Also called Hapi (bull), Hap, Herald of Ptah.
Their story
The Apis was a living bull chosen for special markings and kept in a sanctuary at Memphis as the herald of Ptah. His movements were watched as oracles, and his birth and death were national events. When he died he was mummified and buried with great ceremony, and from the New Kingdom onwards these bulls were laid in the vast underground galleries of the Serapeum at Saqqara. Herodotus describes his markings and tells a story of the Persian king Cambyses wounding the bull.
Best times to give to them
- the installation of a new Apis
- Khoiak
- Wepet Renpet
What they like being given
- fresh greens
- water
- bread
- incense
How to honour them
- Honour him through kindness to cattle and other farm animals.
- Ask for strength and steadiness.
How they can help you
- strength
- fertility
- guidance
- steadiness
Symbols
- black bull with a white triangle on the forehead
- sun disc between the horns
- vulture wing markings
The Cambyses story is probably hostile propaganda, since an Apis burial is recorded under his reign.
Sources
- Herodotus, Histories 3.27-29
- Apis stelae from the Serapeum of Saqqara
- Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt
More Egyptian beings
- Imhotep Djoser's architect, later worshipped as a god
- Amenhotep son of Hapu The wise official who became a healer saint
- The Ba The part of the self that moves freely
- The Ka The life force that receives offerings
- Ib, Ren and Sheut The heart, the name and the shadow
- The Akhekh The winged griffin of the desert
- The Set Animal The mysterious beast of Set
- The Mnevis Bull The sacred bull of Heliopolis