Apis Egyptian mythology - From bull to man

In Egyptian mythology, Apis or Hapis (alternatively spelt Hapi-ankh), was a bull-deity worshipped in the Memphis region. By Manetho his worship is said to have been instituted by Kaiechos of the Second Dynasty. Hape is named on very early monuments, but little is known of the divine animal before the New Kingdom. He was entitled "the renewal of the life" of the Memphite god Ptah: but after death he became Osorapis, i.e. the Osiris Apis, just as dead men were assimilated to Osiris, the king of the underworld. This ...

Including:

• Apis Egyptian mythology - The Ka of Ptah
• Apis Egyptian mythology - Ka of Osiris
• Apis Egyptian mythology - From bull to man

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Under Ptolemy Soter, efforts were made to integrate Egyptian religion with that of their hellenic rulers. Ptolemy's policy was to find a deity that should win the reverence alike of both groups, despite the curses of the Egyptian priests against the gods of the previous foreign rulers (i.e Set who was lauded by the Hyksos). Alexander had attempted to use Amun for this purpose, but he was more prominent in Upper Egypt, which was not so popular with those in Lower Egypt, where the Greeks had stronger influence. Nethertheless, the Greeks had li ...

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Apis Egyptian mythology, Apis Egyptian mythology - The Ka of Ptah, Apis Egyptian mythology - Ka of Osiris, Apis Egyptian mythology - From bull to man

Read more here: » Apis Egyptian mythology: Encyclopedia II - Apis Egyptian mythology - From bull to man

Apis was originally the Ka (power/life-force) of Ptah, the chief god in the area around Memphis. As a manifestation of Ptah, it was considered also to be a symbol of the pharaoh, embodying the qualities of kingship. Since Ka is also the word for bull, Apis was said to manifest itself as a real living bull, which, after death, reincarnated itself into a new bull. The bovines in the region in which Ptah was worshipped exhibited white patterning on their mainly black bodies, and so a belief grew up that the Apis bull had to ...

See also:

Apis Egyptian mythology, Apis Egyptian mythology - The Ka of Ptah, Apis Egyptian mythology - Ka of Osiris, Apis Egyptian mythology - From bull to man

Read more here: » Apis Egyptian mythology: Encyclopedia II - Apis Egyptian mythology - The Ka of Ptah

When Osiris absorbed the identity of Ptah, becoming Ptah-Seker-Osiris, the Apis bull became considered an aspect of Osiris rather than Ptah. Since Osiris was lord of the dead, the Apis then became known as the living deceased one. As he now represented Osiris, when the Apis bull reached the age of twenty-eight, the age when Osiris was said to have been killed by Set, symbolic of the lunar month, and the ne ...

See also:

Apis Egyptian mythology, Apis Egyptian mythology - The Ka of Ptah, Apis Egyptian mythology - Ka of Osiris, Apis Egyptian mythology - From bull to man

Read more here: » Apis Egyptian mythology: Encyclopedia II - Apis Egyptian mythology - Ka of Osiris