In  the  subterranean  part  of  the  Egyptian  Serapeum ,  hewn  in
the  rock,  where  the  Apis  hulls  were  interred,  there  were  found  no
fewer  than  3000  monuments,  and  it  was  ascertained  that  the  hulls
were  interred  in  different  ways  at  different  periods  of  Egyptian  his-
tory. No  Apis  sarcophagus  dating  from  the  primaeval  monarchy
was  discovered,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  first  placed  here  dates
from  the  reign  of  Amenophis  III.  (18th  Dynasty).  On  the  surface
above,  a  chapel  was  erected  in  honour  of  each  bull,  while  his
remains  were  deposited  in  one  of  the  square  chambers  hewn  in  the
rock ,  to  which  a  sloping  passage  descended  from  the  chapel.  No
trace  of  these  chapels  now  remains.  Every  Apis  was  interred  in
this  way  down  to  the  thirtieth  year  of  the  reign  of  Ramses  II.  (19th
Dynasty ),  after  which  the  vaults  began  to  take  a  different  form.  A
subterranean  gallery,  about  110yds.  in  length,  was  now  hewn  in
the  rock,  and  flanked  with  rudely  excavated  chambers,  forty  in
number,  which  were  walled  up  after  having  received  the  remains
of  the  sacred  bull.  This  was  done  down  to  the  twentieth  year  of
the  reign  of  Psammetikh  I. ,  the  first  king  of  the  26th  Dynasty,  when
four  of  the  Apis  vaults  fell  in,  and  another  site  was  chosen  for  a
new  series  of  tombs.  In  the  thirty-third  year  of  that  king's  reign
a  new  gallery ,  flanked  as  before  with  vaults ,  was  accordingly
excavated  for  the  purpose.  These  vaults ,  which  are  much  more
carefully  constructed  than  the  two  series  of  earlier  date,  are  still
accessible,  while  the  others  have  long  since  been  filled  up.
