made pilgrimages to Africa to worship and seek
healing at the Seraphim temple in Alexandria.
Kemetians were often treated as foreigners in
their own land by the colonial Ptolemaic regime.
This regime was responsible for adopting the
ancient African deity as Greek. However, the
Kemetians rejected the Ptolemaic version of
the deity, which the Greeks had created in their
own image as a curly haired, bearded Caucasian
seated adjacent to a three-headed dog Cerberus
who sat or stood at the feet of Serapis. This was
different from the onxy-skinned Asar and Apis.
Kemetians created the original association
between Asar and Apis as far back as 1300 BC
during the 18th dynasty. Memphis Kemetians
worshiped Apis as one of the many forms of Ptah.
Later they associated Apis with much-revered
Asar and the name came to mean “Asar in full
glory.” In some instances, Kemetians represented
Apis as a bull carrying a sun disk between his
horns, and in other instances they represented
Apis as a bull-headed man carrying a crescent and
full moon between two large plumes. Nonetheless,
the Ptolemies established Asar-apis as the state
deity of a Ptolemaic-ruled Kemetic state. This
reimagining, Asar-apis as the Hellenic Serapis,
was part of a cultural trend followed by the
Greeks and Romans in the pan-Hellenic world,
namely the process reimagining foreign gods in
their own image and interest and then coercing or
acculturating ruled populations into accepting the
gods as their own. Thus, the Greeks, and subse-
quently the Romans, would continue the oppres-
sion of Kemetians while embracing the Greek
interpretation and image of Serapis and identify-
ing him with their own deities Hades and Pluto.
Eventually, when the Romans defeated
Cleopatra and captured Egypt, they replaced
Asar-apis with Auset, who became the main state
deity of healing throughout the Roman world.
Greeks, Romans, and people of other nations
made pilgrimages to Africa to give deference to
Serapis up to AD 385; at this date, Emperor
Theodosius gave orders to close and destroy all
temples of Serapis and Auset. Moreso carried out
the order with the beheading of the priests of any
Kemetic temple. Theodosius celebrated this state-
sanctioned bloodletting because it meant that
his reimagined phallocentric, Roman-based
Christianity would no longer have to compete
with the African-engendered religions of Ausar
and Auset that had become popular in his state.Khonsura A. WilsonSee alsoAusar; AusetFurther Readings
Ben-Jochannan, Y. (1988).Africa: Other of Western
Civilization(Student’s and researcher’s ed.).
Baltimore: Black Classic Press.
Ben-Jochannan, Y. (1989).Black Man of the Nile and
His Family. Baltimore: Black Classic Press.
Broyles, J. (2006).Egyptian Mythology. New York:
Rosen.
David, A. R. (1988).The Egyptian Kingdoms(1st
American ed.). New York: Peter Bedrick Books.
Karenga, M. (2006).Maat:The Moral Ideal in Ancient
Egypt. Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press.SERER
Serer is the name of the second largest ethnic group
located in Senegal and the Gambia in West Africa.
The wordSerer, in ancient Egyptian, means “he
who traces the temples.” Thus, although Serer are
mainly found today in Senegal, they have a long
history across Africa. Some Serer people are also
found in the country of Mauretania. They are an
ancient people whose history reaches deep into the
past during various migrations from the North and
East to their present home in West Africa. In fact,
the Serer have several distinct languages, although
they are viewed as one ethnic group. For example,
the largest language among the Serer is called
Serer-Sine, but there is also Serer-Noon, Serer-
Ndut, Serer-Palor, Serer-Safen, and Serer-Lehar.
These distinct languages are spoken in different
parts of the countries of Senegal, Gambia, and
Mauretania, and they represent the remnants
of powerful ancient kingdoms, specifically the
Kingdom of Sine and the Kingdom of Saloum. The
latter kingdom counts more than 100 kings in its
lineage, from the 11th century to the 21st century.
Religiously, the Serer follow the pattern of many
West African people: They have a belief in one
Supreme Deity, Roog. In their view, Roog created606 Serer