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Reconstructing the Serapeum in Alexandria from the Archaeological Evidence*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2012

Judith S. McKenzie
Affiliation:
St Hugh's College, Oxford
A. T. Reyes
Affiliation:
Groton School
Günter Grimm
Affiliation:
St Hugh's College, Oxford (J.S.M.)
Judith S. McKenzie
Affiliation:
Universität Trier(G.G.)

Extract

The Serapeum or Sarapeion, which contained the Temple of Serapis, was Alexandria's most important sanctuary, and one of the most famous pagan sanctuaries of antiquity. It was also the centre of a cult which spread widely across the Mediterranean in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Although the excavation of the Serapeum was completed half a century ago, the archaeological evidence for its form and phases has never been fully collected and analysed. When the records of the remains uncovered in c. 1900 are combined with those of the excavations during World War II, analysis of them reveals that there is sufficient evidence from which to suggest reliable reconstructions of both the Ptolemaic and Roman phases of the complex and to clarify its chronology. The archaeological evidence also elucidates the information in the written sources about the conversion of the site to Christian use after the destruction of the temple in A.D. 391. Previously unpublished architectural fragments excavated at the site in c. 1900 suggest that the architecture of the Ptolemaic sanctuary was ‘classical’ (Greek) not Egyptian in style (see Appendix).

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright ©Judith S. McKenzie and Sheila Gibson and A. T. Reyes 2004. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 Rowe 1941–2; Rowe Encl. Serapis; Rowe and Rees.

2 Mahmoud-Bey Mémoire, 54–5.

3 Botti, G., L'Acropole d'Alexandrie et le Sérapeum d'après Aphthonius et les fouilles (1895), 1627Google Scholar with plan; Botti Fouilles à la colonne; Botti, G., Plan du quartier “Rhacotis” dans l'Alexandrie romaine (1897)Google Scholar, plan (with area of excavations marked); Botti, G., ‘Additions au “Plan de la ville d'Alexandrie etc.’”, Bulletin de la Société d'archéologie d'Alexandrie 1 (1898), 4951;Google ScholarSabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 56Google Scholar.

4 History of Sieglin Expedition: Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. I, 714Google Scholar; G. Grimm, ‘City planning?’, in K. Hamma (ed.), Alexandria and Alexandrianism (1996), 69 n. 7.

5 Sabottka Serapeum. His volumes include the foundations, but not the architectural fragments included in the appendix here. A. Thiersch's impressive reconstruction elevation drawings are published (without detailed explanation) in H. Thiersch, August Thiersch als Architekt und Forscher (1923), pl. 22.

6 Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 4, pl. 1Google Scholar.

7 Rowe 1941–2, pl. 32.

8 Rowe Encl. Serapis, pl. 7.

9 Rowe Encl. Serapis, pl. 17.

10 Rowe 1941–2, pl. 32.

11 Rowe 1941–2, pl. 44.

12 Rowe 1941–2, pl. 31.

13 Rowe Encl. Serapis, pl. 16, fig. 2.

14 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 46, fig. 12.

15 Rowe Encl. Serapis, pl. 8.

16 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 20 n. 1, pl. 7.

17 Rowe 1941–2, pls 13, 18.

18 Main references: see nn. 1 and 3 above. Mahmoud-Bey Mémoire, 53–6; Breccia, E., ‘Les fouilles dans le Sérapéum d'Alexandrie en 1905–1906’, ASAE 8 (1907), 6276;Google Scholar Adriani Repertorio, 90–100 nos 54–5, pls 28–31; Fraser Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 27–8, 265–70; vol. 2, 83–92 nn. 190–203, 419–26 nn. 621–64; Pensabene Elementi Aless., 195–203; Tkaczow Topography, 68–70 site 15. Colour aerial view of site: Charron, A., ‘Sarapis, dieu tutélaire d'Alexandrie’, Archéologia 345 (1998), pl. on p. 26Google Scholar.

19 Ptolemaic foundations: Rowe Encl. Serapis, 19–33. Pls 3, 6–9, 17; Rowe and Rees, 487–95, plan opp. p. 492; Adriani, Repertorio, 93–4; Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 56251,Google Scholar with drawings and photographs from Sieglin Expedition.

20 Analysis of Roman evidence from the excavations: Rowe Encl. Serapis, 33–40, 60–4, pls 4–5, 7, 9, 17; Rowe and Rees, 496–502, plan opp. p. 492; Adriani Repertorio, 94–7; Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 252301Google Scholar with drawings and photographs from Sieglin Expedition.

21 Rowe Encl. Serapis, pl. 17.

22 Rowe and Rees, plan opp. p. 492.

23 Tac, Hist. 4.84. On the origin of Serapis, with references: Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. I, 246–68;Google Scholar V, cols 870–4; G. Hölbl, A History of the Ptolemaic Empire (2001), 99–101. On the origin of Rhakotis, the Egyptian name of Alexandria: Baines, J., ‘Possible implications of the Egyptian word for Alexandria’, JRA 16 (2003), 61–3Google Scholar. The ‘Serapeum in Rhakotis’ is mentioned in a papyrus (PRyl. 576) of the last quarter of the third century B.C., which indicates river craft being unloaded beside it. Given its location relative to the Canal of Alexandria (Fig. 1) this is possible: Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 144;Google Scholar vol. 2, 78 n. 182.

It is not definitely known whether or not the main Serapeum was the Serapeum dedicated by Parmenion outside the city walls, mentioned by Callimachus in his first Iambus (Fr. 191; Dieg. ll. 1–4 and 9 = Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 2, 427Google Scholar n. 670). This is because the precise route of the city walls near the Serapeum and the Lageion is not definitively known. Fraser assumed the Serapeum of Parmenion could not be the main Serapeum because he was under the impression that the latter was inside the city walls: Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 270–1, 735–6Google Scholar.

24 Clement, Protr. 4.42–3.

25 On the problems of identifying which Bryaxis this might have been: A. Stewart, Greek Sculpture: an Exploration (1990), 300–1 T 149.

26 Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 2, 398Google Scholar n. 450. According to Jerome's version of Eusebius' Chronicle the move took place in 286 B.C.: Eusebius Werke siebenter Band die Chronik des Hieronymus, ed. R. Helm (1956), 129 ll. 3–4. According to the Armenian version of Eusebius, in 278 B.C.: Eusebi Chronicorum Libri duo, ed. Schoene, A., vol. 2 (1866), 120Google Scholar in Eusebi Chronicorum Canonum quae supersunt, ed. A. Schoene. According to Cyril of Alexandria, in 284–281 B.C.: Cyril, Adv. lulianum 1.13.

27 For versions of the statue, with illustrations, see: W. Hornbostel, Sarapis (1973), 33–130; V. Tran Tam Tinh, Sérapis debout. Corpus des monuments de Sérapis debout et étude iconographique (1983); LIMC 7.1 (1994), 666–92Google Scholar. Summary: J. J. Pollit, Art in the Hellenistic Age (1986), 279–80.

28 Found in the excavations for the then new Bourse, only the gold plaque was preserved. Maspero, G., ‘Sur une plaque d'or portant la dédicace d'un temple’, Recueil de travaux 7 (1886), 140–1;Google ScholarSammelbuch I, 2136; Tod, M. N., ‘A bilingual dedication from Alexandria’, JEA 28 (1942), 53–6Google Scholar with earlier bibliography, pl. 6.1; Rowe Encl. Serapis, 12–13, fig. 5; Rowe and Rees, 509 n. 2; Adriani Repertorio, 253; Weinstein 1973, 385–6 no. 166;Tkaczow Topography, 80 site 27, map B; Bernand 2001, 53–6 no. 18.

