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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2011
In no other land of the ancient world does the worship of the Cow play so important a part as in Egypt. The representations and inscriptions on the oldest monuments already contain copious references to the sacred Cow; but it is only from the monuments of later periods that scientific enquiry is first supplied with clearer information as to the origin of this worship and its connection with a goddess of the Egyptian Olympus of learned investigation. The following account, founded on mounmental records, comprises in one view everything that relates to the origin of this worship, and that is calculated to throw light on the nature of this peculiar veneration for the cow.
In the oldest representations, relating to the creation of the world, the cow, coming forth out of the primeval waters, appears on the territory of the Hermopolite nome in Upper Egypt as the mother of the young Sun-god. Clinging to the horns of his parent, the young god kindles the light of day, and the life of all creatures begins with him.
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