Sarapis rose to prominence during the reign of
Ptolemy I. He represented a Hellenistic anthropomorphization of the ancient
Egyptian Apis bull into a Human god. It is not certain whether he was "created" under
Ptolemy I from a merger of
Osiris and
Apis, or whether he was already being worshipped at Memphis as Sar-Apis. The evidence is ambiguous. (Hugh Bowden, Mystery Cults of the Ancient World, p.160-161.)
The
Apis bull itself likely started as a symbol of the living image (or
ba) of the
Egyptian god Ptah of Memphis. However, by the 4th century BC, the
Apis bull was believed to become
Osiris after its death, under the name Osor-Hapi, or, to the
Greeks, Oserapis. Under the Ptolemies, Sarapis was made to look like
Zeus or Ascelpius, but wearing a
chiton or
himation (i.e. less nude than
Zeus) and wearing a
kalathos (grain measure) as a crown. Sarapis took the place of
Osiris.
Votive offerings in temples include a mixture of images of Sarapis and of the
Apis bull showing that they were effectively seen as the same.
(The
Cambridge History of Religions in the Ancient World, Volume II, p.174, 177-178, 182)
In any event worship of Sarapis (thus incorporating
Apis), and of
Isis, was widespread across the entire Empire, not just
Egypt. Witness the Temple of
Isis and Sarapis on the Campus
Martius voted by the
second triumvirate in 43 BC, the fantastic Isaeum Savariense museum in Szombathely,
Hungary (
Roman Savaria), and the
inscription evidence of a fanvm isidis at
London.
SC