A sacred bull venerated in religious rites conducted in ERMENT (Hermonthis), south of Thebes. The animal was associated with the god MONTU and with the BUCHIS bull in cultic ceremonies and was sometimes called Onouphis. The A’a Nefer bull was chosen by priests for purity of breed, distinctive coloring, strength, and mystical marks. The name A’a Nefer is translated as “Beautiful in Appearing.” In rituals, the bull was attired in a lavish cape, with a necklace and a crown. During the Assyrian and Persian periods of occupation (c. 671 and 525–404/343–332 B.C.E.), the sacred bulls of Egypt were sometimes destroyed by foreign rulers or honored as religious symbols.
ALEXANDER III THE GREAT, arriving in Egypt in 332 B.C.E., restored the sacred bulls to the nation’s temples after the Persian occupation. The Ptolemaic rulers (304–30 B.C.E.) encouraged the display of the bulls as THEOPHANIES of the Nile deities, following Alexander’s example. The Romans, already familiar with such animals in the Mithraic cult, did not suppress them when Egypt became a province of the empire in 30 B.C.E.
