174 A P A P 26th year of Rameses III., one in the reign of Rameses IX., others of the date of Rameses XI. and XIV., and four others whose dates are not determined, besides three more which died under the 21st dynasty. Of bulls deceased in the 22d dynasty, there is one of the 23d year of Osorkon II., another of the 14th year of Takellothis I., and a third of the 28th year of Sheshank or Shishak III. It is not till the reign of this monarch that the dates connected with the Apis become of chronological importance. On the sepulchral tablet of the Apis which was born in the reign of Shishak III., is found the formula of the date of the birth and inau guration of the bull. It was born on the 20th of the month Payni, in the 28th year of the king s reign, and en throned on the 1st of Paophi of the same year, having died in the 2d year of the king Pamai, and been buried on the 1st of the month Mechir of the same year. It had attained the age of 2G years. Three other bulls died in the 4th, llth, and 37th years of Shishak IV. Important statements like these show the intervals of time which elapsed between the regnal years of different kings, and check the chronology of the 22d and subsequent dynasties, but owing to unfortunate lacunaa the chronology of Egypt is conjectural, and not positive till the reign of Tirhakah. The dates of the other Apis are, one which died on the 5th of the month Thoth,in the 6th year of Bekenrenf, or Bocchoris, another of the 2d year of Shabak or Sabaco, and that buried on the 23d Pharmouthi of the 24th year of Tirhakah, 730 B.C. The dates of the other bulls prior to the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great, 332 B.C. are one born in the 26th year of Tirhakah, enthroned on the 9th Pharmouthi, the same year deceased, in the 20th year of Psammetichus I., and buried on the 25th Paophi, of the 23d year of Psammetichus ; another deceased in the 52d year of the same king; a third born in the 53d year of Psam metichus I., enthroned on the 12th of Athor of the 54th year, deceased on the 6th of Paophi, and buried on the 10th Choiak of the 16th year of Necho, having lived 16 years 7 months and 17 days; another born on 7th Paophi of the 16th year of Necho, enthroned 9th Epiphi of the 1st year of Psammetichus I., died on the 12th Pharmouthi of the 12th year of Apries, and buried the 21st Payni of the same year, aged 17 years 6 months and 5 days; another born in the 5th year of Amasis, inaugu rated on the 18th Payni of the same year, died on the 6th Phamenoth, was buried on the 15th Pashons of the 23d year of the same king, aged 18 years and 6 months. The Apis which died after this, and of which a sarco phagus was found dated in the 4th year of Cambyses, is the one supposed to have been killed by Cambyses on his return from ^Ethiopia. Another born in the month Pharmouthi of the 5th year of Cambyses, died in the 4th year of Darius, and was buried on the 2d Pashons of the 5th year of Darius, and had lived upwards of 7 years. It is the Apis of Darius, alluded to by Polysenus, for the suc cessor of which Darius offered 100 talents as a reward to the fortunate discoverer. Another Persian king Ochus is said to have killed and eaten an Apis, 338 B.C. The death of an Apis soon after the death of Alexander the Great, 323 B.C., is also recorded. The sepulchral tablets in the demotic characters, according to M. Brugsch, record the birth of an Apis in the month of Phamenoth, in the 20th year of Ptolemy Euergetes I., 231 B.C., which died in the 51st year, 179 B.C.; and another older, probably of Ptolemy Philadelphus II., 253 B.C.; another of the 14th year of Ptolemy Epiphanes IV., 211 B.C. ; another in the 20th year of Ptolemy IV., 185 B.C.; another in the 17th year of Ptolemy Philometor VII., 164 B.C.; and another born in the 53d year (118-117 B.C.) of Ptolemy Euergetes II., died 15 years old, 103 B.C., in the reign of Ptolemy XI. In the Roman times the discovery of an Apis in the reign of Hadrian, 121 A.D., caused a tumult at Alexandria ; and the last known Apis is that brought to the Emperor Julian II., 362-363 A.D., after which the Apis disappears from Egypt altogether. The Apis was embalmed at great cost, but the operation consisted in pre paring with bitumen the skull and a few of the principal bones of the bull made up into an appropriate shape. The second genius of the Karneter, or Egyptian Hades, was also called Hapi or Apis, but he was quite distinct from the bull god and the son of Osiris. His type was that of a human mummy with the head of a Cynocephalus ape. Bronze native figures of the Apis are not uncommon, and those of stone are occasionally found, but porcelain ones are extremely rare. Lepsius, " Ueber den Apiskreis," Zeitsch. d. Morgenl. Gesellsch. vii. Bd. 1853; Brugsch, Ibid.; Mariette, Le Sera- peum de Memphis, 1857; Jablonski, Pantheon, ii. (s. B.) APOCALYPSE, a designation under which the last book of the New Testament is frequently referred to. It is the title the book has in the Greek, A7roKaAtt/as, which in the English version is rendered " Revelation." Sec REVELATION OF ST JOHN. The name is applied generally to predictions relating to the growth and triumphs of the Messiah s kingdom, especially as revealed in visions or ex pressed by means of symbols. The more important extra- biblical writings of this kind are noticed in the article which immediately follows. APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE. This branch of later Jewish literature took its rise after the older prophecy had ceased, when Israel suffered sorely from Syrian and Roman oppression. Its object was to encourage and com fort the people by holding forth the speedy restoration of the Davidic kingdom of Messiah. Attaching itself to the national hope, it proclaimed the impending of a glorious future, in which Israel, freed from her enemies, should enjoy a peaceful and prosperous life under her long wished for Deliverer. The old prophets became the vehicle of these utterances. Revelations sketching the history of Israel and of heathenism are put into their mouths. The prophecies take the form of symbolical images and mar vellous visions. As the old remained unfulfilled in the progress of events, and doubts arose about their truth fulness, it was necessary to give them a new turn and a more correct interpretation. Working in this fashion upon the basis of well-known writings, imitating their style, and artificially reproducing their substance, the authors natur ally adopted the anonymous. The difficulty was increased by their having to paint as future, events actually near, and to fit the manifestation of a personal Messiah into the history of the times. Hence apocalyptists employed obscure symbols and mysterious pictures, veiling the mean ing that it might not be readily seen. The artificial imitative character of their productions caused certain peculiarities ; and the main object was attained by fastening the spirit of their contemporaries on the immediate fulfilment of their highest aspirations. From the intentionally dark imagery enfolding the ideas, it is difficult to discover the exact times of their appearance and the historical interpretation. The earliest of such apocalypses is the canonical book of Daniel, in which an old seer in the Chaldean captivity is employed to portray the oppressions of the Jews under Antiochus Epiphanes. This was the model for all later ones. The literature in question was not confined to the Jews. Christians not only used the productions in which the Messiah was described after the Jewish fashion, but composed similar ones themselves, Jewish Christians in particular. Here the Apocalypse of John is the noblest example, and deserves the honour of naming the entire range of literature.
The most obvious division of apocalyptic works is that