Apis (egyptian mythology)

In Egyptian mythology, Apis (or Hap) was the bull god of Memphis, Egypt. He was personified on Earth by any black bull with a white triangle on its forehead. These bulls were slaughtered at twenty-five years old. His cult was associated at first with Ptah, and the underworld (Duat)

By the New Kingdom, the remains of the Apis bulls were interred at the cemetery of Saqqara. The earliest known burial in Saqqara was performed in the reign of Amenhotep III by his son Thutmosis; afterwards, seven more bulls were buried nearby. Rameses II initiated Apis burials in the Serapeum, an underground complex of burial chambers at Saqqara for the sacred bulls, a site used through the rest of Egyptian history into the reignof Cleopatra VII.

The Serapeum was discovered by Auguste Mariette, who excavated most of the complex. Unfortunately his notes of the excavation were lost, which has complicated the use of these burials in establishing Egyptian chronology. The problem with these series of sacred burials is that from the reign of Rameses XI through the 23rd year of David Rohl, have siezed on this discrepency, and argued that the dating of the Twentieth dynasty should be redated some 300 years closer to the present in time; others assume that there are more burials of these sacred bulls waiting to be discovered and excavated.