Propagation of the Cult of Sarapis and Isis in Greece Sokolowski, Franciszek Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Winter 1974; 15, 4; ProQuest pg. 441

Propagation of the Cult of Sarapis 
and Isis in Greece 
Franciszek Sokolowski 

I. A New Inscription from Thessalonica 

CHARLES EDSON published in his recent fascicule of the Inscrip­
tiones Graecae an inscription from the city of Thessalonica 
recording the introduction of the cult of the Egyptian gods to 

Opus.1 This testimony, together with other writings on stone, was 
found during the excavation of the sanctuary of Sarapis soon after 
World War I but published only now. The inscription in question. 
although commented on and pardy restored by Edson and Klaffen­
bach, needs further investigation as a curious piece of ancient religious 
propaganda. The text, with some supplements of my own, reads as 
follows: 

I-II CENTURY COPY OF AN EARLIER TEXT 

------ ~~~9 

" Q I 9g:fca . . . Ka'Ta 'TaJl 1TpEc,..,ELaJl 

[------] 1f9JLt{fcOat €JI OrKOJl, eoogE KaO' V1T<JI >OJl ~1TLC'T&Jl'Ta 

[ , 'J' n I " t. " " '0 A V 1Tap av TOJl LJapa1TLJI E1TL'TasaL 01TWC 1TapaYEJlOJLEJlOC EJI 1TOVJl'Ta 

, 1\ E' I A ", (J I • ..- 't:. (J " , 5 v avavyEt/\TJ VpVVOJLep Tep 1. €LJLaCL €OV V1TOO€S ac aL aVTOV T€ Kcn 
, '''- \,1..' , A E" , , \ , , .,. ., A 

VV Tav aO€/\'f'av av'TOV LCLV, 'Tav TE E1TLCTo/\av Tav O!J cav V1TO TWL 1TOTL-

VVV K€</>aAalep ava84J aVT4J· TOll 8€ Ey€p(J€VTa ~aVJL&gaL T€ TOV 

[ "] '''- ~ I I """,., 'A VV 0 !,EtpOV Kat OLa1TOpE"LV 'T~ 1T0 <t >"1TWV ECTLV OLa TO U1TapxEt <V> aunt> 
, 

aVTL1T9-

\' , E' , 0' '" , '\ "" '''' , V 1\€~TEtaV 1TOTL upvvoJLov· Ka V1TVwcac D€ 1TaI\LV Kat Ta aUTa WWJI, 
, , (j' I , \ , '" ., A ,I.. __ \ , 10 v KaL E1TEpyE EtC 'TaJl 'TE E1TLC'To/\aJl EUpE V1TO 'Tep 1TO'TLKE'f'<XI\aLep 

(j , 'A' '(j' \(j , "'" '''' " \ ' V Ka wc au'Tep E'T€KJLap "1. E1TaV€/\ WJI OE aVEOWK€ 'Tav E1TLC'To/\av 

1 IG X 2 fase.l 255. On the Sarapieion in Thessalonica see S. Pelekides, 'A1TO rYJv 1ToAmda Ka~ 

rYJv KOLvwvla rilc apxalac @f£ccaAovlK'YJc(Thessalonica 1934); C. B. Welles, AJA 42 (1938) 249-51; 
C. Edson, HSCP 51 (1940) 125-37, HThR 41 (1948) 153-204; P. M. Fraser, "Two Studies on the 
Cult of Sarapis in the Hellenistic World," OpusAthen 3 (1960) 37-39; L. Vidmann, Sylloge 
inscriptionum religionis Isiacae et Sarapicae (Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten 28, 
Berlin 1969) nos.l07-26; R. Merkelbaeh, ZPE 10 (1973) 46-54. 

