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Isis, in Egyptian mythology, is the goddess of fertility and
motherhood. According to the Egyptian belief, she was the daughter of the
god Keb ("Earth") and the goddess Nut ("Sky"), the
sister-wife of Osiris, judge of
the
dead, and mother of Horus, god of day. After the end of the New Kingdom in
the 4th century B.C.E. the center of Isis worship, which was then reaching
its greatest peak, was on Philae, an island in the Nile, where a great
temple was built to her during the 30th Dynasty. Ancient stories described
Isis as
having great magical skill, and she was represented as human in form
though she was frequently described as wearing the horns of a cow. Her
personality was believed to resemble that of Athor, or Hathor, the goddess
of love and gaiety. The cult of Isis spread from
Alexandria throughout the Hellenistic world after the 4th century B.C.E.
It appeared in Greece in combination with the cults of Horus, her son, and
Serapis, the Greek name for
Osiris.
The Greek historian Herodotus identified Isis with
Demeter, the
Greek goddess of earth, agriculture, and fertility. The
tripartite cult (Trinity) of Isis, Horus, and Serapis was later introduced
around 86 B.C.E. into Rome in the consulship of
Lucius
Cornelius Sulla and became one of the most popular branches of Roman
religion. It later received a bad reputation through the
licentiousness of some of its priestly rites, and subsequent consuls
suppressed or limited Isis worship. The cult died out in Rome after the
institution of Christianity, and the last Egyptian temples to Isis were
closed in the mid-6th century AD.
The worship of Isis became an independent Egyptian cult near the
close of the Middle Kingdom, which was 
concluded
by the XVIIth Dynasty in 1580 B.C.E. And during the succeeding millennium
under the New Kingdom, her shrines and temples spread into every corner of
the land. Statues of Isis suckling her infant son were familiar to all; in
this characteristic pose, Isis
became the venerated madonna of the pre-Christian world. For centuries,
Catholics mistook these images for Mary-Jesus. Sometimes,
Osiris was depicted with his wife and child; and the three became the type
of the Holy Family. The depiction of the seated holding or suckling the
child Horus is reminiscent of 
the
iconography of Mary and Jesus.
The cult of Isis appeared in Syria about the 7th century B.C.E. It was not, however, until the Hellenistic period beginning in 333 B.C.E. that it began spreading rapidly; in that year, a temple was erected for the goddess at Piraeus. During the reign of Ptolomy I Soter, 325-285 B.C.E., Isis became so popular in Greece that a great temple was built for her at the foot of the Acropolis; and in the ensuing centuries, as we learn from Pausanias, almost every Greek city and village had its Isis-temple.
Her cult, introduced into Italy in the second century B.C., was even more successful in the West. By 58 B.C.E. it had altars on the Capitoline and fifty-three chapels in Rome alone. In spite of sporadic persecution, in 43 the triumvirs ordered the erection of a temple to Isis and Serapis. In the first century of our era, the cult possessed several fine temples in Rome.
From a number of passages in the texts of various periods we learn that Isis possessed great skill in the working of magic, and several examples of the manner in which she employed it are well known. Thus when she wished to make Ra reveal to her his greatest and most secret name, she made a venomous reptile out of dust mixed with the spittle of the god, and by uttering over it certain words of power she made it to bite Ra as he passed. When she had succeeded in obtaining from the god his most hidden name, which he only revealed because he was on the point of death, she uttered words which had the effect of driving the poison out of his limbs, and Ra recovered.
"Renowned for her skillful use of witchcraft and magic, Isis was particularly remembered by the Ancient Egyptians as 'strong of tongue', that is being in command of words of power 'which she knew with correct pronunciation, and halted not in her speech, and was perfect both in giving the command and in saying the word' 'Egyptian Magic'. In short she was believed, by means of her voice alone, to be capable of bending reality and overriding the laws of physics" (Graham Hancock, Fingerprints of the Gods).
Now Isis not only used the words of power, but she also had knowledge of the way in which to pronounce them so that the beings or things to which they were addressed would be compelled to listen to them and, having listened, would be obliged to fulfill her bequests. This sure sounds like some of the Kabbalah which will come later.
The Egyptians believed that if the best effect was to be produced by words of power they must be uttered in a certain tone of voice, and at a certain rate, and at a certain time of the day or night, with appropriate gestures or ceremonies. In the Hymn to Osiris it is said that Isis was well skilled in the use of words of power, and it was by means of these that she restored her husband to life, and obtained from him an heir. It is not known what the words were which she uttered on this occasion, but she appears to have obtained them from Thoth, the "lord of divine words," and it was to him that she appealed for help to restore Horus to life after he had been stung to death by a scorpion.
