The Origin of the Cult of Sarapis

Ruth Stiehl

History of Religions, Vol. 3, No. 1. (Summer, 1963), pp. 21-33.

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 RuthStiehl T H E O R I G I N OF T H E
C U L T OF S A R A P I S

Along the coast of Oman-before it curves northwest toward the

Persian Gulf-ancient geography located the island of the god
Serapis, or Sarapis. Ptolemy, a t one point, (Geogr. 6, 7, 46) calls
it vijuos Zapani6os, and mentions a holy place there. Elsewhere it
is cited (8,22,18) as I j ZaphniGos vijnos. Stephanos of Byzance commem-
orates it under the catchword Zhpa~is,and Periplus Maris Erythraei
describes it in detail (33). In writing of the coast it states that the
island follows the island of Zenobios by a distance of 2,000 stadiums
(33). Three villages, inhabited by ichthyophagists-all of whom speak
the Arabian language-are found on the island of the god.
Not only a t this place do Arabs unite with the god Sarapis. One
finds srpyw as a proper name among the Nabataeansll and already
M. Lidzbarski had called attention to Zepaniwv. Cantineau called this
into question in pointing to the variant *pyw and compared s'urfa
(Arab), feminine to ~ g r a jThe. ~ comparison, meanwhile, does not lead
any further, particularly since also in Nabataean s and interchange
with one a n ~ t h e rThe
. ~ forms srpyw and Srpyw (to be written in this
way) leave no doubt as to Lidzbarski's meaning.
J. Cantineau, Le NabatJen, I1 (1932), 124 r. Ibid., p. 154 1.
Ibid., I (1930), pp. 42 f. (see also C. Brockelmann, Grundn'aa der vgl. Grammat.
d. semit. Spraehen, I , 135 f , and Handb. d . Oriental., I11 [1954], 145, 153).
21
The Origin of the Cult of Sarapis

In view of the proximity of Egypt, it is little wonder that one finds

the theophoric name Zepa~iwvamong the Nabataeans. I t would be
more difficult to establish such a relationship with the island of
Sarapis; rather, there is a decisive reason which excludes Egyp-
tian origin. Periplus speaks of the inhabitants of the island as
tcv3pB1rois iepois (sic). Accordingly, they hallow Sarapis, that is, they
are consecrated to him and they belong to him. They correspond to
the ~ 6 7 0 x 0which
~ are known from the papyri of the Serapeion of
Memphis (see below). Periplus however does not use the expression
K ~ T O X O Lbut speaks of iepoi in the sense of iep66ovXo~.Agreement, it is
true, exists in fact but not in name, and this, together with the author
actually coming from Alexandria or Egypt, is of importance (29:
rap' ?jpTv Cv A i y b n ~ ~For
) . iep6s in the sense of iep66ovXos leads far
away into the countries of the Middle East, into the periphery that
might be defined by Cappadocia, Babylonia, Elam, and South Ara-
bia.4
In this context it should be recalled that in the neighboring Persian
Gulf Gerrha was founded by Chaldaic refugees from Babylon (Strabon
766; Steph. Byz. I'Cppa). The trace leads further. For now the often
argued question of a Babylonian Sarapis becomes pressing. At first
F. Delitzsch supposed there to be a god $arrapu5; C. F. Lehmann-
Haupt referred to gar apsi, "Herr des O ~ e a n s , "and ~ Th. Hopfner
finally arrived a t Sar-~psu.~ In view of these propositions, anyone who
is not an Accadian philologist is open to embarrassment. Be it sufficient
to point out that also Greek literature delivers the earliest evidences
for Babylon and, as will be shown shortly, Sinope as the home of the
god.
Arrian (an. 7, 25, 1-26, 3) and Plutarch (Alex. 76) have preserved
two detailed expositions of the last days of Alexander the Great. Both
go back to the report of Ptolemy who, for his part, made use of the
royal Ephemeride~.~ These, concordantly, report that in Babylon men
in Alexander's immediate circle held a sleep (Tempelschlaf) in the
holy place of the god Serapis. They asked the god whether the king,
extremely ill, should be brought into the Serapeion and whether, there-
upon, healing could be expected for him. The god refused. The invalid
was to be left where he was.
4 W. W. Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India (2nd ed., 1952), pp. 68 ff.
U. Wilcken in Philol., LIII (1894), 119, n. 1.

