Cult of the bull deities
Main article:
Bull (mythology) § Egypt
In Egypt, the bull was worshiped as
Apis, the embodiment of
Ptah and later of
Osiris. A long series of ritually perfect bulls were identified by the god's priests, housed in the temple for their lifetime, then embalmed and encased in a giant
sarcophagus. A long sequence of monolithic stone sarcophagi were housed in the
Serapeum, and were rediscovered by
Auguste Mariette at
Saqqara in 1851. The bull was also worshipped as
Mnevis, the embodiment of
Atum-Ra, in
Heliopolis.
Ka in Egyptian is both a religious concept of life-force/power and the word for bull.
Main article:
Mnevis
Mnevis was identified as being a living bull. This may be a vestige of the sacrifice of kings after a period of reign, who were seen as the sons of
Bat or
Hathor (see:
horned goddess Hathor), the ancient cow deity of the early solar cults. Thus, seen as a symbol of the later sun god, Ra, the Mnevis was often depicted, in
art, with the solar disc of their mother, Hathor between its horns.
Main article:
Bull (mythology) § Levant
The
Canaanite deity
Moloch (according to the bible) was often depicted as a bull, and became a bull demon in
Abrahamic traditions. The bull is familiar in
Judeo-Christian cultures from the
Biblical episode wherein an
idol of the
Golden Calf is made by
Aaron and worshipped by the Hebrews in the wilderness of Sinai (
Exodus). The text of the
Hebrew Bible can be understood to refer to the idol as representing a separate god, or as representing the
God of Israel himself, perhaps through an association or syncretization with Egyptian or
Levantine bull gods, rather than a new deity in itself.
Exodus 32:4 "He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt'."
Nehemiah 9:18 "even when they made an idol shaped like a calf and said, 'This is your god who brought you out of Egypt!' They committed terrible blasphemies."
Calf-idols are referred to later in the Tanakh, such as in the Book of
Hosea, which would seem accurate as they were a fixture of near-eastern cultures.
King Solomon's "bronze sea"-basin stood on twelve brazen bulls, according to
1. Kings 7:25.
Young bulls were set as frontier markers at
Tel Dan and at
Bethel the frontiers of the
Kingdom of Israel.