Origin: Egypt
Circa: 600 BC to 500 BC
Dimensions: 3.75" (9.5cm) high
Collection: Egyptian
Style: Late Kingdom
Medium: Bronze
The cult of Apis was highly discriminatory in its worship of bulls. Rather than all bulls, the cult worshipped a special, carefully chosen individual animal. Apis (Hapi in Egyptian) was a live bull kept in the temple of Ptah in Memphis. Apis was believed to be the tangible representative of a powerful god who could not be directly experienced, rather like the role of the Pope in Catholicism. The god to which Apis was attached changed through time and administrations. The first was Ptah, who was later usurped by Osiris, who was in turn displaced by Atum. The bull acted as an oracle for the Egyptians, who could crave boons, ask questions or just communicate to their deity. The movements of Apis, were thought to reflect the response of the god. In this sense, Apis was very much a domestic god in the sense that only the aristocracy and the priestly class were thought to fully be a part of the impenetrably complex and forbidding world of state-level religion: Apis, by contrast, was directly reachable by anyone. The life and death of the bulls were a matter of serious concern for Egyptians. When the incumbent died, a search not unlike that undertaken by the Tibetans for a new Dalai Lama would explode into action. The successor had to match 29 different attributes that constituted physical perfection in the Apis bull, including having no subsequent siblings, being black with a white diamond on its forehead, and possessing thick tail hair (Herodotus). The pomp and ceremony surrounding the discovery of an appropriate bull was considerable, as summarised by Apis Diodorus: “… During the forty days, none but women are admitted to see him, who being placed full in his view, pluck up their coats and expose their person. Afterwards, they are forbidden to come into the sight of [Apis]. . .” After this, Apis was moved by sacred barge to his sanctuary in Memphis, at the southern end of the Temple of Ptah.

Antiquities
Ancient Egyptian