Zeitschr. f. Assyr., I1 (1897), 112; Klio, IX (1904), 3 9 M 0 1 , and XIV (1914),

p. 4 of the separate publication.

Plutarch uber Isis und Osiris, I1 (1941), 127.

8 F. Altheim, Weltgeschichte Asiens, I (1947), 221-23.

22
 It seems today agreed that this portion never existed in the Ephe-
merides and that the reference to Sarapis leads only to Ptolemy who had
established the cult of the god in his capital and who also had ascribed
to him that role which he had played during the last days of Alex-
ander.g Yet the explicit reference to veneration and the holy place, to
the sleep in the temple and the prophecy, cannot be denied. And
whatever about the concordance in the Babylonian pantheon, the
formerly disregarded island of Sarapis in the Persian Gulf, immedi-
ately off the coast of Babylon, comes as further argument to it. In this
context I should like to point to some further information which has
not been given sufficient attention so far.
In the story of the death of Alexander Sarapis appears as the god of
healing. Thus he healed Demetrios of Phaleron from his blindness
(Diog. Laert. 5, 5,76) and is compared to Asklepios (Tac. Hist. 4, 84).
In his refusal to accept the invalid into his holy place, Sarapis deter-
mined a t the same time the end of Alexander's rule. And this trait-in
specific regard to Sarapis-is found twice more as handed down by
historians on Alexander.
Plutarch (Alex. 39, 5) mentions a boy by the name of Serapion
(T&V hab a+aipas ~rviveaviu~wv)with whom the king, undressed, used to
play ball (cf. Plut., Alex. 73, 7). Already the name Serapion is of im-
portance. His theophoric character shows that already a t that time in
Babylon-for it is there that the scene takes placelo-the god Serapis
or Sarapis was venerated. Once, when the king played ball as de-
scribed, the Messenian Dionysios put on himself the royal cloak and
forehead band (taken off by Alexander) and ascended the throne.
Questioned, he first kept silent. He then claimed that he had been
brought in fetters upward by sea to Babylon where he had been kept
in prison for a long time. There, so he continued, Sarapis had appeared
to him, had freed him from his fetters, and led him to this place. He
had ordered him to put on the cloak and the forehead band of the
king, to ascend the throne, and to remain silent (Plutarch., Alex. 73,
7 f.; Zonaras 4, 14; 1, 196P.).
Any relation to the festival of the Sacaea has been justly refuted."
O Wilcken, op. cit., p. 119; C. F. Lehmann-Haupt, Hermes, XXXVI, 319;
E. Kornemann, Die Alexandergeschichte d. Ptolem., pp. 37 ff.; W. W. Tarn, CAH,
VI, 422, n. 1; Altheim, op. cit., I, 224.
lo Plutarch transmits the accounts of Serapion and Dionysios (see below) in sep-
arate places but they are essentially connected: Alex. 39, 5:rijv bad apalpas srvl
veaviuxov 2PahXe r$v uvaipav and 73, 7:uvaipav abroD aayovsos, 01 veavluxoc 01
uparpi{ovses. Both accounts accordingly go back to the same source; cf. Altheim,
op. cit., I, 228.
l1 Ibid., p. 227.
The Origin of the Cult of Sarapis

