Head of the Apis Bull
Catalogue Image
2016-00-00
Name/Title
Head of the Apis BullEntry/Object ID
08EG13128Description
It's a bull's head and there is a round disc on the top of the head in between two horns. There is a triangle attached to the bottom of the disc between the horns. There is two lines above the eyes inline with the ears. The head is mounted on a wooden board.Type of Sculpture
BustArtwork Details
Medium
PlasterContext
Apis was a fertility bull-god whose worship began early in Egyptian history. He was also a protector of the dead and tied closely to the pharaoh (see also: Pharaoh Psammeticus II). Apis was sometimes depicted with the sun-disk of Hathor, his mother, between his horns. Apis was unique among Egyptian deities: he was represented as a bull only (although he later gained an equivalent, the syncretic Hellenistic-Egyptian god Serapis). The bull, therefore, was an extremely important sacred animal. Bull-calves born with the markings of Apis were highly revered.Made/Created
Date made
525 BCE - 332 BCETime Period
UnknownEthnography
Culture/Tribe
Egyptian