29 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 1–10, 51–3, 59, figs 1–3, 12, pls 1–2, 7, 9–11, 16 fig. 2 hole no. 6; Weinstein 1973, 368–70, 379–81 no. 162; Grimm Alexandria, 83, fig. 84a-b, d, f–g; La Gloire d'Alexandrie (1998), 95 no. 51; Bernand 2001, 42–3 no. 13, pl. 6.13.

30 Botti had suggested this building was the Iseum and the South Building the Serapeum: Botti, op. cit. (n. 3, 1897), plan.

31 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 13–19, 65; Weinstein 1973, 351–93.

32 South Building and secret passage: Rowe 1941–2, 144–6, pl. 29 fig. 2, pls 30–2, 34 fig. 1; Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. i, 231–46;Google Scholar vol. 3, figs 48–53; vol. 4, pls 100–11.

33 Botti, op. cit. (n. 3, 1895), 24–7 with plan; Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 112–21; Rowe 1941–2, 140, fig. 7, 152, pls 32, 34 fig. 3, 35 fig. 3; Rowe Encl. Serapis, 34–6, fig. 7; Rowe and Rees, 498–9; Adriani Repertorio, 95–6, pl. 30 fig. 107, pl. 31 figs 110–11; Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 193230;Google Scholar vol. 3, figs 37, 39–43; vol. 4, pls 76–99. The Sieglin Expedition recorded the stairwell in more detail than the other expeditions.

34 Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 117 = Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 269;Google Scholar vol. 2, 425 n. 660.

35 PP45 and PP48: Rowe 1941–2, 151–2, pls 31–2, 34 fig. 1; Rowe and Rees, 492. I thank S. R. F. Price for drawing my attention to this earlier phase. See also: Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 30–3;Google Scholar Grimm, op. cit. (n. 4), 63, 72n. 49.

36 Wace, A. J. B., ‘Greek inscriptions from the Serapeum’, Farouk I University, Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts 2 (1944), 1819Google Scholar no. 1, 21–3 no. 2; Fraser, P. M., ‘Current problems concerning the early history of the cult of Sarapis’, OpAth 7 (1967), 36–7,Google Scholar 42, pl. 2 fig. 3, pl. 3 fig. 6; SEG 24.1166 and 1167–8; Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 268;Google Scholar vol. 2, 422 n. 644; Bernand 2001, 19–20 no. 2, 27–8 no. 4, pl. 1.2–4.

37 OGI II.725;SBV.8921; Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 236;Google Scholar vol. 2, 385–6 n. 367; G. Grimm, ‘Zur Ptolemäer-alter aus dem alexandrinischen Sarapeion’, in Alessandria e il mondo ellenistico-romano, Studi in onore di A. Adriani, vol. 1 (1983), 70–3, pl. 8; Daszewski, W. A., Corpus of Mosaics from Egypt I: Hellenistic and Early Roman Period, Aegyptiaca Treverensia 3 (1985), 114Google Scholar no. 8, pl. 16; Grimm Alexandria, 82 fig. 83; Bernand 2001, 34–6 no. 8, pl. 3.

38 Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 3755;Google Scholar vol. 3, figs 5–7; vol. 4, pls 13–19.

39 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 54–8, pls 16–17; Rowe and Rees, 509; Weinstein 1973, 365–6, 368–70, 383–8 no. 165, 391 no. 170; Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 261, 269;Google Scholar vol. 2, 412 n. 569; Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 178–82;Google Scholar vol. 3, fig. 5, 34; vol. 4, pls 64–7; Grimm Alexandria, 83, pl. 84c, e; La Gloire d'Alexandrie (1998), 95 nos 50 and 52 (illustration incorrectly labelled); Bernand 2001, 60–1 no. 21, pl. 9.21; J. Yoyotte in Goddio et al. Alexandria, 211.

40 Weinstein 1973, 368–9. He suggests there were actually nine plaques in each hole in it (and the Serapeum), based on Egyptian custom.

41 Clement, Protr. 4.42.

42 Clement, Protr. 4.47.

43 Eusebius Werke, Siebenter Band die Chronik des Hieronymus, ed. R. Helm (1956), p. 208 1. 19 and p. 423 g; Hopfner, T., Fontes historiae religionis aegyptiacae (1922–25), 487Google Scholar; Schwartz, J., ‘La fin du Serapeum d'Alexandrie’, in A. E. Samuel (ed.), Essays in Honor of C. Bradford Welles (1966), 97 n. 1.Google Scholar

44 Remains of painte d stucco: Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 79–80, pl. on p. 81; Pagenstecher, R., Necropolis (1919), 187–99Google Scholar, figs 113–17; Rowe Encl. Serapis, 60 n. 3. See also Appendix, Pl. VIII.

45 So also, Thelamon, F., Païens et chrétiens au IVe siècle. L'apport de l' ‘Histoire ecclésiastique' de Rufin d'Aquilée (1981), 169Google Scholar. Contra: A. Wace in Rowe Encl. Serapis, 63–4; Rowe and Rees, 496, 506; Haas Alexandria, 101, despite 406–7 n. 28.

46 Appian, BC 2.90. Relations between Jews and Greeks in Alexandria under Trajan: Beard, M., North, J. and Price, S., Religions of Rome, vol. 2 (1998), 327–8Google Scholar.

47 Year 16 of Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 175/6): Bern 80.586 in Jahrbuch des Bernischen Historischen Museums 63–4 (19831984), 178Google Scholar no. 25. I thank Chris Howgego for this reference. Some other examples: R. S. Poole, Catalogue of the Coins of Alexandria and the Nomes, Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum (1892), xc–xci, pls 28.872 and 1252, 29.537; G. Dattari, Monete imperiali greche. Numi Augg. Alexandrini (1901), pl. 30.1142, 1150 (with 4 columns), 1967, 3060bis (with 4 columns), 3803 (with 4 columns); J. G. Milne, Catalogue of Alexandrian Coins (1971), pl. 4672; M. J. Price and B. L. Trell, Coins and their Cities (1977), 183–5, fig 318 (with 4 columns), 348. Discussion: Handler, S., ‘Architecture on the Roman coins of Alexandria’, AJA 75 (1971), 65–8,CrossRefGoogle Scholar pl. 11, nos 13, 14 (with 4 columns) 15, 17 (with Doric frieze).

48 So also Handler, op. cit. (n. 47), 68; Wild Water, 168.

49 Yoyotte suggested that the Serapeum was largely an Egyptian temple: J. Yoyotte in Goddio et al. Alexandria, 210–12; Burkhalter, F., ‘La mosaïque nilotique de Palestrina et les pharaonica d'Alexandrie’, Topoi 9 (1999), 254–5;Google Scholar P. E. Stanwick, Portraits of the Ptolemies, Greek Kings or Egyptian Pharaohs (2002), 17.

50 Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 153–77;Google Scholar vol. 3, figs 25; 28–33; vol. 4, pls 58–63; Sabottka in Grimm, op. cit. (n. 4), 65, figs 13–14; Sabottka in Grimm Alexandria, 83 fig. 83c–d.

51 Rowe 1941–2, fig. 5 on p. 132.

52 Sufficient blocks survive for a reliable reconstruction of the elevation of the Temple of Augustus at Philae: Borchardt, L., ‘Der Augustustempel auf Philae’, Jdl 18 (1903), 7390,Google Scholar pls 3–5.

53 The columns (lower diam. 0.77 m) were placed 1.84 m (c. 1½ diameters) apart. Rowe Encl. Serapis, 22–5, 28–9, fig. 12, pls 3, 8, 9, 11; Rowe and Rees, 488,511.

54 Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 103–44;Google Scholar vol. 3. figs 14 23, 25.

55 Mahmoud-Bey Mémoire, 55.

56 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 19–20; Rowe and Rees, 497.

