I’ve spent some time collecting literary testimonies about the origins of Serapis. For the moment, these are here. A useful article by Richard Gordon is here.
Meanwhile Andrew Eastbourne has agreed to review the translation of 4 letters of Isidore of Pelusium which reached me earlier this week.
Yesterday I also went back to the Wikipedia Mithras article and removed the vandalism of the last 6 months. There was no useful contribution in that time, needless to say. This morning some anonymous person promptly re-added a slur on one writer quoted. Re-reading the discussion page, it is striking how much time I wasted trying to reason with people making no useful contribution but determined to edit the article to suit their own ignorant prejudices.
“It is striking how much time I wasted trying to reason with people making no useful contribution but determined to edit the article to suit their own ignorant prejudices.”
That is the problem with the Wiki indeed.
We all have that experience. It’s why I resist the urge to try to defend articles any more. It’s so wasteful of time and effort.