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Serpentinite, 18 x 22-7/8 inches
Egypt, probably early Ptolemaic Period, 400-100 bc
Apis was the sacred bull of Memphis, the oldest and most famous of the ancient Egyptian bull cults. He was associated with the gods Ptah and Osiris. Ancient Egyptian representations always show him with a sun disk and uraeus (cobra) on his head. Sometimes he bears additional markings, such as a triangle on his forehead and a vulture with outspread wings on his back.
When an Apis bull died, he was given a burial fit for a king in an area of the Saqqara necropolis known as the Serapeum. The mummies of the Apis bull were contained in immense, hard stone sarcophagi of the Apis bulls in a vast catacomb. Stone statues of Apis--particularly of this size--are rare; however, French archaeologist Auguste Mariette found an even larger one in a small chapel along the avenue leading to the Serapeum. That one, made of limestone, is now in the Louvre in Paris.
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Fund, 1969.118
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