_ Km. 93. Serapeum. The initial channel for the freshwater canal and the encampment. The Serapeum is the necropolis of the Apis bulls in Saqqarah, discovered by Mariette in 1850. Apis was the god of the dead and the world below ground. When the god Serapis was introduced to Egypt, the Greeks identified Serapis with Apis, and the temple of the dead Apis became known as the Serapeion, a place of pilgrimage for Greeks and Egyptians alike.