24 January AD 126 – A small Serapeum is consecrated in Thebes to Hadrian on his fiftieth birthday (#Hadrian1900) FOLLOWING HADRIAN

On January 24, AD 126, Emperor Hadrian celebrated his fiftieth birthday. This occasion was marked by the dedication of a small temple to the god Serapis (Serapeum) within the forecourt of the Luxor Temple (Roman Thebes) in Egypt. Modest in scale, the temple, found throughout excavations carried out by Egyptian archaeologist Zakaria Ghoneim in 1950-51, contains a Greek inscription referencing Gaius Julius Antoninus, ex-decurion and neokoros (temple attendant) of Serapis, who restored the temple, consecrated its statues, and re-dedicated it to Hadrian and Zeus Helios the Nice Serapis on the twenty ninth day of the month of Tybi (January 24) within the tenth yr of his reign.

The small Serapeum exterior the Luxor temple, with a statue of Isis arrange inside.

The small temple stands inside the courtyard constructed by Nectanebo I, instantly in entrance of the monumental first pylon of Ramses II. Constructed primarily of mud brick, it occupies the northwest nook of an area that when contained a number of Roman-period monuments. Whereas most of those constructions have disappeared, the modest Serapeum has survived. This construction contains a rectangular podium measuring 12 meters by 8 meters, and a cella with a raised platform for statues and a basin for ritual purification.

The temple was constructed utilizing easy supplies, together with each baked and unbaked bricks, whereas grès was used for the door and a few columns. The partitions have been coated with stucco that mimicked marble, and the columns blended Greco-Roman and Egyptian architectural types.

Plan of the Luxor Temple with the small Temple of Serapis within the northwest nook of the forecourt, close to the wall of Nectanebo and the pylon of Ramses II.

The Serapeum housed statues of Isis, Osiris-Canope, Apis, and Serapis. Essentially the most distinguished surviving statue is a monumental illustration of Isis, crafted from white-yellowish limestone. The statue depicts the goddess standing gracefully, adorned in a protracted plaited tunic, a fringed mantle tied on the chest, and a material draped over her left shoulder and hips. She initially held a cornucopia on her left arm, symbolising fertility and prosperity, and stood on a banquette behind the sanctuary, within the axis of the principle door.

Different surviving artefacts embrace a adorned Osiris-Canope vase, two statues of the sacred bull Apis (one in limestone and the opposite in granite), and a fraction of a statue doubtless representing Sarapis, discovered close to a distinct segment within the southern wall of the cella. Moreover, a fraction of one other statue of Isis was found inside the temple. These statues replicate the syncretic nature of the cult, mixing Egyptian and Greco-Roman non secular traditions.

Statue of Isis, product of white-yellowish limestone. The statue depicts Isis standing, barely leaning on her proper leg, along with her left leg bent. She wears a protracted plaited tunic, a fringed mantle tied on the chest, and a chunk of material draped over her left shoulder and round her hips.

The Greek inscription on the lintel of the temple’s important door highlights Gaius Julius Antoninus’s dedication and his funding of the temple’s reconstruction at his personal expense (SEG 31:1548). It states that the temple was devoted to Zeus Helios Nice Serapis, a robust syncretic deity combining components of Zeus, Helios, and Serapis. This displays a theological convergence geared toward uniting Egyptian, Greek, and Roman non secular traditions. The inscription additionally references Hadrian, marking the tenth yr of his reign and the emperor’s birthday (dies natalis).

Bronze determine of Serapis Zeus Helios seated on a throne with an eagle at his toes. Dated to the 1st-Third century AD.
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Through the reign of Hadrian, Zeus Helios Nice Serapis gained vital reputation. The emperor actively promoted the cult of Serapis as a part of his cultural coverage, which sought to combine Egyptian non secular practices into the Roman imperial framework. The rising reputation of Zeus Helios Nice Serapis throughout this time is evidenced by quite a few dedications, inscriptions, and cash that includes the deity (see right here). A number of students have interpreted this development as a mirrored image of Hadrian’s fascination with Egypt, or at the very least his appreciation for Egyptian sacra.

The inscription additionally contains the identify of the Egyptian prefect on the time, Titus Flavius Titianus. Nonetheless, his identify later confronted a damnatio memoriae (erasure of reminiscence) on account of deliberate defacement. Regardless of this injury, students have recognized his identify by way of cautious examination of the surviving letters.