In the Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead is found a Chapter (No. clvi.) which was composed for the purpose of bestowing upon the deceased some of the magical power of the goddess. The Chapter was intended to be recited over an amulet called thet, made of carnelian, which had to be steeped in water of ankhami flowers, and set in a sycamore plinth, and if this were laid on the neck of a dead person it would place him under the protection of the words of power of Isis, and he would be able to go wheresoever he pleased in the Underworld. The words of the Chapter were: -- "Let the blood of isis, and the magical powers (or spirits) of Isis, and the words of power of Isis, be mighty to protect and keep safely this great god (i.e., the deceased), and to guard him from him that would do unto him anything which he abominateth."
The symbol of Isis in the heavens was the star Sept (Sirius), which was greatly beloved because its appearance marked not only the beginning of a new year, but also announced the advance of the Inundation of the Nile, which betokened renewed wealth and prosperity of the country. As such Isis was regarded as the companion of Osiris, whose soul dwelt in the star Sah, i.e., Orion, and she was held to have brought about the destruction of the fiend Apep, and of his hosts of darkness by means of the might of her words of power. As the light-giver at this season of the year she was called Khut, as the mighty earth-goddess her name was Usert, as the Great Goddess of the Underworld she was Thenenet, as the power which shot forth the Nile flood she was Sati, and sept, as the embracer of the land and producer of fertility by her waters she was Anqet, as the producer and giver of life she was Ankhet, as the goddess of cultivated lands and fields she was Sekhet, as the goddess of the harvest she was Renenet, as the goddess of food which was offered to the gods she was Tcheft, and lived int he Temple of Tchefau, and as the great lady of the Underworld, who assisted in transforming the bodies of the blessed dead into those whrein they were to live in the realm of Osiris, her name was Ament, i.e., the "hidden" goddess. In this last capacity she shared with Osiris the attribute of "giver of life," and she provided food for the dead as well as for the living; as Ament also she was declared to be the mother of Ra. In fact, at a comparatively early period in Egyptian history Isis had absorbed the attributes of all the great primitive goddesses, and of all the local goddesses such as Nekhebet, Uatchet, Net, Bast, Hathor, etc., and she was even identified as the female counterpart of the primeval abyss of water from which sprang all life. From what has been said above it is manifestly impossible to limit the attributes of Isis, for we have seen that she possesses the powers of a water goddess, an earth goddess, a corn goddess, a star goddess, a queen of the Underworld, and a woman, and that she united in herself one or more of the attributes of all the goddesses of Egypt known to us.
As you read the following "invocation of Isis" you should ask yourself if you have ever read anything familiar to this; say the book of Revelation?
I beheld a great
wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the Sun, with the Moon at her feet.
And on her head was a diadem of the twelve stars. Hear
me, O Lady Isis, hear and save. O
thou queen of love and mercy, thou crowned with the throne, thou hauled as
with the Moon. Thou whose countenance is mild and glowing, even as grass
refreshed by rain. Hear me, our Lady Isis, hear and
save. O thou who art in matter manifest. Thou bride and queen as
thou art mother and daughter of the Slain One. O thou who art the Lady of
the Earth. Hear me, O Lady Isis, hear and save.
O thou Lady of the amber skin. Lady of love and of victory, bright gate of
glory through the darkening skies. O crowned with the Light and life and
love. Hear me, our 
Lady,
hear and save by thy sacred flower, the Lotus of eternal life and
beauty; by thy love and mercy; by thy wrath and vengeance; by my desire
toward thee, by all the magical names of old hear me,
O Lady, hear and save. Open thy bosom to thy child, stretch forth
thy arms and strain me to thy breasts. Let my lips touch thy lips
ineffable. Hear me, O Lady Isis, hear and save.
Lift up thy voice to aid me in this critical hour. Lift
up thy voice most musical. Cry aloud, O queen and mother, to save me from
that I fear most. I invoke thee to initiate my soul. The whirling
of my dance, may it be a spell and a link with thy great light, so that in
the darkest hour, the Light may arise in me and bring me to thine own
glory and incorruptibility. Isis am I, and from my life are fed all
showers and suns, all moons that wax and wane, all stars and streams, the
living and the dead, the mystery of pleasure and of pain. I am the Mother.