Dionysios' behavior leads into another direction. He is pos~essed'~ and

remains silent; he is imprisoned and is freed by the god; the god gives
him the order, foreshadowing the end of Alexander, and Dionysios
executes it. In other words; the Messenian is an 6y~ir~oxos or K ~ T O X O S
as those met later in the Serapeion of Memphis.13There, too, it is the
god who frees them from their prisons.l4 In the story of Dionysios
Serapis is explicitly mentioned, and this time there is no connection
whatever to Ptolemy or to the Ephemerides. The story originates in the
Vulgata,15 and this one, too, knew of the existence of the god Sarapis
in Babylon.
Again Sarapis appears as the force which predicts Alexander's
death. Possession of the K ~ ~ T O X Ois L explicitly testified.16To those in the
Serapeion the god speaks in their dreams and gives them his orders.
I t is the same with the Messenian Dionysios. Aristobulos, further-
more, has preserved another story, as already indicated (Arrian., an. 4,
13, 5-45).
Syra, K ~ T O X O V6~ 700 8elov ~~yvopkvqv, SO it is said, had saved the life
of King Alexander from Hermolaos' attack. As Alexander came back
from the drinking bout she had told him to return to it, thus escaping
his assassination. Since she 7h nhv~aiv ~ i~j ~ ~ hXq8eitovaa 0 x 2 6cpaive~o
Alexander took her instructions seriously, despite some initial refusal
( O ~ KhpeXeiu8a~
~TL 6n' 'AXe.$ivGpov).A similar trait will be found immedi-
ately in Sarapis.
Sarapis is not explicitly mentioned, but already the fact of the
K U T O X ~cogently
~ points to him. Thus one may establish that three quite
different sources-the Ephemerides and Ptolemy, the Vulgata, and
Aristobulos-know of a god Sarapis. The two first mention explicitly
Babylon, and, with Aristobulos too, one can hardly think of another
god than the Babylonian Sarapis. The name of the prophetess and the
place of the happening (Arrian removes it to Zariaspa: 4 , 7 , 1) can be
brought into agreement with such an assumption. As already empha-
sized a t the beginning, the cult of Sarapis with its iiv6pwnoc iepoi on the
island named after the god-situated a t the southern coast of Cornan-
can only originate in Babylon.
l2 Cf. Plut., Alex. 73, 8:rbX~s86 uv~qpovjuas.
13 Wilcken, op. cit., pp. 52-53; M. Rostovtzeff, Studien zur Gesch. des r h .
Kolonats, pp. 274-75; R. Reitzenstein, Hellenist. Mysterienreligionen, 3d ed., 212
(see also RE, 2A, 2413; RAC, No. 6, pp. 838-39; H. Lietzmann, Gesch. der alten
Kirche, IV, 123; F. Cumont, ~ ' E ~d ~e a~strologues,
~ t e p. 149, n. 1.
l4 Wilcken, op. cit., pp. 69-70.
fi E. Kornemann, op. cit., p. 37; E. Mederer, Die Alexanderlegaden bei dm
alteren Alexanderhistorikern, p. 132, n. 26.
l6 Heliod., Aeth. 116, 1; 234, 27; 281, 13 Bekk.; F. Boll, Aus dm Offenbarung
Johannis, p. 4, n. 4; Altheim, Helios und Heliodor von Emesa, p. 17.
24
 Another argument may be added. We learn from an inscription,
discovered in 1959 in Gurgiin by R. Ghirshman and published by
L. Robert1? (it gives the names of Andragoras, Antiochos I, and
Stratonike), that a certain Euandros released a certain Hermaios as
icpt)v Z a p i ~ w s(1.7). This points to a holy place for Sarapis in Iranian
territory. I t is impossible, of course, to suppose that this holy place in
early Seleucidian time could be of Egyptian or even Ptolemaic origin,
A Babylonian Sarapis is rather evident. Susa perhaps may have been
the center of the Iranian cult of Sarapis. For inscriptions from the
temple of Nanaia in Susa18 offer the closest parallels to the Gurgiin
inscription just mentioned. Moreover, R. Ghirshman has published a
terracotta from Susa,lgbelonging to the first or second century, which
he interpreted to be a god. Noticing the modius on the god's head, the
special kind of locks, and the curls hanging down his forehead, one can-
not help supposing that Sarapis is represented.