ὑπὲρ Αὐτοκράτορος Καίσαρος Τραιανοῦ Ἁδριανοῦ Σεβαστοῦ
καὶ τοῦ παντὸς οἴκου αὐτοῦ, Διὶ Ἡλίῳ μεγάλῳ Σαράπιδι, Γαῖος Ἰούλιος Ἀντωνεῖνος̣,
τῶν ἀπολελυμένων δεκαδάρχων, ἐκ τοῦ ἰδίου ἀνοικοδομήσας τὸ ἱερόν, τὸ ζῴδιον
ἀνέθηκεν εὐχῆς καὶ εὐσεβείας χάριν ἐπὶ 〚Τ̣[ίτου] Φ̣[λαούιου Τιτιανοῦ]〛 ἐπάρχου Αἰγύπτου·
ὁ αὐτὸς δὲ καὶ νεοκόρος αὐτοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου Σαράπιδος καὶ τ̣ὰ̣ κατ̣ά̣λοιπα ζῴδια ἀνέθηκε
(ἔτους) ιʹ Αὐτοκράτορος Καίσαρος Τραιανοῦ Ἁ̣δριανοῦ Σεβαστοῦ, Τῦβι κθʹ.

“For the Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus and all his family, Gaius Julius Antoninus of the physique of ex-decurions, had the temple to Zeus Helios the good Sarapis rebuilt at his personal expense and consecrated the statue (of the god) on account of a vow and his piety, underneath Titus Flavius Titianus, prefect of Egypt; the identical dedicant was additionally a neokoros of the good Serapis himself and consecrated all the remainder of the statues. Within the tenth yr of the reign of Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus, on the twenty ninth day of the month of Tybi.”

Titus Flavius Titianus served as Praefectus Aegypti for an unusually very long time within the center of Hadrian’s reign. The earliest attestation of him in workplace is his inscription on the Memnon Colossus (IColosse 24), dated to twenty March, AD 126 (tenth yr of Hadrian); the most recent (P. Berol 11664) is from 1 April, AD 133 (seventeenth yr of Hadrian). Regardless of his prolonged service, his identify is notably absent from non-Egyptian historic and literary information. The explanations for Titus Flavius Titianus’s damnatio memoriae stay unknown, however it’s speculated that it could have resulted from actions that displeased Hadrian throughout his governorship.

T(itus) Fl(avius) Titianus
praef(ectus) Aeg(ypti)
audit
Memnon
XII Okay(alendas) April(es)
Vero III et Ambibulo co(n)s(ulibus)
hora (prima).
Titus Flavius Titianus prefect of Egypt heard
Memnon
on the thirteenth day earlier than the Kalends of April within the third yr of the consulship of Verus and Ambibulus, on the first hour.

The Serapeum inscription will not be the one supply indicating the in poor health destiny of Titus Flavius Titianus. Proof of his fall into shame can be present in an inscription from Marina el-Alamein, the place his identify was intentionally eliminated. Found in the course of the 2005 excavation season by the Polish Archaeological Mission, a limestone pedestal contains a carved honorific inscription, components of that are erased. The preserved portion features a relationship components, indicating that the inscription was created within the 14th yr of Hadrian’s reign (AD 129), on Hathyr 20 (November 15). The pedestal might have initially supported a statue, probably erected in preparation for Hadrian’s go to to Egypt the next yr (Lajtar, 2005).

Hundreds of kilometres away, one other Serapeum was to be inaugurated on Hadrian’s birthday in AD 127 within the Roman port metropolis of Ostia. Historic information, particularly the Fasti Ostienses (the official calendar of Ostia), point out that this temple was constructed by a non-public particular person named Caltilius P… together with his personal cash and devoted on that particular date (see right here). The Serapeum was linked to the Egyptian grain commerce and the Alexandrian fleet that introduced it to Rome’s harbours.

Hadrian’s birthday was celebrated with festivities throughout his lifetime and continued to be honoured for a few years afterwards (Bricault, 2024). A century later, round AD 223–227, the Feriale Duranum, the navy calendar of the Twentieth Palmyrene cohort stationed at Dura-Europos alongside the Euphrates in Syria, recorded that 9 days earlier than the Kalends of February (on January 24), a male ox was sacrificed in celebration of the birthday of the divine Hadrian (P.Dura 54, col. I, 13).

Sources & references:

Bloch, H. (1959). The Serapeum of Ostia and the brick-stamps of 123 A.D.: A brand new landmark within the historical past of Roman structure. American Journal of Archaeology, 63, 225–245.
Golvin, J.-C., Abd el-Hamid, S., Wagner, G., & Dunand, F. (1981). Le petit Sarapeion romain de Louqsor. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 81, 115–148.
Daszewski, W. A. (2005). Marina el-Alamein: Excavation report 2005. Polish Archaeology within the Mediterranean, 17, 75–98.
Alston, R. (1995). Soldier and society in Roman Egypt: A social historical past. London, England: Routledge.
Łajtar, A. (2005). 4 inscriptions from Marina el-Alamein. The Journal of Juristic Papyrology, 35, 99–108.
Bricault, L. (2024). The sword and the patera: Zeus Helios, Nice Sarapis. In C. Bonnet (Ed.), The names of the gods in historical Mediterranean religions (pp. 129–156). Cambridge College Press.