Editing Apis (deity) (section)

==From animal to human==
[[File:Apis MGEg Inv22808.jpg|thumb|Anthropomorphical representation of Apis, Ptolemaic Period (3rd–2nd centuries BC).]]
[[Image:Serapis Pio-Clementino Inv689 n2.jpg|thumb|220px|Bust of the Hellenistic-Egyptian deity [[Serapis]], Roman copy of an original by [[Bryaxis]] that stood at the [[Serapeum of Alexandria|Serapeion of Alexandria]], [[Vatican Museums]]]]
[[File:Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna June 2006 002.jpg|thumb|Gilded sculpture of an Apis head with the sacred disk of Hathor, [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]]]]
According to [[Arrian]], Apis was one of the Egyptian deities [[Alexander the Great]] propitiated by offering a sacrifice during his seizure of Ancient Egypt from the Persians.<ref>{{cite book |author=Arrian |author-link=Arrian |title=Anabasis|title-link=Anabasis Alexandri }}</ref> After Alexander's death, his general [[Ptolemy I Soter]] made efforts to integrate Egyptian religion with that of the new Hellenic rulers. Ptolemy's policy was to find a deity that might win the reverence of both groups, despite the curses of the Egyptian religious leaders against the deities of the previous foreign rulers (i.e. [[Set (deity)|Set]], lauded by the [[Hyksos]]). Without success, Alexander had attempted to use [[Amun]] for this purpose, but that deity was more prominent in [[Upper Egypt]] and not for those in [[Lower Egypt]], where the Greeks had stronger influence. Since the Greeks had little respect for animal-headed deities, a Greek statue was created as an idol and proclaimed as an [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] equivalent of the highly popular Apis. It was named ''Aser-hapi'' (i.e. ''Osiris-Apis''), which became '''[[Serapis]]''', and later was said to represent Osiris fully, rather than just his [[Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul#Ka (vital spark)|Ka]].

The earliest mention of a ''Serapis'' is in the authentic death scene of Alexander, from the royal diaries.<ref>{{cite book |author=Arrian |author-link=Arrian |title=Anabasis |chapter=VII |page=26|title-link=Anabasis Alexandri }}</ref> Here, ''Serapis'' has a temple at [[Babylon]], and is of such importance that he alone is named as being consulted on behalf of the dying Alexander. The presence of this temple in Babylon radically altered perceptions of the mythologies of this era, although it has been discovered that the unconnected Babylonian deity [[Enki|Ea]] was entitled ''Serapsi'', meaning ''king of the deep'', and it is Serapsi who is referred to in the diaries, not Serapis. The significance of this ''Serapsi'' in the Hellenic psyche, however, due to its involvement in Alexander's death, also may have contributed to the choice of ''Osiris-Apis'' as the chief Ptolemaic deity during their occupation of Ancient Egypt.

According to [[Plutarch]], Ptolemy stole the statue from [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinope]], having been instructed in a dream by the [[Unknown God]] to bring the statue to [[Alexandria]], where the statue was pronounced to be "Serapis" by two religious experts. Among those experts was one of the Eumolpidae, the ancient family from which the [[hierophant]] of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]] traditionally had been chosen since before any historical records. The other expert supposedly was the scholarly Egyptian priest Manetho, which increased acceptability from both the [[Egyptians]] and the Greeks.

Plutarch may not be correct, however, as some Egyptologists assert that the ''Sinope'' in Plutarch's report is the hill of Sinopeion, a name given to the site of an existing Serapeum at Memphis. Also, according to [[Tacitus]], Serapis (i.e. Apis explicitly identified as Osiris in full) had been the [[tutelary deity]] of the village of [[Rhacotis]], before it suddenly expanded into the great capital of "Alexandria".

Being introduced by the Greeks, understandably, the statue depicted a fully human figure resembling [[Hades]] or [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]], both being kings of the Greek [[underworld]]. The figure was enthroned with the ''[[modius (headdress)|modius]]'', which is a basket or a grain-measure, on his head, a Greek [[symbol]] for the land of the dead. He also held a [[sceptre]], indicating rulership, and [[Cerberus]], gatekeeper of the underworld, rested at his feet. It also had what appeared to be a [[Serpent (symbolism)|serpent]] at its base, fitting the Egyptian symbol of sovereignty, the [[uraeus]].

With his (i.e., Osiris') wife, [[Isis]], and their son (at this point in history) [[Horus]] (in the form of ''[[Harpocrates]]''), Serapis won an important place in the Greek world, reaching [[Ancient Rome]], with [[Anubis]] being identified as Cerberus. 
The cult survived until 385, when Christians destroyed the Serapeum of Alexandria, and subsequently, the cult was forbidden by the [[Edict of Thessalonica]].