Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/471

1 BUBASTIS. met the Babassian or Bybessiau peninsula, and at the junction was the proposed cut of the Cnidians. Nothing can af^ree better with our obeenrations." This expresses the meaning of Herodotus, who sajs that all the territory of the Cnidians is called Triopium, and that it b^ins from the Chersonesus Bubassia; the plain meaning of which is that, where the BnbaiBsie ends, the Triopium b^ins and runs westward to Cnidus. The Bnbassie is therefore diflerent from the Triopium, and it is a peninsuU between the Triopium or Triopia and the main land. Gaptjun Graves (^London Geog. Joumalj vol. viii. p. 428) says, ^ At about 2 miles to the northward of this (Gothic Island of Mr. Brook), at the head of a narrow creek, on each side of which are high and precipitous cU£Es, is, I believe, the narrow isthmus forming the ancient Triopian pro- montory. We levelled it across and made a plan of the interesting locality, which agrees well with andent authorities, and in no place do the gul& approach so near each other, although at Dahtchak a bay on the north shore nearer to Cape Krio, there is no great distance." Mr. Brooke seems to mean the more western of these narrow necks. One of the two ia certainly the place meant by Herodotus, and it seems to be the neck at the head of the Gulf .of Syme, as the words of Herodotus indeed show. At the head of this gulf then is the Bubassins Sinus, a small bay, and the town of Acanthus; and the Bnbassie is farther east. [G. L.] BUBASTIS, or BUBASTUS (BoMatms, Herod, ii. 59, 137; BovSatrroSy Strab. xvii. p. 805; Diod. xvi. 51 ; Plin. v. 9. s. 9 ; Ptol. iv. 6. § 62), the Phi- Besbth of the 0. T. (Ezek. xxz. 17), and the mod«m TeUButtakf was the capital of the nome Bubastites in the Delta, and was situated SW. of Tanis, upon the eastern side of the Pelnsiac branch of the KHe, The nome and city of Bubastis were allotted to the Calasirian division oi the Egyptian, war-caste, and sacred to the goddess Pasht, whom the Greeks called Bubastis, and identified with Artemis. The cat was the sacred and peculiar ani- mal of Pasht, who is represented with the head of that animal or of its nobler congener the lion, and frequently accompanies the deity Phtah in monu- mental inscriptions. The tombs at Bubastis were accordingly the principal depository in Egypt of the munmies of the cat. The 22nd dynasty of Egyp- tian mouarchs consisted of nine, or, according to Eusebius {Chronic) of three Bubastite kings, and during their reigns the city was one of the most considerable places in the Delta. Immediately to the S. of Bubastis were the allotments of land with which Psammitichus rewarded the services of his Ionian and Carian mercenaries (Herod, ii. 154); and on the northern side of the city commenced the Great Canal which Pharaoh Neco oonstruct«l between the Nile and the Bed Sea. (Herod. iL 158.) In b. a 352, Bubastis was taken by the Persians, and its walls were then dismantled. (Diod. xvi. 51). From this period it gradually de- clined, although it app^un in ecclesiastical annals among the episcopal sees of the province Angustam- nica Secunda. Bubastite coins of the age of Hadrian exist. The most distinguished features of the city and nome of Bubastis were its oracle of Pasht, the splendid temple of that goddess and the annual pro- cession in honour of her. The oracle gained in popukrity and importance after the influx of Greek settlers into the Delta, since the identification of Pasht with Artemb attracted to her shrine both BUBASTIS. 453 native Egyptians and foreigners. The ruins of- TeU Bagtakj or the " HiUs of Bustak," attest the original magnificence of the city. The entire circuit of the walls is, according to Hamilton (p. 367) not less than three miles in extent. Within the principal inclosure, where there has been the greatest accu- mulation of the ruins of successive edifices, is a large pile of granite-blocks which appear, from their forms and sculptures, to have belonged to numerous obe- lisks and gigantic propyla. The mounds which en- compassed the ancient city were originally begun by Sesostris and completed by the Aethiopian invader Sabakos, who employed criminals upon these and similar works. (Herod, ii. 137.) The mounds were intended to redeem and rescue the site of the city, and possibly its gardens and groves, from the mun- dations of the Nile. From the general aspect of the ruins, and from the description given of it by Hero- dotus (ii. 138), they appear to have been raised concentrically around the temples of Pasht and Hermes, so that the whole place resembled the in- terior of an inverted cone. The only permanent buildings in Bubastis seem to have been the temples and the granite walls and corridors. The private houses were probably little better or more solid than the huts of the FeUahs, or labourers of the present day. The following is the description which Herodotus gives of Bubastis, as it appeared shortly after the period of the Peruan invasion, B.C. 525, and Mr. Hamilton remarks that the plan of the ruins re* markably warrants the accuracy of this historical eye- witness. (Herod. iL 59, 60.) Temples there are more spacious and costlier than that of Bubastis, but none so pleasant to behold. It is after the folfewing 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 propyhiea are sixty feet in height, and are adinued with sculptures (probably int^lios 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 dty 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 indosure is a grove of fair tall trees, planted around a Urge building in which is the effigy (of Pasht). 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 broad, and is flanked by exceeding tall trees. It leads to the temple of Hermes. The festival of Bubastis was the most joyous and gorgeous of all in the Egyptian calendar. 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 fhst, and the pilgrims disembarked, and the women sang and playfully mocked the women of that town. And o o 3