Serapis

sacred bull in Egyptian mythology

thumb|Antoninianus of Postumus with Serapis on the reverse. Serapis or Sarapis is a Graeco-Egyptian god. A syncretic deity derived from the worship of the Egyptian Osiris and Apis, Serapis was extensively popularized in the third century BC on the orders of Greek Pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter, as a means to unify the Greek and Egyptian subjects of the Ptolemaic Kingdom.

Patriarch of Alexandria from 384 to 412

thumb|Remains of the Serapeum of Alexandria thumb|Marble bust of Serapis, Roman copy after a Greek original from the 4th century BC A serapeum is a temple or other religious institution dedicated to the syncretic Greco-Egyptian deity Serapis, who combined aspects of Osiris and Apis in a humanized form that was accepted by the Ptolemaic Greeks of Alexandria. There were several such religious centers, each of which was called a serapeion/serapeum () or poserapi (), coming from an Egyptian name for the temple of Osiris-Apis ().

thumb|Bust of Serapis. Roman copy of the original Bryaxis.

Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Turkey

monument in City Municipality of Ptuj, Slovenia