ancient city of Alexandria

WORKSHOPS continued

Alexandria and the Cult of Serapis

Ancient Alexandria was the Open Center of Antiquity, bringing together the religious traditions of the Ancient World, and attempting to find a spiritual worldview underlying all systems of belief. Chaldean, Egyptian, Greek, and Hebrew systems and philosophy were fused together in the libraries of Alexandria. At the heart of this process was the Serapeion, a library and temple devoted to the worship of Serapis, a god who was an amalgam of different metals, different times and different religions. We will examine the cult of Serapis and its relationship with other elements of the Alexandrian synthesis.