Egyptian Pharaoh Kneeling Before Bull

The ancient Egyptians believed that Apis, the sacred bull of Memphis was a manifestation of Ptah upon the earth. Whenever an Apis bull died in Memphis it was embalmed and mummified.  Each bull had its own huge sarcophagus and its birth and death were recorded, carved onto the walls. 

The Pharaoh Kneeling Before the Bull Deity discovery is important in the study of Biblical Archaeology.

After the Israelites were delivered from Egypt, Moses came down from the mountain and found Aaron had set up a golden calf or young bull, that the people might worship God in this form. When the northern kingdom of Israel divided from their brothers in the south, Jeroboam introduced bull worship and set up two idols (calves of gold), one at Bethel and the other at Dan. 

"The Apis is the calf of a cow which is never afterwards able to have another. The Egyptian belief is that a flash of light descends upon the cow from heaven, and this causes her to conceive Apis. The Apis-calf has distinctive marks: it is black, with a white square on its forehead, the image of an eagle on its back, the hair on its tail double, and a scarab under its tongue. Herodotus, Histories 3.28

Exodus 32:3,4 "And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."  

1 Kings 12:28-29 "Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan." 

British Museum Excerpt

Bronze statuette group of the king before the Apis bull

From Egypt, Late Period, after 600 BC
Height: 12.300 cm
Length: 14.700 cm
EA 22920
Room 61: Egyptian life

The king offering before the Apis bull

The Apis bull was sacred to the god Ptah of Memphis. Only one Apis bull existed at a time, unlike other sacred animals, such as the ibises of Thoth and the cats of Bastet. Each time an Apis bull died the priests searched the country for its successor, which they identified by the bull's particular markings. The search for a new Apis bull is described by the Greek historian Herodotus (about 485-425 BC), who visited Egypt in the mid-fifth century BC.

The Apis was regarded as a representative of Ptah on earth. The bull was kept in splendid accommodation, its every action watched in case it was a message from the god. The bull was used as an intermediary in oracular consultations (foretelling the future); questions were put to it, and its movements interpreted. When it died, the bull was mummified and placed in a sarcophagus. This huge coffin was laid alongside those of the bull's predecessors, in a series of galleries known as the Serapeum at Memphis.

According to Herodotus, anyone who harmed the Apis bull would suffer severe consequences. The Persian conqueror Cambyses scorned the gods of Egypt and wounded the Apis bull, causing its death. He was later injured in the same way, just as he was about to reach the high point of his career.

Another Bronze figure of Apis, the sacred bull.. More

Apis in Egyptian mythology

"In Egyptian mythology, Apis or Hapis (alternatively spelt Hapi-ankh), was a bull-deity worshipped in the Memphis region.

According to Manetho, his worship was instituted by Kaiechos of the Second Dynasty. Hape (Apis) is named on very early monuments, but little is known of the divine animal before the New Kingdom. Ceremonial burials of bulls indicate that ritual sacrifice was part of the worship of the early cow deities and a bull might represent a king who became a deity after death. He was entitled "the renewal of the life" of the Memphite god Ptah: but after death he became Osorapis, i.e. the Osiris Apis, just as dead humans were assimilated to Osiris, the king of the underworld. This Osorapis was identified with the Hellenistic Serapis, and may well be identical with him. Greek writers make the Apis an incarnation of Osiris, ignoring the connection with Ptah.

Apis was the most important of all the sacred animals in Egypt, and, as with the others, its importance increased as time went on. Greek and Roman authors have much to say about Apis, the marks by which the black bull-calf was recognized, the manner of his conception by a ray from heaven, his house at Memphis with court for disporting himself, the mode of prognostication from his actions, the mourning at his death, his costly burial, and the rejoicings throughout the country when a new Apis was found. Mariette's excavation of the Serapeum at Memphis revealed the tombs of over sixty animals, ranging from the time of Amenophis III to that of Ptolemy Alexander. At first each animal was buried in a separate tomb with a chapel built above it. Khamuis, the priestly son of Ramesses II (c. 1300 B.C.), excavated a great gallery to be lined with the tomb chambers; another similar gallery was added by Psammetichus I. The careful statement of the ages of the animals in the later instances, with the regnal dates for their birth, enthronization, and death have thrown much light on the chronology from the Twenty-second dynasty onwards. The name of the mother-cow and the place of birth often are recorded. The sarcophagi are of immense size, and the burial must have entailed enormous expense. It is therefore remarkable that the priests contrived to bury one of the animals in the fourth year of Cambyses." (Wikipedia - Apis (Egyptian mythology)