57 I thank J. J. Coulton for his help with this calculation. The stylobate size suggests the columns were c. 0.90 m in diameter. He suggests, as this size is relatively large, that they were probably 2½ diameters apart. A length (through the centre of the columns) of 143.5 m with 64 spaces would give a column diameter of 0.897 m, and an intercolumniation of 2.24 m.

58 At the site of the new library, the WHO building, and the Government Hospital: M. Rodziewicz, ‘Ptolemaic street directions in Basilea (Alexandria)’, in Alessandria e il mondo ellenistico-romano, Congresso Alessandria 1992 (1995), 230.

59 Rowe 1941–2, pl. 32 has the cuttings for the northern half of the entrance marked. Further cuttings are marked on the Sieglin Expedition plan, Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 4, pl. 1Google Scholar.

60 Rowe 1941–2, pl. 32; Rowe and Rees, 493, plan opp. p. 492.

61 Rowe 1941–2, pl. 32; Rowe Encl. Serapis, pl. 7.

62 Rowe and Rees, 489, 491, plan opp. p. 492.

63 Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 4, pl. 1Google Scholar.

64 So also Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 3,Google Scholar fig. 25.

65 I thank Helen Whitehouse and John Baines for this observation. A normal Egyptian arrangement would have a central chamber with chambers on either side.

66 J. J. Coulton (pers. comm.) observes that Sabottka's use of the term ‘oikos-building' for it is equally correct. He indicates dining-couches in the rooms: Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 183–8,Google Scholar figs 5, 25, 36, pls 8, 68, 70.

67 Six columns fits best with a spacing of 2½ diameters. The position of the front wall in the reconstructions has been chosen to allow for supporting a ridge beam.

68 So also Sabottka, who does not attempt to reconstruct it on his plan (Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. i, 223–8;Google Scholar vol. 3, fig. 25). A. Thiersch drew a reconstruction in elevation with a portico at the front (Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 3,Google Scholar figs 45–6).

69 Gros, P., L'architecture romaine, vol. 1 (1996), 133, 143–4,Google Scholar figs 143–4, 158.

70 Rowe 1941–2, pl. 31.

71 Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 231–46;Google Scholar vol. 3, figs 47–53; vol. 4, pls 27, 100-11. Reconstructed with an external peristyle, and an interior colonnade and tholos (see especially Sabottka Serapeum, vol. 3, figs 48, 50; vol. 4, pl. 101). However, an external peristyle would be expected to have a separate foundation trench to the walls, as in the colonnaded court.

72 Rowe initially suggested a Ptolemaic royal mausoleum (Rowe 1941–2, 144–51), and later a temple of Serapis before that of Ptolemy III (Rowe and Rees, 490–1). Botti suggested a Ptolemaic tomb or a Dynastic period temple of Serapis (Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 122–3). Large Ptolemaic open air altar: Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 269,Google Scholar following A. J. B. Wace in A. J. B. Wace, A. H. S. Megaw and T. C. Skeat, Hermopolis Magna, Ashmunein, the Ptolemaic Sanctuary and Basilica (1959), 9.

73 At Tanis there are temples to numerous deities, some of whom were probably assumed as aspects of one another, as earlier at Karnak where there are a number of temples to aspects of Osiris (John Baines pers. comm.): P. Briss and C. Zivie-Coche (eds), Tanis, travaux récents sur le tell Sân el-Hagar. Mission française des fouilles de Tanis 1987–1997 (1998), pls 1–2 on pp. 15–16.

74 Helen Whitehouse pers. comm.; IV, cols 600–6.

75 John Baines pers. comm.

76 Rowe 1941–2, pls 32, 42 fig. 1, 43–4; Rowe Encl. Serapis, 31–2, pls 7, 12; Rowe and Rees, 492–3; Wild Water, 29–31, figs 12–13; Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 249–51;Google Scholar vol. 3, figs 54–5; vol. 4, pls 112–14.

77 Sabottka reconstructs its plan with four small columns across the front and a cella behind: Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 181–2;Google Scholar vol. 3, fig. 25.

78 D. Arnold, Temples of the Last Pharaohs (1999), 285–6. It is not clear if this Harpocrates Temple is the temple Arnold mentions in his table of birth houses: Arnold, op. cit., 288 Table 2 under Ptolemy III ‘Serapeum Alexandria, temple of Isis and Harpocrates’. Detailed discussion with references: II, cols 462–75. Also, Helen Whitehouse pers. comm.

79 References for Roman remains: n. 20 above.

80 Rowe 1941–2, pl. 32 (archaeological plan); Rowe Encl. Serapis, 60, pl. 17; Rowe and Rees, 497–8, plan opp. p. 492.

81 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 60; Rowe and Rees, 497–8.

82 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 23–4, pls 3, 4 figs 1, 8; Pensabene Elementi Aless., 202 no. 2, 320–1 nos 30–1, pl. 5 nos 30–1. Since our reconstruction was drawn, these columns have been recorded in detail in Hairy, I., ‘Analyse de pièces architecturales d'une colonnade sur le sitedu Sarapéion’, in Empereur, J.-Y. (ed.), Alexandrina 2, ÉtAlex 6 (2002), 8598Google Scholar.

83 Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 281–4;Google Scholar vol. 3, fig. 75. Botti also notes that the lower diameter of the columns of the Temple of Serapis would appear to have been 1.25 m (although it is not clear why he thought this, given that the columns were theoretically in an area of the site not exposed when he was there): Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 111.

84 This north-south length, measured off the Sieglin Expedition plan, is the same as that given by Botti. However, Botti gives it as the width of the Temple of Serapis because he thought it faced east, not south: Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 110.

85 Rowe thought the length of the Temple of Serapis was not known: Rowe and Rees, 497. Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 3,Google Scholar figs 1, 5.

86 Sabottka dealt with the problem differently: Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 3,Google Scholar fig. 75.

87 Hairy, op. cit. (n. 82), 88 block C., 94 fig. 2.

88 John Baines pers. comm. The birth house at Dendara was decorated mostly under Trajan, although it was not clear when it was built: PM VI, 103.

89 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 60.

90 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 61.

91 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 60–1, Serapeum, vol. 4, pl. 1.

92 Rowe and Rees, 497. pl. 17; Sabottka

93 Mahmoud-Bey Memoire, 55; Rowe and Rees, 497.

94 Rowe 1941–2, 157, pl. 32; Rowe Encl. Serapis, 3 n. 3; Rowe and Rees, 488; Pensabene Elementi Aless., 202 no. 3. Botti gives the dimensions as upper diam. 0.90 m, lower diam. 0.98 m, h. of shaft 7.10 m, to give a total h. of column 8.57 m, if height of capital equals column lower diam.: Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 96.

95 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 61.

96 Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 78, fig. on p. 140; Rowe 1941–2, 143 fig. 8; Rowe Encl. Serapis, 34, 61; Pensabene Elementi Aless., 64, 199, 321–2 nos 33–7, fig. 221, pl. 6; Tkaczow Topography, 276 object 242, photographs of object 242. Botti suggested a series of three entrance doorways: one 6 by 4 m, with two 4.2 by 2.10 m on either side.

97 Rowe 1941–2, pl. 44; Rowe Encl. Serapis, 34, pl. 5 figs 1.7.

98 From Sheila Gibson's calculations based on the section drawing in Sabottka Serapeum, vol. 3, fig. 57. With three sets of steps this gives steps c. 25 cm deep but only 10.5 cm high. A. Thiersch's reconstruction has fewer steps, but the same slope: Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 4, pls 141–2Google Scholar. Both Gibson and Thiersch assumed the staircase was supported by vaults.

