Collections OnlineGregorian Egyptian MuseumRoom IIIThe Serapeum And The Canopus Of Hadrian's Villa

The solar Reawakening of Osiris/Apis

3.1 Two-faced Osiris/Apis (Serapis) is born from the lotus flower, cat. 22807.

3.2 Priestess who participates in the rite of the birth of Osiris , cat. 22801

3.3 Musician priestess who participates in the rite of the birth of Osiris, cat. 22802

3.4 Priest that conducts the offerings during the rite of the birth of Osiris, cat. 22817

Divinities associated with the myth of Osiris/Antinous

3.5 The god Nefertum , cat. 22816

3.6 Osiris/Antinous copy (Staatliche Sammlung Aegyptischer Kunst, Gl. WAF 14)

3.7 The god Ptah , cat. 22815

Antinous/Osiris of Upper and Lower Egypt

3.8 Antinous/Osiris, from Hadrian's Villa, Pecile, cat. 36464

3.10 Bust of a statue of Antinous/Osiris, from Pantanello (?); formerly in the New Wing, cat. 2170

3.11 Antinous/Osiris, cat. 22795.

The source of the flood of the Nile

3.9 Isis-Sothis-Demeter, cat. 22804.

Virtual Visit of this Room

The Shrine of Serapis (Serapeum), which must have been a symbolic representation of the Valley of the Nile, was restructured after the journey of Hadrian in Egypt of 130-131 AD, during which the emperors lover Antinous lost his life. The Serapeum was purposely decorated with statues portraying the cults of Osiris (the god that dies and rises again), identified with the deified Antinous, and the cult of the Alexandrian god Serapis, of whom Hadrian was a strong supporter. A complex hydraulic system operated a waterfall fountain, which drew water from a large cistern, that celebrated the cycle of the flood of the Nile bearer of life. Above the fountain was a bust of the goddess Isis-Sothis-Demeter.