IMPORTANT FIND

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 108, 3 November 1939, Page 14

IMPORTANT FIND

EGYPTIAN TEMPLE

A discovery of importance for Egyptology has been made at Tel Basta, close to Tantah in the Delta, on the Cairo-Alexandria line, states the "Daily Telegraph."

Tel Basta was the site of the ancient city of Bubastis, seat of the worship of Bast, the lady of Bubastis,'to whom the cat was sacred.

In the course of road-making in this neighbourhood an inscribed limestone block was unearthed. This proved to be the lintel of a gateway of a Sixth Dynasty temple, now identified as dating from the reigh of Pepi I.

The entire plan of the temple is traceable in the unbaked brick walls still standing to a certain height.

There is a forecourt with pillars, bearing, like the lintel, fine inscriptions of Pepi before the goddess of Bubastis in her various forms.

Although damaged, the temple will be an^ important contribution to knowledge of this early period. Hitherto no temples have been found dating from earlier than the Twelfth Dynasty, although funerary chapels have been discovered. Scarcely anything is known as to the representation of deities of the old Empire. .'.-'

Meri-Ha Pepi I—about 2500 B.C.— was the greatest king of the Sixth Dynasty. He strengthened the power of Egypt both in the Sinai Peninsula, and in the south.

He encouraged, the arts ar d crafts, and large tombs were built ir his reigh in all parts of the country. Craftsman-, ship in stone and copper reached a high level. The King's pyramid is at Sak-karra-Memphis. , .

King Pepi's successes are believed to have been largely due to his adviser Una-, who 'was-both soldier and statesman. He raised Sudanese troops to conquer the nomads of the Eastern Desert,, and he also waged successful war against the tribes of Southern Palestine.- His biography was found in his tomb at Abydos.

The goddess Bast, the lady of Bubastis, who is represented in the inscription discovered- at Tel Basta. had a magnificent temple erected to her there. She is often represented by1 a cat's head. Large numbers of skeletons of cats and bronze figures of the animal were discovered when the remains of her temple were unearthed.