DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0384
308
cular bason, into which the Nile water flows during the inunda-
tion ; and Herodotus describes this building as being on a penin-
sula formed by two canals from the Nile, the banks of which
were planted with trees. It were perhaps on too little authority
to say that the mutilated statue of Isis which we saw in the
village of Shoubuck, close to these ruins, is the same which this
author says was in their temple; but at least it is an additional
testimony that the Isiac worship was held here in high repute.
The description given by Herodotus of the annual fete celebrated
here in honour of Diana* is well calculated to give us a lively
idea of the disposition of the Egyptians to periodical amuse-
ments, and of the population of the neighbouring country. The
men and women alone who assisted at the festival, exclusive of
children, amounted to 700,000. We looked in vain for any sculp-
tures representing human sacrifices, as also for the entrances
of mummy pits, where the embalmed cats may have been
interred-f\
D'Anville, in his account of the topography of this part of
Egypt, seems to have mistaken theTanitic for the Pelusiac branch
of the Nile. lie places Athribis just above the latter, and adds
that Bubastis is on a canal belonging to the same. This he may
have concluded from the expression in Strabo, that this city is
* Isis, however, had not the other attributes of Diana, as the Goddess of the Moun-
tains and the Chase : at least if we credit Juvenal's authority on a point of Egyptian
mythology, sat. xv.
Oppida tota Canem venerantur, nemo Dianam.
Diana was said by some to have been called Bubastis, because it was the Egyptian name
for a cat: and the goddess assumed that form during the rebellion of Typhon against
Jupiter. Vide Steph. de Urb.
\ 'Aifayivra; Ss at dii^npot dm^a,v6vti( ts >$<*■! vteytis, sVSa Sairrtvrat rapi^EuSiyfss *v
(iuGsio-71 iroXi. Vide Herod, lib. ii. 66.
to
cular bason, into which the Nile water flows during the inunda-
tion ; and Herodotus describes this building as being on a penin-
sula formed by two canals from the Nile, the banks of which
were planted with trees. It were perhaps on too little authority
to say that the mutilated statue of Isis which we saw in the
village of Shoubuck, close to these ruins, is the same which this
author says was in their temple; but at least it is an additional
testimony that the Isiac worship was held here in high repute.
The description given by Herodotus of the annual fete celebrated
here in honour of Diana* is well calculated to give us a lively
idea of the disposition of the Egyptians to periodical amuse-
ments, and of the population of the neighbouring country. The
men and women alone who assisted at the festival, exclusive of
children, amounted to 700,000. We looked in vain for any sculp-
tures representing human sacrifices, as also for the entrances
of mummy pits, where the embalmed cats may have been
interred-f\
D'Anville, in his account of the topography of this part of
Egypt, seems to have mistaken theTanitic for the Pelusiac branch
of the Nile. lie places Athribis just above the latter, and adds
that Bubastis is on a canal belonging to the same. This he may
have concluded from the expression in Strabo, that this city is
* Isis, however, had not the other attributes of Diana, as the Goddess of the Moun-
tains and the Chase : at least if we credit Juvenal's authority on a point of Egyptian
mythology, sat. xv.
Oppida tota Canem venerantur, nemo Dianam.
Diana was said by some to have been called Bubastis, because it was the Egyptian name
for a cat: and the goddess assumed that form during the rebellion of Typhon against
Jupiter. Vide Steph. de Urb.
\ 'Aifayivra; Ss at dii^npot dm^a,v6vti( ts >$<*■! vteytis, sVSa Sairrtvrat rapi^EuSiyfss *v
(iuGsio-71 iroXi. Vide Herod, lib. ii. 66.
to