Bastet represents the peaceful aspects of dangerous goddesses, such as Sekhmet and Pachet.
Over time, Bastet develops into a cat goddess. Like other lion goddesses, Bastet is considered a daughter of the sun god Ra.
She is also called ‘the cat of Ra’ who, with a sharp knife, kills the snake Apopis, the enemy of the sun god.
destroys. Already in the Early Dynastic period, Bastet was an important goddess.
On stone tools of Pharaoh Hetepsechemuy from the 2nd Dynasty, she is depicted as a woman with the head of a lioness without a mane.
In one hand she carries a scepter and in the other hand the anch sign, the symbol for life.
In the valley temple of King Khafre’s pyramid, the names of only two goddesses are mentioned: the cow goddess Hathor as representative of the south and Bastet as goddess of the north.
the Pyramid Texts mention Bastet’s cruel qualities,
but she is also mentioned as the king’s mother and nurse. In the Sarcophagus texts, Bastet is mentioned as the protector of the deceased.
From the Middle Kingdom onwards, when the emphasis shifted to her gentle qualities, Bastet became associated with a cat.
At the end of the New Kingdom she is often depicted as a woman with a cat’s head,
usually with a sistrum, this is a musical instrument in her right hand and in her left hand a basket or sometimes an aegis of the goddess Sekhmet. An aegis is an amulet in the shape of a deity’s head in combination with a wide collar.
Sekhmet’s aegis shows the head of a lioness on which rests a solar disk with a cobra.
She is also often depicted as a cat with a bunch of kittens at her feet.
This gave her the role of protector of motherhood and pregnant women. Bastet’s popularity peaked in the Late Period and the Greco-Roman Period.
BUBASTIS
the Bubastis served as the capital of the nome of Am-Khent, the Bubastite nome, the 18th nome of Lower Egypt.
Bubastis was located southwest of Tanis, on the east side of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile.
The name and city of Bubastis were assigned to the Calasirian division of the Egyptian war caste. The name and city of Bubastis were assigned to the Calasirian division of the Egyptian war caste.
It became a royal residence after Shoshenk I,
the first ruler and founder of the 22nd Dynasty, in 943 BC. became king.
Bubastis was at his peak during this dynasty and the 23rd dynasty. It declined after the conquest by Cambyses II in 525 BC,
which marked the end of the 26th Saite Dynasty and the beginning of the Achaemenid Empire.
The holy family also visited Bubastis, it was their 2nd stop in Egypt during the harvest month Pashons of the ancient Egyptian calendar,
corresponding to May and a few days of June of the Gregorian calendar,
according to the Coptic Church. They would have sat at the well near the temple and Jesus would have asked his mother for water.
THE TEMPLE OF BASTET IN BUBASTIS
It was the capital of its own nome, located along the Nile River in the Delta region of Lower Egypt,
and notable as a center of worship for the feline goddess Bastet, and therefore Egypt’s most important repository of cat mummies.
The ruins are located on the outskirts of the modern city of Zagazig.
The name of Bubastis in Egyptian is conventionally pronounced Per-Bast.
It is a compound of the Egyptian pr “house” and the name of the goddess Bastet;
thus the expression means “House of Bast”. Bubastis served as the capital of the nome of Am-Khent, the Bubastite nome,
the 18th nome of Lower Egypt. Bubastis was located southwest of Tanis, on the east side of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile. The temple of Bubastis is most closely associated with the 22nd Libyan dynasty.
Although there was activity on the site in Prehistoric and Predynastic times, no remains of a village from this time have been found, but a very early grave from predynastic times has been found in the northern point.
There was only movement in the Old Kingdom, and in 1970 the remains of a small shrine/administrative structure from that time were found.
The brother of King Cheops, Prince Nefermaat who has his grave in Medum no. 16 which is known by the relief with the geese now in the Cairo museum. He was a Priest of the Goddess Bastet.