Again one must come to terms with a view which gradually seems to be
accepted as valid: In the cult of Sarapis a t Alexandria, which Ptolemy
I with the assistance of the Eumolpide Timotheos and the Egyptian
priest Manetho introduced, nobility and subjects were determined to
come together on equal terms in Egypt a t that time.*O This was the
reason for the removal of the cult of Sarapis from Memphis to Alex-
andria.
I t is now evident that the Babylonian Sarapis must be taken more
seriously than investigation has taken it to date. Thus it becomes
questionable whether Sarapis actually came from Memphis; the in-
vestigation of the god Sarapis from Sinope, however, will prove that
this, in no case, can be substantiated. Besides this: the alleged idea of
reconciliation which was to have formed the basis for the Alexandrian
cult of Sarapis will be also proven erroneous in drawing on the legend
of the cult.
Tacitus states (Hist. 4, 83) that in a dream of Ptolemy I a young
man appeared-decore eximio et maiore quam humana specie-who
ordered the king to get his image from Pontos in order to have it
erected in the newly founded city of Alexandria, adding: "laetum id
regno magnamque et inclutam sedem fore, quae excepisset." Ptolemy in
l7 Hellenica XI-XI11 (1960), 85 ff.
'8 SEG. 7 (1934), Nr. 2; 15-26.
lo Iran.Parthes et Sassanides (1962), p. 102, Fig. 115.
Wilcken, op. cit. Wilcken, U P Z , I, pp. &3 f.; see also Bursians Jahresber.,
pp. 250, 252, and Altheim, op. cit., I, 226.
The Origin of the Cult of Sarapis

Tacitus' report told his dream to Egyptian priests who mere experi-
enced in the interpretation of dreams. But since they knew little of
Pontos, he therefore sought the advice of the Eumolpide Timotheos
who ascertained that there was in the neighborhood of Sinope a fa-
mous holy place of Iupiter Dis in which Iupiter Dis was venerated
together with Proserpina. Then Ptolemy-as the story tells-pro-
ceeded to "neglegere paulatim aliasque ad curas animum vertere," and
it was not until a second dream image had appeared to him that he
hastened to fulfil the order, because "aedem species terribilior iam et
instantior exitium ipsi regnoque denuntiaret, n i iussa patrarentur."
The connection with the previously established data is obvious.
The second dream image foretold-in an appointed case-the end of
the king and of his empire. This corresponds to Sarapis' prediction in
the Ephemerides and in the story of the Messenian Dionysios concern-
ing the end of Alexander. Ptolemy's neglegere paulatim corresponds to
the initial h p ~ X ~ i u 8 aofi the K C ~ T O X O Syra
S on the part of Alexander. For
Ptolemy I the positive complement of the threat of death is the prom-
ise of a happy reign, and this, in turn, corresponds to the rescue of
Alexander from the attempt on his life. As one can see, the legend of
the cult, that is Ptolemy himself was interested in being linked with
Alexander's history. The same god who had foretold the end of Alex-
ander prophesied a great future for Ptolemy and his kingdom.
Thus there is no indication of an alliance of the Greeks and the
Macedonians with the Egyptians in the newly founded cult. The role
of Manetho, too (for he hides among the sacerdotes Aegyptiorum) is
rather negative in as much as he cannot give any pertinent informa-
tion. I t is incomprehensible how that concept described a t the begin-
ning-after careful examination of the sources-could come up at all.
Ptolemy's sole interest, by means of the introduction of Sarapis, was
the fortification of his kingdom for the future.
I t is hardly a coincidence that Sarapis should play the same role to
succeeding rulers of periods that follow. In the temple of Sarapis in
Alexandria an image appeared to Vespasian which he interpreted in
terms of his future empire (Tac., Hist. 4, 82; Sueton., Vesp. 7, 1; cf.
Dio. 65, 8, 1 Boiss.). For the Severians as well, Sarapis, once again,
won political significance. Septimius Severus had already had an affec-
tion for the godz1and perhaps also revered A l e ~ a n d e rYet . ~ ~ distinctly
with Caracalla did both elements become a dominant idea.
21 Altheim, Krise dm Alten Welt, I11 (1943), 18; Helios und Heliodor von Emesa,
pp. 9-10.
z2 A. Alfoldi with F. Altheim, Krise dm Alten Welt, 111, 200, n. 73.
26
 For details one may use earlier compilation^.^^ At this time, above
all, the relation to Sarapis is of importance. When Caracalla left the
city of Alexandria to his soldiers for murdering and plundering, the
emperor remained in the holy place of Sarapis. To the same god he
dedicated his sword with which he had killed his brother (Dio. 77, 23,
2-3). On the Alexandrian coins there appear, during Caracalla's reign,
Egyptian gods and particularly the image of Sarapis with great fre-
q ~ e n c yAn . ~inscription
~ refers to the emperor as Philo~arapis.~~ On the
Quirinalis in Rome the Emperor dedicated a temple to the god which
yet surpassed in splendor the one erected by Domitianus. Two capitals
which come from the thermae of Caracalla represent Sarapis and
H a r p o k r a t e ~ "One
. ~ ~ god is Zeus Sarapis Helios, the invincible ruler of
the worlds," is an inscription from the same thermae.27A little later,
the magnificent image of a priest of Sarapis in Berlin might have come
into existence.28
As well as the death of Alexander, so is also the death of Caracalla
linked to Sarapis. As often and as pressingly Carscalla asked Sarapis
for the restoration of his health, still the god refused his power also to
this ruler (Dio. 77, 15,6-7), and shortly before his death the Egyptian
Serapion prophesied the near death of the emperor and Macrinus'
succession (Dio. 78, 4, 4-5).
111
The cult of Sarapis in Sinope remains still to be treated. Tacitus and
Plutarch (de Iside et Osiride 28) derive the Alexandrian god from the
Pontic one. The first question is whether he had already carried the
name Sarapis or Serapis in his native country.
Diogenes Laertios (6, 63) reports of Diogenes-who also came from
S i n o p e t h a t he had replied to the divine veneration of Alexander on
the part of the Atheneans: "You can now regard me as Serapis." The
anecdote must coincide-if one considers it seriously-with Alex-
ander's last years, in any case with the time long before the introduc-
tion of the cult of Sarapis into Alexandria. I t originates by word of
mouth from someone born in Sinope, and thus testifies that the god in
his Pontic homeland already carried the name.
23 Altheim, Niedergang der Alten Welt, 11, 263-64; Weltgeschichte Asiens, I,
228-29.
24J. Vogt, Die alexandrinischen Munzen, I, 171-72.
z6R. Cagnat, Inscr. Graeme ad res Rom. pertin., I, 1063.
26 Platner-Ashby, Topograph. Dict. o f Anciat Rome, p. 522.
2' F. Cumont, D. oriental. Relig. Taj., 3d. ed., 3, 2; cf. p. 241 and n. 42; A. Hofler,
Der Serapishymnos d. Aelius Aristides 62, 68.
2W. Bliimel, Rom. Bildnisse, 41 R.99.
The Origin of the Cult of Sarapis

