
enjoy good bodily health. Do not therefore fear that the expense will
prove to be great, for it will be very profitable; I shall joindy supervise all
these works. Farewell.57

The petitioner thus set the second most important man in the Ptole­
maic kingdom under pressure: If Apollonios made constructing the
temple possible, then one could pray for his welfare—this was, accord­
ing to the information of the dream oracle, guaranteed solely by the
founding of the cult for Serapis in the city concerned.58 In addition,
Zoilos indirectly pointed out that the endowment was to be entirely
according to the wishes of the king, as the financing by Apollonios
would also raise his prestige (doxa). The costs incurred from the con­
struction were admittedly rather high, but they would be nothing in
comparison to the health of Apollonios and his success with the king,
all of which may be implied from the statement “it will be very prof­
itable”.
Thus, since the reign of Ptolemy II, not only dedications to Serapis
can be documented in union with Isis, but even temple endowments or
attempts at private temple endowments for the god by Greeks. The new

55 Cf., for example, IG Fayoum II 118,11-13.

56 Cf., for example, the endowment (on behalf of) the Epistrategos Boethos OGIS I
hi.
57 P.Cair. Zen. I 59034 with the reconstructions according to Clarysse and Vandorpe
('995), 78.
58 Cf. Clarysse and Vandorpe (1995), 85: le culte “reste fonde sur le principe primitif
du do ut des: erige un temple et tu obtiendras la faveur du roi; sinon, tu seras frappe de
maladie”.
39« STEFAN PFEIFFER

cult had, as can be seen, found its devotees especially among the Greeks
and obviously enjoyed certain popularity. It was particularly in those
possessions outside Egypt that the Graeco-Egyptian hybrid cult may
have, in addition, supported identification with Egypt and its Ptolemaic
ruling power. Whoever performed the Serapis cult, that is, a cult with
Greek and Egyptian elements, identified himself with the power and
rule of the Ptolemies, who also sought to unite Greek with Egyptian
elements in their official representation.

Ptolemy II and the Beginnings of the Ruler Cult

Ptolemy II went one step further than his father, who had the cult
created for Serapis and ultimately also the Greek form of the Egyptian
god. Whereas his father had been interested in using the Serapis cult to
strengthen his royal power especially with his non-Egyptian subjects,
his son recognised the possibilities of being deified as a living ruler
by grateful subjects and the thus inherent possibilities of creating a
religious bond for the various ethnic groups of his kingdom. In certain
circles, Ptolemy I had already been worshipped as saviour, indeed even
as a deity.59 Ptolemy II then had his deceased parents officially deified
as gods of the Ptolemaic kingdom.60 In 272/271BC, he had himself and
his consort Arsinoe II associated with the cult for Alexander the Great
under the name “sibling gods” (theoi adelphoi).61 With this act, he created
an official ruler cult with the purpose of better propagating it through
association with the cult for Alexander the Great. The Alexander priest
residing in Alexandria, by whom the respective records were dated,
had then become a priest of the sibling gods as well. In this manner,
the second Ptolemy pair became gods sharing the temple of Alexander.
As the Alexander priest must be named in the dating prescript of
every Greek and Demotic record, the subjects were reminded daily
of the divinity of the ruler. The new cult demonstrated its autonomy
and independence from the Alexander cult in that Ptolemy II and
Arsinoe II received their own sacred precinct (temenos) in Alexandria.62

59 Cf. Habicht (1970), 109-110.

60 Holbl (1994), 87.
61 Huss (2001), 325; cf. P.Hib. II 199,15-17; on the latter, see Hauben (1983), 113,
n. 57; Fraser (1972), I, 216.
62 Herodas I 30; see Fraser (1972), I, 228; Grimm (1998), 73.
 THE GOD SERAPIS 399

