Apis

In Egyptian mythology , Apis (orHap) was the bull god of Memphis, Egypt . He was personified on Earth by any black bull with awhite 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 thecemetery of Saqqara . The earliest known burial in Saqqara was performed in the reignof Amenhotep III by his son Thutmosis; afterwards, seven more bulls wereburied nearby. Rameses II initiated Apis burials in the Serapeum , an underground complex of burial chambers at Saqqara for the sacred bulls, a siteused through the rest of Egyptian history into the reignof CleopatraVII .

The Serapeum was discovered by Auguste Mariette , who excavatedmost of the complex. Unfortunately his notes of the excavation were lost, which has complicated the use of these burials inestablishing Egyptian chronology . The problem with theseseries of sacred burials is that from the reign of Rameses XI through the 23rd year of Osorkon II -- a period of about 250 years -- only 9 bulls are known: this number includes 3 burials not actuallyfound, but assumed to exist by Mariette in a chamber he felt was to dangerous to excavate. Egyptologists believe that thereshould be more burials, but even after redating four burials Mariette dated to the reign of Ramesses XI, and recalculating thedates, there is still a gap of 130 years that needs accounting for. Some Egyptologists, such as David Rohl , have siezed on this discrepency, and argued that the dating of the Twentieth dynasty should be redated some 300 yearscloser to the present in time; others assume that there are more burials of these sacred bulls waiting to be discovered andexcavated.

In Greek mythology , Apis is the ruler of Apia , a prophet , the son of Phoroneus and Teledyne . He was killed by Aetolus , leaving no heirs.

Apis is also a Genus of bees .