Additional material can be added, above all the passage Hippokr.,

De epidem. 2, 2, 3. Here 4 aeparrts, aapaaes, aeparw etc. is mentioned,
yet it remains obscure whether it has to do with a feminine proper
name or with the wife of a man who carried the name. Also one does
not know where the name came from, unless one were satisfied with an
origin from Asia Minor. In any case, the feminine proper name
Z~paaai~ts, sCrpyt in the Greek-Aramaic Bilinguis from Mcbetca can
be taken into c o n s i d e r a t i ~ n .To
~ ~ it, Zapaaavh a (apoirptov KOXXLKOD
(Strabon 500), and Zapaaavis, another (apoipiov. . . . apbs 70% 'IPqpias
biois (Prokop., Pers. 2, 29, p. 289, 10 Bonn.) was already added.30
All point to an origin in the northeast of Asia Minor, and thus into the
larger neighborhood of Sinope.
Concerning the god of Sinope, accordingly it can also be said that
his name falls into the time before the founding of the Alexandrian
cult. Determination of the relation between the Babylonian and the
Sinopeian god does not lie within the scope of this study. Yet one
might assume that the existence of an Assyrian or Babylonian god in
Sinope's greater compass (which, as is known, was called 'Aauvpia31
and its inhabitants Zipiot [Herodot. 7, 72]), is not i m p o s ~ i b l e . ~ ~
In Sinope, Sarapis was connected with a female deity-who was
equated to Proserpina-as a cult companion. The Oracle of Delphi
counseled Ptolemy's envoys: irent simulacrumque patris sui reveherent,
sororis relinquerent (Tac., Hist. 4,83 end). They did as they were told,
and when they brought the image home and a holy place in Rhakotis
was subsequently erected for it, it was shown that fuerat illic sacellum
Serapidi atque Isidi antiquitus sacratum (Tac., Hist. 4, 84). The con-
nection of the god-who had left his companion in S i n o p e w i t h the
Egyptian Isis was thus established.
There is the question of how to understand that Sarapis was already
venerated in Rhakotis before his cult image was brought from Sinope.
I n no way can one conclude from Tacitus' account that of old there
had been an Egyptian god Sarapis who was venerated together with
Isis. It is a well-known trait in stories told about those arriving in for-
eign countries that they encounter in the new homeland similarities to
the old one which they left behind. In Virgil, Sibyl enumerates what
Aeneas is going to meet in the Latin Country: Simois and Xanthus,
the Dorian camp, a new Achilles and Iunos' old hatred, and, this time
29 Altheim and Stiehl, Supplementum Aramaicum (1957), pp. 74 f.

