| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| Goddess name "Liluri" | Western Semitic / Syrian | mountain goddess. The consort of the weather god Manuzi, her sacred animal is the bull.... |
| God name "MIN" | Egypt | Fertility god. Min is the most significant deity in the Egyptian pantheon in respect of sexual virility. In some genealogies he is the son of ISIS, in others he represents Isis's consort with HORUS as their child. Min is depicted in anthropomorphic form wearing a modius bearing two plumes and a hanging ribbon. He is generally drawn in profile, legs together and with his left arm raised into the angle made by his royal flail. The most obvious feature of the iconography is a strongly erect śéméñ. Min is represented in older art by two serrated cones projecting horizontally from a disc. His sacred animal is probably a white bull and he is also åśśociated with the tall lettuce species (Lac tuca sativa), the shape of which may be reminiscent of an erect phallus.... |
| God name "MITHRA (friend)" | Persian / Iran | God of the upper air. Originating in India, Mithra is a god of light who was translated into the attendant of the god AHURA MAZDA in the light religion of Persia; from this he was adopted as the Roman deity Mithras. He is not generally regarded as a sky god but a personification of the fertilizing power of warm, light air. According to the Avesta, he possesses 10,000 eyes and ears and rides in a chariot drawn by white horses. In dualistic Zoroastrianism, which effectively demoted him, Mithra is concerned with the endless battle between light and dark forces; he represents truth. He is responsible for the keeping of oaths and contracts. He was born from a rock and, according to legend, engaged in a primeval struggle with Ahura Mazda's first creation, a wild bull, which he subdued and confined to a cave. The bull escaped, but was recaptured by Mithra, who slit its throat. From the blood sprang plant life on earth. His chief adversary is AHRIMAN, the power of darkness. Mithra is not generally worshiped on his own, but as an integral part of the Mithraic worship of Ahura Mazda, where he acts as an intercessor between gods and men. In the Hellenic period he was transformed more closely to the role of a Sun god. See also AHURA MAZDA.... |
| God name "Men Ascaenus" | Antioch - near - Pisidia | Local tutelary god. Possibly originating as a Persian moon god and known chiefly from a description by Strabo. He enjoyed a substantial cult including a temple some 1,200 meters above sea level. His symbol is the head of a bull above a crescent moon and wreath; it appears on local coinage circa AD 200. The popularity of the cult earned antagonism from the Roman occupation.See also MEN.... |
| God name "Minos" | Greco - Roman | Minor underworld god. A son of Zeus and Europa. The mythical king of Crete. One of three judges of the dead souls entering Hades. His cult is linked with the worship of bulls.... |
| God name "Mithras" | Greco - Roman | God of soldiers. Derived from the Indian-Persian model. He became particularly prominent among military people throughout the Roman Empire during the first and second centuries AD, as a god symbolizing loyalty and truth. The cult was performed in an underground temple, the mitbraeum, and involved the sacrifice of a bull. Mithraism, under Roman influence, was an exclusively male cult.... |
| God name "Montu" | Egypt | Local god of war. Worshiped in and around the district of Thebes in Upper Egypt. He is known from circa 2000 BC and possibly earlier, but came to special prominence overseeing the aggressive posture of Theban kings from the XI to XVIII Dynasty (2133-1320 BC). Montu is depicted in human form but with a falcon's head surmounted by twin plumes, a Sun disc and the uraeus (cobra). At some stage, probably as Month (Greek), he became identified with a sacred bull, Buchis.... |
| God name "Nandi(n) (rejoicing)" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | Bull god. Generally åśśociated with S IVA as a bull-vehicle and an embodiment of fertility. Color: white. The image usually stands in an anteroom of the temple guarding the place where the statue of S iva is located. A S iva devotee touches the image's testicles on entry to a shrine. In anthropomorphic form he may be known as Nandisa.... |
| God name "Nandi[n]" | Hindu | Bull god Hindu |
| Goddess name "Nappinnai" | Hindu - Dravidian / Tamil | Local goddess. Consort of KRSNA. Mentioned in the Vaisnavite and Saivite literature, the Krsna-Nappinnai cult was prominent in Tamil-speaking areas of southern India in the seventh to ninth centuries. According to tradition Krsna wed Nappinnai after a bullbaiting contest during which he took on and defeated seven bulls. Nappinnai may be a localized form of Sri-Laksmi. Also Pinnai.... |
