| In Egyptian
mythology, Bakha (also spelt Bakh, Buchis,
and Bukhis) was the manifestation of the
Ka (power/life-force) of the war god Menthu,
worshipped in the region of Hermonthis.
The name is simply Ba-Kha, which is a reference
to the Ba and Akh (Akh is sometimes referred
to as Khu), the components into which the
Ka was split, after death (a characteristic
of war). As Ka is also the Egyptian word
for bull, Bakha was said to manifest in
a living bull, which, since Bakha was an
aspect of a war-god, was said to be a wild
bull, since these are aggressive when slightly
provoked. |
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A wild bull was chosen and said to be the Bukhis incarnation
of Menthu, in which position it was
worshipped as such. Over time, the criteria for choosing the
bull became more rigid, fixing themselves on what had been
simply the general appearance of bulls in the region, being
a white body and black face. When these bulls, or their mothers,
died, they were mummified, and placed in a special cemetery
known as the Bucheum.
Eventually, the Bakha was identified as a form of the Apis,
and consequently became considered an incarnation of Osiris.
The worship of the bull in this form lasted until about 362
AD, when it was destroyed by rising Christian fundamentalism,
in the Roman empire.
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