Bubastis - Wikipedia 31/12/2024, 23:36

Bubastis
Bubastis (Bohairic Coptic: Ⲡⲟⲩⲃⲁⲥϯ Poubasti;
Tell-Basta
Greek: Βούβαστις Boubastis[1] or Βούβαστος
Boubastos[2]), also known in Arabic as Tell- Ⲡⲟⲩⲃⲁⲥϯ
Basta or in Egyptian as Per-Bast, was an ‫تل بسطة‬
ancient Egyptian city. Bubastis is often identified
with the biblical Pi-Beseth (Hebrew: ‫בסת‬-‫ פי‬py-
bst, Ezekiel 30:17).[3] It was the capital of its own
nome, located along the River Nile in the Delta
region of Lower Egypt, and notable as a center of
worship for the feline goddess Bastet, and
therefore the principal depository in Egypt of
mummies of cats. View of Bubastis

Its ruins are located in the suburbs of the modern

city of Zagazig.

Etymology
The name of Bubastis in Egyptian is Pr-Bȝst.t,
conventionally pronounced Per-Bast but its
Earlier Egyptian pronunciation can be
reconstructed as /ˈpaɾu-buˈʀistit/. It is a
compound of Egyptian pr (“house") and the name
Shown within Egypt
of the goddess Bastet; thus the phrase means
"House of Bast".[4] In later forms of Egyptian, Alternative name Bubastis
sound shifts had altered the pronunciation. In Per-Bast
Bohairic Coptic, the name is rendered Ⲡⲟⲩⲃⲁⲥϯ, Location Tell-Basta, Sharqia
Ⲡⲟⲩⲁⲥϯ or Ⲃⲟⲩⲁⲥϯ. Governorate, Egypt
Region Lower Egypt

History Coordinates 30°34′22″N 31°30′36″E

Type Settlement
Bubastis served as the capital of the nome of Am- Site notes
Khent, the 18th nome of Lower Egypt. Bubastis
Condition In ruins
was situated southwest of Tanis, upon the eastern

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side of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile. The nome and city of
Bubastis were allotted to the Calasirian division of the
Egyptian war-caste.

Second Dynasty
In a later account by the Greek historian Manetho, it's stated
that a "chasm opened near Bubastis and many perished"
during the reign of Hotepsekhemwy in the Second
Dynasty.[6]

Map of ancient Lower Egypt showing

Twelfth Dynasty Bubastis
In the Middle Kingdom, Tell Basta was the site of a large
mudbrick palace (16,000 sqm) dated to the Twelfth
Dynasty.[7] It has been thought to be a residence of Amenemhat III. A
limestone lintel shows the king during his Heb Sed Festival.

Bubastis
Second Intermediate Period in hieroglyphs

Following the Twelfth Dynasty, the Middle Kingdom faded

out. At Bubastis, a red granite architrave belonged to
Sekhemre Khutawy Khabaw.[8] In another monument found
at Tanis, he is mentioned along with Hor.

Twenty-Second Dynasty
It became a royal residence after Shoshenq I, the first ruler
and founder of the 22nd Dynasty, became pharaoh in 943
BC. Bubastis was its height during this dynasty and the
23rd. It declined after the conquest by Cambyses II in 525
BC, which heralded the end of the Saite 26th Dynasty and
the start of the Achaemenid Empire.

The Twenty Second Dynasty of Egyptian monarchs

consisted of nine, or, according to Eusebius[9] of three
Bubastite kings, and during their reigns the city was one of
the most considerable places in the Delta. Immediately to Hathor capital from the Temple of
the south of Bubastis were the allotments of land with which Bubastis in the collection of the
Psamtik I rewarded the services of his Ionian and Carian British Museum[5]
mercenaries;[10] and on the northern side of the city
commenced the Canal of the Pharaohs, which Pharaoh
Necho II began (but never finished) to go between the Nile and the Red Sea.[11]

