Serapis

Serapis (Greek: Σέραπις, romanized: Sērapis; Latin: Serapis; Egyptian: Wsir-Hp or Osor-Hapi, meaning "Osiris-Apis") was a Graeco-Egyptian god who served as the deified, Hellenized version of the Egyptian god Osiris in the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Serapis was introduced in the third century BC during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter, possibly as a syncretic or "combined" god who encompassed attributes of the Egyptian gods Osiris and Apis, as well as those of the Greek gods Hades, Dionysus, Asklepios, and Zeus. The cult of Serapis and his consort Isis spread throughout the Hellenistic world, eventually reaching Rome, and the god became one of the most widely worshipped deities in the ancient Mediterranean world. The worship of Serapis declined in the 4th century AD as Christianity rose to prominence, and the last temple of Serapis was closed in 535 AD by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I.