CHAP. Xlir. TEMPLE OF I3UBASTIS. 277 



Pasht, Bubastis, Diana. 



This Goddess was princij)ally worshipped in 

 the Delta and Lower Egypt. Great lionours were 

 also paid her in the Upper Country, and at Thebes 

 her figure holds a conspicuous j)lace among the 

 contemplar Deities. The city of Bubastis, where 

 she was particularly adored, stood E. of the Delta, 

 and at a short distance from the Pelusiac branch 

 of the Nile, where lofty mounds, called Tel Basta, 

 still mark its site. " Here," says Herodotus *, 

 " is a temple of Bubastis deserving of mention. 

 Other temples are larger and more magnificent, 

 but none more beautiful than this. The Goddess 

 Bubastis is the same as the Greek Diana. Her 

 temple stands in an island surrounded on all sides 

 by water, except at the entrance passage. Tw^o 

 separate canals lead from the Nile to the entrance, 

 which, diverging to the right and left, surround 

 the temple. They are about TOO feet broad, and 

 planted with trees. The vestibule is 10 orgyes 

 (fathoms) high, ornamented with very fine figures 6 

 cubits in height. The temple stands in the centre 

 of the town, and in walking round the place you 

 look down upon it on every side, in consequence 

 of the foundations of the houses having been ele- 

 vated, and the temple still continuing on its original 

 level. The sacred enclosure is encompassed by a 

 wall, on which a great number of figures are sculp- 

 tured; and within it is a grove, planted round <lie 

 cella of the temple, with trees of a considerable 



* TTcrndot. ii. I.'JH. 