3O Ebenda 76.

" Ruge gives testimonia in RE, 3A, p. 252.

S2 K. Lehmann-Haupt in Klio,IV (1904), 399 f.; XIV (1914), p. 5 of the sepa-

rate publication.
28
as well-as a source of mischief-a woman and an alien bridal bed
(Aen. 6, 88-89). When Antenor with Trojans and Eneters from Asia
Minor landed in Upper Italy, so Livius (1, 1, 3) reports, they found
that the place of their landing was called "Troia." And when the
Gauls broke into Upper Italy they heard that the land was called
ager Insubrium; induced by this omen, they settled (Liv. 5, 34, 9).a3
The god, too, a t his arrival in Egypt, comes upon an existing sacellurn
in which he himself, not with Proserpina, but with Isis, was venerated.
In reality there was only one holy place for Isis, erected by Alexander
(Arr., an. 3, 1, 5).
The possibility of recognizing Osiris in the companion of Isis a t
Rhakotis is equally removed. Tacitus speaks unequivocally of Sarapis,
not of Osiris. The coalescence of both gods had taken place on Egyp-
tian soil, because in Memphis (Sakksra) Sarapis was venerated be-
. ~ ~ Ptolemy I11 Euergetes one could al-
side Osiris, or O s a r a p i ~Under
ready believe that Sarapis had come from Memphis; also, that the
king, in bringing back Egyptian cult images formerly stolen by the
Persians (Dittenberger, OGIS. 1,No. 54, 21-22; No. 56, 11) from the
kingdom of the Seleucidae, had brought with him Osiris from Se-
leukeia, thus introducing him into Alexandria (Tac., Hist. 4, 84). To
follow this further in detail is not the task of the present study.
IV

The existence of the island of Sarapis in the Persian Gulf, settled by

Arabs, gave rise to a reperusal of former opinions, uttered with respect
to the creation of the cult of Sarapis in Alexandria. As always in such a
case it has been shown that tradition must be seriously considered.
Theories favored by modern thinking found no correspondence when
the wordings of existing sources were considered, and therefore had to
be given up.
Previously the question had remained open when it came to there
being a connection between Sarapis and Osiris or Osarapis. The last
work on the Serapeion in Memphis was of the opinion that already
under Ptolemy I this construction was erected over the existent vault
of the Apis-bulls, and that thereby the connection of the new god to
the Egyptian one was realized. The train of thoughts of both authors,
J.-Ph. Lauer and Ch. Picard, rests primarily on the statues-images
of philosophers and poets-which had been discovered in the avenue
leading to the S e r a p e i ~ nAt
. ~this
~ point we are interested in the monu-
T . Yoshimura, in F. Altheim, Untersuch. zur rom. Gesch., 1 (1961), 47; 49.
84 Roeder gives details in RE, IA, pp. 2406 f. and 2410 f.
36 Les Statues PtolSmaiques du Stapieion de Memphis (1955).

