Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ancient coin hunter, post: 3203938, member: 87200&quot;][ATTACH=full]829825[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>While the coinage of Julian is most remarkable for its depiction of the Apis bull, historians are uncertain of what the emperor actually intended to portray through this coinage. Was it an effort to link the emperor to the mysterious power of the bull common amongst the Egyptians? Was it an attempt to portray the ritual sacrifice of bulls that Julian re-instated after decades of Christian-sympathizing rule? Or was it something else, perhaps a representation of the astrological sign Taurus? The chronicler Ammianus Marcellinus is the primary source on Julian&#039;s reign and unfortunately never commented on the coinage, whilst mostly praising Julian&#039;s actions, personality, and character. [1]</p><p><br /></p><p>More on the Apis Bull:</p><p><br /></p><p>The Apis bull was an important sacred animal to the ancient Egyptians. As with the other sacred beasts Apis&#039; importance increased over the centuries. During colonization of the conquered Egypt, Greek and Roman authors had much to say about Apis, the markings by which the black calf was recognized, the manner of his conception by a ray from heaven, his house at Memphis (with a court for his deportment), the mode of prognostication from his actions, his death, the mourning at his death, his costly burial, and the rejoicings throughout the country when a new Apis was found. Auguste Mariette&#039;s excavation of the Serapeum of Saqqara revealed the tombs of more than sixty animals, ranging from the time of Amenhotep III to that of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Originally, each animal was buried in a separate tomb with a chapel built above it.</p><p><br /></p><p>According to Arrian, Apis was one of the Egyptian deities Alexander the Great propitiated by offering a sacrifice during his seizure of Ancient Egypt from the Persians. After Alexander&#039;s death, his general Ptolemy I Soter made efforts to integrate Egyptian religion with that of the new Hellenic rulers. Ptolemy&#039;s policy was to find a deity that might win the reverence of both groups, despite the curses of the Egyptian religious leaders against the deities of the previous foreign rulers (i.e. Set, lauded by the Hyksos). Without success, Alexander had attempted to use Amun for this purpose, but that deity was more prominent in Upper Egypt and not for those in Lower Egypt, where the Greeks had stronger influence. Since the Greeks had little respect for animal-headed deities, a Greek statue was created as an idol and proclaimed as an anthropomorphic equivalent of the highly popular Apis. It was named <i>Aser-hapi</i> (i.e. <i>Osiris-Apis</i>), which became <b>Serapis</b>, and later was said to represent Osiris fully, rather than just his Ka.</p><p><br /></p><p>The earliest mention of a <i>Serapis</i> is in the authentic death scene of Alexander, from the royal diaries. Here, <i>Serapis</i> has a temple at Babylon, and is of such importance that he alone is named as being consulted on behalf of the dying Alexander. The presence of this temple in Babylon radically altered perceptions of the mythologies of this era, although it has been discovered that the unconnected Babylonian deity Ea was entitled <i>Serapsi</i>, meaning <i>king of the deep</i>, and it is Serapsi who is referred to in the diaries, not Serapis. The significance of this <i>Serapsi</i> in the Hellenic psyche, however, due to its involvement in Alexander&#039;s death, also may have contributed to the choice of <i>Osiris-Apis</i> as the chief Ptolemaic deity during their occupation of Ancient Egypt.</p><p><br /></p><p>According to Plutarch, Ptolemy stole the statue from Sinope, having been instructed in a dream by the Unknown God to bring the statue to Alexandria, where the statue was pronounced to be &quot;Serapis&quot; by two religious experts. Among those experts was one of the Eumolpidae, the ancient family from which the hierophant of the Eleusinian Mysteries traditionally had been chosen since before any historical records. The other expert supposedly was the scholarly Egyptian priest Manetho, which increased acceptability from both the Egyptians and the Greeks.</p><p><br /></p><p>Plutarch may not be correct, however, as some Egyptologists assert that the <i>Sinope</i> in Plutarch&#039;s report is the hill of Sinopeion, a name given to the site of an existing Serapeum at Memphis. Also, according to Tacitus, Serapis (i.e. Apis explicitly identified as Osiris in full) had been the tutelary deity of the village of Rhacotis, before it suddenly expanded into the great capital of &quot;Alexandria&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>Being introduced by the Greeks, understandably, the statue depicted a fully human figure resembling Hades or Pluto, both being kings of the Greek underworld. The figure was enthroned with the <i>modius</i>, which is a basket or a grain-measure, on his head, a Greek symbol for the land of the dead. He also held a sceptre, indicating rulership, and Cerberus, gatekeeper of the underworld, rested at his feet. It also had what appeared to be a serpent at its base, fitting the Egyptian symbol of sovereignty, the uraeus.</p><p><br /></p><p>With his (i.e., Osiris&#039;) wife, Isis, and their son (at this point in history) Horus (in the form of <i>Harpocrates</i>), Serapis won an important place in the Greek world, reaching Ancient Rome, with Anubis being identified as Cerberus. The cult survived until 385, when Christians destroyed the Serapeum of Alexandria, and subsequently, the cult was forbidden by the Edict of Thessalonica.[2]</p><p><br /></p><p>[1] Lewis, Will. Taking the Bull by the Horns, Ancient World Magazine, March 16, 2018</p><p>[2] The Apis Bull, Wikipedia online encyclopedia[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in