Lot 610

Roman Silver Ring Inscribed 'SERAPI,' Devotional to Serapis

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Lot 610
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Roman Silver Ring Inscribed 'SERAPI,' Devotional to Serapis
Roman Silver Ring Inscribed 'SERAPI,' Devotional to Serapis
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Roman Silver Ring Inscribed 'SERAPI,' Devotional to Serapis

Estimate: $600 - $900

Starting Bid: $300

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
July 30, 2026 8:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Roman, Imperial period, ca. 100–300 CE. Roman Imperial period. A silver finger ring with a flat oval bezel rising from a slender rounded hoop, the plate incised with Greek letters spelling "SERAPI," a devotional address to the god Serapis. The lettering runs across the face in a single line, its strokes worn soft by handling yet legible.

Such rings served as amulets and as declarations of allegiance to a favored deity, worn against the skin to invite the god's protection. The plain form, prioritizing legible text over figural ornament, marks it as an object of private piety rather than display. Serapis, a syncretic Greco-Egyptian divinity fusing Osiris, Apis, and Hellenic Zeus and Hades, drew a devoted following across the Roman Mediterranean. Size: 0.9" W x 0.5" H x 1" D (2.3 cm W x 1.3 cm H x 2.5 cm D); US ring size: 7.25; silver quality: 96.44%; weight: 5.6 grams.

Serapis was engineered as a deity of state under Ptolemy I Soter in early Hellenistic Egypt, a deliberate fusion meant to unite Greek and Egyptian worshippers under a single cult. Presented with a bearded, Zeus-like visage often crowned by the grain-measuring modius, he presided over fertility, healing, the afterlife, and the grain supply so vital to the ancient economy. His worship radiated outward from the great Serapeum of Alexandria, following trade and military routes until Serapea stood from Rome to Roman Britain. Inscribed invocations like this one, using the dative "SERAPI" (to Serapis), functioned as compact acts of dedication, binding the wearer to the god's protection in the intimate space of a personal ornament.

Provenance: private Arden, North Carolina, USA collection, acquired 2025; ex-Palmyra Heritage Gallery, New York, New York, USA; ex-private Vienna, Austria collection acquired 1990s

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Item # 203599

  • Condition: Some minor pitting to silver, commensurate with age, but, otherwise, intact, excellent, and wearable with clear inscription.

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