The sister consort of Ptolemy II, Arsinoe II, played an exceptional

role in this new ruler cult.63 Ptolemy had already scandalised the Greek
world when he married his own sister. Those who scoffed at the incest
between king and queen, as did the poet Sotades, had to pay with their
lives for their mockery. The court poets, however, compared the sibling
marriage with the hieros gamos of Zeus and Hera.64 Even during her
lifetime, the queen was worshipped under the invocation ‘the brother
loving’ (philadelphos).65 She had probably already been the object of a
cult by this time as Arsinoe-Philadelphos. Even during her lifetime,66
Arsinoe had received her own temple at the Cape of Zephyrion
and, there, became the patron goddess of seafaring as the Cypriot
Aphrodite-Arsinoe. Outside Egypt, the cult for Arsinoe II was also to
achieve great significance; even towns were named after Arsinoe.67
According to the Mendes Stele inscription written in hieroglyphics,
Arsinoe’s consort elevated her after her death to the temple-sharing
goddess of all Egyptian temples.68 An Egyptian goddess had now
emerged from the Greek goddess Arsinoe, appearing in a completely
Egyptian form on the temple reliefs and votive steles.69 In Memphis
in particular, within the sphere of influence of the high priests of
Ptah and of the Serapieion, the Egyptian cult for the new goddess
was accorded great significance.70 It even seems that she received the
honour of temple-sharing not only in the realm of the Egyptian cult
but that Arsinoe was also able to become the temple-sharing goddess in
the Greek sanctuaries. At least this is suggested in a papyrus from the
end of the third century BC. We meet there a “priest of Arsinoe and
of Zeus Kasios”.71 It is probable that the priest in the temple of Zeus
Kasios in Pelusion performed duties where Arsinoe was worshipped
as a temple-sharing goddess.72 It is also important to point out that
Arsinoe was identified not only with the Greek Aphrodite73 but also

63 Basic information: Holbl (1994), 94-98.

64 Cf. Grimm (1998), 70.
65 According to Fraser (1972), 217; cf. Theokrit XVII 128-130.
66 Hauben (1970), 42-46.
67 Compiled in Holbl (1994), 391 [Register 2].
68 Mendes Stele, Z. 13-14; Sethe (1904), 41.
69 Quaegebeur Arsinoe Philadelphos at Memphis’, 239-270; Quaegebeur ‘Ptolemee
II en adoration’, 191-217; Albersmeier and Minas (1998).
70 Cf. Crawford (1980), 23-31.
71 P.Heid. VI 378,3-4.
72 Duttenhofer (1994), 120.
73 Tondriau (1948), 16-18.
400 STEFAN PFEIFFER

with the Egyptian counterpart Isis—and not simply by Egyptians74 but

also by Greeks.75

The Merging of the Ruler and Serapis Cult and its Spread

Research is divided on whether a temple for the dynasty god had

existed before Ptolemy III erected the great Serapieion in the Alexan­
drian district of Rhakotis,76 but it is very probable that Ptolemy I had
already had a sanctuary for Serapis erected on the same spot.77 In
fact, floors of polished gravel were found under the Serapieion built
by Ptolemy III, floors presumably belonging to a preceding structure—
an older temenos for Serapis.78 On one of these floors, a Greek altar was
found still showing painted garlands and cyma and bearing the dedi­
cation inscription “(Altar) of King Ptolemy and Arsinoe Philadelphos,
(descendants) of the saviour gods”.79 The ruler cult for Ptolemy II and
Arsinoe II was thus evidently performed in the temenos, next to the sanc­
tuary.80
As Ptolemy and Arsinoe do not appear on the altar under the cult
name them philadelphoi, a terminus ante quern of 272/271 is highly likely
because the ruling couple appeared under this cult name after that
time. The fact that it was placed in the Serapieion erected, in all like­
lihood, by Ptolemy I suggests that the altar was a site for the official
cult of the ruling pair. A terminus post quern for the place of sacrifice
would be the year Berenike I, the consort of Ptolemy I, died, for both
had been worshipped under the name of ‘saviour gods’ after that time,
i.e., since 279 BC. Arsinoe, who came to Egypt around 279 BC, was the
consort of Ptolemy II in 274 BC, at the latest. Thus the altar was proba­
bly erected between 279/274BC and 272/271 BC.81 For the official ruler