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Persian rule and decline

After Bubastis was taken by the Persians, its walls were dismantled.[12] From this period it
gradually declined, although it appears in ecclesiastical annals among the episcopal sees of the
province Augustamnica Secunda. Bubastite coins of the age of Hadrian exist. The following is
the description which Herodotus gives of Bubastis, as it appeared shortly after the period of the
Persian invasion, 525 BC, and Hamilton remarks that the plan of the ruins remarkably warrants
the accuracy of this historical eye-witness:

Temples there are more spacious and costlier than that of Bubastis, but none so
pleasant to behold. It is after the following fashion. Except at the entrance, it is
surrounded by water: for two canals branch off from the river, and run as far as the
entrance to the temple: yet neither canal mingles with the other, but one runs on this
side, and the other on that. Each canal is a hundred feet wide, and its banks are lined
with trees. The propylaea are sixty feet in height, and are adorned with sculptures
(probably intaglios in relief) nine feet high, and of excellent workmanship. The Temple
being in the middle of the city is looked down upon from all sides as you walk around;
and this comes from the city having been raised, whereas the temple itself has not been
moved, but remains in its original place. Quite round the temple there goes a wall,
adorned with sculptures. Within the inclosure is a grove of fair tall trees, planted
around a large building in which is the effigy (of Bast). The form of that temple is
square, each side being a stadium in length. In a line with the entrance is a road built
of stone about three stadia long, leading eastwards through the public market. The
road is about 400 feet (120 m) broad, and is flanked by exceeding tall trees. It leads to
the temple of Hermes.[13]

Religion
Bubastis was a center of worship for the feline goddess
Bastet, sometimes called Bubastis after the city, who the
Greeks identified with Artemis. The cat was the sacred and
peculiar animal of Bast, who is represented with the head of
a cat or a lioness and frequently accompanies the deity Ptah
in monumental inscriptions. The tombs at Bubastis were
Relief of the pharaoh Amenhotep II,
accordingly the principal depository in Egypt of the
made of red granite. It depicts the
mummies of the cat.[15][16] pharaoh worshiping the god Amun.
From the 18th Dynasty, circa 1430
The most distinguished features of the city and nome of BC, with an additional inscription by
Bubastis were its oracle of Bast, the splendid temple of that Seti I (circa 1290 BC). Originally from
goddess and the annual procession in honor of her. The Bubastis, British Museum.[14]

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oracle gained in popularity and importance after the influx of Greek settlers into the Delta, since
the identification of Bast with Artemis attracted to her shrine both native Egyptians and
foreigners.

The festival of Bubastis was considered the most joyous and gorgeous of all in the Egyptian
calendar as described by Herodotus:

Barges and river craft of every description, filled with men and women, floated
leisurely down the Nile. The men played on pipes of lotus. the women on cymbals and
tambourines, and such as had no instruments accompanied the music with clapping of
hands and dances, and other joyous gestures. Thus did they while on the river: but
when they came to a town on its banks, the barges were made fast, and the pilgrims
disembarked, and the women sang, playfully mocked the women of that town and
threw their clothes over their head. When they reached Bubastis, then held they a
wondrously solemn feast: and more wine of the grape was drank in those days than in
all the rest of the year. Such was the manner of this festival: and, it is said, that as
many as seven hundred thousand pilgrims have been known to celebrate the Feast of
Bast at the same time.[17]

Christian bishopric
Extant documents mention the names of three Christian bishops of
Bubastis of the 4th and 5th centuries:

Harpocration, one of the bishops ordained by Melitius of Lycopolis

listed in 325
Hermon, a contemporary of Athanasius of Alexandria, in about
362
Iulianus at the Second Council of Ephesus in 449[18][19][20]

Excavations
The tomb of the late New Kingdom vizier Iuty was discovered in Upper part, figure of an
December 1964 in the "Cemetery of the Nobles" of Bubastis by the official of Amenhotep III,
from a double statue.
Egyptian archaeologist Shafik Farid.
From Bubastis, Egypt.
Petrie Museum of
Since 2008, the German-Egyptian "Tell Basta Project" has been
Egyptian Archaeology,
conducting excavations at Bubastis. Previously, in March 2004, a well London
preserved copy of the Decree of Canopus was discovered in the city.[21]

