Apis Bull at Memphis
Egyptian Gods and Their Cult Centers

Enrich your trip to Egypt, learn more about the Ancient Gods whose monuments and temples you will s e on your Egypt Tour. Take day tours around Cairo to Memphis and Saqqara for sites of Gods of Lower Egypt. Travel by prearranged speciality excursions for the Gods of Middle Egypt. Many monuments and temples for the God of Upper Egypt are located in and around Luxor. Tours of Abydos and Dendera can be made by special arrangement. Visit other sites in Upper Egypt by Nile Cruise, Elephantine Island, home of Khnum the creator god is located in Aswan.

Apis Bull

"The Apis Bull", wrote Herodotus, "is the calf of a cow which is never able after to have another. The Egyptians believe that a flash of lightning strikes the cow from heaven, and thus causes her to conceive the Apis. It has distinctive marks. It is black, with a white diamond on its forehead, the image of an eagle on its back, two white hairs on its tail and a scarab-beetle mark under its tongue".

As early as the First Dynasty bull cults were important to the Egyptian religious life. The priest of the bull cults identified a sacred bull by its markings. It then became the embodiment of the God and the center of all the cult religious activities. The Apis Bull was the embodiment of Osiris.

The Serapeum, a vast tomb for many of the Apis Bulls was found at Saqqara. When it is open, you can walk through the large cavern looking into the side rooms that each hold a huge stone sarchophagus that once contained the mummified body of an Apis Bull. The Cult Center of the Apis Bull is at Memphis, which is near Saqqara.

The entrance to the Serapeum (the tourist bus is waiting outside) This picture is taken from behind the Step Pyramid.

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