I the speaking sea. I am the Earth in its fertility. Life, death, love,
hatred, light, darkness, return to me, to me. Isis am I, and to my beauty
draw. All glories of the Universe bow down, the blossom and the mountain
and the dawn. Fruits blush and women are creations crowned. I am the
priest, the sacrifice, the shrine. I am the love and life of the Divine.
Life, death, love, hatred, light, darkness, are surely mine, are mine.
Isis am I, the love and light of Earth, the wealth of kisses, the delight
of tears, the bowel and pleasure never come to birth, the endless infinite
desire of years. I am the shrine at which thy long desire devoured thee
with intolerable fire. I was sung music, passion, death upon thy lyre, thy
lyre. I am the grail and I the glory now. I am the flame and fueler of thy
breath. I am the star of God upon thy brow. I am thy queen enraptured and
possessed. High do these sweet rivers welcome to the sea, ocean of love
that shall encompass thee. Life, death, love, hatred, light, darkness,
return to me, to me. Hear, Lady
Isis, and receive my prayer. Thee,
thee I worship and invoke. Hail to thee, sole mother of my life.
I am Isis, mistress of the whole land. I was instructed by Hermes, and
with Hermes I invented the writings of the nations in order that not all
should write with the same letters. I gave mankind their laws, and
ordained what no one can alter. I am the eldest daughter of Kronos. I am
the wife and sister of the king Osiris. I am she who rises in the dog
star. I am she who is called the goddess if women. I am she who separated
the heaven from the earth. I have pointed out their paths to the star. I
have invented seamanship. I have brought together men and women. I have
ordained that the elders shall be beloved by the children. With my brother
Osiris I made an end of cannibalism. I have
instructed mankind in the mysteries. I have taught reverence of the divine
statues. I have established the Temple precincts. I have
overthrown the dominion of the tyrants. I have caused men to love women. I
have made justice more powerful than silver and gold. I have caused truth
to be considered beautiful. Come unto me and pledge unto me your loyalties
as I pledge mine unto you. Oh mother Isis, great art thou in thy splendor,
mighty is thy name and thy love has no bounds. Thou art Isis, who art all
that ever was, and all that there is to be, for no mortal man hath ever
unveiled thee. In all thy grace thou has brought forth the sun, the fruit
that was born forth for the redemption of man. Oh Isis, Isis, Isis,
graciously hear our cry unto thee, we mourn for thy blessings on us this
day, every day, to nourish, to aid and to fill the emptiness within, that
only you our beloved mother can satiate. Unto thee do we pledge our solemn
oath of dedication, and for the power and glory of him the Unknowable One
to witness our devotion to thee. For as we now receive thee into our
hearts, we ask that you never leave us, in times of trial and joy, and
even unto death."
Answer for yourself: Does this remind you of the worship of Mary in the Catholic Church, let alone prayers to Mary?
Her cult spread from Alexandria, Egypt, to all the Mediterranean countries, especially Greece and Rome, after the fourth century B.C.,E. and reached a peak in the third century B.C.E. This is of major importance for our study as the Essenes of Alexandria, Egypt, adopted much of this Egyptian synthesis of religious ideas and incorporated many of them, not only into their own theological mix, but even went so far as to incorporate such religious ideas into their translation of the Jewish Scriptures into Greek which is today called the Septuagint.
The cult died out in Rome after the institution of Christianity, and the last Egyptian temples to Isis were closed around 550 AD.
In the second century A.D., the Isis-cult became a bitter and effective antagonist of Christianity and numbered among its initiates many outstanding Romans. With the accession of Constantine; the shrines and temples of Isis were everywhere razed. It was not, however, until the time of Justinian, about 560 that the last remnants of her worship at Philae were extirpated. The independent cult of Isis, therefore, enjoyed a continuous existence exceeding two thousand years.
The cult of Isis possessed such vigor and longevity because she encompassed within herself the virtues and attractions of all her competitors; her ceremonials were elaborate and solemn; her dramatic presentations convincing and fascinating; her promises scarcely to be outdone; and her discipline delightful to souls burdened with sin and guilt.
The Eucharist of Isis consisted of the bread which she had given mankind and the milk which flowed from her bosom; the chalice from which the initiate drank this sacred potion was a cup formed in the shape of a woman's breast.
