DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9184#0465
442
New Chapters in Greek History. [Chap. XV.
an example of prompt fusion of the ideas of Greeks
and natives. To Ptolemy Soter, when the new city of
Alexandria was just rising, there appeared in a vision a
divine form, which bade the king fetch the image of his
divinity from Pontus. The Egyptian priests could not
interpret the dream, but the Eumolpid priest, Timotheus
of Eleusis, who was then at Alexandria, after hearing
the king's description of his visitant, declared him to be
a half-Greek deity worshipped at the city of Sinope
under the name of Sarapis. An embassy was de-
spatched to Delphi, and the oracle of Apollo com-
manded that they should act upon the vision. With great
pomp, and of course in the midst of supernatural mani-
festations, the image of Sarapis was solemnly conducted
from Sinope to Alexandria. Who or what Sarapis was
originally has been much disputed ; all that is certain
is that he was in a special sense the deity of the
heavens above and of the future life. The Egyptians at
once saw in him a form of their national deity Osiris,
and, as he had left behind at Sinope the goddess who
was there his consort, they associated Isis with his wor-
ship. The Greeks identified the new god sometimes
with Zeus and sometimes with Hades or Pluto. In the
splendid temple which was erected to receive the statue
from Sinope, both nationalities could meet in a common
worship. It is known that Alexander the Great in his
last illness had sent to inquire at the temple of Sarapis
as to his chances of recovery, and it may be suspected
that the dream of Ptolemy, who was a real statesman,
was a politic invention. If so, no imposture was ever
more successful. Sarapis perfectly represented the new
Egypt, and with his Egyptian consort he received as a
marriage-portion all the arcana of the sacred lore. Greek
philosophy stepped in to adapt the new religion to the
tastes of the educated classes. The cultus of Sarapis
New Chapters in Greek History. [Chap. XV.
an example of prompt fusion of the ideas of Greeks
and natives. To Ptolemy Soter, when the new city of
Alexandria was just rising, there appeared in a vision a
divine form, which bade the king fetch the image of his
divinity from Pontus. The Egyptian priests could not
interpret the dream, but the Eumolpid priest, Timotheus
of Eleusis, who was then at Alexandria, after hearing
the king's description of his visitant, declared him to be
a half-Greek deity worshipped at the city of Sinope
under the name of Sarapis. An embassy was de-
spatched to Delphi, and the oracle of Apollo com-
manded that they should act upon the vision. With great
pomp, and of course in the midst of supernatural mani-
festations, the image of Sarapis was solemnly conducted
from Sinope to Alexandria. Who or what Sarapis was
originally has been much disputed ; all that is certain
is that he was in a special sense the deity of the
heavens above and of the future life. The Egyptians at
once saw in him a form of their national deity Osiris,
and, as he had left behind at Sinope the goddess who
was there his consort, they associated Isis with his wor-
ship. The Greeks identified the new god sometimes
with Zeus and sometimes with Hades or Pluto. In the
splendid temple which was erected to receive the statue
from Sinope, both nationalities could meet in a common
worship. It is known that Alexander the Great in his
last illness had sent to inquire at the temple of Sarapis
as to his chances of recovery, and it may be suspected
that the dream of Ptolemy, who was a real statesman,
was a politic invention. If so, no imposture was ever
more successful. Sarapis perfectly represented the new
Egypt, and with his Egyptian consort he received as a
marriage-portion all the arcana of the sacred lore. Greek
philosophy stepped in to adapt the new religion to the
tastes of the educated classes. The cultus of Sarapis