sometimes equated with Seth, the god of chaos.
But the character of Apep, unlike that of Seth, was
always consistently that of threats and malevo-
lence. Seth could at times show mercy and be
beneficent and protective. Actually, he was
enlisted by Ra in a battle against Apep, so Seth
seemed to have had some redeeming values,
whereas Apep did not. Seth was able in fighting
against Apep to resist his deadly stare and keep
him at bay with his special spear.
Apep sought to undermine the nature of the
universe, to disrupt human society, and to dis-
solve all relationships between the deities and
humans. If Apep could, he would cancel the plan
of order, harmony, and balance on the Earth.
There was nothing to his work but chaos. He had
to be fought; there was no other way to remain
free and in peace. Thus, it is written in the Book
of Gates that Auset with Neith and Serket and a
few other deities managed to capture the monster
and have the sons of Heru restrain him. Although
it was thought that each night Apep was revived
to fight once more, the society had to hold chaos
at bay.
Apep was said, in one text, to have eaten Ra
and later disgorged him as a metaphor of renewal.
In the funerary texts, Apep is usually shown with
tightly compressed coils to show how large he
really was when he uncoiled himself. It is said that
the first part of his body was made of flint. In the
text, Apep is shown with 12 heads of victims he
has swallowed. When Ra has passed by the ser-
pent, the victims are destined to return to the body
of Apep until freedom is secured.
There were no cult priests for Apep. There were
no temples built in his honor, but he was often on
the minds of celebrants for other deities, and
sometimes the people would make wax models of
Apep and then burn them with fire. Some rituals
involved drawing a picture of a monster, putting it
in a box, and after spitting on it four times, burn-
ing the box. There could be no priests or priest-
esses used in the ritual to Apep.
Even the Dead had to be protected from Apep.
There is a reference to 77 papyri rolls being used to
affect a ritual that would allow the people to cut
Apep into many pieces. The people protected them-
selves from this lurking monster by remembering the
sacred ceremonies and rituals that protected them.
Molefi Kete AsanteSee alsoWasetFurther Readings
Armour, R. (2004).Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt.
Cairo: American University Press.
Hornung, E. (1996).Conception of God in Ancient
Egypt:The One and the Many. Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press.
Morenz, S. (1973).Egyptian Religion. Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press.
Vernus, P. (1998).Gods of Ancient Egypt. New York:
George Braziller.APIS
In Ancient Egypt, the Apis bull was the calf of a
cow that was never able to have another calf. It
was a calf with distinctive features that made it
remarkable and unique. For example, the apis bull
was black with a white diamond on its forehead,
an image of an eagle on its back, two white hairs
on its tail, and a scarab beetle mark under its
tongue. Such a bull had to be special in the eyes of
the ancient Egyptians. They thought that a flash
of lightning had to strike the cow in such a way
that the cow conceived a calf with the distinctive
marks. This was enough for them to see this calf
as a mark of something uniquely sacred. It had
been sent from heaven by the deity to interact on
Earth with humans.
Nothing persuaded the Egyptians that this was
a coincidence; everything suggested to them that
this was a divine plan, and they articulated the
nature of the bull as a part of their theology. Like
the Mnevis and the Buchis bulls, the Apis bull
was an Earthly appearance of god. Throughout
Kemet’s history, there had been animals that had
interceded between humans and the deities; there
had even been animal representations in stone,
wood, and metal of deities, but this was different.
Here in the living flesh was an animal that was
the incarnate of a god, living and acting like a
bull among humans, but being himself divine.
This idea would not be seen again until it was
seen in human form with Jesus, who was consid-
ered flesh that became god. This entry looks at
the origins of Apis worship, the major festival,Apis 65