UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Ancient Civilizations of Africa
In industry they were the contractors, not the workers. Most of the royal
and private banks were managed by them. In short, they were rich while
the natives were poor. If an Egyptian wanted to borrow money or corn he
generally had to borrow it from a foreigner; when he rented a plot of land
it was usually land owned by foreigners, and so it was with everything.
Hence the natives became docile tools in the hands of the foreigners.
Besides their normal work, the native Egyptians had numerous obligations
to fulfil. They were required to perform compulsory work on the canals
and embankments and, from time to time, in the mines and quarries.
Foreigners, as a special favour, were probably exempted from compulsory
labour, and some classes of foreigners enjoyed special tax privileges as well.
This view of the situation, however, must not be exaggerated. Some
native-born Egyptians such as Manetho, for example, by becoming rich
and collaborating with the Greeks did manage to achieve a place among
the ruling classes.
Archaeology sometimes yields finds in connection with this society
which are difficult to interpret: E. Bernand has published an epitaph of
a black slave, written by a local Greek-educated poet. 14
One of the most unexpected consequences of the arrival in Egypt of
large numbers of Greeks was the spread of certain Egyptian cults throughout
the Greek world.
The Greeks, when they first came, had their own gods and their own
religious beliefs, which were very different from those of the Egyptians.
Very soon, however, there grew up a tendency to associate certain Greek
gods with certain Egyptian gods and a new trinity was created, consisting
of Serapis as the father-god, Isis as the mother-goddess, and Harpocrates
the son-god. For the Egyptians, Serapis was their old god Osir-Hapi or
Osirapis (whence the name Serapis was derived). For the Greeks, Serapis,
who was depicted as an old man with a beard, resembled their god Zeus.
Each of the two communities worshipped him in their own fashion. Isis,
a purely Egyptian goddess, was henceforth depicted clad in a Greek
robe with the characteristic knot at the breast. Harpocrates was the infant
Horus, son of Isis, and was depicted as a child with his fingerin his mouth.
The focal point of this new religion was the Serapeion of Alexandria,
which was erected to the west of the city. We have very little information
about the appearance of this temple, but we know from Roman historians
that it stood on a high platform reached by a stairway of a hundred steps.
As early as the third century before our era, the cult of Serapis was
rapidly spreading to the islands of the Aegean sea. By the firstcentury,
people everywhere were invoking Serapis and Isis as saviours. Worship of
them spread far afield, the cult of Isis reaching Uruk in Babylonia and that
of Serapis reaching India. Of all the gods of the hellenistic world, Isis ¡of the
Myriad Names was probably the greatest. A hymn to Isis, found at Zos,
188
14. E. Bernand, pp. 143-7.