74 Sethe (1904), 80,10; Quaegebeur ‘Arsinoe Philadelphos at Memphis’, 242; 246-

248.
75 Thompson (1973), 67; 70; 74.
76 For example, Tkaczow (1984), 14.
77 Holbl (1994), 93-94; Kessler (2000), 192-194; Grimm (1998), 82.
78 It has not yet been resolved to what extent this structure is identical with the
“Serapeum of Parmeniskos” in Alexandria, built in the era of Ptolemy II mentioned in
the Zenon Archive (P.Cair. Zenon 59355,103; 128; 243 BC); Fraser (1967), 39, and Holbl
(1993), 28-29 are opposed; Dunand (1973), 56, thinks it possible.
79 Bernand (2001), No. 8; Grimm (1983), 70-73.
80 Fraser (i960), 18; Grimm (1983), 72.
81 See Grimm (1983), 72-73. He thinks that the mention of the theoi Adelphoi is not
 THE GOD SERAPIS 401

cult, this meant that it had, in all probability, existed before the intro­
duction of the name ‘sibling gods’ for the ruling pair and, in any case,
already during the lifetime of Arsinoe. In addition, it can be demon­
strated that here, directly at the beginning of the new official ruler cult,
it was unified as a cult with the Serapis cult, for, if an altar stood in
the Serapieion where sacrifice was offered for the royal pair, it meant
that the ruling couple counted among the synnaoi theoi of Serapis. In the
period following, (colossal) statues of the Ptolemies stood next to those
of Serapis in the Serapis temple in Alexandria, as is documented, for
example, for Ptolemy III. Thus the successor pair also had themselves
elevated to the temple-sharing gods of Serapis.82 Fragments of statues
were also found of which one head could be attributed to Ptolemy IV
and one to Arsinoe III.83 With a third head, that of Serapis, they had
formed a larger-than-life acrolithic statue group.84
As early as the era of Ptolemy II, the officially instituted ruler cult
had frequently been organised by cult associations, so-called basilistai.
As can be seen in the Boethos inscription from the second century
BC, these organisations were under the leadership of high-ranking
military officers and administrative functionaries.85 It can be assumed
that the cult associations were organised especially within the military.
They offered military personnel from the diverse ethnic groups of
southeastern Europe and the Near East an opportunity for religious
worship of the ruler transcending cultural and religious strictures, a
network of social security and, what was surely very important, also the
opportunity of celebrating festivals together. Under the leadership of a
certain Diokles, such a ra&r-ctt/f-association of the Ptolemaic military
garrison on the Cyclades island of Thera endowed an offering box
or temple repository (thesauros) at the local temple of Serapis, Isis and

necessary, because he supposes that the above-mentioned lemenos of the them Adelphoi
was in the Serapieion and the same place where the altar was erected. Just as Fraser
(1972), II, 386, n. 367, I think this is not likely: “I do not believe that this small and
insignificant temenos is the theon Adelfon temenos referred to by Herodas in line 26 (...). If
it were, that passage would necessarily have been written before Euergetes’ Serapeum
was built, and the sanctuary demolished. His reference is no doubt to the main shrine
of the Theoi Adelphoi, whereever that was.”
82 P.Haun 6, Fgt. 1, Z. 21; for this, cf. Habicht (1980), 4-5.
83 Grimm (1998), 86-87, fig- 85a and 85c.
84 Kyrieleis (1979), 386-387, who points out, however, that it could not have been
cult images, as the cult image of Serapis looked different; see also Grimm and Wildung
(1987), Nos. 113-114.
85 Cf. Pfeiffer (2005).
402 STEFAN PFEIFFER

