Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/168

 12U BRONZE FIGURE OF APIS FOUND IN CORNWALL. it is not the less important, as showing the principles upon which they were constructed, and as adding another monu- ment to a period in the history of the country, when few native memorials remain. „ t>tt,^it NOTE ON THE BRONZE FIGURE OF APIS FOUND IN CORNWALL. Although by no means professing to give a complete dissertation on Apis, which would require more space than the limits of the Journal permit, I wish to add some observations on the epoch of the Apis worship — the etymology of his name, and the cycle which he is supposed to have symbolised. The splendid plates of the Monuments of Egypt, published by the Chevalier Lepsius, under the auspices of the King of Prussia, which have been just lent me by a friend, afford important confirmation on the first point. It appears from the titles of functionaries, whose tombs still exist near the Pyramids of Gizeh and Abooseer,' and who are styled " directors of the abode of the Bull," that Apis was then worshipped. In one toml) is a scene of the embalmment of a bull ; " and in another,^ is an inscription over a door, which interpreted, is this: The King Seneferu: the eldest daughter of his issue was Neferlau ; her son was Nefer ma.t, a seal-hearer ; whose son was Seneferu shaf a seal-bearer . . . .of Apis, chief councillor, first of the keepers, governor of every land. In another tomb, at the same place, Hapi or Apis occurs in a female name.'' As all these are monuments of the IVth dynasty, or old monarchy, it is evident that the Apis worship is as old as Manetho states. Although the meaning of "judged," or "determined," (for his name ends with the participial form i) may be compared to that of his name, on the whole I should prefer that of " concealed." At Philee,^ it is said of Osiris that he is ^ ^ 8 - .«. X amen amen hen hep men rech men rcch " hidden, hidden ! concealed, concealed ! unknown, unknown !" Now //c/), here, exactly coincides with the name of Apis, and means " concealed." The Ox-god, it will be remembered, had always to be sought, and to be found by certain signs, which agrees with the idea "concealed." In the same sense, the Egyptians, not knowing the sources of the Nile, called this river, Hapi, i.e. " the concealed." A striking instance occurs in the Book of the Dead.^ The 13th of the Pylons, described at the close of the Ritual, is called " the Pylon of Isis, who stretches out her arms in order to give light to the Nile in his concealment." In the name of Apis, the 2nd character is the same as the determinative of Amn, to conceal ; while the expression just quoted connects Hapi, the concealed river, with Isis, the moon, from whose mountains it was supposed to flow. It is possible that Apis may have represented a cycle of 25 years, as suggested by Ideler,^ and followed by the Chevalier Lepsius.* The sun-disc on his head, and the lunar crescent on his side, would then be emblems of the combination or conjunction of these luminaries to form the epoch. But, after all, the statement rests on the false Plutarch." It is clear that any premature death must have required a new animal fiom the first institution; and Herodotus'" mentions no fixed interval; at the Roman period Apis may have been mixed up with astronomical notions. Mr. "W'ay has, since the publication of my paper, communicated to me a sketch made by him of a bronze object presented by Douglas to the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford. It looks like a hatchet {ascia), or it may possibly be the hilt of a sword. On it is Apis, bearing the crescent on his side, standing on a lunated blade.'' S. B. ' Lcpsius, Dcnk. Abtli. II. b, 7. ^ Einlcitung, s. 160. - Ibid. Bl. 14, Tomb m, Gizeh. » Dc Isid. et Osirid. c. 56. •' Ibid. IM. IG, Tomb 56, Gizeh. «» III. 27. ^ Ibid. Bl. 23. 'I Erratum, in p. 11, n. I, « Sp.aiiheini ^ Rosellini, M. d. c. x.xiii. de Usu et Prsestantia, viii., 654," instead of •' Lejjsius, Tod. taf. Ixvii., c. 146, m. " De usu Pnestantur." " Handbucb, i., p. lii.