29
The Origin of the Cult of Sarapis

ments of animals being ridden-panthers, lions, peacocks, and tigers-

which stood alongside of the 6p6posa6and among those especially in the
two images of the child Dionysos, who rides on a lion and on a
panther. 37
The authors dedicate an entire chapter to the contacts between
Sarapis, Osiris, and Dionysos. In addition it should be recalled that
not only did Sarapis own his K ~ T O X O Land that the mention of them
goes back to the time of Alexander but also that Alexander's soldiers,
too, were to L?rb rfi ~ a ~ a ~ h ~(codd.
j u e i ~ a ~ a ~ h i u ~eoi i)rdeoir KaTauXe-
dijvai r e rpds TO; ALOV~JUOU
~ a hveuhuai
i rbv debv ~ a flaKx€
i irUai when the
legions had arrived in Nysa, in northwestern India (Arrian. Anab.
5, 2,7). These contacts are of importance if one turns, by this time, to
the finds of TimnaC in South Arabia, which had rapidly become
known.
There are two bronze lions which had been found in front of the
house of the YafaB. These pieces facing each other, of which the
fronts alone were carved-their hollow backs arranged in such a way
that they could be fastened to a wall-are to be connected with the
images already referred to, because the lions were ridden by the
'Erotes.' The dating of both sculptures is therefore of historic impor-
tance because the inscription of the house mentions King Yagul Yu-
h ~ g i band , ~ thus
~ provides also the time of his reign.
The following items are debatable: W. F. Albright had spoken, in
both his last assertions,3Qabout the period between 75 and 50 B.c., and
A. Jamme had agreed with his dating. Then there are B. Segall's
treatises40in the second of which she also follo\vs Albright, dispensing
with her earlier dating. A later time is referred to by J. Pirenne, that is,
approximately A.D. loo4'or 7542.
The paleographic dating of both inscriptions remains to be deter-
mined. Pirenne's publication has not as yet proceeded far enough SO
that one could discuss a proposal based on her paleographic datations.
38 Zbid., pp. 173-74.

37 Zbid., Figs. 92-93, p. 228, Figs. 124-28, and P1. 18.

38 The particulars are given in the work of Bowen and Albright, Discoveries in

South Arabia, pp. 155 ff. (B. Segall); 179 ff. (J. Ternbach); 183 ff. (A. Jamme).
as In Amer. Journ. Arch., L I X (1955), 207-8, and Bowen and Albright, op. cit.,
p. 157.
40 In Amer. Journ. Arch., LIX (1955), 212 ff., and Bowen and Albright, op. cit.,
pp. 155 ff.
41 Le Royaume Sud-arabe de Qatabdn et sa datation (1961), pp. 45 ff. The im-
ortation of statues into South Arabia from Egypt is mentioned still in the
Heriplus.
42 In Syria, XXXVIII (1961), 305.

30
For the time being one depends on an analysis of style. Among the
numerous parallels taken into consideration, one seems to have been
overlooked.
No doubt, the South Arabian bronze pieces go back, directly or
indirectly, to the generally known sculptures which stood in front
of the Serapeion in Memphis. There, where there was the influ-
ence of the Ptolemean empire, one can suppose the knowledge of the
cult of Sarapis. The 'Erotes' of Timna-about whose identity and
meaning there exists equally some q ~ e s t i o n ~ ~ - a rmost
e likely repre-
senting the young Dionysos or-identified with him in this region-
Osiris. Be that as it may, to the bronze pieces the boy Dionysos, riding
on a panther, corresponds the closest, as shown on a skyphos from the
silver find from B o ~ c o r e a l eThe
. ~ ~ points of correspondence with the
lions of Timnac are particularly numerous, such as: the enface posture
of the head of the animal, the extended front paw, the position of the
hind legs, the childlike appearance of the rider with curled locks,
whose raised arm and forward-thrust thigh correspond to the ex-
tended paw. One has to begin with these agreements with Boscoreale
if one is to date the find of Timnac. I n no case does one have a late Hel-
lenistic piece a t hand, and, if this be true, Albright's dating fares
poorly.
For the silver treasure from Boscoreale does belong well into the
first century A.D. (approximately in the middle). The lions of Timnac,
which in their loose, picturesque fashioning vaguely remind one of the
suckling lioness on one of the Grimani reliefs in Vienna, might have
been of later origin. Thus one has approached Pirenne's dating very
closely. Sahr Yagul Y ~ h a r g i bdoes ~ ~ not belong to the early Augus-
tinian time, but to the years about the middle of the first century
A.D., or shortly after.46

Till now U. Wilcken's statement concerning the origin of the cult of

Sarapis has not been considered.47 He ties the god to Osiris or Osarapis
of Memphis, and his argument has convinced the more modern critics
with almost no exception. I t is instructive to reconsider his statement
after the previous opinions.
I t must be clear that to Wilcken almost all evidence upon which
48 Cf.statements of J . Pirenne, Le Royaume Sudarabe, p. 48, n. 7.

