Exceptional Heroic Bust of Sarapis-Pantheos

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 723. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $1000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Philip I. AD 244-249. BI Tetradrachm (14.64 g, 12h). Alexandria mint. Dated RY 4 (AD 246/7). A K M IOV FILIPPOC EVCE, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Heroic bust of Sarapis-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; L–D (date) across field. Köln 2732; Dattari 4916; Milne 3639; Emmett 3510. Near EF, olive-green and brown patina. Very rare.

The god Sarapis 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.