441 



442 THE CULT OF SARAPIS AND ISIS IN GREECE 

E ' I , , I \ ,., ~ () A' () I E' I ~, 
VpVVOf.£Wt Kat aVY}V')I€£I\€ 'Ta V1TO 'TOV €OV €1T£'Tax €V'Ta' vpvvof.£oe D€ 
\, \' \ fl' " I ,., ,..... I \ I TCf-V €1Tte'TOl\av I\a WV Kat aKoveae 'Ta V1T0 ~€VaLV€'T0V I!-€Y0f.£€va 

, " \' '" ., ~ \ , ()' • I V 1Tap aVTOV f.£€V 'TOV ~aLpov a1Topwe €LX€ OLa 'TO Ka we €1TaVWL 

15 [ ~ ]_.J.. A " , A' \ I " " ,~ , OLae '!-'Y€L'TaL €Lf.£€V aVTOte aV'TL1TOI\€L'T€tav 1T0'T avew'TOVC avayrove D€ 

[VV'TelV €1T£e'T ]OA~ Kat lowv 'Tel y€ypaf.£f.£€va eVf.£cpwva 'Tote v[P6]-

[ ., '] ~, I • ~ 't. ,~ , ,\ E" VV 'T€POV V1T av'T OV €tp7Jf.£€VOLC V1T€D€~ a'TO 'TOV ~apa1T£V Kat 'Tav L9!' 

[ ' "i:. ]" A • I A '{"t I , , , [ ] KaL f.£€'Ta 'TDV ~€VLCf.£ 9!' ~V 'Tal. 9LKLaL 'Tal. ~WCLJI€LKae €JI 'Tove OLK ov -

[V pove (}€ove 1TapaAaf3ovea ~~VE" EwctJlE"lKa T~ ~ (}vclae Xp6J1[ ov 'Ttv&·] 

20 [ vv f.£€'Tel S~ 'TOV aV'Tae (}wa'Tov Evv]6e'Ta a EWCLf3lov (}vya'TPLOa v[ ap€]­

[ v Sloov Kat St€ga.y€ 'Tel f.£Ve-nJpLa 'Tw]r (}€WV €V 'Tove K[ at] af.£€'T6[x]ove 

[ A, A E' I ~, " " ] " ['] '() V'TWJI L€PWV' VJloe'Tae DE" ve'TE"pOJl E"V appwe'T f~r Ef.£1TE"e9 vea e 1TpoE" V€ 

[ " 'A '() , ] V1T€P aVTae 'Tae VCLae ------------------- f9 ·fJH· ./1- •• 

4 rest. Klaffenbach. 15 Klaffenbach. 16-17 Sokolowski: Vrro 8€J1aLVET ]ov 

Edson. 18 Sokolowski: ol[KETac]? Edson. 19 Sokolowski. 20 Sokolowski. 21 
Sokolowski: K[ aT ]aJL€T6[x]ovc Klaffenbach. 22 Sokolowski: TOV cS€ivoc €v 
appwe'T ]{<;q' £JL1T€c6[V'To]c Klaffenbach. 

The document reveals that a certain Xenainetos came from the city 
of Opus to the shrine of Sarapis in Thessalonica to obtain advice on 
some problem, probably a matter of health. During his sleep in the 
dormitory, he dreamed that Sarapis approached him and put under 
his pillow a written message for Eurynomos, a man from Opus, 
whom the god charged with receiving him and his sister Isis into the 
city.2 Having awakened and fallen asleep again, Xenainetos had the 
same dream. He was perplexed by this vision because of enmity 
existing between him and Eurynomos. The record uses the term 
aV'T£1TOALTEla, meaning opposition on the score of ideas or policy.s 
Having returned home, Xenainetos conveyed the message of Sarapis 
to Eurynomos, who read it, talked with the messenger, and in spite 
of his embarrassment, after some hesitation decided to comply with 
the will of the god. Sara pis and Isis were installed in the house of a 
certain Sosinike.4 The document describes later the sequence of 
priestesses in the service of the Egyptian gods. 

We find different methods of spreading the cult of Sarapis, but this 

IOn similar cases of the gods' apparitions see Hdt. 6.105; Paus. 1.28.4; 8.54.7; Pluto 
Them. 30. Cf F. Pfister, RE Supplb. 4 (1924) 299; Merkelbach, op. cit. (supra n.I) 50. 

