Apis Bull

In May 1895, Giuseppe Botti found in the great temple of Serapis, a pillar bearing a dedicatory inscription: "To the great god Serapis and sunnaoi (deities sharing the temple) for the safety of Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus". A few days later, parts of the Apis bull statue were found on the surface at the northeastern corner of the building leading to the underground galleries. The head was separated from the body as well as the tail and parts of the hooves. These parts remained for three years in the courtyard of the Alexandria municipality building until Chiess Bey, head of the museum committee of the municipal council, managed to obtain funds for its restoration. The Italian sculptor M.V. Marcucci took responsibility and pointed out the attaching point of the pillar under the belly because of a socket cut there.

This statue was probably dedicated to Hadrian or from the emperor himself to Serapis in the Alexandria temple, during his visit to Egypt in 130 AD. The bull was a sacred symbol of Osiris-Hapi, the god of Memphis, an Egyptian deity since Pharaonic times as a god of the underworld and a symbol of the annual resurrection of nature, and later on, turned into Serapis, and was worshipped by both Egyptians and Greeks.

The statue depicts the Apis bull in a naturalistic way, which appears clearly in the area below the chin. A layer of short hair appears on the forehead and two growing horns with the sun disk between them and a uraeus in front. The movement of the ears indicates sensitive listening, which alludes to the god responding to the supplication of its worshippers.

Black basalt

Provenance the great temple of Serapis, Alexandria

Reign of Hadrian (117-138 AD)

 

Graeco Roman Museum

Alexandria Egypt

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