There was
in each temple a sacred animal which was adored. The traveller Strabo
records a visit to a sacred crocodile of Thebes: "The beast," said he,
"lay on the edge of a pond, the priests drew near, two of them opened
his mouth, a third thrust in cakes, grilled fish, and a drink made
with meal."
=The Bull Apis.=--Of these animal gods the most venerated was the bull
Apis. It represented at once Osiris and Phtah and lived at Memphis in
a chapel served by the priests. After its death it became an Osiris
(Osar-hapi), it was embalmed, and its mummy deposited in a vault. The
sepulchres of the "Osar-hapi" constituted a gigantic monument, the
Serapeum, discovered in 1851 by Marietta.
=Cult of the Dead.=--The Egyptians adored also the spirits of the
dead. They seem to have believed at first that every man had a
"double" (Ka), and that when the man was dead his double still
survived. Many savage peoples believe this to this day. The Egyptian
tomb in the time of the Old Empire was termed "House of the Double."
It was a low room arranged like a chamber, where for the service of
the double there were placed all that he required, chairs, tables,
beds, chests, linen, closets, garments, toilet utensils, weapons,
sometimes a war-chariot; for the entertainment of the double, statues,
paintings, books; for his sustenance, grain and foods.
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