This chapter is devoted to the multicultural nature of Sarapis. We used to
think that he was a «unifier» of the Greeks and the Egyptians. The deity did have mixed
traits, but it doesn’t prove that the Egyptians also worshipped him. These ethnic groups were
too separate in other spheres to be joined in the field of religion. Sarapis was a patron of
Alexandria as a Greek polis and was worshipped by its citizens. Moreover, there were many
other descendants of Greek immigrants and of mixed marriages, who thought themselves to
be the Hellenes, and Hellenized Egyptian officials. It was them, for whom the cult was
intended. In this context the god was truly multicultural.