| God name "Ngunyari" | Australia | A sky god important in initiation ceremonies having made the bull-roarer and established the rules regarding it. The Ungarinyin, Australia |
| Goddess name "Ninsun" | Akkadia | Mother of Gilgamesh and the wild bull Dumuzi, and wife of Lugalbands. A goddess of Gudea, Babylon, Mesopotamia, Akkadia and Sumeria. Aka, "Rimat-Ninsun", the "august cow";, the "Wild cow of the Enclosure", and "The Great queen. |
| Goddess name "Pa-bil-sag" | Mesopotamian / Sumerian / Babylonian - Akkadian | Tutelary god of Isin. The consort of the goddess NIN'INSINNA. Identified with the city of Larak (lost), texts describe Pabilsag journeying to Nippur and presenting the god ENLIL with gifts. He is given the epithet of the wild bull with multicolored legs.... |
| God name "Pajainen" | Finnish | A god, the deity that killed the great bull in the legends of Finland |
| God name "Pajainen" | Pre - Christian Finnish | God. The deity who kills the great bull in Finnish legend.... |
| God name "Phyi-Sgrub (the external one)" | Buddhist - Lamaist / Tibet | God. A form of the god YAMA who rides a buffalo or a bull. Color: blue, yellow or white. Attributes: noose, prayer wheel and staff surmounted by a skeleton.... |
| Goddess name "Prsni" | Hindu / Vedic | Primordial earth goddess. The socalled dappled cow of the Rg Veda. She is also perceived as the brightly colored soma stalk and is linked with a male counterpart, also Prsni, the dappled bull of the Sun.... |
| God name "Qos" | Pre - Islamic northern Arabian | Local weather god. Apparently known as the deification of an outcrop of black basalt on the north side of the Wadi Hesa [near Kirbet Tannur]. Also a god of Rainbows. Depicted seated on a throne flanked by bulls. Attributes include a branched thunderbolt held in the left hand. A worshiper is seen offering him an eagle.... |
Table of Gods
Your guide to the World gods, spirits,
demons and legendary monsters
Apis
took the form a bull. In most statues he was pictured with his head facing up toward the sun, and chest pushed out. This pose was considered a very noble and strong stance. The way priests would be able to recognize Apis, from other bulls, was from the mystical marks he was given. On his forehead he had a white triangle, on his back was a figure of a vulture with outstretched wings, his right side had a crescent moon, his tongue had the image of a scarab, and finally, the hairs on his tail were doubled. He is usually featured as black statue, with a sun disk on his head. His horns curled around the sun disk holding it in place. Apis was always featured having a long fluffy tail, with extra detail around the tip.
Significance:
Apis was an important mythical beast; he represented strength, fertility and vigor. He is a god of the dead, included in the Osiris cult. It is well known that the testicles of a bull contain an aphrodisiac. This is sometimes associated with Apis, being the god of Fertility. There were many bulls thought to be Apis, and each one was identified by the mythical marks. Each bull that was the reincarnation of the god Apis, was brought to the temple in Memphis that the kings had built. Apis’s temple was adjacent to that of Ptah’s. In the courtyard of Apis’s temple, he was allowed to roam around, going wherever he pleased. During his walks around the temple, his movements were thought to tell of the future.
Scholars would spend great amounts of time trying to decipher his actions. Apis also brought a great amount of tourism to the area. People would come from all around the world to watch the future be decoded before their eyes. Apis was thought to be immortal; however his host body was expected to die. Apis was allowed to live until his old age killed him. However, he was sometimes drown when he lived too long, as a sacrifice, or cleansing process. He was shoved into a sacred fountain by his caregiver and smothered until dead. On two occasions he was assassinated, the first time he was killed by Cambyses, and second by Ochus. When the mythical beast died, a great ceremony was held to honor his life. Each time a new successor was found, it was a joyous event and a celebration was held in his honor.
Family:
Apis was not known for having an intricate family, like all beings he was a child of Ra. His mother and father are not known because he was a mythical bull god; such family lines were not recorded. In 1850 a tomb was uncovered that had all the bodies of Apis in individual sandstone coffins. These bulls were said to be all the family that Apis had. The underground tomb that the sandstone coffins were in does not exist anymore. In the 1850’s there wasn’t a well known standard on how to handle ancient artifacts, so a lot of the coffins were sold to private owners, or destroyed for the jewels inside.
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