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Cook, Arthur B.
Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky — Cambridge, 1914

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0511

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The Bull and the Sun in Egypt 433

was a white crescent on his right side, which denoted the moon1.
Apis was the calf of a cow not suffered again to conceive off-
spring2. It was believed that this cow had been impregnated by
a ray of light from heaven3, or, according to some, from the moon4.
When a new Apis was discovered, the Egyptians put on their best
clothes and fell to feasting3; for his appearance portended good
crops and other blessings6. Aelian states that honours were heaped
upon the lucky man in whose herd he had been born. Sacred
scribes with hereditary knowledge of the requisite signs came to
test his credentials. A special house was built for him in accord-
ance with the most ancient prescriptions of Hermes (that is, Thoth),
a house facing the sun-rise and large enough to contain stores of
milk, on which for four months he was reared. After that time, he
was, during the rise of a new moon, taken by the sacred scribes
and prophets, in a barge yearly adorned for this purpose, to
Memphis7. Diodoros gives a somewhat different account of what
took place. According to him, the Apis-calf was first brought to
Neiloupolis, where he was kept for forty days. During this period,
but never afterwards, women came into his presence and exposed
their persons before him. Then he was put on board a barge with
a gilded cabin and conveyed as a god to the precinct of Hephaistos
(that is, Ptah) at Memphis8. Once at Memphis, he was main-
tained in the lap of luxury9. His stall had a window in it, through
which strangers could see him. But, since they desired a better
view, the Egyptians had arranged an adjoining court-yard, into
which he was driven on stated occasions. The court-yard con-
tained another stall for his mother. The shrine of Apis stood
beside the large and wealthy temple of Hephaistos (Ptah). The
latter had a dromos or ' approach,' in which stood a colossus made
of a single block of stone. Here bulls, bred for the purpose, were
pitted against each other, a prize being awarded to the victorious
bull10. Apis had his own well and spring of drinking water, for

1 Ail. de nat. an. n. io,'Plin. nat. hist. 8. 184, Amm. Marc. 22. 14. 7, Solin. 32. 17,
Myth. Vat. 1. 79, cp. Plout. de Is. et Os. 43 tols rrjs aeXrjvyjs axVfjLa<Tl1' ^olk€ 7ro\Aa tov
"AiTLdos, irepLixe\aLVOfj.ivov ra Xa/XTrpa tois aKiepois.

2 Hdt. 3. 28. 3 Hdt. 3. 28, Ail. de nat. an. 11. 10, Mela r. 9.

4 Plout. de Is. et Os. 43, Souid. s.v. "A.in8es.

5 Hdt. 3. 27, cp. Ail. de nat. an. 11. 10.

6 Amm. Marc. 22. 14. 6.

7 Ail. de nat. an. ir. 10.

8 Diod. 1. 85 opwctf avrbv at yvvalKes Kara irpbawirov larafxevai /cat detKvijov<fii> avaav-
ptifievai ra tavrGbv yewr/Tina [xbpia. The passage is quoted by Eus. praep. ev. 2. 1. 50.

9 Ail. de nat. an. 11. 10, Diod. r. 84.

10 Strab. 807. A description of the court-yard built for Apis by Psammetichos is given
in Hdt. 2. 153.

C. 28
 
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