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See also
List of ancient Egyptian towns and cities

References
1. Herodotus ii. 59, 137
2. Strabo xvii. p. 805, Diodorus xvi. 51, Plin. v. 9. s. 9, Ptol. iv. 5. § 52.
3. Ezek. 30:17. .‫ בשבי תלכןה‬,‫ בחרב יפלו; והןה‬,‫בסת‬-‫" בחורי און ופי‬Youths of Awen and Pi-Beset will
fall by the sword; and they (fem) will go into captivity." ‫" הןה‬they (feminine)" cannot refer to
the youths, and so must refer to the cities. Hebrew words meaning "city" are generally
feminine (‫ קריה‬,‫)עיר‬.
4. Mohamed I. Bakr, Helmut Brandl, "Bubastis and the Temple of Bastet", in: M.I. Bakr, H.
Brandl, F. Kalloniatis (eds.), Egyptian Antiquities from Kufur Nigm and Bubastis. Museums
in the Nile Delta (http://www.project-min.de/index_en.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org
/web/20150108165925/http://www.project-min.de/index_en.html) January 8, 2015, at the
Wayback Machine (M.i.N.) vol. 1, Cairo/ Berlin 2010, pp. 27-36, ISBN 978-3-00-033509-9.
5. British Museum Collection (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA1107)
6. William Gillian Waddell: Manetho (The Loeb Classical Library, Volume 350). Harvard
University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) 2004 (Reprint), ISBN 0-674-99385-3, page 37–41.
7. "Palace of King Amenemhat III" (https://egymonuments.gov.eg/monuments/palace-of-king-a
menemhat-iii/).
8. Britisn Museum EA 1100
9. Chronicon
10. Herodotus ii. 154
11. Herodotus ii. 158 (http://www.losttrails.com/pages/Tales/Inquiries/Herodotus_13.html)
12. Diod. xvi. 51.
13. Herodotus ii. 138.
14. British Museum Collection (https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collect
ion_object_details.aspx?objectId=177365&partId=1&place=35541&plaA=35541-3-2&page=
1)
15. Evans, Elaine A. (May 2001). "Cat Mummies" (https://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/2001/05/01/
cat-mummies/). McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
16. Scott, Nora E. "The Cat of Bastet" (https://web.archive.org/web/20190809024006/https://ww
w.metmuseum.org/pubs/bulletins/1/pdf/3258805.pdf.bannered.pdf) (PDF). Metropolitan
Museum of Art. Archived from the original (https://www.metmuseum.org/pubs/bulletins/1/pdf
/3258805.pdf.bannered.pdf) (PDF) on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
17. Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Bubastis" (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?d
oc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=bubastis-geo). Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Geography. London: John Murray. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
18. Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae (http://www.wbc.poznan.pl
/dlibra/doccontent?id=65154&dirids=1), Leipzig 1931, p. 461
19. Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus (https://books.google.c
om/books?id=86weAemI-e4C), Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 559-562
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om/books?id=86weAemI-e4C), Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 559-562

20. Klaas A. Worp, A Checklist of Bishops in Byzantine Egypt (A.D. 325 - c. 750) (https://openac
cess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/8214/5_039_223.pdf?sequence=1), in Zeitschrift
für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 100 (1994) 283-318
21. Tell Basta Project (EES/ University of Göttingen/ SCA) (http://ees.ac.uk/research/Tell%20Ba
sta.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20131030134954/http://ees.ac.uk/research/
Tell%20Basta.html#) 2013-10-30 at the Wayback Machine Egypt Exploration Society
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1854–1857). "Bubastis". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John
Murray.

External links
Tell Basta Project (EES/ University of Göttingen/ SCA) (https://web.archive.org/web/201310
30134954/http://ees.ac.uk/research/Tell%20Basta.html) Egypt Exploration Society
Preliminary German website of Tell Basta Project (http://www.gitta-warnemuende.de/tellbast
a/project.htm)
Finds from Bubastis on the website of MUSEUMS IN THE NILE DELTA (project M.i.N.) (http
://project-min.de/home/english/zagazig_en.html)

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