Freedom is Choosing the Right God
Sunday, August 17th, 2008This is a revised reprint from Tandem Vincitur, June 1995
In his book, Gods, Graves and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology, C.W. Ceram describes the ancient Egyptian cult of animal worship. He reported the people maintained cemeteries for their pets, whom they considered to be deities. One ancient city even had a cemetery for pet crocodiles.
What I found most interesting was his account of the Apis bull. This bull had a white triangle marking on his forehead, and this distinguished it as sacred. People worshipped the bull and it was tended and pampered by the priests. Upon death, the bull was given a lavish funeral, complete with embalming. Then, another bull with the same markings would take his place. The Apis bull was said to be the servant of the god Ptah, whom the Egyptians honored as the creator of the world.
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