B Cf Arist. Pol. 20.5,5; 23.10,14; 28.14,1; Pluto Caes. 11. 
, For the names of the persons cf IG IX.l 194,30; ibid. 271,13; SIG3 962,35; 1059 I 10, II 18. 



FRANCISZEK SOKOLOWSKI 443 

document from Thessalonica exemplifies what scholars are accus­
tomed to call cHimmelsbriefe', or letters sent from heaven.s Other 
letters supposedly from gods and used as a means of disseminating 
religious ideas and cults may serve to clarify the background of our 
text. (1) Aristides in his Sacred Talks reports that once he was ordered 
in a dream to seek advice on behalf of the health of his nurse, Philou­
mene, in Pergamum. Entering the sanctuary he found a letter at the 
feet of Asklepios' statue, probably prescribing the cure.6 (2) Pausanias 
reports (from the archives of the sanctuary in Epidaurus) the story of 
Phalysios, the founder of the cult of Asklepios in Naupactus (10.38.13). 
Informed of this man's blindness, Asklepios appeared to the poetess 
Any to in a dream and handed her writing-tablets with the order to 
submit them to Phalysios for reading. When the blind man opened 
the tablets, his sight was restored. (3) This report recalls a detail from 
the story of the introduction of Sarapis into Delos. For a long time this 
cult had no decent sanctuary. Apollonios, the grandson of the founder, 
built the temple in spite of all manner of difficulties. In a critical 
moment Sarapis came to him in sleep and ordered him to search for 
some writing hidden in the frame of the door which should instruct 
him where and how to build the temple.7 (4) Among the papyri of 
Zenon there is a letter of a certain Zoilos about the construction of a 
temple of Sarapis in some coastal city.s Consulting the god on behalf 
of the health of Apollonios, the finance minister of the Ptolemaic 
administration, Zoilos was approached by Sarapis in his sleep and 
was ordered to urge his sick master to build a sanctuary, dedicate a 
holy precinct, and install a priest to offer the sacrifices. Zoilos neg­
lected to accomplish the mission and was himself punished with 
sickness. He was unable to transmit the order of the god until he 
recovered. 

From lines 5 and l7-18 of the inscription from Thessalonica we 
learn that Sarapis sent a message to Opus asking that he be received 
into the city. The verb tnro8EXEc()(U (lines 5 and 17) has an important 

5 See A. Dieterich. Kleine Schriften (Leipzig/Berlin 1911) 234-51; O. Weinreich. ArchRW 10 
(1907) 566-67= Ausgewiihlte Schriften I (Amsterdam 1969) 5-6; Sykutris. RE Supplb. 5 (1931) 
206. 

6 2.394 K.: Kat ap.a Aap.fJ&vw T,vd; ~7nCToA~v 'TTPO 'TToSWV KHP.€VTJV TOV ..::2,oc ' ACKA7J'"'OV. 
7IG XIA 1299,56-58. Cf H. Engelmann, Die delische Sarapisaretologie (BeitrKIPhil 15, 

Meisenheim am Glan 1964) 11; A. D. Nock, Conversion (Oxford 1933, repro 1961) 51-54. 
8 P.Cair.Zen. 59034. Fraser, op.cit. (supra n.1) 54 no.12. 



