[Egyptian] The Ptolemaic form of Apis, an Egyptian deity who, when dead, was honored under the attributes of Osiris and thus became 'osirified Apis' or [O] Sorapis. He was lord of the underworld.
Serapis [from Greek
Sarapis from Egyptian
Asar-Hapi Osiris-Apis] The most important deity at Alexandria during the time of Ptolemy Soter, its worship spread throughout Egypt and into the Roman Empire, establishing itself firmly even in Rome. Plutarch recounts that Ptolemy Soter in his desire to make Alexandria the chief center of his empire, sought to unite Greeks and Egyptians in a common worship. He dreamed that a strange god appeared to him and, on telling his friends, one said that he had seen such a statue at Sinope. The king immediately imported this statue, the Greeks, declaring that it represented Pluto, ruler of the underworld, with his guardian dog Cerberus, while the Egyptians stated that it portrayed Asar-Hapi (Osiris in the underworld) with Anubis. Plutarch states that Osiris is the same as Sarapis, "this latter appellation having been given him, upon his being translated from the order of Genii to that of the Gods, Sarapis being none other than that common name by which all those are called, who have thus changed their nature, as is well known by those who are initiated into the mysteries of Osiris" (On Isis and Osiris, sec 28).
A hieroglyphic text found on stelae and other objects in the Serapeum at Sakkara states that Apis is called "the life of Osiris, the lord of heaven, Tem (with) his horns (in) his head," he who gives "life, strength, health, to thy nostrils for ever." Thus Serapis is represented in the form of a man with the head of a bull; the horns being crescent-shaped, encircling the solar disk; in his hands he bears the scepter with the flail and crook of Osiris.
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