Serāpis

, one of the Egyptian deities, supposed to be the same as Osiris. He had a magnificent temple at Memphis, another very rich at Alexandria, and a third at Canopus. The worship of Serapis was introduced at Rome, by the emperor Ant on in us Pius, A.D. 146, and the mysteries celebrated on the 6th of May, but with so much licentiousne that the senate were soon after obliged to abolish them. Hero dot us, who speaks in a very circumstantial manner of the deities, and of the religion of the Egyptians, makes no mention of the god Serapis. Apollo dor us says it is the same as the bull Apis. Pausanias , bk. 1 , ch. 18 ; bk. 2 , ch. 34 .— Tacitus , Histories , bk. 4 , ch. 83 .— Strabo , bk. 17 .— Martial , bk. 9 , ltr. 30 .