99 Rowe 1941–2, pl. 44; Rowe Encl. Serapis, 32.

100 Socrates, Hist. eccl. 1.18.2, ed. Hansen 58, trans. NPNF 2, 22; Sozomen, Hist. eccl. 5.3.3, ed. Bidez and Hansen 195, trans. NPNF 2, 328; Wild Water 32.

101 I thank Donald Bailey for drawing this to my attention.

102 Donald Bailey pers. comm.

103 Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 123; Rowe 1941–2, pl. 31; Wild Water, 198.

104 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 34–5.

105 Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 114.

106 Botti, op. cit. (n. 3, 1895), plan; Rowe 1941–2, 140 fig. 7 (based on Botti); Rowe and Rees, plan opp. attention. p. 492; Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 3,Google Scholar fig. 41 (detailed plan from Sieglin Expedition plan).

107 Rowe considered their significance unknown: Rowe Encl. Serapis, 34; Rowe and Rees, 499.

108 Description of passages and finds in them: Botti, op. cit. (n. 3, 1895), 24–6; Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 112–21, fig. on p. 116; Rowe Encl. Serapis, 34–6, fig. 7; Wild Water, 197–9. The niches are not only of the shape described by Botti.

109 Botti Fouilles a la colonne, 112.

110 Botti Fouilles a la colonne, 117, 119.

111 Wild points out that the arrangement does bear a certain similarity to the burial crypts for sacred animals in the Serapeum at Memphis: Wild Water, 199, 205.

112 Plan of Serapeum at Saqqara: Arnold, op. cit. (n. 78), 8 plan III.

113 Near the enclosure of S. E. Ahmed pacha Mazloum: Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 127–8, plan on p. 127.

114 Rowe Serapis Encl., 62–4; Rowe and Rees, 496, 506. Contra: Wild Water, 168.

115 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 61.

116 Rowe 1941–2, 142, pl. 29 fig. 1, pl. 32; Rowe Encl. Serapis, 61–2, pls 7, 17. Coins were also used for foundation deposits in the Roman period at Kom Ombo: Jones, M., ‘An unusual foundation deposit at Kom Ombo’, Bulletin de la Société d'archéologie copte 31 (1992), 102–7Google Scholar.

117 Dio Cass., Roman History Epitome 79.7.3.

118 Herodian 4.8.9. He was contemporary with these events.

119 Dio Cass., Roman History Epitome 78.23.

120 Parts of eight column shafts, all exactly 2 cubits (1.05 m) in diameter, were found in 1997 on the island of Antirrhodos with inscriptions on them, five mentioning Caracalla as Philosarapis. It is not possible to ascertain from the published details whether they were erected on the island or deposited there from elsewhere. E. Bernand in Goddio et al. Alexandria, 149–51 nos 3–8, plan and table of findspots on p. 144.

121 Chron. Pasch., PG 92, cols 652C–653A (266). Written in A.D. 630s.

122 The fragments of this statue, re-erected in the Greco-Roman Museum, Alexandria, were found near the entrance to the underground passages. G. Botti, ‘L'Apis de l'empereur Adrien trouvé dans le Sérapeum d'Alexandrie’, Bulletin de la Société d'archéologie d'Alexandrie 2 (1899), 30, 33–6; Rowe 1941–2, pl. 32 (find spot) and 37; Rowe and Rees, 496; F. Kayser, Recueil des inscriptions grecques et latines (non funéraires) d'Alexandrie impériale (1994), 176–9 no. 48, pl. 27.

123 Rowe and Rees, 500; Wace, op. cit. (n. 36), 25–6 no. 5; Kayser, op. cit. (n. 122), 179–80 no. 49, pl. 27b no. 49. But not necessarily the second inscription in Wace, op. cit. (n. 36), 25 no. 4, according to Kayser, op. cit. (n. 122), 183–4 no. 52, pl. 28 no. 52.

124 The coins issued in A.D. 202 reflect the acceptance of the Egyptian cults and the identification of the dynasty with the Egyptian gods: C. Foss, Roman Historical Coins (1990), 174.

125 Prefect, and date from papyrological evidence: C. Vandersleyen, Chronologie des préfets d'Égypte de 284 à 395 (1962), 66–70. Inscription: Vandersleyen, C., ‘Le préfet d'Égypte de la colonne de Pompée à Alexandrie’, Chronique d'Égypte 33 (1958), 113–34;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Kayser, op. cit. (n. 122), 52–7 no. 15, pl. 10. Column: Description de l'Égypte vol. 5, 315–28, 470–7, plates vol. 5, pl. 34; Adriani Repertorio, 97, pl. 28.102; Pensabene Elementi Aless., 200, 323–4 nos 39–40, figs 127–9, pls 7.1, 2, 39, 40.

126 Description de l'Égypte vol. 5, 475; Rowe 1941–2, 133; Rowe Serapis Encl., 42–3.

127 A. Wace in Rowe Encl. Serapis, 64, pl. 17; Rowe and Rees, 498, plan opp. p. 492.

128 Tert., Apologeticum 18.8, Tertullien Apologétique, ed. and trans. J.-P. Waltzing and A. Severyns (1961), p. 42. Date: OCD 3 1487. The library in the Serapeum is also mentioned by later writers as the repository of the Septuagint: John Chrys., Adv. Iud. i § 6, PG 48, col. 851; Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 323;Google Scholar vol. 2, 478 n. 134.

129 Philo, Embassy to Gaius 151.

130 e.g. S. Cauville, Edfou (1984), 18, 19 plan 2, pls 6–7.

131 J. J. Coulton pers. comm. Contra: Rowe Encl. Serapis, 24–5, pls 5.2, 8; Rowe and Rees, 511.

132 Epiphanius, On Weights and Measures 11, PG 43, col. 256B; Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 323;Google Scholar R. Blum, Kallimachos, the Alexandrian Library and the Origins of Bibliography (1991), 100.

133 Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 335Google Scholar.

134 Butcher, E. L., The Story of the Church of Egypt, vol. 1 (1897), 111–14;Google ScholarCE 2244–7.

135 Trans, of Comicorum Graecorum fragmenta, ed. G. Kaibel (1899), p. 19f. in Blum, op. cit. (n. 132), 104–5. Although Tzetzes drew on some sources which are now lost, he sometimes also conflated information from them.

136 Contra: Blum, op. cit. (n. 132), 106.

137 Breccia, op. cit. (n. 18), 74–6, figs 5–7; R. R. R. Smith, Hellenistic Royal Portraits (1988), 165–6 nos 51–2, pl. 36; Grimm Alexandria, 83, fig. 85a–c; Tkaczow Topography, 187–8 nos 8, 10.

138 Rowe 1941–2, 138, pl. 27 fig. 2; Tkaczow Topography, 246 no. 162.

139 Breccia, op. cit. (n. 18), 67, fig. 1; Rowe 1941–2, 159, fig-4.

140 Tkaczow Topography, 247 no. 164.

141 Breccia, op. cit. (n. 18), 72–3; PM IV, 3; Rowe 1941–2, 133–4, 139, 154–9, pls 27.1–2, 28.3, 33, 36; Rowe Encl. Serapis, 40–1, 50, 59–60, 41 fig. 10; Rowe and Rees, 507–10; Fraser Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 265–6; Tkaczow Topography, 187–9 nos 7, 9, 11, 11A; 233–7 nos 122A, 123, 125, 127–33, 136; 311-13 nos 335–7, 339; Ashton, S.-A., Ptolemaic Royal Sculpture from Egypt, The Interaction between Greek and Egyptian Traditions, BAR Int. Ser. 923 (2001), 82Google Scholar nos 1–2, 118 no. 69, 83 figs 1–2, 119 fig. 69. Obelisks: Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 47–8. Analysis and updating of lists of Egyptian style sculptures in Serapeum: J. Yoyotte in Goddio et al. Alexandria, 212 n. 59. Large block of Ramesses II now at Serapeum site, but not found there: el-Fattah, A. Abd and Gallo, P., ‘Aegyptiaca Alexandrina. Monuments pharaoniques découverts récemment à Alexandrie’, in Empereur, J.-Y. (ed.), Alexandrina 1, ÉtAlex 1 (1998), 78Google Scholar no. 1, 15 figs 2–3.

