In historiography, it is still controversial how the name of the god Serapis, whose cult, according to some sources (Plutarch, Tacitus), as well as archaeological data, arose only during the reign of Ptolemy I, the successor of Alexander the Great, appeared in one of the versions of the Novel about Alexander. Some researchers are inclined to assume that the events of the "Novel about Alexander" are fictional, which means that we should not say that the cult of Serapis could have existed already during the reign of Alexander. Others, although a minority, are inclined to believe that it was the great general who introduced the cult of this deity into practice. With the greatest probability, we can assume that the first ones are right. However, we should not completely ignore the information contained in the "Romance of Alexander", since although it may contain a lot of fictional things, it nevertheless reflects the ideas of the general population of that time about the functions of Serapis, his identification with other gods, and testifies to the role that his cult played at the end of the Hellenistic period and in Roman times. The cult of Serapis first appeared in Egypt in the Hellenistic period, i.e. in the era from the conquest of the country by Alexander the Great (331 BC) to its transformation into a Roman province (31 BC). Most researchers agree that this deity was not originally Egyptian, but was created (either by Alexander the Great). or one of the Ptolemies) in order to help the Greek-Macedonians who settled in Egypt feel more comfortable in their new homeland. Indeed, to the ancient canon in iconography (Serapis was usually depicted as a young man with a beard, similar to Hades, with whom he was associated), a name was added, although Graecized, but derived from Egyptian, as well as identification with the Egyptian Osiris. There are quite a lot of versions about the origin of the cult of Serapis. In particular, the sources that tell about its appearance can ... Read more