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

636 The Significance of the Bull

The Apis-worship of the Egyptians impressed the early Greeks1.
Probably it impressed other nations also who came much into
contact with Egypt—-for instance, the Hittites. At Eyuk, some
twenty miles north of Boghaz-Keui, the gateway of a Hittite

palace built c. 1360 B.C. was flanked
by an outer and an inner pair of
bull-sphinxes, which may fairly be
regarded as a blend of the Assyrian
bull with the Egyptian sphinx2. The
frontage-walls exhibit two series of re-
liefs. On the left is shown the cult
of a sacred bull; on the right, that of
an enthroned goddess. The corner-
stones on either side are occupied by
the bull and the goddess respectively.
It is therefore clear that the bull
(fig. 495)3 here stands for the Hittite
father-god, who elsewhere appears with
this animal beneath4 or beside5 him.
But it is also clear that Egyptian in-
fluence has again been at work. For,
Apis-like6, this bull has a variety of
body-marks, a crooked stick—proba-
bly meant for a kingly sceptre7—and
two disks on his side, the remains of a trilobed or trifoliate design
on his haunch8. In Roman times Apis travelled yet further afield.

L Supra p. 437 ff.

2 G. Perrot—E. Guillaume—J. Delbet Exploration archeologique de la Galatie et de
la Bithynie etc. Paris 1872 i. 359 f., ii pi. 54 f., Perrot—Chipiez Hist, de P Art iv. 656 ff.
figs- 323— 327> G. Maspero The Struggle of the Nations London 1896 p. 647 ff. figs.,
J. Garstang The Land of the Hittites London 1910 pp. 242 ff., 397 (bibliography), with
plan on p. 247 and pi. 72, H. R. Hall The Ancient History of the Near East London
1913 p. 329 n. 5 pi. 22, 1 (who notes that the Hittite sculptor has given his sphinxes
Hathor-heads such as sphinxes in Egypt never have).

;J G. Perrot—E. Guillaume—J. Delbet op. cit. i. 360 pi. 56, 3, Perrot—Chipiez op. cit.
iv. 668 f. fig. 329, J. Garstang op. cit. p. 255 ff., id. The Syrian Goddess London 1913
p. 9 ff. fig. 3.

4 Infra p. 640 fig. 500. 5 Supra p. 605 fig. 476.

6 Supra pp. 432 f., 468, 540 n. 2. 7 Supra p. 87.

8 Cp. two blocks from the right-hand series of reliefs : (1) a bull about to toss, with a
trace of the curved stick on his shoulder and one disk on his side (G. Perrot—E. Guil-
laume—J. Delbet op. cit. i. 361 pi. 57, 3, Perrot—Chipiez op. cit. iv. 678 f. fig. 639,
J. Garstang The Land of the Hittites London 1910 p. 263) ; (2) a lion holding down a
ram, the ram showing the same curved stick and disk on his side and the same trifoliate
design on his haunch (G. Perrot—E. Guillaume—J. Delbet op. cit. i. 361 pi. 57, r f.,
Perrot—Chipiez op. cit. iv. 680 f. figs. 340 f., J. Garstang op. cit. p. 263 f.).

Fig. 495.