142 Stanwick, op. cit. (n. 49), 17, 103–4 no. A33, figs 31–2.

143 Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 266Google Scholar.

144 Plin., HN 36.14 (67–9).

145 Description de l'Egypte, vol. 5, 328–37, 477–82; vol. 10, 524–5; plates vol. 5, pl. 39.2–3; M. G. Daressy (ed.), Dolomiou en Égypte (30 Juin 1798–10 Mars 1799) manuscrits retrouvés par M.A. Lacroix (1922), 30; Valentia, G., Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia and Egypt in the Years 1802–1806 (1811), vol. 3, 455;Google Scholar vol. 4, plan; Botti, op. cit. (n. 3, 1897), 2; Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 50–9; von Sieglin, E. and Schreiber, T., Die Nekropole von Kôm-esch-Schukâfa, Expedition Ernst von Sieglin, vol. 1 (1908), 1920,Google Scholar pl. 10; Humphrey Roman Circuses, 505–12, fig. 254.

146 Humphrey Roman Circuses, 506, 508.

147 Hdn. Gr., vol. 1, p. 371 11. 1–2; vol. 2, p. 458 1. 37 to p. 459 1. 3. Epiphanius, On Weights and Measures 12; PG 43, col. 257A; Epiphanius' Treatise on Weights and Measures, The Syriac Version, ed. and trans. J. E. Dean (1935), 12 p. 28; Calderini, Dizionario, vol. 1, 124–5;Google ScholarMaricq, A., ‘Une influence alexandrine sur l'art augustéen? Le Lageion et le Circus Maximus’, RA 37 (1951), 2646;Google Scholar Adriani Repertorio, 225–6; Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 2, 100–1;Google Scholar Humphrey Roman Circuses, 509.

148 SIG vol. 1, no. 390; trans, in M. M. Austin, The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest. A Selection of Ancient Sources in Translation (1981), 359–61 no. 218. Date: Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 224, 231;Google Scholar vol. 2, 372–3 n. 279; E. Rice, The Grand Procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus (1983), 182.

149 The track in a stadium was usually one stade, or 600 ancient feet (c. 180 m) long, while the one in a hippodrome was twice that length. Before the Hellenistic period a level area with slopes on either side for spectators was usually used, without necessarily stone seating. For stadium at Olympia, with a track 194 m long: L. Drees, Olympia, Gods, Artists and Athletes (1968), 87, 91–4. For hippodrome at Olympia see ibid., 97–100.

150 SEG XXVII.1114 and add. 1305, XLIII.1103, XLIV.1496, XLV.2114; L. Koenen, Eine agonistische Inschrift aus Ágypten und frühptolemàische Königsfeste (1977); trans, in Austin, op. cit. (n. 148), 393–5 no. 234. The poet Posidippus uses the term stadion (rather than hippodrome) for the place in which chariot races occurred at Olympia and Isthmia, when he is celebrating the victories of Queen Berenice, but this might be partly due to metrical considerations: Papyri dell'Università degli Studi di MilanoVIII Posidippo di Pella Epigrammi (P.Mil. Vogl. VIII 309), ed. and trans. G. Bastianini and C. Gallazzi (2001), col. XII 23 p. 91 and col. XIII 10 p. 95; Posidippi Pellaei Quae Supersunt Omnia, ed. and trans. C. Austin and G. Bastianini (2002), p. 102–3 no. 78 1.4 and p. 106–7 no. 82 l. 2.

151 Athen., Deipnosophistae 5.197c–203b. His source is Kallixeinos of Rhodes, probably from the second century B.C. Date of procession, on the occasion of the second Ptolemaieia in 275/4 B.C.: Foertmeyer, V., ‘The dating of the pompe of Ptolemy II Philadelphus’, Historia 37 (1988), 90104Google Scholar.

152 Rice, op. cit. (n. 148), 29–35.

153 Dio Chrys., Discourse 32.74; Humphrey Roman Circuses, 510–11.

154 G. Bowersock, ‘Late antique Alexandria’, in K. Hamma (ed.), Alexandria and Alexandrianism (1996), 264, 271 n. 3 with references.

155 Humphrey Roman Circuses, 510.

156 Humphrey Roman Circuses, 514–15.

157 P.Oxy. XXXIV.2707; Humphrey Roman Circuses, 518–19.

158 Patrich, J., ‘The carceres of the Herodian hippodrome/stadium at Caesarea Maritima and connections with the Circus Maximus’, JRS 14 (2001), 269–83Google Scholar.

159 P.Fouad 1.8; Humphrey Roman Circuses, 510; Montevecchi, O., ‘Vespasiano acclamato dagli Alessandrini ancora su P. Fouad 8’, Aegyptus 61 (1981), 155–70Google Scholar.

160 Tac, Hist. 4.82; Suet., Vesp. 7.1; Henrichs, A., ‘Vespasian's visit to Alexandria’, ZPE 3 (1968), 5180Google Scholar.

161 P.Oxy. XXXIV.2725; Humphrey Roman Circuses, 510 n. 92.

162 Contra: Haas Alexandria, 83.

163 Valentia, G., Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia and Egypt in the Years 1802–1806 (1811), vol. 3, 455;Google Scholar vol. 4 plan; Description de l'Égypte, vol. 5, 328–37, 477–82; vol. 10, 524–5; plates vol. 5, pl. 39.2–3; Botti, op. cit. (n. 3, 1897), 2.

164 Description de l'Égypte, vol. 5, 328, 330–3, 478; plates vol. 5, pl. 39.2–3.

165 Humphrey Roman Circuses, 507–8, fig. 254.

166 Seats found on south slope of Serapeum enclosure: drawings by A. Thiersch, reproduced in Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 96–7;Google Scholar vol. 3, figs 17–19. These were found on the southern side of the Serapeum hill beyond (east of) where Humphrey Roman Circuses, fig. 254, ended the circus. Seating further west: Description de l'Égypte, vol. 5, 329; vol. 10, 524; plates vol. 5, pl. 39.2 seats at ‘k’; Humphrey Roman Circuses, fig. 254. Axonometric reconstruction of Roman phase of Lageion and Serapeum: McKenzie, J. S., ‘Glimpses of Alexandria from archaeological evidence’, JRA 16 (2003), 57Google Scholar fig. 16.

167 I. Nielsen, Hellenistic Palaces, Tradition and Renewal (1994), fig. 110.

168 Aezani: Vann, R. L., The Unexcavated Buildings of Sardis, BAR Int. Ser. 538 (1989)Google Scholar, fig. 117. Other combinations of theatre and stadium in Asia Minor, and stadia with both ends rounded: Vann, op. cit., 62–5, figs 116, 118–21. The Napoleonic expedition suggested the structure they recorded was a stadium, rather than a circus: Description de l'Égypte, vol. 5, 334–6.

169 Aphthonius was a student of Libanius (b. A.D. 314): G. A. Kennedy, Greek Rhetoric under Christian Emperors (1983), 59–60. This means Aphthonius would have been too young to visit Alexandria as early as A.D. 315, contra: Butler, A. J., The Arab Conquest of Egypt (2nd edn, ed. Fraser, P. M.; 1978), 382 n. 2Google Scholar; Thelamon, op. cit. (n. 45), 166.

