Egypt, Greco-Roman period (332 BCE–395 CE), Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BCE) / 400–100 BCE
Apis Bull
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Apis Bull as sculpture (Egypt, Greco-Roman period (332 BCE–395 CE), Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BCE) · 400–100 BCE).
A larger base, likely inscribed, may have hidden the rough, unfinished lower edges of this statue.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this sculpture as serpentinite.
The museum's collection notes: Sacred animal cults have a long history in ancient Egypt, but they became even more important in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Because each god could incarnate himself into any animal species, beasts of all sorts--dogs, cats, ibises, crocodiles--were protected, venerated, mummified, and collected by the thousands in specialized animal cemeteries. The sacred bull cults were different. Apis, the bull of Memphis, was a god in his own right. But he was also associated with other deities, such as Ptah, the god of Memphis, and Osiris, in the form of Osiris-Apis (or Serapis). Statues and reliefs always show him crowned with a sun disk and cobra.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtApis BullOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.