1966.70

Head of Serapis

Purchased. Preserved ht 8cm.

Alabaster head of Serapis. The head is broken at the neck and originally carried a kalathos above that has been broken off. The back of the head is rather flat but has not been damaged. The surface is in good condition and is not much worn.

The head is an example of the commonest representation of the god Serapis; he is shown with long hair and beard and the characteristic five locks of hair falling over his forehead. On his head he originally wore a kalathos or modius, a form of ceremonial headdress that looks like a basket.

The type is commonly found and examples vary widely in size and style; it probably derives from the prototype statue of Sarapis in his most important shrine at Alexandria. Serapis was a god whose cult was created by Ptolemy the First and his shrine at Alexandria, built by Ptolemy III, became one of the most famous in the ancient world. He combined features of Egyptian religion and of various Greek gods, and his cult, though not so popular as that of Isis, spread widely over the Mediterranean world.

The date of our head is hard to establish; the use of the drill, especially noticeable in the mouth and in the hair on each side of the face suggests a fairly late date; but the technique may be due rather to the fragility of the material which did not allow deep cutting by other means. The treatment of the eyes, eyebrows and back of the head may suggest an earlier date. Later first or second century AD. On the techniques of carving in the Roman period, see the handy introduction by D. Strong and A. Claridge in D. Strong and D. Brown (eds), Roman Crafts (London 1976) 195-207.

For a good and well-preserved example, see E. Vassilika, Greek and Roman Art (Fitzwilliam Museum Handbook, Cambridge 1998) no. 50 (colour ill.). For discussion with further references and good series of examples, see A. Adriani, Repertorio d'arte dell' Egitto greco-romano A, II (Palermo 1961) 41-42 and no. 154ff., pl. 75ff. and W. Hornbostel, Sarapis. Studien zur Überlieferungsgeschichte, den Erscheinungsformen und Wandlungen der Gestalt eines Gottes (Leiden 1973). See also V. Tran Tam Tinh, Sérapis debout: corpus des monuments de Sérapis debout et étude iconographique (Etudes préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'Empire romain, 94, Leiden 1983) for representations of the god standing; and the coverage in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae vii (1994) 666-692 (G. Clerc and J. Leclant).

For his cult and shrine in Alexandria, J.E. Stambaugh, Sarapis under the Early Ptolemies (Etudes préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l’Empire romain, 25, Leiden 1972); M. Sabottka, Das Serapeum in Alexandria: Untersuchungen zur Architektur und Baugeschichte des Heiligtums von der frühen ptolemäischen Zeit bis zur Zerstörung 391 n. Chr. (Etudes alexandrines, Cairo 2008).

For the Ptolemaic introduction of Serapis into the Greco-Egyptian pantheon, there is a good discussion by F. Dunand, “The ‘Creation’ of Sarapis”, in: F. Dunand and C. Zivie-Coche, Gods and Men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to 395 CE (Ithaca, N.Y., 2004) 214-221. On the wider impact of his cult, see, inter alia, R. Merkelbach, Isis regina, Zeus Sarapis: die griechisch-ägyptische Religion nach den Quellen dargestellt (Stuttgart 1995); S.A. Takács, Isis and Sarapis in the Roman World (Leiden 1995). For the excavation of his sanctuary at Roman Ostia, a significant site, see R. Mar (ed.), El santuario de Sarapis en Ostia (Tarragona 2001).

Folio Fine Art Ltd (London), Catalogue 40 (September 1966) no. 134 (ill.); J.R. Green with B. Rawson, Catalogue of Antiquities in the Australian National University, A.N.U. (Canberra, 1981) 92-93.