Serai

See Sarai. Seraievo. See Bosna - Serai . Seraing (sé-ran'). A village in the province of Liège, Belgium, situated on the Meuse 3 miles southwest of Liège. It is the seat of a large establishment for manufacturing machinery, engines, cast-iron articles, etc., founded by John Cocker ill in 1817. Population (1893), 35,278. Serajewo, or Serajevo. See Bosna - Serai . Serampur (ser-am-pör'), or Serampore (ser-ampōr'). A town in Hugli district, Bengal, British India, situated on the Hugli 13 miles north of Calcutta. It is the seat of an English Baptist mi ion. It belonged to Denmark until 1845. Population (1891), 35,952. Serang. See Ceram . Serapeum, or Serapeium (ser-a-pē'um). [Gr. Serbs (serbz). [Serv. Serb , lit. 'kinsman.'] Natives of Servia; Servians. Serbs' Rout. See Maritza . Serchio (ser'kē-ō). A river in western Italy which flows into the Mediterranean 8 miles northwest of Pisa: the ancient Auser. Length, about 55 miles. Sere (sā're). A tribe of the eastern Sudan, neighbors of the Nyam-Nyam and the Bongo, and related to both. They were once strong and independent, but are now conquered and scattered by the Ny. am-Nyam. They are hunters and agriculturists, making remarkable granaries, but keep no domestic animals except fowls. The women wear tufts of gra in front and behind; the men do not tattoo themselves like the Nyam-Nyam. Travelers say that they are hardy, patient, and jovial. Serena. See La Serena . Serendib (se-ren'dib). An ancient name of Ceylon. Serer (se-rar'). A negro tribe of French Sene Egyptian Egyptian sanct sanctuary near Memphis, where the Apis bulls were buried. It was explored by Mariette in 1851. See Serapis and Sakkarah . 2. A famous temple of Serapis in ancient Alexandria, destroyed by Theodosius. See the extract, and that under Serapis , below. The Serapion, at that time, appeared secure in the superstition which connected this inviolable sanctuary, and the honor of its god, with the rise and fall of the Nile, with the fertility and existence of Egypt, and, as Egypt was the granary of the East, the existence of Constantinople. The Pagans had little apprehension that the Sera pion itself, before many years, would be levelled to the ground. The temple of Serapis, next to that of Jupiter in the Capitol, was the proudest monument of Pagan religious architecture. Like the more celebrated structures of the East, and that of Jerusalem in its glory, it compre hended within its precincts a vast ma buildings, of which the temple itself formed the center. It was built on an artificial hill, in the old quarter of the city, called Rhacotis, to which the ascent was by a hundred steps. All the substructure was vaulted over; and in these dark cham bers, which communicated with each other, were supposed to be carried on the most fearful and, to the Christian, abominable mysteries. All around the spacious level platform were the habitations of the priests, and of the ascetics dedicated to the worship of the god. Within these outworks of this city rather than temple was a square, surrounded on all sides with a magnificent portico. In the center arose the temple, on pillars of enormous magnitude and beautiful proportion. The work either of Alexander himself or of the first Ptolemy aspired to unite the colo al grandeur of Egyptian with the fine harmony of Grecian art.