Bubastis is an Ancient Egyptian city, located along the River Nile in the Delta region of Lower Egypt. It was a center of worship for the cat-goddess Bastet (also called Bast or even Bubastis), and it served as the capital of the nome of Bubastites.
It became a royal residence after Shoshenq I, the first ruler of the 22nd dynasty, was made pharoah in 952 BC. Bubastis was at its height during this dynasty and the 23rd. It declined after the Persianconquest by Cambyses II in 525 BC, which heralded the end of the 26th dynasty and the start of the Achaemenid dynasty.
Bubastis, capital of the 19th nome of Lower Egypt, is now represented by a great mound of ruins called Tell Basta, near Zagazig, including the site of a large temple (described by Herodotus) strewn with blocks of granite.
Herodotus describes the festival of Bubastis, which was attended by thousands from all parts of Egypt and was a very riotous affair; it has its modern equivalent in the Moslem festival of the sheikh Said el Badawi at Tanta.
The tablet of Canopus shows that there were two festivals of Bubastis, the great and the lesser: perhaps the lesser festival was!held at Memphis, where the quarter called Ankhto contained a temple to this goddess.
The planet Bubastis (with a capital of the same name) is covered with desert, but rivers rich in vitality run down from the rocky crags to the life-filled oceans.
Bubastis was even the capital of Egypt for a time during the Late Period, and some pharaohs took her name in their king-names.
Herodotus' description of her temple at Bubastis is that of a place of great splendor and beauty, rivaled only by the temples to Ra and Horus.
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