Bull cult (Egyptian mythology)

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Bull cults from the mythology of ancient Egypt were mainly in three places: in Heliopolis , in Memphis and in Thebes . In Heliopolis the Mnevis bull was worshiped as the embodiment of the god Atum-Re , in Memphis the Apis bull was worshiped as the embodiment of the god Ptah and in Thebes the Buchis bull was worshiped as the embodiment of the god Month .

A connection between these deities and bulls is established early on in depictions. The keeping of live bulls is only proven late. Under the Ptolemies , these cults reached their peak with breeding farms and cemeteries such as the Serapeion in Saqqara across from Memphis and the Bucheion in Armant in the south of Thebes.

literature

  • Hans Bonnet : Lexicon of the Egyptian religious history . 3rd unchanged edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , pp. 46–51 → Apis, pp. 126–128 → Buchis, pp. 468–470 → Mnevis, pp. 751–753 → Stier.
  • Walter B. Emery : Egypt. Early history and culture, 3200-2800 BC Chr. Fourier, Wiesbaden 1980, ISBN 3-921695-39-2 , Chapter 4: Religion (1. The Gods).
  • Adolf Erman : The Egyptian religion . 2nd revised edition. Verlag Georg Reimer, Berlin 1909, ( handbooks of the Royal Museums in Berlin ).
  • Rolf Felde: Egyptian deities . 2nd expanded and improved edition, R. Felde Eigenverlag, Wiesbaden 1995,
  • Wolfgang Helck among others: Small Lexicon of Egyptology . 4th revised edition. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-447-04027-0 , pp. 298-299 → bulls, holy.
  • Erik Hornung : The one and the many. Egyptian ideas of God . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1971, ISBN 3-534-05051-X .
  • Eberhard Otto : Contributions to the history of the bull cults . Hinrichs, Leipzig 1938, ( Studies on the history and antiquity of Egypt 13), (At the same time: Göttingen, phil. Diss., 1937).