# The Festival of Serapis at Canopus explained — The Tour

> Chapter companion for The Tour by Louis Couperus.

## What happens

In the luminous summer night, Canopus is alive with pilgrims and music as they process to the temple of Serapis. Lucius, Catullus, Thrasyllus, and their retinue join the solemn march through the dromos lined with sphinxes and pylons into the vast sanctuary. The temple's holy of holies is an empty, immeasurable space, and the priests perform rituals on terraces. At midnight, the sacred silence falls, and pilgrims lie under dreaming-nets as Serapis rises from the underworld to send healing dreams. Lucius lies covered in a gold network, awaiting a dream to find a lost beloved woman.

## Themes in this chapter

### Mortality and Transience

The pilgrims lie motionless under dreaming-nets like mummies, awaiting dreams from Serapis who rises from the underworld, emphasizing the boundary between life and death.

### Travel and Discovery

Lucius's journey to Canopus for the dream oracle represents a quest for spiritual discovery and the search for a lost beloved.

## Character check-ins

### Publius Lucius Sabinus

Lucius marches in the procession, lies under a gold network awaiting a dream from Serapis to find a lost beloved woman.

### Catullus

Walks beside Lucius in the procession to the temple of Serapis.

### Thrasyllus

Follows Lucius and Catullus in the procession.

### Cora

Her voice rises in the hymn to Serapis during the procession.

## Key lines

> He is everything, even as Osiris is. He is feminine, Neith, the beginning, and masculine, Ammon, eternity. He is what the last will be. And he cannot be other than the benefactor.

Serapis embodies all dualities—male and female, beginning and end—and is inherently benevolent.

_Describes the syncretic nature of Serapis as a universal god._

> His healing power makes whole the sick. He pours the secret of that healing into the minds of the servants of sufferers who shall dream in their masters’ stead.

Serapis cures the ill by imparting healing knowledge through dreams to their attendants.

_Explains the mechanism of dream incubation for healing._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_tour_se/chapters/ix
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_tour_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_tour_se/chapters