Inancient Egyptian religion,Apis orHapis,[a] alternatively spelledHapi-ankh, was asacred bull or multiple sacred bulls[1]worshiped in theMemphis region, identified as the son ofHathor, a primary deity in thepantheon ofancient Egypt. Initially, he was assigned a significant role in her worship, being sacrificed and reborn. Later, Apis also served as an intermediary between humans and other powerful deities (originallyPtah,[1] laterOsiris, thenAtum).
The Apis bull was an important sacred animal to the ancient Egyptians. As with the other sacred beasts, Apis' importance increased over the centuries. During colonization of the conquered Egypt, Greek and Roman authors had much to say about Apis, the markings by which the black calf was recognized, the manner of his conception by aray from heaven, his house at Memphis (with a court for his deportment), the mode of prognostication from his actions, his death, the mourning at his death, his costly burial, and the rejoicings throughout the country when a new Apis was found.Auguste Mariette's excavation of theSerapeum of Saqqara revealed the tombs of more than sixty animals, ranging from the time ofAmenhotep III to the end of thePtolemaic dynasty. Originally, each animal was buried in a separate tomb with a chapel built above it. FromRamesses II onward, bulls were interred in interconnected underground galleries.[2][3]
Worship of an Apis bull, experienced by ancient Egyptians as holy, has been known since theFirst Dynasty inMemphis, while worship of the Apis as a proper god, at least according toManetho'sAegyptiaca, seems to be a later adoption, purportedly started during the reign of kingKaiechos (possiblyNebra) of theSecond Dynasty.[4]
Apis is named on very early monuments, but little is known of the divine animal before theNew Kingdom.[2] Ceremonial burials of bulls indicate that ritual sacrifice was part of the worship of the early cow deities, Hathor andBat, and a bull might represent her offspring, a king who became a deity after death.[citation needed] He was entitled "the renewal of the life" of the Memphite deityPtah: but after death, he became Osorapis, i.e. the Osiris Apis, just as dead humans were assimilated to Osiris, the ruler of the underworld. This Osorapis was identified withSerapis of the lateHellenistic period and may well be identical with him. Creating parallels to their own religious beliefs,ancient Greek writers identified Apis as an incarnation of Osiris, ignoring the connection with Ptah.[2]
Apis was the most popular of three great bull cults of ancient Egypt, the others being the cults ofMnevis andBuchis. All are related to the worship of Hathor or Bat, similar primary goddesses separated by region until unification that eventually merged as Hathor. The worship of Apis was continued by the Greeks and after them by the Romans, and lasted until almost 400 CE.
The sacred procession of Apis Osiris by F.A. Bridgman
This animal was chosen because it symbolized the courageous heart, great strength, and fighting spirit of the king. Apis came to being considered a manifestation of the king, as bulls were symbols of strength and fertility, qualities that are closely linked with kingship. "Strong bull of his motherHathor" was a common title for Egyptian gods and male kings, being unused for women serving as king, such asHatshepsut.
As early as the time of theNarmer Palette, the king is depicted with a bovine tail on one side, and a bull is seen knocking down the walls of a city on the other.
Occasionally, Apis was pictured with the sun-disk symbol of his mother, Hathor, between his horns, being one of few deities ever associated with her symbol. When the disk was depicted on his head with his horns below and the triangular marking on his forehead, anankh was suggested. That symbol always was closely associated with Hathor.
Early on, Apis was theherald (wḥm) ofPtah, the chief deity in the area aroundMemphis. As a manifestation of Ptah, Apis also was considered to be a symbol of the king, embodying the qualities of kingship. In the region where Ptah was worshiped,cattle exhibited white patterning on their mainly black bodies, and so a belief grew up that the Apis calf had to have a certain set of markings suitable to its role. It was required to have a whitetriangular marking upon its forehead, a whiteEgyptian vulture wing outline on its back, ascarab mark under its tongue, a whitecrescent moon shape on its right flank, and double hairs on his tail.
The calf that matched these markings was selected from the herds, brought to atemple, given aharem of cows, and worshiped as an aspect of Ptah. The cow who was his mother was believed to have conceived him by a flash oflightning from the heavens, or frommoonbeams. She also was treated specially, and given a special burial. At the temple, Apis was used as anoracle, his movements being interpreted as prophecies. His breath was believed to cure disease and his presence to bless those around with strength. A window was created in the temple through which he could be viewed and, on certain holidays, he was led through the streets of the city, bedecked with jewelry and flowers.
Api or Hapi (Apis, Taureau Consacré a la Lune), N372.2,Brooklyn Museum
Details of themummification ritual of the sacred bull are written within theApis papyrus.[5] Sometimes the body of the bull wasmummified and fixed in a standing position on a foundation made of wooden planks.
