DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6640#0017
tell
to a great elevation, none (I think) was raised
so much as the town called Bubastis, where
there is a temple of the goddess Bubastis, which
well deserves to be described. Other temples
may be grander, and may have cost more in the
building, but there is none so pleasant to the
eye as this of Bubastis. The Bubastis of the
Egyptians is the same as the Artemis of the
Greeks.
" The following is a description of this edi-
fice : Excepting the entrance, the whole
forms an island. Two artificial channels from
the Nile, one on either side of the temple,
encompass the building, leaving only a narrow
passage by which it is approached. These
channels are each a hundred feet wide, and are
thickly shaded with trees. The gateway is
sixty feet in height, and is ornamented with
figures cut upon the stone, six cubits high, and
well worthy of notice. The temple stands in
the middle of the city, and is visible on all
sides as one walks round it; for as the city
has been raised by embankment, while the
temple has been left untouched in its original
condition, you look down upon it wheresoever
you are. A Ioav wall runs round the enclosure,
having figures engraved upon it, and inside
there is a grove of beautiful tall trees growing
round the shrine, which contains the image of
the goddess. The enclosure is a furlong in
length, and the same in breadth. The entrance
to it is by a road paved with stones for a dis-
tance of about three furlongs, which passes
straight through the market-place in an
easterly direction, and is about four hundred
feet in width. Trees of an extraordinary height
grow on each side of the road, which conducts
from the temple of Bubastis to that of
Mercury."
The description of Herodotus does not ex-
actly correspond to what must have been the
temple, the ruins of which we excavated, for
since the Greek traveller saw it, the King
Nekhthorheb of the XXXth dynasty added a
B
basta. 3
hall, intended to be the largest, but which never
was finished.
As T said before, the site of the temple is a
rectangular depression, about nine hundred to
a thousand feet long, in the middle of which
stood the edifice, running nearly from east to
west. At present it is still easy to recognize
the correctness of the statement of Herodotus,
when he says that the whole building was an
island, for the beds of the canals which sur-
rounded it are still traceable. The sides of
the rectangle consist of lofty mounds, which
are nothing but layers of decayed brick-houses,
which were always rebuilt on the same spot,
so that after centuries the ground was consider-
ably raised. It is clear that from them one
must have looked down on the stone buildings
which had remained at the same level. Here
again the statement of Herodotus is that of an
eye-witness. When we had unearthed the whole
area of the temple, the view extended over a
space about five hundred feet long, covered
with enormous blocks of granite. It was easy
to recognize from the intervals between the
various heaps of stones that there had been
four different halls varying in their proportions.
But the whole was so much ruined; besides, so
many stones have been carried away, that it
was impossible to make an approximate recon-
struction or even a plan of what the temple
must have been.
Beginning from the east, the entrance hall
was about eighty feet long and one hundred
and sixty wide (pi. liv.). The sculptures were
chiefly of Rameses II. and Osorkon I., but
there were found the two most ancient kings,
Cheops and Ohefren. The gateway was adorned
with two large columns, with palm-leaf capitals,
and outside of it stood the two great Hyksos
statues. Following the axis of the building,
and going towards the west, the next hall was
eighty feet long by one hundred and thirty. It
had no columns, but a considerable number of
statues of different epochs, and was the richest
2
to a great elevation, none (I think) was raised
so much as the town called Bubastis, where
there is a temple of the goddess Bubastis, which
well deserves to be described. Other temples
may be grander, and may have cost more in the
building, but there is none so pleasant to the
eye as this of Bubastis. The Bubastis of the
Egyptians is the same as the Artemis of the
Greeks.
" The following is a description of this edi-
fice : Excepting the entrance, the whole
forms an island. Two artificial channels from
the Nile, one on either side of the temple,
encompass the building, leaving only a narrow
passage by which it is approached. These
channels are each a hundred feet wide, and are
thickly shaded with trees. The gateway is
sixty feet in height, and is ornamented with
figures cut upon the stone, six cubits high, and
well worthy of notice. The temple stands in
the middle of the city, and is visible on all
sides as one walks round it; for as the city
has been raised by embankment, while the
temple has been left untouched in its original
condition, you look down upon it wheresoever
you are. A Ioav wall runs round the enclosure,
having figures engraved upon it, and inside
there is a grove of beautiful tall trees growing
round the shrine, which contains the image of
the goddess. The enclosure is a furlong in
length, and the same in breadth. The entrance
to it is by a road paved with stones for a dis-
tance of about three furlongs, which passes
straight through the market-place in an
easterly direction, and is about four hundred
feet in width. Trees of an extraordinary height
grow on each side of the road, which conducts
from the temple of Bubastis to that of
Mercury."
The description of Herodotus does not ex-
actly correspond to what must have been the
temple, the ruins of which we excavated, for
since the Greek traveller saw it, the King
Nekhthorheb of the XXXth dynasty added a
B
basta. 3
hall, intended to be the largest, but which never
was finished.
As T said before, the site of the temple is a
rectangular depression, about nine hundred to
a thousand feet long, in the middle of which
stood the edifice, running nearly from east to
west. At present it is still easy to recognize
the correctness of the statement of Herodotus,
when he says that the whole building was an
island, for the beds of the canals which sur-
rounded it are still traceable. The sides of
the rectangle consist of lofty mounds, which
are nothing but layers of decayed brick-houses,
which were always rebuilt on the same spot,
so that after centuries the ground was consider-
ably raised. It is clear that from them one
must have looked down on the stone buildings
which had remained at the same level. Here
again the statement of Herodotus is that of an
eye-witness. When we had unearthed the whole
area of the temple, the view extended over a
space about five hundred feet long, covered
with enormous blocks of granite. It was easy
to recognize from the intervals between the
various heaps of stones that there had been
four different halls varying in their proportions.
But the whole was so much ruined; besides, so
many stones have been carried away, that it
was impossible to make an approximate recon-
struction or even a plan of what the temple
must have been.
Beginning from the east, the entrance hall
was about eighty feet long and one hundred
and sixty wide (pi. liv.). The sculptures were
chiefly of Rameses II. and Osorkon I., but
there were found the two most ancient kings,
Cheops and Ohefren. The gateway was adorned
with two large columns, with palm-leaf capitals,
and outside of it stood the two great Hyksos
statues. Following the axis of the building,
and going towards the west, the next hall was
eighty feet long by one hundred and thirty. It
had no columns, but a considerable number of
statues of different epochs, and was the richest
2