170 Trans, by A. T. Reyes from Aphthonii Progymnasmata, ed. H. Rabe (1926), 38–41. Text with Latin trans. Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 23–6; French trans, in Macaire, K., ‘Nouvelle étude sur le Sérapeum d'Alexandrie’, Bulletin de la Société Khédiviale de geographie, Ser. 7, no. 7 (1910), 396–8;Google Scholar text and German trans. Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 320–4Google Scholar. Discussion: Botti, op. cit. (n. 3, 1895), 5–12; Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 26–9, 82–5; Rowe 1941–2, 124–7, 137; Rowe and Rees, 501; Sabottka Serapeum, 324–9, 336–7.

171 This is apparently the entrance from Street R8 in the north side of the court.

172 This seems to be referring to the fact that although the columns are of more than one coloured stone they are used together.

173 Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 26–7 suggests the representation was of a zodiac.

174 Possibly referring to heart-shaped piers.

175 Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 28–9, suggests there may be a confusion with the Labours of Hercules or with the reading of some hieroglyphs. For the Perseus-Andromeda panel in the Iseum in Pompeii and the association of Perseus with Egypt, see Wild Water, 78–84.

176 Diocletian's Column.

177 What this phrase means remains unclear: Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 84–5, Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 327Google Scholar.

178 Perhaps the South Building.

179 The obelisks are also mentioned in Pseudo-Kallisthenes, The Greek Alexander Romance 1.33; trans. R. Stoneman, 66.

180 Rufinus' Historiae ecclesiasticae was written in A.D. 402: Murphy, F. X., Rufinus of Aquileia (345–411), his Life and Works, The Catholic University of America, Washington Studies in Medieval History n.s. 6 (Diss. 1945), 47, 232, 235Google Scholar.

181 This translation by A. T. Reyes (originally prepared in 1993 concentrating on the architectural terms) from Rufinus, Hist. eccl. 11.23, Die lateinische Übersetzung des Rufinus, ed. T. Mommsen, in Eusebius Werke, ed. Schwartz, E., vol. 2 (1908), 1026–7Google Scholar. Alternative translations: The Church History of Rufinus Aquileia Books 10 and 11, trans. P. R. Amidon (1997), 80–1; text with French trans. Thelamon, op. cit. (n. 45), 166–7; text and German trans. Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 329–32Google Scholar. Discussion: Botti Fouilles à la colonne, 35–40; Rowe 1941–2, 124–7, 137; Sabottka, Serapeum, vol. 1, 333–7Google Scholar.

182 On pastoforia (pastophoria), see G. Husson, Oikia, le vocabulaire de la maison privée en Égypte d'après les papyrusgrecs (1983), 221–3.

183 Expositio totius mundi et gentium 35, ed. and French trans. J. Rougé (1966), 170–1. This translation A. T. Reyes.

184 Amm. Marc. 22.16.12, trans. J. C. Rolfe. Date: J. Matthews, The Roman Empire of Ammianus (1989), 23–4, 26. Ammianus' visit to Egypt/Alexandria: ibid., 14.

185 Rufinus, Hist. eccl. 11.22–3, ed. Mommsen 1025–6, 1028, trans. Amidon 79–82; Sozomen, Hist. eccl. 7.15.3–10, ed. Bidez and Hansen 320–1, trans. NPNF 2, 385–6; Haas Alexandria, 161–3. Extensive bibliography in Schwartz, op. cit. (n. 43), 97–111; Baldini, A., ‘Problemi della tradizione sulla “disruzione” del Serapeo di Alessandria’, Rivista storica dell'antichità 15 (1985), 97152Google Scholar. Date of destruction, A.D. 391: Bowersock, op. cit. (n. 154), 266, 271 n. 14.

186 A. Bauer and J. Strzygowski, Eine alexandrinische Weltchronik (1905), 71–3, pl. 6 Verso. Fifth-century date: Illuminierte Papyri, Pergamente und Papiere I, ed. U. Horak (1992), 97. Eighth-century(?) date: S. Hodjash in L'art copte en Egypte, 2000 ans de christianisme (2000), 42, fig. 10.

187 Clement, Protr. 4.43.

188 Rufinus, Hist. eccl. 11.23, ed. Mommsen 1028–9, trans. Amidon 81–2. The destruction of the cult statue, as emblematic of the destruction of the cult, is also described in Theodoret, Hist. eccl. 5.22.3–6, ed. Parmentier 321; trans. NPNF 3, 148. Theodoret's Hist. eccl. was written in A.D. 444–50: ODB vol. 3, 2049. The statue of Serapis is also described at the beginning of the fifth century in Macrobius, The Saturnalia 1.20.13–18, trans. Davies 139–40.

189 Rufinus, Hist. eccl. 11.27, ed. Mommsen 1033, trans. Amidon 85. This translation by A. T. Reyes.

190 Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers 472, in Philostratus and Eunapius, Lives of the Sophists, ed. and trans. W. C. Wright (1921), 417–23; Schwartz, op. cit. (n. 43), 100. St Augustine, The Divination of Demons 1, in Bibliothèque augustinienne, Oeuvres de Saint Augustin vol. 10, Mélanges doctrinaux, ed. and French trans. G. Bardy et al. (1952), 654–5; English trans. Brown, R. W. in Deferrai, R. J. (ed.), Saint Augustine, Treatise on Marriage and Other Subjects, Fathers of the Church, vol. 27 (1955), 421–2Google Scholar.

191 Socrates, Hist. eccl. 5.17, ed. Hansen 290– 1, trans. NPNF 2, 126–7; Sozomen, Hist. eccl. 7.15.10, ed. Bidez and Hansen 321, trans. NPNF 2, 386; Nicephorus Callistus (c. A.D. 1256–35), Hist. eccl. 12.26, PG 146, cols 825D–828A; Thelamon, op. cit. (n. 45), 268–73. Although, according to Rufinus, Eunapius, and Socrates, the temples were razed to the ground, the Serapeum is described as being ‘converted’ into a church in Sozomen, Hist. eccl. 7.15.10, ed. Bidez and Hansen 321, trans. NPNF 2, 386.

192 Of the Egyptian blocks re-used in the base of Diocletian's Column, two remain in situ, and two are in the British Museum: Tkaczow Topography, 237–8 object 137; PM IV, 3; J. Yoyotte in Goddio et al. Alexandria, 212–14, 213 figs 17–18; S. Quirke, The Cult of Ra: Sun-worship in Ancient Egypt (2001), 78–9. I thank Tom Hardwick for the latter reference.

193 Ratté, C., ‘New research on the urban development of Aphrodisias in late antiquity’, in Parrish, D. (ed.), Urbanism in Western Asia Minor, JRA Suppl. 45 (2001), 130–3,Google Scholar figs 5–12. The Hephaisteion, a Greek temple in Athens, with a cella slightly over 6 m wide, was converted to a church, although Price suggests such conversions were relatively rare: S. Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks (1999), 166, fig. 8.4.

194 Hamarneh, S. K., ‘The ancient monuments of Alexandria according to accounts by medieval Arab authors (IX–XV century)’, Folia Orientalia 13 (1971), 82–4Google Scholar.

195 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 48, pl. 18.

196 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 47–9, fig. 14 on p. 67, pls 13–14, 18; Rowe and Rees, 503–4.

197 Alexandria, Greco-Roman Museum inv. 206; Kayser, op. cit. (n. 122), 184–6 no. 53, pl. 29.

198 Martyrium of St John the Baptist: Rufinus, Hist, eccl. 11.28, ed. Mommsen 1033–4, trans. Amidon 85; John of Nikiu, 78.43–6, trans. Charles 74–5. Bones of Elisha, as well as St John the Baptist: The Story of the Church of Alexandria, ed. and trans. Orlandi, T., Storia della Chiesa di Alessandria (1967), vol. 1, 66–7Google Scholar 11. 304–48; vol. 2, 62 ll. 37–56, 100–2; Severus ibn el-Muqaffa, ed. and trans. Evetts, B., PO I, 419 [155], 426 [162]Google Scholar.