Ore know also that Isis, like Demeter, had two great festivals, one in the spring and another in the fall: the former coincided with the Egyptian harvest, and was celebrated at the vernal equinox, March 20. The autumnal celebration, however, was the greater, and consisted of a passion play which continued for four days; although the date varied in different places, it usually began on October 31, and ended on November 3. On the first day, actors impersonating Isis, Nephthys, Anubis, Horus, etc., searched for the body of Osiris; weeping and wailing, they manifested all the signs of grief. On the two days following, the portions of Osiris were found, reconstituted, and resurrected. This was the central element in the myth, for if Osiris could regain life and become immortal through the power of Isis, then all her devotees could do the same. The fourth day of the festival was called the Hilaria and was given over to the most unrestrained rejoicing since the god, now risen into immortality, would the kindly judge of all who had become divine by drinking the milk of Isis. And there could be little doubt concerning the future felicity of those who put their trust in her; for assuredly, Osiris would not deny mercy to those for whom Isis made intercession when they appeared before his awful throne.
There was one important element in the Isis-cult which made it unique: the veneration of the chaste and beneficent Mother Goddess. Fortunately, a classic called The Golden Ass written in the second century A.D. by Lucius Apuleius gives us a great deal of information concerning the cult. In this celebrated tale, the author, drinking the potion of a witch, was turned into an ass, and could regain his normal shape only by eating roses At last, the glorious Isis appears to him In a dream, Informing him how to find the necessary flowers; and he addresses her as the "blessed Queen of Heaven . . . the Dame Ceres . . . motherly nurse of all fruitful things on earth." In reply, Isis declares herself "nature's mother, mistress of all the elements, the first-begotten offspring of all the ages, of deities mightiest, queen of the dead.... The Phrygians, first-born of men, call me the mother of the gods that dwell at Pessinus; the Athenians, sprung from the soil they till, know me as Cecropian Minerva; the wave-beaten Cyprians style me Venus of Paphos; the Archer-Cretans, Diana of the hunter's net; the Sicilians, with their threefold speech, Stygian Proserpine; the Eleusinians, the ancient goddess Ceres. Others call me . . . by my true name, Isis the Queen."
Isis had become the symbol and the synthesis of all the great goddesses of love, protection, creative life, and maternal nourishment which the world had ever known.
Apuleius is at last initiated into the order and becomes a priest; he dares not reveal the secrets of the mystery, but the experience itself he preserves in the following dithyramb: "I drew nigh to the confines of death . . . I approached the gods above, the gods below, and worshiped them face to face."
In the author's hallucinations, the deity appeared as the "Holy and eternal protectress of the human race" who "tendest the mischances of miserable men with a sweet mother's love . . . givest the light to the sun, guidest the universe, and tramples" under foot the powers of hell . . . At thy word, the winds blow, the clouds give increase, the seeds spring to birth, and the buds burgeon . . . My voice is too poor in utterance to tell what I feel concerning thy majesty. Nay, had I a thousand tongues, and everlasting continuance of unwearied speech, it would be all too little."
"Isis, represented in the Song of Solomon by the dark maid of Jerusalem, is symbolic of receptive nature - the watery, maternal principle which creates all things out of herself after impregnation has been achieved by the virility of the sun" (Manly P. Hall, Masonic, Hermetic, Quabbalistic & Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy).
Isis' magic was allied to the wisdom of Thoth and given to mankind as a skill in Healing; she was also responsible, as the counterpart of Osiris, for teaching the household arts to women. She taught them weaving and spinning, and how to grind the corn. Her strongest appeal was to the sorrowing wife and devoted mother - every woman could identify with her and she has been seen by some commentators as the archetype of a cult that continues in the Christian churches to the present day" (Richard Patrick, Egyptian Mythology).
"Cyril, the Bishop of Alexandria, had openly embraced the cause of Isis, the Egyptian goddess, and had anthropomorphized her into Mary, the mother of God" (H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled).
"Immaculate is our Lady Isis...the very terms applied afterwards to that personage (the Virgin Mary) who succeeded to her form, titles, symbols, rites, and ceremonies....Thus, her devotees carried into the new priesthood the former badges of their profession, the obligation to celibacy, the tonsure, and the surplice, omitting, unfortunately, the frequent ablutions prescribed by the ancient creed." "The 'Black Virgins' , so highly reverenced in certain French cathedrals - proved, when at last critically examined - basalt figures of Isis!'" (King,The Gnostics and their Remains).