" Lauer-Picard, op. cit., p. 190, Fig. 96.

46 A. Jamme with Albright and Bowen, op. cit., p. 187, Nos. 118 and 120.

46 J. Pirenne, op. cit., pp. 198-99.

" Urkunden der Ptolem(ierzeit, I (1927), 77 ff.

The Origin of the Cult of Sarapis

the up-to-date proof was based has remained unknown. Accordingly,

the accounts of Periplus, Stephanos von Byzanz, and Ptolemy on the
island of Sarapis, Plutarch's news concerning the boy Serapion and the
Messenian Dionysios, Aristobulos' story of the ~ 6 ~ 0 x Syra,
0s the ven-
eration of Sarapis by Vespasianus, Septimius Severus, and Caracalla,
the passage in Hippokrates and Diogenes' saying, and finally the
names of Sarapis in northeastern Asia Minor, are not mentioned. I t is
not understandable how the evidence for all this has eluded Wilcken.
But there are also other bases for objections to Wilcken's expositions.
Strange is the allegation that only the origin of the cult image from
Sinope can be testified to, and that one is accordingly free to derive
the cult and the god e l ~ e w h e r eWilcken
.~~ had already had to give up
his earlier view,d9 whereby this cult image originated not even from
Pontos, but from Alexandria.50 Recall Tacitus for whom the appear-
ance of the god and the cult image gave rise to the interpretation of the
god.51Sarapis thereby becomes Iupiter (or Iupiter Dis) which corre-
sponds to the Zeus of Sinope with Dionysios Perieg. 255. Basically
the cult image and the essence of the god are not to be separated, and
now we s e e i n confirmation of that-that already before Ptolemy I
Sarapis is testified in the words of Diogenes from Sinope.
A further reference of Wilcken's is equally doubtful. Over and
against Dionysios Perieg. 255 gvda Z t v w ~ i ~ aAtbs
o peyCrXoto piXa9pov
(Alexandria is meant) we have Eusthatios' commentary: Ztvw?ri.rqs
6& Z ~ 3 s4 d M e p p I r q s . Z L V ~ T L OyVd p 6pos M i p p ~ 8 0 s 4 h ~ i )Z L V ~ T T~$ SS
~ I O V T L K $Because
S. the Alexandrian Sarapis is never called Z t v h ~ t o v ,
Wilcken concludes that the Sinope tradition must originate in Mem-
phis. He refers to this idea as "dur~hschlagend."~~ Remember that
mountains in Memphis are a curiosity; nevertheless the Apis-vault is
built there upon a little hill. So much is certain that Dionysios'
a o presumes, that the name of Sinope clings to Alexandria,
Z t v w ~ i ~ Arbs
and that furthermore Eusthatios leaves derivation from Memphis or
from Sinope free. Since Z L V ~ T L cannot
OV be explained in Egyptian-as
Wilcken himself admits53 everything speaks for the fact that the name
points to Sinope and the god's origin therefrom and that it came from
Alexandria to Memphis.
48 Zbid.
49 Archaol. Jahrb., XXXII, 186-87.
'O Urkunden der Ptolemaerzeit, I, 77 f.

.
4, 83, 2: "Ptolemaeus . . nocturnes visus aperit . . . quaenam illa super-
stitio, quod numen interrogat." 84, 4: "plerique Iovem ut rerum omnium poten-
.
tem, plurimi Ditem patrem insignibus, quaeque in ipso manifests . . coniectant."
Urkunden des Ptolemaerzeit, I , 79. 5 3 Zbid.

32
 Completely without result remains Wilcken's statements about
Sarapis in Babylon. Above all it did not seem clear to him that Arrian
and Plutarch did not get their expositions concerning the last days
of Alexander directly from the Ephemerides, but indirectly from
Ptolemy's exposition. Thus any further consideration is automatically
withheld. One perceives the voice of the founder himself, bearing testi-
mony for a Babylonian Sarapis.
There remains open to question only the Babylonian name for the
corresponding god. To determine this is not my task. Even without
this having been done it is clear that our testimonies lead us to speak
of a Sarapis in Babylon, as they also speak of Sarapis in Sinope.