The Coptic Synaxarium (18 Babeh, 15 October, ed. and trans. Basset, R., PO I, 347Google Scholar [133]) mentions that the Church of St John the Baptist and Elisha is ‘known today as ed-Daïmâs”. It is sometimes suggested that this refers to Kom el-Dikka because there were tombs there. However, there was also a cemetery to the south-west of the Serapeum hill. Contra: E. Amélineau, La géographie de I'Égypte à l'époque copte(1893), 34, 41; Adriani Repertorio, 216, 225.

The date Theophanes gives for the relics of John the Baptist being moved to Alexandria, A.D. 397/8, is after the death of Athanasius, and perhaps refers to them being placed in the newly constructed martyrium: Theophanes AM 5890, ed. de Boor 75, trans. Mango and Scott 114. According to Theophanes the remains of Elisha were not moved to Alexandria until A.D. 463/4 when they were ‘placed in the monastery of Paul the Leper’ (AM 5956, ed. de Boor 114, trans. Mango and Scott 176).

The bones of St Antony were deposited in the Church of St John the Baptist in A.D. 561: Calderini, Dizionario vol. 1, 171;Google ScholarMartin, A., ‘Les premiers siècles du christianisme à Alexandrie, essai de topographie religieuse (IIIe−IVe siècles)’, Revue des études Augustiniennes 30 (1984), 222Google Scholar n. 72.

199 John of Nikiu 78.46, trans. Charles 75.

200 In a medieval scholion on an eleventh-century manuscript: Birnbaum, A., ‘Die Oktogone von Antiocha, Nazianz und Nyssa’, Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 36 (1913), 192;Google Scholar C. Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire (1986), 27 n. 21; Gascou, J., ‘Les églises d'Alexandrie: questions de méthode’, in Décobert, C. and Empereur, J.-Y. (eds), Alexandrie médiévale 1, ÉtAlex 3 (1998), 34Google Scholar.

201 Sozomen, Hist. eccl. 7.15.10, ed. Bidez and Hansen 321, trans. NPNF 2, 386; Nicephorus Callistus, Hist. eccl. 12.26, PG 146, col. 828A–B; Calderini, Dizionario vol. 1, 167;Google Scholar Schwartz, op. cit. (n. 43), 99 n. 13; Martin, op. cit. (n. 198), 222; Martin, A., ‘Alexandrie à l'epoque romaine tardive: l'impact du christianisme sur la topographie et les institutions’, in Alexandrie médiévale 1, EtAlex 3 (1998), 16Google Scholar.

The church named ‘Arcadia’ after Arcadius is also mentioned by John of Nikiu 83.37, ed. and French trans. Zotenberg 450, trans. Charles 88. There are some important differences between the translations of this passage by Zotenberg and Charles, leading to confusion. Zotenberg has Theophilus responsible for the construction, but Charles has Timothy. In John of Nikiu 83.38, ‘A temple in the city of Serapis’ of Zotenberg is restored by Charles as ‘there was a temple of Serapis in the city’ which he converted to a church named after Honorius (Charles 88 n. 1). Consequently, this passage is sometimes erroneously used to suggest that there was a church of Honorius at the former Serapeum site: Martin, op. cit. (n. 198), 223. See also, Amélineau, op. cit. (n. 198), 41.

202 Evagrius Scholasticus, Hist. eccl. 2.5, ed. Bidez and Parmentier p. 51 l. 11; Gascou, op. cit. (n. 200), 34. It could also explain the fifth-century reference of the monophysite Peter the Iberian to the use of the Serapeum (apparently in Alexandria) at night as a place to conduct pagan healing ceremonies: Petrus der Iberer 72, ed. and trans. R. Raabe (1895), 71. This could have been possible if churches were not built over the former space of the pagan temple buildings. I thank Peter Brown for this reference. Peter the Iberian: ODB vol. 3, 1642.

203 Pelusium: P. Grossmann, Christliche Architektur in Ägypten (2002), fig. 88. Church of Holy Sepulchre: M. Biddle, The Tomb of Christ (1999), figs 62, 63a.

204 Theophanes, AM 5957, ed. de Boor 114, trans. Mango and Scott 177; Calderini, Dizionario vol. I, 170Google Scholar.

205 Severus ibn el-Muqaffa, ed. and trans. B. Evetts, PO I, 466–7 [202–3]; Livre de la consécration du sanctuaire de Benjamin, ed. and French trans. R.-G. Coquin (1975), 50–4; Maricq, op. cit. (n. 147), 39–42; Martin, op. cit. (n. 201), 16–17. Severus refers to the Serapeum site as al-Sawari (the Columns), which is the later Arabic name for the site. He also mentions that the church was at ‘the 105 steps’, which will be the hundred steps of the Serapeum mentioned by Aphthonius.

206 For al-mal cab see: Hamarneh, op. cit. (n. 194), 84–5. John of Nikiu, 83.38, trans. Charles 88, states that the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian faced the Church of St Peter. Thus, it is sometimes suggested there was also a Church of St Peter at the Serapeum site: Maricq, op. cit. (147), 42; Martin, op. cit. (n. 201), 16.

207 Severus ibn el-Muqaffa, ed. and trans. Evetts, B., PO I, 478–80 [214–16]Google Scholar. So also, Coptic Synaxarium 22 Kihak (18 December), ed. and trans. Basset, R., PO III 508Google Scholar [432].

208 John Moschus, Spiritual Meadow 77, PG 87.3, col. 2932B, trans. Wortley 60.

209 Abd al-Latif p. 112–13, Relation de l'Égypte par Abd al-Latif, trans. S. de Sacy (1810), 182–3; Rowe 1941–2, 132–3; Butler, op. cit. (n. 169), 388. Columns on the eastern harbour shore: J. Yoyotte in Goddio et al. Alexandria, 208.

210 Gros, op. cit. (n. 69), vol. 1, figs 255, 275, 277.

211 Gros, op. cit. (n. 69), vol. 1, 192, figs 223, 292. Usually these examples in the East were approached on their axis, although the temple of Bel at Palmyra (dedicated in A.D. 32) is a peristyle temple in a colonnaded court, but the temple is approached on its side: M. A. R. Colledge, The Art of Palmyra (1976), 27, fig. 6.

212 Gros, op. cit. (n. 69), vol. 1, fig. 223.

213 Gros, op. cit. (n. 69), vol. 1, figs 153, 154, 255.

214 Archaeological evidence: Wace et al., op. cit. (n. 72), 4–11, pls 1–3, 10–17, 19; Baranski, M., ‘The archaeological setting of the great basilica church at el-Ashmunein’, in Bailey, D. M. (ed.), Archaeological Research in Roman Egypt, JRA suppl. 19 (1996), 103–4,Google Scholar fig. 8. Inscription and date: Wace et al., op. cit. (n. 72), 4–5; Fraser, Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 234–5;Google Scholar vol. 2, 384 n. 356; Rumscheid, F., Untersuchungen zur kleinasiatischen Bauornamentik des Hellenismus (1994), vol. 1, 53–4Google Scholar. Wace suggests that it was built with the benefits of the Third Syrian War, and so not much later than c. 240 B.C. Architectural orders: Hoepfner, W., Zwei Ptolemaierbauten, AM Beiheft 1 (1971), 7883,Google Scholar fig. 9, pl. 24; Pensabene Elementi Aless., 248–53, 324–8, pls 8–11, 12 no. 73, 19 nos 121–2; Rumscheid, op. cit., vol. 1, 53–4; vol. 2, 91–2 no. 370, pl. 196 nos 3–8, 197 nos 1–3.

