Among the Egyptians

The hare probably makes its first appearance in a mythic or religious context in association with the Hittite god, Rundas. . . . But it as with the Egyptians that a fully fledged symbolic role for the animal first originated, though much of the evidence for it is slippery and subject to conjecture. It may seem attractively appropriate, for instance, that the hieroglyph meaning 'to be' – a long-eared hare above a stylized wave – is derived from the actual creature's quickness and vitality. But nowhere in the hieroglyphs does the figure of a hare actually mean 'hare.' It is, rather, a phonetic symbol.

– Simon Carnell
Hare
pp. 55-56

See also the previous posts:
Symbol of Enlightenment
Sacred