monumental statue by Bryaxis. Cerberus’ presence shows Sarapis’ funerary character
clearly: he is largely comparable to a Hades–Pluto. But he is also (like Osiris) a god of
agrarian fertility, as is indicated by the grain measure, thekalathos, that constitutes his
unique crown. He is also a healing god, whose image partly recalls that of Asclepius.
Very early on, his sanctuary at Canopus became a famous healing center, where the
god accomplished miraculous cures. The philosopher Demetrius of Phaleron, who
came to the court of Ptolemy I, is held to have been cured of his blindness there
(Diogenes Laertius 5.76). In addition, Sarapis quickly became a dynastic god, asso-
ciated with Isis, and protector of royalty. The formula of the oath that features in
official documents, in Demotic as in Greek, regularly associates the divine pair with
the sovereign couple, from the reign of Ptolemy III. Numerous dedications, official
and private, were offered to them jointly.
The great temple built in Sarapis’ honor by Ptolemy III on the hill called ‘‘Rha-
kotis,’’ from which the foundation tablets have been found, must have replaced an
older temple, perhaps a more modest one. It is very difficult to form an idea of it. It
was repeatedly rebuilt until the Roman period, and the whole site has been com-
pletely churned up. It was probably a Greek-style temple with a triangular pediment
supported by four columns, as depicted on coins. But a lotus-type capital foundin situ
shows that it may have contained Egyptian-style elements. We know, besides, that a
large circuit wall surrounded the sacred precinct, which included various buildings,
amongst them a small temple dedicated to Harpocrates. Two long subterranean
galleries in the base of the hill are perhaps to be identified as a cemetery for sacred
dogs. A dedication to Hermanubis was found there, the god who conducts the souls
of the dead. Rufinus of Aquileia’s description of the destruction of the Sarapieion in
AD 392 mentions numerous buildings, exedras,pastophoria, and groups of dwellings
in which the priests lived. He emphasizes the magnificence of the temple, the interior
walls of which were lined with precious metals while the exterior was ‘‘sumptuously
and magnificently built in marble’’ (Ecclesiastical History2.23).
Other temples were dedicated to Sarapis, such as the ‘‘Sarapieion of Parmeniscos’’
mentioned in a papyrus from the Zenon Archive (P.Cair.Zen. 59355). Is this a
reference to the temple attributed to Parmenion, Alexander’s architect? Beyond
this, private sanctuaries, in which he was generally associated with Isis, were built in
his honor by the citizens of Alexandria: atemenoswas offered to Sarapis and Isis by
Archagathos, governor of Libya, and his wife Stratonice, under Ptolemy II (SEG18.
636). A sanctuary,naos, with its circuit wall,peribolos, was dedicated to the pair by an
Alexandrian and his wife during the reign of Ptolemy III (OGIS64). A little later,
another temple, the foundation tablets of which were found in the last century, was
dedicated to the same divine couple, associated with the king Ptolemy IV and his wife
Arsinoe III (Rowe 1946:12–13).
It is not very likely that the creation of Sarapis derived from a Lagid desire to
promote a ‘‘fusion’’ of Greek and Egyptian populations around a ‘‘syncretistic’’ god.
Everything indicates, on the contrary, that they tried hard to maintain a status apart
for the Greeks (with, in particular, fiscal privileges). Sarapis must, rather, have
performed the function of a city god: in Greek tradition, every city foundation was
accompanied by the foundation of a cult. Indeed his cult seems to have been initially
confined to a Greek context, or even to a court context. It was in the Roman period
that it underwent considerable expansion, with cult sites throughout the country. But
260 Franc ̧oise Dunand