ABSTRACT
The cult of the god Serapis originated in Egypt but became widespread throughout much of the eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Sanctuaries to Serapis, called serapeia, could be found everywhere from Italy to the Levant. Although Serapis was generally thought of within Egypt as a Greek god made by and for the Ptolemies, outside of Egypt, his cult and his priests were perceived as unquestionably Egyptian. This was reflected in the material culture of his sanctuaries, which took on Egyptian architectural and decorative elements in a style sometimes called “Egyptianising”. This chapter explores a reading of the material culture from three serapeia on the Aegean island of Delos through the lens of diasporic experience, considering the serapeia and their priests as parts of an Egyptian religious diaspora.
