The paper discusses some questions concerning spreading of Egyptian Serapis (one of the most popular cults of the Roman Empire) being at first a classical example of Hellenistic and then of Roman religious syncretism.
Basing on the studies of a given problem, we arrived at a conclusion, that since Hellenistic period, Egyptian cult of Serapis replaced cult of Osiris and was common for the whole Roman Empire. According to some sources, the first altar dedicated to Egyptian cult in Alexandria was built by Ptolemy I Soter in the 4th century B.C. Ptolemy III erected a temple on it in honor of new god and Ptolemy IV built a new temple in honor of Harpokrate. At the same time other temples in honor of Serapis were erected not far from Alexandria, in Kanope and Raz-el-Sode.
Prior to appearing in Italy, cult of Serapis was introduced to a number of countries, basically in the Near East (Antiochus, Tarsus, Syria). In 307 B.C. Egyptians had cult of Serapis in Halicarnas and cities of Carie. Not less than 3 Serapis were known in Delos. In 225 B.C. the cult of Serapis was spread in Athens, where it was identified with Dionysus.
In western provinces cult of Serapis was mostly spread in Gallia being popular basically among city population. In Karthagen it was worshipped as Jupiter-Hamon. In north and north-west provinces of the Roman empire the credit for spreading cult of Serapis goes to Romans, but Egyptian gods were not popular here. As to the center of the Roman Empire – Latina – cult of Serapis was brought to Italy since the end of republican period. Egyptian gods emerged in Sicily prior to that. Italian merchants brought its cult from Delos to Kampania. In the 2nd century B.C. it was already worshipped in Neum, Puzzole, Etruria, Pompeii.
From the 1st century A.D. Egyptian gods became favorable for Roman emperors. Cult of Serapis was at its height during the reign of Karacallus and Septimius Severus.
In the struggle against Christianity Serapis was losing its positions. During the reign of the first Christian emperors cult of Serapis was reduced to standards of a pagan sect, that eventually led to abolition of Alexandrian Serapeum in 391 A.D.