When the earliest teachings of Jesus and the church first emerged, it was devoid of a mother-goddess. However, since the ancient world was permeated with the cults of Demeter, Cybele, and Isis, it was impossible for Christianity to conquer without filling the void created by their departure. And in this, as in everything else, the Catholic Church demonstrated the accuracy of its name: it was indeed all-inclusive. As the need for the protective and beneficent goddess of chaste, maternal love was imperative, the Virgin Mary gradually grew from the woman to whom Jesus would not even speak into the magnificent replica of Isis, Queen of Heaven.
The Ptolemies were powerful supporters of the native Egyptian religious foundations, the economic and political power of which was, however, carefully controlled. A great deal of the building and restoration work in many of the most important Egyptian temples is Ptolemaic, particularly from the period of about 150-50 B.CE., and the monarchs appear on temple reliefs in the traditional forms of the Egyptian kings. The native traditions persisted in village temples and local cults, many having particular associations with species of sacred animals or birds. At the same time, the Greeks created their own identifications of Egyptian deities, identifying Amon with Zeus, Horus with Apollo, Ptah with Hephaestus, and so on. They also gave some deities, such as Isis, a more universal significance that ultimately resulted in the spread of her mystery cult throughout the Mediterranean world.
The impact of the Greeks is most obvious in two phenomena:
In ancient Egyptian religion, sacred bull deity worshiped at Memphis. The cult of Apis originated at least as early as the 1st dynasty (c. 2925-c. 2775 B.C.E.). Like other bull deities, Apis was probably at first a fertility god concerned with the propagation of grain and herds; but he became associated with Ptah, the paramount deity of the Memphite area, and also with Osiris (as User-Hapi) and Sokaris, gods of the dead and of the underworld. As Apis-Atum he was associated with the solar cult and was often represented with the sun-disk between his horns. Much of what is known about Apis comes from Greco-Roman writers. He was black and white and distinguished by special markings. Some ancient writers said that he was begotten by a ray of light from heaven, and others that he was sired by an Apis bull. When a sacred bull died, the calf that was to be his successor was sought and installed in the Apieion at Memphis. His priests drew omens from his behaviour, and his oracle had a wide reputation. When an Apis bull died, it was buried with great pomp at Saqqarah, in underground galleries known in the classical world as the Sarapeum. It was probably in Memphis that the worship of Sarapis (after the Greek form Osorapis, a combination of Osiris and Apis in the image of an eastern Greek god) arose under Ptolemy I Soter (305-282 BC). From Alexandria, it spread to become one of the most widespread oriental cults in the Roman Empire.
The name Serapis was formed by combining Osiris with Apis, the bull; and this god was the Hellenized version of his Egyptian prototype, in which his functions were combined with those of the somewhat parallel Greek deity, Hades or Aidoneus. It is certain that the ithyphallic aspects of Osiris were heavily emphasized and that Serapis was related to Priapus, son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, who symbolized the generative principle. The worship of Serapis came into wide vogue after the conquests of Alexander, first in Egypt and then throughout the Graeco Roman world; although he certainly retained some of the characteristics of the ancient Osiris as well as some congenital relationship with Isis, his cult seems to have become independent in the third century B.C.E. We read in Socrates Scholasticus that even in the fourth century A.D. the Egyptians believed that if Serapis were offended, the Nile would not overflow (Eusebius, Eccl. History, I, viii). Again notice the center of Alexandria, Egypt, for the worship of Serapis. The center of the worship was in Alexandria, where a Serapeum was built during the Ptolemaic dynasty; like all the other mysteries, its esoteric doctrines and practices were jealously guarded secrets, known only to its mystics.
