REH Word of the Week: Apis Bull
Monday, December 7, 2009
posted by Barbara Barrett
Apis Bull
Noun
1. A sacred bull of the ancient Egyptians, acting as an intermediary between humans and Ptah, the Egyptian creator god and the deity patron of artisans
[origin: Egyptian myth; Latin, Greek, Egyptian, lit., hidden]
HOWARD’S USAGE:
The Persian slaughtered the Apis Bull;
(Ammon-Ra is a darksome king.)
And the brain fermented beneath his skull.
(Egypt’s curse is a deathly thing.)
[from "Skulls and Dust"; to read complete poem, see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 175 and Echoes From an Iron Harp,
p. 71]
