The Egyptian deity of strength and fertility. Evidence exists that Apis was worshipped from the remotest ages until the Greek and Roman periods. He was worshipped in the guise of a bull or sometimes as a man with the head of a bull having certain definite characteristics, such as a white triangle on the forehead, a half-moon mark on one flank, and a mark shaped like an eagle on the neck. During the bull's life it received the homage of the faithful and after its death it was embalmed and buried in a huge sarcophagus. From the age of Ramses II (1290-1224 b.c. )   the tombs of the various bulls personifying Apis were assembled in an underground chamber near Memphis commonly known as the Sarapeum.