The chief center of the worship of Serapis in Ptolemaic times was Alexandria, where it was established, according to tradition, by Ptolemy Soter. This great ruler of Egypt appears to have wished to find some god who could be worshipped both by Greeks and Egyptians at a common shrine, and one whom he could cause to be regarded as the characteristic god of his dynasty in Egypt. The most important Egyptian god at the time was Osiris, that is to say Osiris-Apis, the great god of the Egyptian Underworld, but it was impossible for him to remove the great sanctuary of this god, and he therefore determined either to rebuild some ruined Serapeum at Alexandria, or to found a new one wherein he might set up a statue which should be worshipped both as the god of the Egytian Underworld and the Greek Hades, and in which would be united the attributes of Osiris Khent Amenti, and of Dis. Whilst Ptolemy was meditating upon these or similar things he had a dream, wherein a colosssal statue of some god appeared to him, and told him to remove it from where it was to Alexandria; according to Plutarch (De Iside et Osiride, 28), he had never seen a similar statue, and he knew neither the place where it stood, nor to whom it belonged. One day he happened to mention his dream to Sosibius, and described the statue which he had seen, whereon this man declared that he had seen a statue like it at Sinope. Tradition says that this was Sinope on the Pontus, and adds that as the inhabitants of the city were extremely unwilling to part with their statue, it, of its own accord, after waiting for three years, entered into a ship and arrived at Alexandria safely after a voyage of only three days. When the Greeks came to see the statue it was introduced to them as the god Hades, and the Egyptian priets were ready to bestow upon him the name Asar-Hapi, or Serapis, by which name the Greeks were, apparently, quite contented to call him. Thus both the Greeks and Egyptians in Alexandria acquired a god whom they willingly worshipped as the god of the Underworld. As soon as the god who was now called Serapis had been established in his new home, his fomer worship and rites were greatly modified, and his services and processions were made to resemble those of the Egyptians, who naturally expected their main features to be brought into harmony with those of the cult of Osiris, their national god. It appears to have been to the interest of all parties to welcome Serapis, and all must admire the astute action of Ptolemy, who succeeded in making the Greeks think that in worshipping this god they were adoring one of their own native deities, and who persuaded the Egyptians that they were maintaining the supremacy of Osiris-Apis in spite of the fact that the Macedonians were the rulers and masters of the country. Some doubt has been cast upon the identification of the Sinope mentioned by Plutarch with the Sinope of Pontus, but with insufficient reason. The Serapeum which Ptolemy repaired, or founded, was probably near Raqetit, and was a very remarkable building; its main plan seems to have resembled that of the famous Serapeum at Memphis, but parts of it were richly painted and gilded, and it possessed a fine library which was said to contain some 300,000 volumes.
Alexandria occupied a
unique place in the history of literature, ideas, scholarship, and science
for almost a millennium after the death of its founder. Under the royal
patronage of the Ptolemies, and in an environment almost oblivious to its
Egyptian surroundings, Greek culture was preserved and developed. Early in
the Ptolemaic period, probably in the reign of Ptolemy I Soter, the Museum
("Shrine of the Muses") was established within the palace
complex. Strabo, who saw it early in the Roman period, described it as
having a covered walk, an arcade with recesses and seats, and a large
house containing the dining hall of the members of the Museum, who lived a
communal existence. The Great Library of Alexandria
(together with its offshoot in the Sarapeum)
was indispensable to the functioning of the scholarly community in the
Museum. Books were collected voraciously under the Ptolemies, and at its
height the library's collection probably numbered close to 500,000 papyrus
rolls, most of them containing more than one work. The major poets of the
Hellenistic period, Theocritus, Callimachus, and Apollonius of Rhodes, all
took up residence and wrote there. Scholarship flourished, preserving and
ordering the manuscript traditions of much of the classical literature
from Homer onward. Librarian-scholars such as Aristophanes of Byzantium
and his pupil Aristarchus made critical editions and wrote commentaries
and works on grammar. Also notable was the cultural influence of
Alexandria's Jewish community, which is inferred from the fact that the
Pentateuch was first translated into Greek at Alexandria during the
Ptolemaic period. One by-product of this kind of activity was that
Alexandria became the centre of the book trade, and the works of the
classical authors were copied there and diffused among a literate Greek
readership scattered in the towns and villages of the Nile Valley.
The legendary Serapeum is where the sacred bulls of Apis are buried. Worship of the Apis bull was a late development. The bull was thought to have been an incarnation of Ptah.
In 390 A.D., Bishop Theophilus, with the aid of Emperor Theodosius, razed the Serapeum of Alexandria. "And he had the phalli of Priapus carried through the midst of the Forum . . . the governor of Alexandria and the commander-in-chief of the troops of Egypt assisted Theophilus in demolishing the heathen temples . . . All the images were accordingly broken in pieces, except one statue of the god before mentioned, which Theophilus preserved and set up in a public place; 'Lest,' said he, 'at a future time the heathen should deny that they ever worshipped such gods'" (Eusebius, Eccl. Hist., I, xviii).
And so in that pagan world of freedom and diversity, each could choose whatever religion he liked best; but analysis reveals that mankind was plunging headlong into a general disaster for which no solution could be found and as a result of which some international and intolerant religion was inevitable to administer a fantastic soporific, to offer the masses hope and consolation, and to expunge by universal ruin the ineradicable frustration created by the Roman Empire.
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