سرابيوم (سقارة)
( Serapeum of Saqqara )The Serapeum of Saqqara was the ancient Egyptian burial place for sacred bulls of the Apis cult at Memphis. It was believed that the bulls were incarnations of the god Ptah, which would become immortal after death as Osiris-Apis. a name which evolved to Userhapi (ⲟⲩⲥⲉⲣϩⲁⲡⲓ) in Coptic, and Serapis (Σέραπις), in the Hellenistic period.
Over a timespan of approximately 1400 years, from the New Kingdom of Egypt to the Ptolemaic Period, at least sixty Apis are attested to have been interred at the Serapeum. The earliest burials are found in isolated tombs, as the cult gained importance underground galleries were dug that connected subsequent burial chambers. One of the cult practices involved the dedication of commemorative stone tablets with dates relating to the life and death of the Apis. This data was c...Read more
The Serapeum of Saqqara was the ancient Egyptian burial place for sacred bulls of the Apis cult at Memphis. It was believed that the bulls were incarnations of the god Ptah, which would become immortal after death as Osiris-Apis. a name which evolved to Userhapi (ⲟⲩⲥⲉⲣϩⲁⲡⲓ) in Coptic, and Serapis (Σέραπις), in the Hellenistic period.
Over a timespan of approximately 1400 years, from the New Kingdom of Egypt to the Ptolemaic Period, at least sixty Apis are attested to have been interred at the Serapeum. The earliest burials are found in isolated tombs, as the cult gained importance underground galleries were dug that connected subsequent burial chambers. One of the cult practices involved the dedication of commemorative stone tablets with dates relating to the life and death of the Apis. This data was crucial for the establishment of an Egyptian chronology in the 19th century.
It is part of the Saqqara necropolis, which includes several animal catacombs, notably the burial vaults of the mother cows of the Apis.
The Greater Vaults of the Serapeum, known for the large sarcophagi for the mummified bulls, are accessible to visitors.
The Apis cult dates back to very early times, possibly founded by pharaoh Menes, around 3,000 BC.[1]
The most ancient burials at the Serapeum, found in isolated tombs, date back to the reign of Amenhotep III of the Eighteenth Dynasty in the 14th century BC.
Khaemweset, working as an administrator during the reign of his father Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC) in the Nineteenth Dynasty, ordered a tunnel with side chambers – now known as the "Lesser Vaults" – to be excavated, for the burial of the Apis bulls.
A second gallery of chambers, now called the "Greater Vaults", was commenced under Psamtik I (664–610 BC) of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty and extended during the Ptolemaic dynasty to approximately 350 m in length, 5 m tall and 3 m wide, along with a parallel service tunnel. From Amasis II to the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the sarcophagi for the Apis bulls were made from hard stone, weighing up to 70 tonnes each.
A long avenue, flanked by 370-380 sphinxes,[2] likely was built under Nectanebo I, (379/8–361/0 BC) the founder of the Thirtieth Dynasty (the last native one).
Disuse
The Serapeum was abandoned at the beginning of the Roman Period, shortly after 30 BC.[3] Strabo (64 BC–30 AD) noted that some of the Sphinxes of the dromos had been covered in sand by the wind.[4] Apis continued to be buried elsewhere in the Saqqara-Abusir region until the 3rd century AD.[5][6] Arnobius, around 300 AD, stated that the Egyptians penalized anyone who revealed the places in which Apis lay hidden.[7]
The looting of the Serapeum started at a time when hieroglyphs could still be read, as the names of the bulls were scratched out on many of the stelas. All tombs, except two, were plundered and desecrated. The bull mummies were torn to pieces, and stones were piled on the sarcophagi as a sign of contempt.[8][9]
RediscoveryThe temple was discovered by Auguste Mariette,[10] who had gone to Egypt to collect Coptic-language manuscripts, but later grew interested in the remains of the Saqqara necropolis.[11]
In 1850, Mariette found the head of one sphinx sticking out of the shifting desert dunes, cleared the sand and followed the boulevard to the site.
After using explosives to clear rocks blocking the entrance to the catacomb, he excavated most of the complex.[4] He found one undisturbed burial in the Lesser Vaults, which is now at the Agricultural Museum in Cairo.
Unfortunately, Mariette left most of his notes unpublished and many of them got destroyed when the Nile flooded the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities at Boulaq in 1878.[12][13] Gaston Maspero released one volume of Le Sérapeum de Memphis based on the surviving manuscripts in 1882, a year after Mariette's death.[14]
The Serapeum was open to visitors shortly after excavations, in the second half of the 19th century, Yet sands quickly made all parts but the Greater Vaults inaccessible.[15]
For guests, prior to the installation of electric lamps, a series of candles on wooden stands lightly illuminated the vaults, and bright magnesium light was used from time to time. When the then Prince of Wales, Edward VII visited the Serapeum, he had luncheon with his party in one of the sarcophagi.[16]
The 1992 Cairo earthquake caused cracks to appear on the tunnel walls, and the Serapeum was closed to the public.[17] In 2001 conservation work started, stabilizing the roofs and walls, which lasted until 2012.[18][19]
The majority of the Greater Vaults is accessible to tourists nowadays.
Add new comment