January 19, 2010

Cat Goddess Temple found in Egypt

RELIGION - Archaeologists in Egypt announced today that they have unearthed a Ptolemaic-era temple dedicated to the ancient cat goddess, Bastet.

Egypt's SCA says the temple dates back approx. 2,100 years and were discovered in the heart of the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria (founded by Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C.) that ended with the suicide of Cleopatra 300 years later.

The temple was previously thought to be a palace belonging to Queen Berenice, wife of King Ptolemy III who ruled Egypt in the 3rd century B.C., but new excavations have found a large number of cat statues, along with a few statues of other Egyptian gods, suggesting it was at one time a temple to the cat goddess Bastet. Its believed this cat temple was the first of its kind during the Ptolemaic era.

The temple is now missing quite a few large stones, suggesting it was later used as a quarry by the Romans, likely for a Roman-era amphitheatre down the street in the Kom el-Dekkah neighbourhood.

Modern Alexandria is built on top of the ruins of the ancient city and many of the great temples, palaces and libraries of that time remain under layers of earth and sand.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments containing links will be marked as spam and not approved. We moderate every comment. If you want to advertise on this blog it is $30 per link.

Affordable Website Design & SEO

Looking for a quality professional website designer? Why not go where the smart money is?! Toronto Website Design and Toronto SEO. Get free SEO advice from people who really know the business.

Featured Posts

The Sarcasm Symbol
Ever had some confusion online or with your cellphone when someone fails to catch the sarcasm? Well now with the SarcMark you can ge...
Behold, the Scorpion Hydrogen Supercar
CARS - To the right is the future of supercars... it is a hydrogen supercar called the Scorpion. The Scorpion from Ronn Motors in Texas is t...
Documents show Stephen Harper misusing public funds
CANADA - According to 950+ pages of documents obtained by the Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act the Privy Coun...
Pink's Rosie the Riveter
ENTERTAINMENT - What I like about this video is how it meshes different social movements like feminism, veganism, anti-capitalism...
California's Dustbowl
ENVIRONMENT - The photo on the right is a farm in California that has been put up for sale. Its just one of thousands of farms that are n...
Is Steampunk the New Goth???
GOTHIC - Watch out what you see on the subway late at night because while in 2001 you might have seen some pretty freakish goths, by 20...
Do you have enough Ice Water in your diet?
HEALTH - A Calorie (large C) is a measurement of the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a litre of water (1 kg's worth) ...
North Korean timeline towards Inevitable War
POLITICS - The following is timeline of events that have occurred on the Korean Peninsula. 1945 - Japan surrenders to the United States a...
Judgment Day is Tomorrow, so sayeth Cult
RELIGION - According to a cult based in California, Judgement Day is tomorrow (May 21st 2011) and Jesus Christ will return to the Earth a...
Sex in Space Forbidden
SEX/TECHNOLOGY - Sex in outer space is a big no-no according to NASA. Not for professional astronauts at least, but the growing numb...

Popular Posts / Last 30 Days