THE TEMPLE OF BUBASTIS

"Other temples are greater and more costly, but none more
pleasing to the eye than this."

Herodotus, Histories Book II, Chap. 137

The famous Temple of Bast at Bubastis (Per-Bast in Tameran, today Tell-Basta)
stood in the centre of the city and almost on an island as it was separated from
the rest of the land by canals flowing from the Nile, except at the entrance. It
was built in a valley, so all the city had a good view of what was inside.

The temple appears to have been (today it is ruins only) a square building made
of red granite. The sacred enclosure consisted of a grove of tall trees (the only
one to be found in an Egyptian temple) holding the shrine of the goddess within.
The temple was full of cats who were carried around in baskets and ritually fed.

The Festival of Bast in April or May was one of the greatest in Egypt and
Herodotus describes this well in his Histories Book II Chap 60:

"When the people are on their way to Bubastis, they go by river, a
great number in every boat, men and women together. Some of the
women make a noise with rattles, others play flutes all the way, while
the rest of the women, and the men, sing and clap their hands. As they
travel by river to Bubastis, whenever they come near any other town
they bring their boat near the bank; then some of the women do as I
have said, while some shout mockery of the women of the town; others
dance, and others stand up and lift their skirts. They do this whenever
they come alongside any riverside town. But when they have reached
Bubastis, they make a festival with great sacrifices, and more wine is
drunk at this feast than in the whole year besides. It is customary for
men and women (but not children) to assemble there to the number of
seven hundred thousand, as the people of the place say."

During the Bubastite period (22nd dynasty), cat cemeteries became popular,
and a huge profusion of cat amulets were being made. Cats were mummified
and ritually buried. In 640 AD Bubastis was still alive and people were still
worshipping cats there.

Now how long has the domestic cat been with us? At
Sakkara (20 miles from Cairo) a French scientist has found
evidence confirming that the domestic cat existed 4,000
years ago. During excavations of ancient Egyptian burial
chambers, Alain Pierre Zivie, an Egyptologist, found a
network of tombs that contained stacks and stacks of cat
mummies. "Some historians believe the first house cats
were wild with long coats," Zivie said, "but these cat
mummies have short hair and look much like modern cats."
This matter remains, however, a very controversial one.

Th Pictures on the right, from top to bottom showBast in her half-human form
and a mummified cat. The one on the left shows a coffin of a cat, with the cat
herself as an incarnation of Bast, and a lion-headed deity behind her.