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The Serapeum is where the catacombs
of the Apis
bulls, the sacred animals of ancient Egyptians are buried. Apis
was believed to be an incarnation of Ptah
and hence was deified. After the death of an Apis bull, it was
mummified and placed in a heavy sarcophagus
in this subterranean cemetery.
The galleries were discovered by Auguste Mariette in 1850. He
found several hundred meters of corridors beneath the ground
with side chambers. Some of the chambers were containing sarcophagi
that are as heavy as 80 tons. Sarcophagi were either made of
black granite or diorite.
Mariette found also in the cemetery the famous statue of the
"squatting scribe." When he first entered the catacomb,
he found the lids of sarcophagi tilted away and they were stripped
of their contents. It is believed that prince Khaemweset, son
of Ramesses
II, was the one who began construction of the catacombs.
The Serapeum continued to be used as a burial for the sacred
animals till the Greco-Roman
era. The founder prince himself was even buried in the Serapeum
perhaps because of his desire. |
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