444 THE CULT OF SARAPIS AND ISIS IN GREECE 

history in the spread of Greek cults. Leto, mother of Apollo, wan­
dered about looking for a place where she could give birth to her son. 
Nowhere did she find hospitality until she came to Delos.9 Euripides' 
RaceMe describes the wandering of Dionysos through various lands in 
search of hospitality.lO We know something about the reception of 
Asklepios in Athens when he came there from Epidaurus about 
420 B.C. Sophocles had been appointed as host to receive the god, and 
in reward for this service he was given after his death and heroization 
the title Dexion, 'Receiver'.u Pausanias relates different kinds of 
welcome experienced by Demeter during her search for Kore. A 
certain Phytalos, a native of Attica, offered the goddess hospitality and 
was given in reward a fig tree.12 It was a common belief in antiquity 
that gods sometimes visited human beings, especially the good and 
just ones.13 We read in an inscription from Mantinea that the priestess 
of Demeter after the procession with the statue "received the goddess 
into her own house."14 Livy gives us the description of the welcome 
and reception of the Mother of the Gods in Rome during the second 
Punic war (29.11.6-7). On the advice of the oracle of Delphi an em­
bassy was sent to Galatia to bring the holy stone of the goddess, and 
an optimus vir (P. Scipio) was appointed to receive it in Rome. Another 
story of the reception of gods is reported by Diodorus (8.32.2). The 
Locrians, waging war against Croton, asked their mother city, 
Sparta, for help. The Lacedemonians, knowing the great strength of 
the Crotonians, refused to intervene militarily but offered instead to 
give the Dioscuri as helpers. The Locrian ambassadors took the reply 
as a good omen, accepted the aid, sacrificed and organized a reception 
for the gods on their ship, and sailed back home. 

COMMENTARY 

LINES 18-19. The restoration is based on P.Lond. I 125.11: ~ eEOC ~ KaAOVP.br] 
OlKOVp0C. Sara pis was at first accepted as a god of the family of Sosinike, then 
some time later outsiders also joined this cult. 

• Hymn.Hom.Ap.Del. 48-49. Cf pfister, op.dt. (supra n.2) 316. 
10 Lines 769-70: TOV 8af.p.ov· ow Tov8" ••• W 8Ec1ToTa, aExov 1TO'\,,' Tjj&. 
11 Cf SIG3 1096 n.5. U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Der Glaube der Hellenen l II (Basel 

1956) 222f. L. Besehi, Annuario 29-30 (1967-68) 424-28. 
11 Paus. 1.37.2. Cf. 1.14.2; 2.18.3,35.4; 7.27.9. 
13 Od. 17.485-87. Paus. 8.2.4. NT Ep.Hebr. 13.2. 



FRANCISZEK SOKOLOWSKI 445 

LINES 21-22. G. Klaffenbach proposed the reading K[aT]af'EToxoVC. The right 
supplement, I think, should be K[a~] eXf'ETOXOVC. The familial cult had been 
opened to people not closely related. Cf Dittenberg. SIG3 1125.11: AllOv. , . 
/L€Taf3ot.:ijc aJLETOXOC. For the mysteries in the circles of Sarapis and Isis consult 
Th. Hopfner, RE 8 (1935) 133ff, and L. Vidmann, Isis und Sara pis bei den 
Griechen and Romern (RelVersVorarb 29, Berlin 1970) 124-38, 

LINES 22-23. The verb 7TpOeVHV means here 'sacrifice in the name of somebody 
else'. See on the subject my Lois sacrees de l'Asie Mineure (Paris 1955) 125. 

II. Sarapis in Magnesia 
We find another kind of propagation in the decree of Magnesia on 

the Maeander connected with the installation of the cult of Sarapis. 
This text has been published by many scholars, but without full 
explanation. IS I propose to read this document as follows: 

TEXT 

\ \ ~\ \ .,. ] - - - TCX fL€V CXI\I\CX € tVCXt 

[7TaVTa K]CX(JOTL Kat TO[LC i€p€vCt TWV (}€WV OCatC (}v€]-
, A' A[' I ~ I \ ~\ (J' ] Tat €V TWt €VtaVTW t €KCXCTWt D"lfL0Ctat' TCX D€ vfLaTa 

[] A(}A , [>\ A" > ] 
'I Wt €Wt 7TapacT"lcov Ct CX7TO TOV HCWVTOC €Vtav -

A • > I m \[ I (J I • \ A ~ , ,. I ] 5 TOV at o£KovofLo£ 'Papca/\ tW£ V€tv V7T€P TOV u"lfLov, €V EKacT'1)' 
['I ]wv JOpTWV TTCXptCTeXVTEC ['16 €lc TIJv ()vdcxv fL€fL€ptCfL€]-

