File:Apis (Musgrave).jpg

English: "Penates (Household Gods) Dug Up at Devises in Our Belgium in the Year 1714, Table 8.

"15. Apis. Length: 4 Inches. Weight: 6 oz.

"XI. Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods, Book I: 'What do you reckon then? That Apis, that Holy Cow of the Egyptians, is not seen by the Egyptians as a God?' and Pliny: 'A Cow is even cared for in Egypt in place of a Divinity. They call it Apis.'"

Notes: "To the Most Noble Prince Frederick, the destined Royal Heir, Great Britain's hope, Delight, and most yearned for Spirit, son of the Most High George and grandson of the Most August George, William Musgrave, Fellow (?) of Exeter College, Oxford, of his own will and in Obedience to his Oath wished these here Penates, hidden by the Earth for 1500 years, to be dedicated.

"These Penates [found] by William Cadby, Gardener at Devizes, engraved on Brass and printed on Imperial Paper, are available for sale at the Booksellers Knapton in London, Clements in Oxford, and Yeo in Exeter. 1717."

The 2nd figure from Musgrave's 5th illustration of the Southbroom Hoard discovered outside Devizes, Wiltshire, in 1714. This statue is now lost, while others from the hoard are held by the British Museum. Durham categorized it as #378. Musgrave identified it as the Egyptian bull god Apis, but modern scholars instead associate it with the three-horned bull of Gallo-Roman mythology. Such figures are more common in the formerly Celtic areas of the Continent than the British Isles and are sometimes conflated with the bull and three cranes identified as Tarvos Trigaranus.

See also:

• Emma Durham, "Depicting the Gods: Metal Figurines in Roman Britain", Internet Archaeology, No. 31, 2012.
• Emma Durham, "Style and Substance: Some Metal Figurines from South-West Britain", Britannia, No. 45, November 2014, pp. 195–221.