Translations:Serapis Bey/37/en

Demetrius of Phalarum, the founder of the Alexandrian library under Ptolemy I, was miraculously cured of blindness by Serapis and wrote hymns of thanksgiving. Serapis often spoke through oracles and gave counsel as well as personal, miraculous healings to many people. There is a famous historical account involving Serapis that marked an important era in the establishment of him as the most prominent deity of Egypt and Greece. King Ptolemy I, ruler of Egypt, was visited in a dream by Serapis, who commanded the king to bring the god’s statue to Alexandria. After vacillation and a second dream with Serapis, the king had the statue brought with the blessings of the Delphic Oracle and installed it in the Serapium, or great Temple, of Alexandria. This is the temple that contained the famous Alexandrian library of three hundred thousand volumes.