Thesis (Ph. D)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Leaf 329 is folded. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 363-393).

A partir de uma ampla documentação que abrange diversas categorias de suportes materiais e imagens datadas do período faraônico, este trabalho tem como objetivo compreender as mudanças na representação, concepção e simbolismo do touro Ápis e sua significância em rituais da realeza e enquanto divindade para a sociedade egípcia como um todo. / Based on a large documentation that compreend many kinds of material supports and images dated from the Pharaonic Period, this work aims to understand the changes on the representation, conception and symbolism of the Apis bull and its significance in kingship rituals and as a deity to the Egyptian society as a whole.

A partir de uma ampla documentação que abrange diversas categorias de suportes materiais e imagens datadas do período faraônico, este trabalho tem como objetivo compreender as mudanças na representação, concepção e simbolismo do touro Ápis e sua significância em rituais da realeza e enquanto divindade para a sociedade egípcia como um todo. / Based on a large documentation that compreend many kinds of material supports and images dated from the Pharaonic Period, this work aims to understand the changes on the representation, conception and symbolism of the Apis bull and its significance in kingship rituals and as a deity to the Egyptian society as a whole.

The topic of violence in Late Antiquity is a heavily debated subject and many scholars have focused on this issue, as evidenced by the many studies published within the last ten years. The perception of Late Antiquity as a period of widespread religious violence is mainly influenced by Christian literary sources, who document accounts of violence against temples, statuary, and people alike. Egypt, in particular, has often been used as an example to demonstrate the destructive nature of religious violence that existed in the ancient world. However, the concept of religious violence is a complicated and nuanced topic. In Egypt, the many accounts by the Christian sources were written with specific intentions and the events documented in the texts were often exaggerated. The objective of this thesis is to provide a study of statue destruction by Christians between the fourth to seventh centuries CE in Egypt, and determine whether these destructions were acts of religious violence or were carried out for another reason in order to provide a more nuanced understanding of violence in Late Antiquity. By juxtaposing accounts from literary sources and archaeological evidence, the study seeks to determine whether the literary sources are accurate in their documentation of widespread statue destruction, or whether the violent discourse present in the literary sources is the result of Christian polemical purposes.

Since the discovery of the Apis bull catacombs known as the Serapeum in the 1800’s by Auguste Mariette, Saqqara has become a topic of interest amongst archaeologists and Egyptologists. This in turn has prompted many new research attempts to try and better understand the function and significance of the funerary practices which took place there. The nearby town of Memphis was home to the Apis bull god who represented Ptah though in death it came to represent Osiris. This paper is an attempt to provide a new interpretation of the New Kingdom Apis bull funerary monuments placed within the Saqqara landscape from Amenhotep III’s reign through to Rameses II’s reign, with a special focus placed on the Serapeum. For this paper landscape archaeology was used to better understand the choice of location by Amenhotep III. The aim is to reveal why the Serapeum was built in the first place and by whom. It was found that whilst Amenhotep III began the burial practice, the change from individual to multiple burials occurred under Rameses II’s reign. Canopic jars as well as a dedication stela were used to determine that the shift occurred under Khaemwaset’s influence it is argued that the Serapeum was built to connect the graves to strengthen the ties between past and present kings. This connection was made as a way to promote their right to rule. / Ända sedan upptäckten av Apis-katakomberna, även känd som Serapeum, år 1851 av Auguste Mariette, har Saqqara genererat stort intresse bland arkeologer och egyptologer. Detta har lett till det gjorts flertalet studier kring att försöka förstå dess funktion och betydelse kring de begravningsceremonier som där hölls. Apis var en gud gestaltad som tjur och hade sin hemvistelse i den närliggande staden Memfis Apis i döden representerade av guden Ptah, medan Apis i livet representerade guden Osiris. Denna uppsats gör ett försök att ge en nytolkning av kring Apis-tjuren och de begravningsmonument som är placerad i Saqqara-regionen, där fokus ligger på just Serapeumet under Nya riket-epoken, en tidsepok som sträcker sig från Amenhotep III till Rameses II. För att bättre förstå valet av Serapeums placering och vem som byggde det, användes landskapsarkeologi som arbetsmetod.I denna uppsats framgår det, trots att Amenhotep III började med individuella begravningsceremonier, skiftades detta till multipla begravningsceremonier i och med att Rameses II kom till makten. Vidare upptäcktes det i arbetets gång att Kanopiska kärl samt dedikationsstela användes för att fastställa att detta skifte inträffade under Khaemwaset’s inflytande och att Serapeum byggdes för att binda samman tidigare konungar med nuvarande och därmed stärka banden mellan dessa. Syftet med denna sammanbindning var så att nuvarande konungar bättre kunde hävda sin rätt att regera.