Heroic Bust of Serapis-Pantheos

Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 891. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Philip I. AD 244-249. BI Tetradrachm (11.81 g, 12h). Dated RY 4 (AD 246/7). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Heroic bust of Serapis-Pantheos right, slight drapery on left shoulder, wearing horn of Ammon, calathus, and hem-hem crown, serpent-entwined trident over right shoulder; cornucopia to right, date across upper field. Köln 2732; Dattari (Savio) 4917; K&G 74.73. Good VF, dark gray patina. Very rare.

The god Serapis was a syncretistic Hellenistic-Egyptian god whose worship combined Greek and Egyptian religious beliefs. The name itself is formed by a combination of the Egyptian god of the Underworld, Osiris (Ausar), with Apis (Hapi), a manifestation of the regenerative god Ptah. As the chief god of the new Ptolemaic dynasty, Serapis soon became the subject of the chief royal cult. The belief in an afterlife made it one of the more popular mystery cults, and portraits of the god are known throughout the empire. In Alexandria a large temple complex, the Serapeum, was constructed, and continued to operate until it was destroyed by an angry Christian mob in the late 4th century AD.