Tell Basta, the most important capital of ancient Egypt, in your hands
Tell Bastah "Bubasta" was an important religious center and one of the capitals of ancient Egypt. Due to its location at the eastern entrance to Egypt, it encountered the regiments coming from the east through Sinai, and met with many of the conquerors and invaders.
I was honored that it was a transit and temporary residence for the Virgin Mary and her son Jesus "peace be upon them" upon their arrival in Egypt.
Popastes:
Outside the city of Zagazig, there are ruins of the city of "Bubastis", which is one of the largest ancient cities in Egypt, and the great goddess of that ancient city "Bubastis" was the graceful cat the goddess Bastet, the goddess of love and fertility.
It is said that the festivals held in her honor attracted more than 700,000 revelers in ancient times, who used to flock to Popastes, sing, dance, and celebrate this goddess, consuming large quantities of wine and making offerings to the goddess, and Bubastis became the capital of the country around 945 BC in The reign of King Sheshonq I, founder of the Twenty-Second Dynasty, then the city was destroyed after that by the Persians around 350 BC.
The temple of the gods Bastet was the architectural jewel of Popastes, and it was located between two channels surrounded by trees and surrounded by the city, which was built on a higher level than the level of the temple, which allowed the temple to be seen clearly from it because it is located below it at a lower level.
The construction of the temple began during the reign of King Khufu and King Khafre of the Fourth Dynasty, then the Pharaohs after them from the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twenty-second families put their touches and additions to the temple over a period of about 1700 years.
The historian Herodotus wrote that, despite the existence of other temples that are larger, greater, and more expensive, there is no one of these temples that the beholder is more pleased with his vision than the Bastet Temple in the city of Bobastes.
The most worth visiting sites in Popastes today is the Cemetery or Cemetery of Cats, where many bronze statues of cats were found in a series of halls discovered underground.