By the New Kingdom period, the remains of the sacred bulls were interred at the cemetery ofSaqqara. The earliest known burial in Saqqara was performed in the reign ofAmenhotep III by his sonThutmose; afterward, seven more bulls were buried nearby.Ramesses II initiated Apis burials in what now is known as theSerapeum, an underground complex of burial chambers at Saqqara for the sacred bulls, a site used throughout the rest of Ancient Egyptian history into the reign ofCleopatra.
The Apis was a protector of the deceased and linked to the pharaoh. Horns embellish some of the tombs of ancient pharaohs and Apis often was depicted on private coffins as a powerful protector. As a form of Osiris, ruler of the underworld, it was believed that to be under the protection of Apis would give the person control over the four winds in the afterlife.
Anthropomorphical representation of Apis, Ptolemaic Period (3rd–2nd centuries BC).Bust of the Hellenistic-Egyptian deitySerapis, Roman copy of an original byBryaxis that stood at theSerapeion of Alexandria,Vatican MuseumsGilded sculpture of an Apis head with the sacred disk of Hathor,Kunsthistorisches MuseumBronze statuette of the god Apis -Louvre Museum.
According toArrian, Apis was one of the Egyptian deitiesAlexander the Great propitiated by offering a sacrifice during his seizure of Ancient Egypt from the Persians.[7] After Alexander's death, his generalPtolemy I Soter made efforts to integrate Egyptian religion with that of the new Hellenic rulers. Ptolemy's policy was to find a deity that might win the reverence of both groups, despite the curses of the Egyptian religious leaders against the deities of the previous foreign rulers (i.e.Set, lauded by theHyksos). Without success, Alexander had attempted to useAmun for this purpose, but that deity was more prominent inUpper Egypt and not for those inLower Egypt, where the Greeks had stronger influence. Since the Greeks had little respect for animal-headed deities, a Greek statue was created as an idol and proclaimed as ananthropomorphic equivalent of the highly popular Apis. It was namedAser-hapi (i.e.Osiris-Apis), which becameSerapis, and later was said to represent Osiris fully, rather than just hisKa.
The earliest mention of aSerapis is in the authentic death scene of Alexander, from the royal diaries.[8] Here,Serapis has a temple atBabylon, and is of such importance that he alone is named as being consulted on behalf of the dying Alexander. The presence of this temple in Babylon radically altered perceptions of the mythologies of this era, although it has been discovered that the unconnected Babylonian deityEa was entitledSerapsi, meaningking of the deep, and it is Serapsi who is referred to in the diaries, not Serapis. The significance of thisSerapsi in the Hellenic psyche, however, due to its involvement in Alexander's death, also may have contributed to the choice ofOsiris-Apis as the chief Ptolemaic deity during their occupation of Ancient Egypt.
According toPlutarch, Ptolemy stole the statue fromSinope, having been instructed in a dream by theUnknown God to bring the statue toAlexandria, where the statue was pronounced to be "Serapis" by two religious experts. Among those experts was one of the Eumolpidae, the ancient family from which thehierophant of theEleusinian Mysteries traditionally had been chosen since before any historical records. The other expert supposedly was the scholarly Egyptian priest Manetho, which increased acceptability from both theEgyptians and the Greeks.
Plutarch may not be correct, however, as some Egyptologists assert that theSinope in Plutarch's report is the hill of Sinopeion, a name given to the site of an existing Serapeum at Memphis. Also, according toTacitus, Serapis (i.e. Apis explicitly identified as Osiris in full) had been thetutelary deity of the village ofRhacotis, before it suddenly expanded into the great capital of "Alexandria".
Being introduced by the Greeks, understandably, the statue depicted a fully human figure resemblingHades orPluto, both being kings of the Greekunderworld. The figure was enthroned with themodius, which is a basket or a grain-measure, on his head, a Greeksymbol for the land of the dead. He also held asceptre, indicating rulership, andCerberus, gatekeeper of the underworld, rested at his feet. It also had what appeared to be aserpent at its base, fitting the Egyptian symbol of sovereignty, theuraeus.
With his (i.e., Osiris') wife,Isis, and their son (at this point in history)Horus (in the form ofHarpocrates), Serapis won an important place in the Greek world, reachingAncient Rome, withAnubis being identified as Cerberus. The cult survived until 385, when Christians destroyed the Serapeum of Alexandria, and subsequently, the cult was forbidden by theEdict of Thessalonica.
^abCeram, C. W. (1967).Gods, Graves, and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology. Translated by Garside, E. B.; Wilkins, Sophie (2nd ed.). New York:Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 130–131.
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