Mythology

Apis was the most important of the bull deities of Egypt and can be traced back to the beginning of the Dynastic Period. The origins of the god called by the Egyptians Ilap are not entirely clear, but

(Above right) Halshepsut, m her kingly role, depicted along with the Apis bull running the ritual 'race' of the Sed festival. 18th dynasty. Decorated block from the Chapelk Rouge. Karnak.

(Left) Th? Apis bull, carries the mummy of the deceased. Footboard of a wooden coffin. 25th dynasty, c 700 BC. Kunsthistorische Museum. Vienna.

Because his cult centre was at Memphis he was assimilated into the worship of the great Memphite god Ptah at an early date - first as the ‘herald’ or son of that god, and eventually as the living image or manifestation of the ‘glorious soul’ of Ptah himself.

There was only one bull representing Apis at a time and it was chosen after its predecessor's death by means of its appearance. According to Herodotus, the Apis bull was always black with particular markings (see Iconography) and with a scarab-like hump under its tongue and the hair of its tail being divided into two strands. Mythologically, it was said that the Apis bull was born of a virgin cow that had been impregnated by the god Ptah, and Apis’ association with the Memphite god tended to stress the sacred bull’s procreative power as a concrete expression of the creative power of Ptah. As chief of the Egyptian bull deities Apis was also closely linked to monarchical ideolog> where the physical power of the bull was stressed-The king’s power was equated with that of the god. as when the pharaoh strode alongside the Apis bull in the performance of the Sed festival which aimed at the strengthening and rejuvenation of his powers.

After his death Apis fused with Osiris, becoming :he composite god Apis-Osiris or Osirapis (and later, in Hellenistic times, the anthropomorphically-depicted god Serapis). In this context the living Apis bull itself was sometimes called the ba of Osiris, and the process of assimilation with other deities also led to the composite Osiris-Apis-Atum-Horus. In some funerary texts Apis was said to •hresh the grain in the afterlife, but it is usually his 'oower and virility which are tied to the deceased - that in the Pyramid Texts the deceased king laims the surging power of the bull’s phallus as ¦ne of the ways in which he is said to be able to rise _:p to the heavens (PI' 1313).