Anubis.86 The pronounced Egyptian character of the cult site can be

found not only in the juxtaposition of Isis to Serapis but primarily
because the dog-headed god Anubis, as is often the case, also shares the
temple with Serapis.87 The inscription in question can likely be dated
to the time of Ptolemy II; the temple itself was founded on the island
perhaps as early as Ptolemy I.88 I think this suggests that the basilistai
not only organised the endowment at the temple but also performed
the rituals of the ruler cult at the temple, possibly in the temple itself.
No doubt an altar stood here for the rulers, just as in the Alexandrian
Serapieion. Bommas even thinks that two of the four existing cult
niches in the sanctuary were reserved for the statues of Ptolemy II and
Arsinoe II.89 The merging of the cult for Serapis with the ruler cult
organised by the association might, in any case, have been oriented
towards the official model of Alexandria. Apart from that, a dedication
to Arsinoe Philadelphos ascribed to the same sanctuary demonstrates
the degree to which the cult for Serapis was associated with the ruler
cult on the island.90
The private endowment of a sanctuary in Halikarnassos also illus­
trates the close ties of the ruler cult and Serapis cult outside Egyptian
territory of the Ptolemaic kingdom.91 The inscription reads:
Good Fortune! On behalf of Ptolemy, son of Ptolemy the saviour and
the god [—], to Serapis, Isis, Arsinoe Philadelphos (or: Isis-Arsinoe
Philadelphos), has NN, son of Chairemon, [the templebuilder?], dedi­
cated the temple.

The god of the Ptolemies, Serapis, is united not only with his consort
Isis in the cult but also with the goddess Arsinoe. As has been men­
tioned above, an assimilation of Arsinoe Philadelphos with the Egyp­
tian goddess Isis frequently occurred. Thus the temple in Halikarnas­
sos, as Brady rightly assumes, could have been dedicated to the goddess
Isis-Arsinoe as cult companion of Serapis.92 One can hardly imagine a
more explicit relationship of the Serapis cult and the ruler cult.

86 IG XII 3,443 = Vidmann (1969), Nr. 137; Bagnall (1976), 129; on the significance
of the Thesauros, cf. Fraser (i960), 24.
87 Cf. Fraser (i960), 6.
88 Cf. Gaertringen (1899), I, 264.
89 Bommas (2005), 44; one wonders, however, where Anubis would have been put.
90 IG XII 3,462 = OGIS I 34.
91 Vidmann (1969), No. 270. Cf. the remarks by Fraser (i960), 34. The dating by
Mayr (2004), 28, to the time of Ptolemy I has been obsolete for a long time.
92 Brady (1978), 13; cf. OGIS I 31.
 THE GOD SERAPIS 403

In summary, it can be said of the Greek Alexandria and the Ptole­

maic possessions outside Egypt that an extremely close relationship
existed between the Serapis cult and the ruler cult and that both
cults were actively practiced and organised by private groups, whether
by soldiers, as in Thera, or by urban civil servants, as in Halikar-
nassos. It can be assumed that the Alexandrian Serapieion, with its
official relationship of Serapis cult and the ruler cult, had adopted
a role model function for this merging in the Greek world. As can
be observed, Ptolemy II had recognised the popularity of the Serapis
cult among his Greek subjects and hoped for a greater propagation of
the ruler cult through the ties to the Serapis cult. He was evidently
successful, as the cited private endowments involving Serapis demon­
strate.

The Serapis Cult in the Chora—the Exceptional Case of Philadelphia

From Apollonios, the Finance Minister of Ptolemy II named above, a

not insignificant part of the correspondence between the most impor­
tant man after the king and his administrator Zenon has been trans­
mitted through the so-called Zenon Archive. The letter of Zoilos cited
above is ascribed to this collection of writings. Fraser is, of course, cor­
rect when he writes that Serapis was barely mentioned in the archive,93
but what we learn from the archive about the Serapis cult and its rela­
tionship to the ruler cult is quite interesting.
Apollonios was responsible for the planning of the village of Philadel­
phia, located in the northeast of the Fayyum, in the Herakleides dis­
trict. The village originated from one of the military colonies set up
by Ptolemy II and was laid out on the pattern of a chessboard. It was
thus a new founding in the Greek sense, designed essentially for the
soldiers of Ptolemy’s army.94 The name Philadelphia itself demonstrates
the close ties of the founder to the royal house, for it was the cult epithet
of the Queen Arsinoe II. A letter concerning Philadelphia by Apollo­
nios from 256 BC95 to his administrator Zenon has been transmitted as
follows:

