CHAP. XIV. SACRED OXEN. 195 



Strabo, in perfect accordance with the sculptures, 

 states, to Athor. * This was a wise regulation, in 

 order to prevent too great a diminution in the 

 cattle of the country t ; and the prohibition being 

 ascribed by the priests to some mysterious reason, 

 was naturally looked upon in process of time as a 

 divine ordinance, which it would be nothing less 

 than sacrilege to disregard. According to Strabo t, 

 many, both male and female, were kept in different 

 towns, in and out of the Delta ; but they were not 

 worshipped as Deities, like the Apis and Mnevis, 

 which had the rank of Gods at Memphis and 

 Heliopolis. Nor did they enjoy the same honours 

 that were paid to the sacred Cow at Momemphis, 

 where Venus was worshipped. 



Bull and cow mummies are frequently met with 

 at Thebes and other places ; and though Hero- 

 dotus states that the bodies of the former were 

 thrown into the river, and the latter all removed 

 to Atarbechis in the Isle of Prosopitis, there is 

 sufficient evidence of their having been buried in 

 other parts of Egypt. § 



Apis, Mnevis, Basis. 



The God Apis has been already 

 mentioned. 1| (v 



Name of Apis. 



" Mnevis, the sacred ox of Heliopohs^, was 



* Vide sicprd, Vol. T. (2d Series) p. 381. 



f Vide supra, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 394. 



j Strabo, xvii. p. 532. § Vide supra, p. 102. 



II Supra, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 347. 



1[ Plut. de Is. s. 33. Diodor. i. 84. 



O 2 



A 