[vo ]v' Ta D€ (}vO€VTa KaTcxvcx'\tCK€[ T ]w[ ccxv €V TWt l€pwt, KCXTa] 

[o]~ TOV a'\'\ov Xpovov 7TpOqUC(}ovc(}wcav oZ [(}VCt<f~OVT€C] 
[ ] 

\. \ () I I I ~ \ [\. I , A ] 

'I a tEpa Ka OTL y€ypa7TTaL' KaTacT"lCH 9€ K aL L€p€a €V TWL 

lO [T ] EfLEV€L TWL aVaT€(JEVTL TWL (J€WL' '\~!fi€TaL o[ ~ TWV (}VOfLEVWV] 

[E]V TWL T€fLEV€L ac/>' EKaCTOV Z€P€{OV CKE'\OC Kat [TWV TL(}€fLEVWV] 
[ ] 

A (J A \ I I ,,,,, ~ \ I \ [ I • ] 
'I WL €WL Ta TptTa fL€P"l' €V CXI\I\WL U€ T07TWt fL"l 7TOL€tTW t€ -

[P]ov EapamooC' €t o~ fL~' o4>HMTW TWL O~fLWL o[paXfLac--] 

[ K ]a, 15 'T07TOC €CTW TfjC 7TO'\[ €w]C' 4>awErw [o~ 15 XP~L~WV €7TL 'TWL] 

15 [~JfLtC€t 7TpOC TOVC €VOvvo[v]c, oZ D~ dJ(}VVOL {KCXt ot EV(}VV[Ot} €lccxyov]­

[TWV] dc'TO Ka(J' E~afL"lvov 7Tapay£vOfL€VOV o[tKaCT~pwv' a4>aL]­

[p€t'Tw]cav D€ oZ OlKovofLot EK TWV ~v,\{vwv w[vwv opaX]-

(J.L lac TP€tC [K]aL €K TWV CtT"lpwv [w ]vwv §[paX]f.Lnv fL[tav Kat &]­
[7TO JDOTwcav TWt L€P€t· E~OVctCX D€ ECTW TW[ t J D~(J.LWt dpcxt 'It TOU] 

16 O. Kern, Die Inschriften von Magnesia (Berlin 1900) 99; Dittenberg. SIG1 554; Sokolowski, 
op.at. (supra p.445) 34; Fraser, op.at. (supra n.1) 53 no.S; Vidmann, op.at. (supra n.1) no.Z94. 



446 THE CULT OF SARAPIS AND ISIS IN GREECE 

20 [v6fW]V ~ [1m ]oyp&'z/1(t.£ E7'EPOV Ewe ri}e avacpopae. 
'ETr~ LJ7'pa7'OKAE{ove 

[7' ]Wt Trptafdvwt rryv iEpEwetSV1Jv 7'00 [LJap&.mSoe] 
[ ..•. ]07]t. 07'CtV TrapaA&.f37]t rryv £EpEW[ CVV1Jv] 
[Trpoe rry]v fnaypacp~v KaO' ~v iTrpla7'o [Trpocyp&.]-

25 [z/1at Ka~ 7'6]8E Trap&.[p ]7'TJfLa' 0 Trpt&'fL[ evoe Aaf3wv 7'0] 
[Ele ]cpEp6fLEVOV tmo 7'WV [l]8tw7'w[v elc 7'aC eTrov]­
[Sac 7'Ov] Kpari}pa KtpVat iv 7'w[t iepwt 7'00 LJap&]­
[mSoe £x]ov[7'a] xoOv ov TrAELOV. [ri}e VVK7'Oe Em]­
[p.EA6fL]Evoe Ka~ ri}e [~]fL€pae 7'0 8[EtTrVten]pt]-

30 [ov Trlxetv 7' ]wv CVVdV7'WV iv 7'w[t 7'EfL€vet avewLYfL€]­
[vov Trap€XEtv---

2 rest. Sokolowski. 3 Sokolowski: oca BE BEL 8VELV Dittenberger. 4 Sokolowski. 
5-6 Sokolowski: 0;' 7'<% 8vfLa7'a 7'WV ~]wv Dittenberger. 6-7 Sokolowski. 
8 Sokolowski: OLKOVOI1-OL Kern: ;,epELc Stengel. 9 Sokolowski: VEWKOPOV 
Dittenberger. 10 rest. Stengel: 7'EfJvl1ivwv Kern: Katol1ivwv Dittenberger. 
11 Sokolowski: BtBol1-EVWV Stengel. 12-13 Sokolowski: {JwfL]6v Kern. 16-17 
Sokolowski: AafL{JavtTwcav Kern. 21-31 Sokolowski. 

