Third Intermediate to Ptolemaic, 712-30 BCE

(BLMJ 3928)

The ancient Egyptians equated the bull’s virility with the creative powers of the god Ptah of Memphis. They searched the land for a bullock with over two dozen distinctive characteristics and installed that animal in a special sekos or farm palace, as the Apis Bull. When the bull died, it was mummified, adorned with jewels and amulets, and buried with honors in the Serapeum, a special cemetery set aside for these beasts.