Nefermaat had at least 15 children, including the later famous vizier/architect Hemiunu of the great pyramid of his uncle Cheops. known for his large mastaba 4000 and his statue in the museum of Hildesheim Germany
Later in the 6th dynasty, Ka chapels were built by Kings Teti and Pepi I.
The site was later investigated by Manfred Bietak of the University of Vienna, Austria. And he found remains of a structure from the time of the Middle Kingdom.
Tell-Bast, became a royal residence after Shoshenq I, the first ruler and founder of the 22nd Dynasty, became king in 943 BC.
Bubastis was at his height during this dynasty and the 23rd. It declined after the conquest by Cambyses II in 525 BC, which marked the end of the 26th Saite dynasty and the beginning of the Achaemenid Empire
The twenty-second dynasty of Egyptian monarchs consisted of nine, or, according to Eusebius, of three Bubastite kings, and during their reign the city was one of the most important places in the Delta.
Immediately south of Bubastis were the tracts of land with which Psamtik I rewarded the services of his Ionian and Carian mercenaries;
and on the north side of the city began the canal that King Necho II started but never finished to connect the Nile and the Red Sea.
After Bubastis was captured by the Persians, its walls were dismantled.
From this period onwards it gradually declined, although it appears in ecclesiastical annals among the episcopal areas of the province of Augustamnica Secunda.
Bubastite coins from the Hadrian era exist
The northern point is now completely covered with the houses of modern Zagazig, but Naville found a large cemetery for the cats here during his research for the EEF/EES.
The cats that had died were buried here after embalming.
South of this cemetery are the Ka Chapels of Kings Teti and Pepi I from the 6th Dynasty.
To the east of the chapels are the tombs from the Old Kingdom to the Rammesidian period. And not so long ago a palace from the Middle Kingdom was also found.
And south of the palace are the remains of the temple of the Goddess Bastet. The state of the temple was not done by force of men, but came by earthquakes. It is known that in 27 B.C. B.C.
There was an earthquake and at least other buildings were damaged.
Following is Herodotus’s description of Bubastis,
as it appeared shortly after the period of the Persian invasion, 525 BC,
And Hamilton notes that the plan of the ruins remarkably guarantees the accuracy of this historical eyewitness
Temples are more spacious and expensive than those of Bubastis, but none are as pleasant to see. It is in the following way. Except at the entrance, it is surrounded by water.
The temples in Bubastis are more expensive and more spacious than was usual in Egypt.
The temple is located in the middle of 2 canals, which are branches of the river. But none of the channels mix with each other. Each canal is thirty meters wide and trees line the banks.
The propylaea are 609.60 cm high and are decorated with sculptures 274.33 cm high, and of excellent workmanship. The temple that stands in the middle of the city,
being looked at from all sides as you walk around; and this is because the city was raised, while the temple itself was not moved, but remained in its original place. There is a wall around the temple,
decorated with sculptures. Within the enclosure is a grove of tall trees, planted around a large building in which is the effigy of Bast.
The shape of that temple is square, with each side a stadium long.
Following on from the entrance is a stone path about three stages long, leading east through the public market.
The road is approximately 120 meters wide and is flanked by extremely tall trees. It leads to the temple of Hermes.
Many Ramesiede inscriptions have been found in the temple,
but the largest part is from the 3rd interim, the 21st and 22nd dynasty.
The Libyan Queen of the 22nd Dynasty in particular built a lot on it.
King Osorkon II had a large festival hall built there for his Heb-Set festival.
Bubastis was a center of worship for the feline goddess Bastet,
also called Bubastis after the city, which the Greeks identified with Artemis.
The cat was the sacred animal of Bast, who is depicted with the head of a cat or a lioness and often accompanies the deity Ptah in monumental inscriptions.
Many graves have been found in Bubastis that were full of cat mummies.
The most striking features of the city and nome of Bubastis were the oracle of Bast,
the beautiful temple of that goddess and the annual procession in her honor.
The oracle gained popularity and importance after the influx of Greek settlers into the Delta, as Bast’s identification with Artemis attracted both native Egyptians and foreigners to her shrine.