93 Fraser (1960), 8; on the namings of Serapis in the Zenon Archive, see Borgeaud
and Volokhine (2000), 59, n. 92.
94 On the setdement of the new founding, see Clarysse (1980), 105 122.
95 On the dating, see Pestman (1981), I, 103.
404 STEFAN PFEIFFER

Apollonios sends greetings to Zenon. [You should command] a Ser[apis

temple (Serapieion)] to be built at the Temple of Isis (Isieion), located
[beside the Temple of the] Dioscuri and as far as the measured-off
building site for [the sibling gods/the rulers]. See to it that only one
dr\omos (passageway)] leads [to both] sanctuaries along the side of the
canal. Farewell!96

The letter indicates that the highest authorities endeavoured to pro­

mote the Serapis cult in the chora (countryside) as well by having a sanc­
tuary for Serapis erected. The common use of the dromos mentioned
here was possible at the site because the sanctuaries were located oppo­
site each other to the extent that they were joined by the passageway
for cult processions.97 According to Holbl, the Serapieion precinct in
Memphis served as a model.98 There, the east temple from the period
of Nectanabo II was also linked with the temple of Osiris-Apis by a
straight dromos which was later also copied at the site of the Isis-Serapis
sanctuary on Delos and the Iseum Campense (Isis Temple on the Field
of Mars) in Rome.99 The Isis and Serapis temples were separated phys­
ically from each other but united in the cult processions of public festi­
vals by a dromos.
Just as on the island of Thera, there in the middle of Egypt, the
Serapis cult was to offer chiefly the soldiers of Ptolemy’s army, as
already mentioned the majority of the Philadelphia inhabitants, a
focal point for their religious needs. In addition, such a hybrid cult
could facilitate identification with the new homeland in Egypt. The
military colony Philadelphia represents one of the very few examples
from the early Ptolemaic era for the Serapis cult in the chora. It
is also one of the few examples of cult massively supported by the
official authorities and also established principally for non-Egyptians.
Otherwise, there is hardly any evidence for worship of Serapis in
the early Ptolemaic era within Egypt; it appears isolated since in the
second century BC.100 One of the few early examples of the Serapis
cult practiced by Egyptians comes from a village, not localised in more
detail, named Temenus in Fayyum and also mentioned in the Zenon
correspondence: the application by an Egyptian priest of Isis and
Serapis named Phemennas, who made sacrifices for Isis and Arsinoe-

96 P.Cair. Zen. II 59168 (= SB III 6806); cf. Holbl (1993), 23.

97 So already Wilcken ‘Papyrus-Urkunden’, 66; also Holbl (1993), 23.
98 Holb (1993), 24.
99 Bruneau (1980); Roullet (1972), 30, fig. 3496 and 352.
100 Cf. Fraser (i960), 8.
 THE GOD SERAPIS 405

Philadelphos on behalf of the king in his Iseion, that is, perhaps in a

small private cult chapel.101 The priest does not mention a sacrifice for
Serapis because, in this particular case, the request was for donations
for the Isis and Arsinoe sacrifice. Furthermore, because of the Egyptian
authorship, an Egyptian cult may be assumed; Arsinoe-Philadelphos
was thus worshipped here as an Egyptian goddess as she had been
elevated by Ptolemy II to temple-sharing goddess of all Egyptian
sanctuaries.102 The Egyptian priest of Serapis and of Isis represents one
of the few examples for the Egyptian Serapis-Isis cult in the chora which
was furthermore as in Halikarnassos tied to the ruler cult. And this
leads then to the question of the relationship of the ruler cult and the
Serapis cult in the chora.