The city of Magnesia is acknowledging the cult of Sarapis as a 
public institution and a certain Pharsalios as its official priest. This 
man earlier dedicated to Sarapis a precinct, probably on his own 
property, and planned to build a temple'there. The city guarantees 
him victims for sacrifice during the feasts, grants the right to collect 
certain cultic requirements, and pays him with money from the sale 
of wood and food. On the other hand, Pharsalios agrees to appoint an 
auxiliary priest and to build something (I think a temple) in the 
precinct dedicated to Sarapis. He accepts also the obligation to build 
the chapel nowhere else than in the delimited place, or he will be 
fined and the potential site confiscated. This curious stipulation means 
that Pharsalios had been thwarted in his attempt to install the cult in a 
site other than the one agreed upon. Any misunderstanding on this 
point will be tried by a tribunal coming to Magnesia from abroad.16 

The dedication of the precinct, the building of the temple or chapel 
and the appointment of a priest figure as items in other documents 
related to the spread of the cult of Sarapis. So in Delos Apollonios, the 

11 This detail seems to indicate that Pharsalios was a foreigner in Magnesia. Cf IG vn 
3172,90. 



FRANCISZEK SOKOLOWSKI 447 

grandson of the founder of the cult, had been facing long-time 
opposition in building a suitable temple to his god.I7 The Zoilos 
mentioned above (cf. n.B) was urged by Sarapis to build something 
(probably a temple), to dedicate a precinct and to appoint a priest for 
the sacrifices. A fragment of an inscription from Ephesus mentions 
someone who accomplished all three requirements: l8pvcaTo KaTu 

I ~ll ~ ,. '[] "" <;-1 , , , 
7TpocTayp.a TOV UEOV TO tEpO v vac Kat TOV vaov WLKOOOP.7JCEV, Kat TO TEP.EVOC 

, I~ t: ., ~ II ~ 't:.' , p\ I 116 ' 
aVEOEL~ EV tEpOV, TOV UEOV 7TpOCTa<:, avTOC, tEPEVC YEVOP.EVOC 1. "aVKLac lr1.EVEKpa-

TOVc.18 The clause about the building of a temple in the decree of 
Magnesia can be illustrated by an inscription from Syria.19 Three 
brothers, all priests of Sarapis, owned the precinct of their god in the 
city: T€P.EVOC l8uJK7"'f}TOV.20 Certain people erected there statues or 
steles, paying taxes to the city, and the priests, fearing encroachment 
of the authorities on their property, protested and succeeded in 
winning their point. The tax in question was to be paid in the future 
not for placing the dedication but for the monument itself. We have 
another testimony of the opposition shown to the introduction of the 
Sara pis cult into the city of Histria.21 The acceptance of this cult had 
been sharply debated and resisted in the council; the decision could 
not be taken until an embassy had been sent to the oracle of Apollo 
in Chalcedon for advice on this question. 

COMMENTARY 

LINE 3. For the supplement cf Dittenberg. SIC3 1015=my Lois sacrees de 
l'Asie Mineure nos. 1,5; 73,10 and 26. 