A huge festival was also held here annually, attended by thousands of pilgrims and where more wine was drunk than in the entire year.
The festival was held because, according to myth, the goddess Bastet returned on her barque from a self-imposed exile in Nubia.
The festival of Bubastis was the most joyful and wonderful of all in the Egyptian calendar, as described by Herodotus.
Barges and river vessels of every description, filled with men and women, drifted leisurely down the Nile. The men played on lotus pipes. the women on cymbals and tambourines, and who had no instruments,
accompanied the music with clapping and dancing, and other joyful gestures.
So they did when they were on the river: but when they came to a city on the banks, the ships were made fast, and the pilgrims disembarked,
and the women sang, and playfully mocked the women of that city, and threw their clothes over their heads.
When they reached Bubastis, they held a wonderfully solemn feast: and more wine was drunk from the grape in those days than in the rest of the year.
Such was the manner of this festival: and it is said that as many as seven hundred thousand pilgrims celebrate the festival of Bast at the same time.
Edouard Naville Egyptologist from Switzerland, Geneva was employed by the EEF/EES to visit areas in Egypt and send large blocks to the British Museum.
So he arrived in Bubastis in 1887 and started exploring the area
It intrigued him so much that he stayed until 1890 and unfortunately sent blocks to the British but also found other things.
In September 1906 they were busy building the railway and men working there found the first silver/gold treasure.
This treasure turned out to be right next to the old Ka-chapel of King Pepi I.
But there was something strange: all the objects were arranged next to each other and were often old or broken. There was probably a goldsmith’s workshop here and these objects were ready to be melted down and used again.
Several objects from this first gold/silver treasure discovery have already ended up in the Met.museum. Including a beautiful silver drinking vase with a gold band along the neck.
He was broken. But luckily the men working there hadn’t had a chance to melt it down.
Because the gold edge is special and beautiful. It represents the head of the goddess Hathor and on either side are two catkins.
But in this case they are not domestic cats but small lion cubs, a reference to the goddess Sekhmet. The vase dates from the time of Ramesses II or immediately afterwards.
In 1907 C. C. Edgar wrote the following: he was the Chief Inspector of Antiquities for the Delta.
“On that day it happened that some workmen, who were leveling the ground next to the temporary railway line, suddenly discovered a buried treasure. The story goes that they quietly shuffled some dirt over the site to avoid attracting the attention of the guards and other workers,
and returning to the tell at night, dug and divided the plunder. In the morning there were rumors in Zagazig, not much exaggerated as it turned out, about a great discovery of gold and silver vases.
The site also contains remains of the columns belonging to the chapel of King Pepi I.
Upon closer inspection under the chapel there was a big surprise, because the chapel was built over a much older temple from the 3rd Dynasty, at the very beginning of the Old Kingdom.
The tomb of the New Kingdom vizier Iuty was discovered in December 1964 in the “cemetery of the nobles” of Bubastis by the Egyptian archaeologist Shafik Farid. But this cemetery still needs further investigation.
Since 2008, the German-Egyptian “Tell Basta Project” has been conducting excavations in Bubastis. Previously, in March 2004, a well-preserved copy of the Decree of Canopus was discovered in the city.
CAT CEMETERIES
It was during the 22nd Dynasty of Egypt (c. 945 BC) that enormous cat cemeteries were constructed, not only at Bubastis but also at Sakkara, Thebes, and, during the Persian period,
in Beni-Hasan. Surrounding these cemeteries were facilities that produced votive objects such as this bronze statue to sell to the faithful
However, the reasons behind this enormous industry may have been less than pious.
That the phenomenon of animal mummies began to appear en masse during the Late Period when temples in Egypt were forced to be privatized.
The state had always supported the stamps, and now that was over and the priests had to find ways to finance themselves. This starts when a huge amount of ‘votive’ objects, such as animal mummies,
animal coffins and bronze statues, all of which are produced by temples, and sold by the temples.
