The Serapeum is a temple of the god Serapis in Alexandria, near the Library, that is at once temple, library and supposed tomb of Alexander the founder. Its furnished rooms test the visitor’s honesty.
| Type | Temple |
| City | Alexandria |
| Spanish entry | Serapeum |
Description
A city landmark people pass “near” as they find their way, it is large and important but low and flat. A terrace-courtyard with boundary markers, large pylons and banners holds statues of Anubis that may appear “arranged differently” from one visit to the next. A portico six meters by six leads inside.
The interior descends from public to secret: columns that “could be caryatids”, staircases, high openings to the sky since walled up. A staircase reaches a landing with two corridors, then descends through five or six furnished rooms with alabasters, perfume containers and lapis lazuli statuettes. Some floors are wood set in stone, for temples, the houses of life, are built for eternity.
The large main chamber holds a mirror and, facing it, four stone chairs. A sliding brick moves a stone panel that controls access to the closed parts.
The test
The riches along the route “separate pure souls from those tempted by petty theft”. Whoever takes nothing passes and gains later favors; whoever takes something is excluded.
Functions
- Temple of Serapis.
- Library of a kind: scribes copy continuously; one room has bookshelves and a copying desk.
- Tomb: supposed to be Alexander the founder’s.
It is the only Serapeum known, in the Library’s area, whose archival function it shares; the area also holds the Greco-Roman museum and “the tombs of the Serapeum”.
Conflicting accounts
- Some call it “a kind of library”; others insist it is “really a temple”.
Open questions
- What the four chairs are for, rite or test, is unknown.
- Who runs the temple and grants the favors is unknown.
- What moves the Anubis statues (priests, mechanism or time) is unknown.
- Whom the scribes answer to and what they copy is unknown.
- When and why the openings were walled up is unknown.
- An obscure phrase about a terrible blow to the columns may describe damage or legend.