The Ruler Cult in Philadelphia

The importance of the papyrus on temple construction cited above is

not only that a Serapis temple was to be newly built in Philadelphia
but also that another building plot (topos) existed and was planned
for the construction of a temple for the ruling pair. The text was
reconstructed by the first editor with ‘to the sibling gods’.103 Wilcken,
however, suggested the reconstruction ‘to the kings’ (tois basileusin),
which is the same in content, as this reading also means Ptolemy II
and Arsinoe II.104 P.Cair. Zenon II 59169 also points to this projected
temple of the rulers, a text which Tait reconstructed as follows:
Apollonios to Zenon, greetings. [Whenever] Antikritos [arrives, show
him] both the [whole] village, and the site where we propose [to con­
struct the temple] of the king and of (Queen) Philafdelphos, the Gods
Adelphoi,] and the sacred-way, and the [sacred-grove (?). And show him]
both the irrigation-basins and the [—of my estate;] and make it clear
that we have only recently [begun] to establish [the village.] Farewell.105

101 PSI V 539; cf. Holbl (1993), 25; Dunand (1973), I, 137-138; Rtibsam (1974), 192.
102 Less probable is that Egyptian cult and Greek cult were celebrated next to each
other in the chapel in question, as Dunand (1973), 166, n. 3, suggests.
103 P Edg. 91,3-4.
104 Wilcken ‘Papyrus-Urkunden’, 66; cf. Edgar, in: PCair. Zen. II 59168 (p. 22,
commentary): “It is possible that here too the place in question was the site selected
for the cult of the sovereigns”.
105 Tait, in: Pestman (1980), No. 28; cf. Edgar, in: P.Cair. Zen. II 59168 (p. 23,
commentary), cf also Wilcken ‘Papyrus-Urkunden’, 66-67.
406 STEFAN PFEIFFER

In Philadelphia, besides the temple for Serapis, Isis and the sibling
gods, there was also a temple solely for Arsinoe, the eponymous
goddess of the village.106 It is known from an account of payments
to workmen that around 255/254 BC a large canal was being built in
Philadelphia which was to bring water to this Arsinoeion. This temple
is also the topic of the following letter to Zenon:
To Zenon greetings from Peteermotis, [known to (?)] you from the
Serapieion. I petitioned you then about the temple of Arsinoe which
is to be built in order that I might come here. So, if you agree, let me
serve [under you] here—I am not alone, but have a family—so that I
may offer prayers both for the king and [for your own well-being]. I have
written to you so that no one else pushes in, but it is I who serves you.
Farewell.107

In my opinion, the petition shows how closely the ruler cult was amal­
gamated with the cult for Serapis and what sort of person can be
‘read between the lines’ of this petition. Peteermotis seems to have
been, as Skeat observed, an employee of the Serapieion of Mem­
phis.108 This Egyptian saw himself as being able to perform a ser­
vice, no matter what nature, in the Arsinoe temple in Philadelphia.
This temple was still under construction at the time of the peti­
tion. Evidendy the founder of the village and the Finance Minis­
ter of Ptolemy II had the authority to determine the appointment
of the employees of the ruler cult temple; perhaps he was even the
high priest of the sanctuary himself, for the Egyptian wanted ‘to serve
under him’ or ‘to be at his service’, ‘to be with him’ (huparchein para
soi).
A first, not transmitted petition was not enough for the petitioner to
prevail in his application—in fact, he was worried that another could
‘worm his way in’—so that he again pressured the dioiketes with the
present petition to select him for service. He underlined his request
by emphasising that he had a family (oikeious) whom he probably had
to feed, and he argued further that he could also send up prayers for
the welfare of the king and doubtless for Apollonios as well—Zoilos
submitted a similar reason for his request (see above).

