CHAP. XIII. ANTIPATHY TO SAUAPIS. 3C)5 



sanias*, "the most splendid, as tlie former was 

 the most ancient." Tacitus also states, tliat, " at 

 llhacotist, a small temple had been consecrated to 

 the same Deity and to lais before that time." Tlie 

 Deity, tlien, to whose temple they allude, was Osiris ; 

 Sarapis, who was only introduced into temples 

 built by the Ptolemies and Ca'sars, was a modified 

 form of the husband of Isis j and the God of Si- 

 nope was thought or made to accord with the same 

 Deity. AV^e may at once reject the statement 

 of Eustathius, that the Jupiter of Sinope was the 

 Deity of Memphis, as we may question the truth 

 of there being a hill near that city which bore the 

 name of Sinopion. 



The endeavour, on the part of his votaries, to 

 discover in Sarapis a resemblance to so many dif- 

 ferent Deities, arose from their desire to remove 

 that antipathy to his worship which the Egyptians 

 had conceived, from the moment this foreign Deity 

 was introduced into their country ; and every 

 means were resorted to which could serve to 

 dispel their prejudice, or induce them to perceive 

 in him an affinity to their ancient Gods. But the 

 artifice had, as might be expected, little effect 

 upon the priesthood, with the exception of those 

 appointed to temples erected by the Ptolemies, 

 in remote places, as at the Oases, Berenice, 

 and other towns situated in the desert. And 

 while few Gods were known at Alexandria, but 



* Pausan. Athcn. 



f Hliacotis or Kacotis (Racut) stood where Alcxaiulria was built. 

 Tacit. Hibt. lili. iv. 64. ; and Strabo, xvii. p. 545. 