LINE 5. I think that Pharsalios was the official priest and performed the 
sacral duties during the Sarapieia on behalf of the city. We can compare here 
the decree of Histria honoring a certain Diogenes whose father dedicated the 
temple to the Muses and left money for the celebration of Mouseia: Elv[at 

a]v-rov L€pea Movawv Kat 7TpoBv€tV TOLC Movc€lotc. 22 See also my book quoted 
above on nO.24 A 25-30. The feast of Sarapis became a public event, all 

17 IG XI.4 1299. SIG3 663 and 664. Cf supra n.7. 
18 J. Keil, An~Wien (1954) 217 no.3. Fraser, op.cit. (supra n.1) 37 n.4. But see also L. Robert, 

BullEp 1955, 193. 
19 P. Roussel, Syria 23 (1942-44) 21-32. Fraser, op.cit. (supra n.l) 53-54 no.lI. IGLSyr 1261. 

Cf G. Klaffenbach, Philologus 97 (194B) 376-7B. 
20 For this term cf IG XII suppl. 37 n.124,IB: EXWV [0£ xwpl]ov [l]0,6K7'7}TOV ••• KCXT£cK£vac£ 

JCal €V TOVT[<p ·nfp.£v6c] 7'£ Kal vaoov. 
!l D. M. Pippidi, Studii Classice 6 (1964) lOB-lB. 
II Histria, Monografie Arheologid 1 (Bucharest 1954) 477 lines 17-1B. 



448 THE CULT OF SARAPIS AND ISIS IN GREECE 

participants were entertained, and perhaps for this reason meat from the 
sacrifices could not be exported from the sacred precinct. 

LINE 8. O. Kern restored here OlKOVOP.OL because he was thinking of the lease 
of the cult by these state officials; Dittenberger guessed at victims which the 
oikonomoi were furnishing. Both opinions seem mistaken because of the middle 
form of the verb 1TPOCP.Lc(Jovc(JaL. P. Stengel restored iepe'ic, thinking of priests 
who sometimes furnished additional requisites for use in the sacrifices.23 I 
suppose that the iepa are victims which were usually bought by people 
wanting to celebrate a private sacrifice; I therefore read (JVCLa'OV'TeC.24-

LINE 9. In my edition of this text in 1955 I restored iep'a, and I prefer to retain 
this reading. Pharsalios, the founder and main priest of the cult had to 
appoint an auxiliary, as happened in many other religious groups and cultS.25 

Such a priest in the service of Sarapis in Delos was called i14>Lepevc.26 My 
supposition is based on the rule in line 12, according to which the priest, i.e. 
the main priest, receives two-thirds of all dedicated parts of victims; one­
third went certainly to the auxiliary priest. Such an arrangement was made 
between the priests serving as partners in the same cult.27 

LINES 12-13. I read iepov instead of {3wp.ov as proposed by Kern. I think that 
the building of a temple or chapel was more important for the establishment 
of a cult than that of an altar. See above p.447. 

LINEs 21ff. I think that the lease of this cult was introduced some time later. 

LINE 26. For the verb as restored cf IG Xll.2 511 a 1-6, SIG3 1096 n.7. 

LINE 27. On meals in the cult of Sarapis consult A. Salac, BPW 34 (1914) 253-55; 
A. Hofler, Der Sara pis Hymnus des Aelius Aristides (TabBeitr 27, Stuttgart­
Berlin 1935) 95; H. C. Youtie, "The KldVTJ of Sarapis," HThR 41 (1948) 9-29 

(=Scriptiunculae I [Amsterdam 1973]487-507). 

LINES 29-31. For the supplements cf SIG3 664,8; 783, 36; 1218,8-9.28 

DEARBORN, MICmGAN 

May, 1974 

1& Hermes 49 (1914) 95 and BPW 16 (1896) 686 . 
.. Cf Sokolowski, op.cit. (supra p.445) 2,9. Idem, Lois sacrees des cites grecques (Paris 1969) 

55,7 and 16; 65,88. OGrS 199,36; 339,36. 
J5 Cf Sokolowski, op.cit. (supra n.24) 87, the commentary. 
11M. Guarducd, Annuario 30-32 (1952-54) 178. Cf Vidmann, op.cit. (supra p.445) 51. 
17 Cf HThR 50 (1957) 136ff. 
18 I thank Professor Herbert C. Youtie for kindly reading this paper and for helping me 

with his admirable knowledge.