18. Thus it is found to be the case from the first half of the third
century at Thera, a naval station of the Ptolemies (Hiller von Gärtringen,
_Thera_, III, pp. 85 ff.; cf. Ruhl, _op. cit._, p. 59), and also at Rhodes
(_Rev. archéol._, 1905, I, p. 341). Cult of Serapis at Delos, cf. _Comptes
rendus Acad. inscr._, 1910, pp. 294 ff.
19. A number of proofs of its diffusion have been collected by Drexler,
_loc. cit._, p. 379. See Lafaye, "Isis" (cf. _supra_), p. 577; and Ruhl,
_De Sarapide et Iside in Graecia cultis_, 1906.
20. This interpretation has already been proposed by Ravaisson (_Gazette
archéologique_, I, pp. 55 ff.), and I believe it to be correct, see
_Comptes Rendus Acad. Inscr._, 1906, p. 75, n. 1.
21. The power of the Egyptian cult in the Oriental half of the empire has
been clearly shown by von Domaszewski (_Röm. Mitt._, XVII, 1902, pp. 333
ff.), but perhaps with some exaggeration. All will endorse the restrictions
formulated by Harnack, _Ausbreitung des Christentums_, II, p. 274.
22. The very early spread of Orphic doctrines in Magna Graecia, evidenced
by the tablets of Sybaris and Petilia (Diels, {232} _Vorsokratiker_, II^2,
p. 480) must have prepared the way for it. These tablets possess many
points in common with the eschatological beliefs of Egypt, but, as their
latest commentator justly remarks (Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of
Greek Religion_, p. 624), these new ideas are fairly overwhelmed in the old
mythology. The mysteries of Isis and Serapis seemed to offer a revelation
that had been a presentiment for a long time, and the affirmation of a
truth foreshadowed by early symbols.