215 J. J. Coulton, The Architectural Development of the Greek Stoa (1976), 171.

216 A. Hoffmann, ‘Topographie und Stadtgeschichte von Gadara/Umm Qais’, in A. Hoffmann and S. Kerner (eds), GadaraGerasa und die Dekapolis (2002), 105, fig. 156.

217 Listed in Wild Water, 163–6; Wild, R. A., ‘The known Isis-Sarapis sanctuaries of the Roman period’, ANRW II, 17.4 (1984), 1746–53Google Scholar. Now that the chronology of the construction phases of the Serapeum in Alexandria has been clarified, it would perhaps be worth further investigating how this relates to the peaks of interest in the cults of Serapis and Isis which Wild found indicated by inscriptions: Wild, op. cit. (1984), 1835 with graph. These inscriptions peak in the second century B.C. and the second and third centuries A.D. In particular, those of the latter centuries would need to be broken down by date to ascertain what pattern emerges.

218 Wild, op. cit. (n. 217), 1837.

219 Wild Water, 32.

220 Wild Water, 23, 47, 155; Wild, op. cit. (n. 217), 1836. These are distinguished from basins which are for ablutions, and for which a clear pattern does not emerge. The Roman Serapeum had a large pool, which has been mentioned, to the north of Diocletian's Column. It also apparently had about six libation basins which are clustered to the south and south-west of the pool and are connected by drains (Fig. 4). Their irregular configuration suggests that they were not part of the original Roman design, although they post-date the dismantling of that side of the Ptolemaic court (for the Roman court) and seem to pre-date Diocletian's Column. Basins: Rowe 1941–2, 141–3, pl. 32; Wild Water, 137–8, 253 nn. 38–42, fig. 26.

221 Expositio totius mundi et gentium 35, ed. and French trans. J. Rougé (1966), 170–1. The sanctuary design is explained in terms of Egyptian cult in D. Kessler, ‘Das hellenistische Serapeum in Alexandria und Ägypten in ägyptologischer sicht’, in M. Görg and G. Hölbl (eds), Ägypten und der östliche Mittelmeerraum in 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr. (2000), 163–230.

222 For assistance with various aspects of this appendix, we are particularly grateful to Christian Habicht, Martina Minas and Terrie Bramley. The photographs from the Sieglin Expedition are provided by G. Grimm from those in the archive of the Forschungszentrum Griechisch-Römisches Agypten of the Zentrum für Altertumswissenschaften an der Universität Trier. The text is provided by J. S. McKenzie.

223 Pensabene Elementi Aless.

224 Tkaczow Topography.

225 Tkaczow Topography, 323 no. 378 museum reg. nos 3614–17, 3719, 3720, 3756, 3757. According to her, they were excavated by Botti in 1893 near the T-shaped Building.

226 Pensabene Elementi Aless., 320 no. 26, pl. 5 no. 26, pl. 111 no. 26A–B, museum reg. nos 3632–4, 3679, 18875–82.

227 Find spot marked in Botti Fouilles à la colonne, plan on p. 122. Lower block, still in South Building in 1942: Rowe 1941–2, 146, 132 fig. 5; Tkaczow Topography, 208 no. 54.

228 Ronczewski 1927, 6, fig. 2; Pensabene Elementi Aless., pl. 29 no. 203 (h. 1.38 m, lower diam. 1.08 m).

229 G. Roux, L'architecture de l'argolide aux IVe et IIIe siècles avant J.-C. (1961), 367–8, pls 47–50.

230 Normal Corinthian capital with architectural terms for parts of capital: McKenzie Petra, 189 diag. 13c Typology of Alexandrian Corinthian capitals: McKenzie Petra, 70, 190 diag. 14.

231 Ronczewski 1927, 5–8, fig. 2; McKenzie Petra, pl. 199e; Pensabene Elementi Aless., 357–8 no. 203, pl. 29 no. 203; Gans 1994, 435, fig. 1.

232 Ronczewski 1927, pl. II. 2 top block; McKenzie Petra, pl. 200c; Pensabene Elementi Aless., 354 no. 185, pl. 27 no. 185 (h. 0.43 m). The best comparison for the top block is Pensabene Elementi Aless., 353–4 no. 184, pl. 27 no. 184 (h. 0.49 m) ( = back of Ronczewski 1927, pl. II. 2 lower block; McKenzie Petra, pl. 200d).

233 Pensabene Elementi Aless., 352–3 no. 181, pl. 26 no. 181; Gans 1994, 436–7, fig. 3.

234 Ronczewski 1927, 10–11, pl. I; McKenzie Petra, pl. 199d, f; Pensabene Elementi Aless., 352 no. 180, pl. 26 no. 180; Gans 1994, 436, fig. 2 (capital h. 0.605 m).

235 See n. 231 above.

236 McKenzie Petra, pl. 208d; Pensabene Elementi Aless., 488 no. 779, pl. 87 no. 779; Gans 1994, 438, fig. 6.

237 Detailed discussion: Pensabene Elementi Aless., 352 no. 180, 357–8 no. 203, 488 no. 779; Gans 1994, 435–9.

238 Pensabene Elementi Aless., 324–5 nos 43–59, pl. 8; Gans 1994, 437–8, fig. 4.

239 Type II examples: McKenzie Petra, pl. 203e–f (h. 0.235 and 0.315 m).

240 As also seen on Pensabene Elementi Aless., 364 no. 232, pl. 32 no. 232 (h. 0.415 m).

241 McKenzie Petra, 69.

242 von Hesberg, H., Konsolengeisa des Hellenismus und der frühen Kaiserzeit, RM Ergh. 24 (1980), 21, 227–9,Google Scholar pls 2–3; Pensabene Elementi Aless., 100.

243 McKenzie Petra, 93–4; J. S. McKenzie, ‘Alexandria and the origins of Alexandrianism’, in K. Hamma (ed.), Alexandria and Alexandrianism (1996), 116, 120–1, figs 13–15, 21–2, 23, 26–8.

244 McKenzie Petra, pl. 214 e–f; Pensabene Elementi Aless., 499–501 nos 848, 853, 857, 859, 860A, pl. 92 nos 848, 853, 857, 859, 860A.

245 McKenzie Petra, pl. 214g; Pensabene Elementi Aless., 511 nos 928–30, pl. 97 nos 928–9, pl. 98 no. 930.

246 Pensabene Elementi Aless., pl. 94 no. 887.

247 McKenzie Petra, pl. 211d, f.

248 Chantier Finney building: McKenzie Petra, pl. 211d, 212a. Other examples (dated by Pensabene from the second century to the first half of first century B.C.): Pensabene Elementi Aless., 518–19 nos 960–2, 964, pl. 101 nos 960–2, 964.

249 Pensabene Elementi Aless., 497 no. 831, 499 no. 845, pl. 90 no. 831, pl. 91 no. 845.

250 e.g., Pensabene Elementi Aless., 397 no. 393, pl. 48 no. 393 (late Antonine), 397–8 no. 395, pl. 49 no. 395 (Severan).

251 Pensabene Elementi Aless., 430–1, nos 532, 535, 537, pl. 62 nos 532, 535, 537.

252 Rowe Encl. Serapis, 19.

253 Tkaczow Topography, 208 no. 54A.

254 Fraser Ptol. Alex., vol. 1, 266.

255 Fraser Ptol. Alex., vol. 2, 421 n. 634.

256 Tkaczow Topography, 208 mentioned in no. 54A.

257 H. Thiersch in Sieglin Expedition day book, diagram on p. 13, 9 January 1901.