Two temples of ancient Egypt dedicated to the worship of the Greco-Egyptian god Sarapis (Serapis). The original elaborate temple of that name was located on the west bank of the Nile near Saqqara and was a monument to the deceased Apis bulls. Though the area was used as a cemetery for the bulls as early as 1400 BC, it was Ramesses II (1279-13 BC) who designed a main gallery and subsidiary chambers. Under the Ptolemaic dynasty, the temple was called the Sarapeum. The vast underground galleries at Saqqara housed the 64 embalmed bodies of the Apis bulls. French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette discovered the ruins, first finding a limestone sphinx almost hidden in the sand in an area northwest of the Step Pyramid of Djoser and uncovering an avenue leading into the Western Desert, at the end of which lay a small temple built by a 30th-Dynasty pharaoh. He also found a large blocked doorway and 24 vaulted burial chambers within. Another important serapeum was built at Alexandria, the new Ptolemaic capital. Ptolemy I Soter (reigned 305-284 BC) selected Sarapis as the official god for Egypt and built largest and best known of the god's temples. There Sarapis was worshipped until 391 AD, when the serapeum was destroyed. In Roman times other serapeums were constructed throughout the empire.