Editing Osiris (section)

==Greco-Roman era==
===Hellenization===
[[Image:Serapis Pio-Clementino Inv689 n2.jpg|thumb|upright|Bust of [[Serapis]].]]
The early [[Ptolemaic kings]] promoted a new god, [[Serapis]], who combined traits of Osiris with those of various Greek gods and was portrayed in a Hellenistic form. Serapis was often treated as the consort of Isis and became the patron deity of the Ptolemies' capital, [[Alexandria]].{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|pp=127–128}} Serapis's origins are not known. Some ancient authors claim the cult of Serapis was established at Alexandria by [[Alexander the Great]] himself, but most who discuss the subject of Serapis's origins give a story similar to that by Plutarch. Writing about 400 years after the fact, Plutarch claimed that [[Ptolemy I]] established the cult after dreaming of a colossal statue at [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinope]] in Anatolia. His councillors identified the statue as the Greek god [[Pluto (god)|Pluto]] and said that the Egyptian name for Pluto was Serapis. This name may have been a Hellenization of "Osiris-Apis".<ref>[[Françoise Dunand]] and Christiane Zivie-Coche (2004), ''Gods and Men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to 395 CE'', pp. 214–215</ref> Osiris-Apis was a patron deity of the [[Memphite Necropolis]] and the father of the [[Apis (god)|Apis bull]] who was worshipped there, and texts from Ptolemaic times treat "Serapis" as the Greek translation of "Osiris-Apis". But little of the early evidence for Serapis's cult comes from Memphis, and much of it comes from the Mediterranean world with no reference to an Egyptian origin for Serapis, so Mark Smith expresses doubt that Serapis originated as a Greek form of Osiris-Apis's name and leaves open the possibility that Serapis originated outside Egypt.{{sfnp|Smith|2017|pp=390–394}}

===Destruction of cult===
[[Image:Philae, seen from the water, Aswan, Egypt, Oct 2004.jpg|thumb|The Philae temple on [[Agilkia Island]] as seen from the Nile]]
The cult of Isis and Osiris continued at [[Philae]] until at least the 450s CE, long after the imperial decrees of the late 4th century that ordered the closing of temples to "[[pagan]]" gods. Philae was the last major ancient Egyptian temple to be closed.<ref>Dijkstra, Jitse H. F. (2008). ''Philae and the End of Egyptian Religion'', pp. 337–348</ref>