106 Cf. P.Cair. Zen. II 59169,5 according to the reconstruction by Wilcken ‘Papyrus-
Urkunden’, 280; and P.Cair. Zen. IV 59745,32.
107 P.Lond. VII 2046; translation: Rowlandson (1998), 28, Doc. 28.
108 Skeat (1974), 193; PSI V 531 documents Zenon’s stay in the Serapeum in Mem­
phis, where the priest of Astarte of Memphis presented him with a petition.
 THE GOD SERAPIS 407

Unfortunately, we do not know what kind of temple of Arsinoe was

in Philadelphia, whether it was a Greek or an Egyptian cult structure.109
The fact that an Egyptian considered himself suited for service in the
temple in question and that he emphasised his qualification as a cult
servant of Serapis could point to an Egyptian or, as would be possible
in the Serapieion in Alexandria, to a Graeco-Egyptian temple for the
hybrid cult.
It can be said that the Serapis, Isis, ruler and Arsinoe cult in the
Philadelphia military settlement was closely associated in its cult forms
and that authorities wished to offer the non-Egyptians the demanded
focal point for their religious needs.

Summary

The fate of the living Apis bull was very closely tied to that of the
Pharaoh; the Apis guaranteed the well-being of the king. All the
Ptolemaic kings were to take special care of the royal animal’s welfare.
In its after-death form as Osiris-Apis, the god then entered into one of
the most important cults of the kingdom, the cult of Serapis. Obviously
Ptolemy I was interested in a relationship between Egyptian ideas
of the Memphian royal god Apis, the pan-Egyptian underworld and
fertility god Osiris and Greek father deities such as Zeus and Pluto as
well as in the fertility and dynasty god Dionysos and the healing god
Asklepios. As early as Ptolemy II, the new creation had been so well
accepted by the Hellenistic subjects that they actively worked toward
spreading the cult of the kingdom—as the four cited temple foundings
document.110 Serapis and Isis had become deities for identification with
the motherland of the ruling power, especially in the possessions of
the Ptolemaic kingdom outside Egypt. The cult offered the Greeks
an inestimable medium for identifying with the kingdom and offered
for the soldiers on Thera and doubtless in other places also a means
of creating identity in a ‘globalised’ oikumene. The same is true for the
ruler cult introduced by Ptolemy II, a cult, as has been demonstrated,

109 It seems somewhat hastily judged when Skeat (1974), 193, writes about the
Arsinoeion: “where the cult was no doubt Greek”.
110 A fifth founding by General Kallikrathes in honour of Isis and Anubis may be
added; Fraser (1972), I, 270-272, thinks that they belong to the two named gods as
synnaoi theoi of Serapis.
408 STEFAN PFEIFFER

which had close ties to the Serapis and Isis cult. Just as had been
done probably by officials in the Serapieion in Alexandria, the merging
of the ruler cult with the Serapis cult initiated by Ptolemy II was to
serve as a model even for the ruler cult instituted privately and by
organisations. With the aid of the popular Serapis religion, the new
ruler cult could be spread among the ‘Greeks’ in the kingdom—the
examples of the military from Thera and Philadelphia and the example
of urban Halikarnossos as well as the petition of Zoilos document this.
The merging of the Isis-Serapis cult to the ruler cult was manifested
then beginning with Ptolemy III in the oaths to the king as well.
Double dedications continued as well for Isis, Serapis and the ruling
pair.111 In addition, Demotic statutes from cult cooperatives have been
transmitted from the later Ptolemaic era, in which it is reported that
sacrifices for the Pharaohs, Serapis, Isis and all the gods of Egypt had
been made.111 112 Thus the deified living ruling pair along with Serapis and
Isis, their ‘cosmic’ counterparts, played an exceptional role as the most
important deities of the kingdom in the lives of their subjects, as they
were present everywhere.

111 SB I 585 (for Serapis, Isis, the Nile, Ptolemy III and Berenike II); 586 (for
Serapis, Isis, Ptolemy III and Berenike II); 631a (for Ptolemy VIII, Cleopatra III,
their children, Isis and Serapis); OGIS I 62 (for Ptolemy III, Berenike II, Isis, Serapis
und Harpokrates); 63 (for Serapis, Ptolemy III und Berenike II); 82 (for Ptolemy IV,
Arsinoe III, Serapis und Isis); Bernand (1970), 235-236, No. 6.
112 Cf. P.dem.Prag, Z. 5-6; P.dem.Cairo 31178,4-5; cf. De Cenival (1972).