Bastet , the ancient ruins of Egypt

Bastet , the ancient ruins of Egypt have been erected by the ancient Egyptians as their symbol of affection with the cat goddess identified as Bast or Bastet who was also represented as lion-headed lady. She was considered as the protective goddess and the goddess of enjoy and fertility for the ancient Egyptians. In the ancient Egyptian beliefs Bastet was recognized was one of Ra’ daughters, The god of the Sun and the most crucial god in ancient Egypt. The name (Bastet) means the warmth of the sun. Bastet was also linked by the Greeks with their Goddess Artemis.

Ruines_of_Bastet_Temple. Photographer : Mohammed Mamdoh ( Author )

Bastet , the ancient ruins of Egypt comprise of Bastet Temple which is located in the eastern Delta city identified as (Per-Bast) or (Per-Bastet) which implies the House of Bastet. Later the Greeks called it (Bubastis). Today it is a tourism archaeological site called (Tell-Basta) on the south-eastern edge of the contemporary city of Zagazig, which is situated about 80 Km north-east of Cairo. The constriction operates in the Bastet temple began in the reign of the 4th dynasty, exactly in the reign of Khufu, who built it to honor Bastet. Afterwards many Pharaohs like: Khafre, Ramses II, Pepi I, Osorkon, & Nkinbu amended it by adding their structures and contributed in expansion of the temple more than 1700 years. This remarkable temple was constructed with red granite which was brought specially from Aswan across the Nile.

Cat_goddess_Statue. Image : Wikipedia

In the 5th century, the Greek historian Herodotus visited Bubastis. He described the town as having a gorgeous temple on low ground in the center of the city and surrounded by tree-lined canals, giving it the look of becoming on an island. A stone paved road led from a Temple of Hermes to a massive carved gateway which dominated the entrance to the Temple of Bastet and inside was a shrine containing a statue of the goddess. Herodotus gave a vivid account of the annual festival of the goddess Bastet, when an estimated 700,000 Egyptian pilgrims would check out the internet site. Many information of Herodotus’s description have been confirmed by Edouard Naville’s investigation of Temple of Bastet for the Egypt Exploration Fund in the course of 1887-1889. In the course of the reign of the 22nd dynasty (945-715) BC, the capital of Egypt moved from Tanis to Bubastis, and the city of the cats became the capital of Egypt for 230 years.

destroyed_columns_Bastet_temple. Photographer : Mohammed Mamdoh

Bubastis was a quite important city & the capital of Nome ” Am-Khent “. This  Nome (Subnational administrative division of ancient Egypt, can be understood as a district ) was comprising of the locations of decrease Egypt along with the East Delta of the river, Nile. Bubastis was the Eastern gateway of Egypt which was linking amongst Asia and Memphis, and it was positioned on a really strategic geographic position, on Sizostrees canal or the Canal of the Pharaohs, the ancient Suez Canal which right now operates as a juncture amongst the Nile River and the Red sea.

Burials-of-Bubasts. Photograph by Author : Mohammed Mamdoh ( team )

Bubastis also is identified with the name of Phibeseth in the Christian Bible, book of Ezekiel 30-17.In 525 BC, the city and the temple was collapsed after the Persian conquest by Cambyses II, which heralded the finish of the Saite 26th dynasty and the commence of the Achaemenid dynasty.In 1906, a hoard of gold and silver vessels and jewellery was discovered by local workmen near the temple website, the earliest pieces dating to the Ramesside period. Some of these treasures had been taken illicitly out of Egypt and have been subsequently acquired by Berlin and the New York Metropolitan Museums.

Hieroglyphics_ carved_rock_ Bastet_temple. Photographer : Moahmmed Mamdoh ( Author )

A second similar hoard was found later in the same year from a spot just couple of meters away from the site of the first discovery and is now preserved in Cairo Museum. There are numerous other worth observed web sites in Bubastis or Bastet , the ancient ruins of Egypt like the Cat Necropolis, where many bronze statues of cats had been found in a series of rooms under the ground throughout its exploration. Also this site contains a destroyed palace dated back to the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom Burials, the Ruins of Bastet temple and many other magnificent monuments.

* This write-up is written after the study produced by Mohammed Mamdouh from Egypt as a symbol of dedication to this site.

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The Ruins of Bhanbhore, Pakistan

Maybe, the individuals of Pakistan are extremely unfortunate as they are unaware of many ancient treasures that their nation possesses. Particularly the excellent civilization of the Indus Valley is a cluster of wonderful archaeological websites. In 1910, some remains of an ancient city have been excavated by General Cunningham. These are the remains of the ancient port city, Debal which are located just 60 K.m away from Karachi just in the outskirts of the city of Bhanbhore.

The ancient city of Debal, Bhanbhore. Photo: Nazir Ahmed Shah

The significance of the remains of the ancient Debal city is of higher worth, as this was the entrance point of the excellent Arab warrior Mohammad Bin Qasim, who landed with his forces right here in 711 AD. Right after the discovery of these ruins in 1910, the web site remained neglected for many years as numerous archaeologists regarded the ruins of Bhanbhore worthless.  After the partition of India, in 1947 a limited excavation function was carried on by the Pakistan Division of Archaeology. Nevertheless, soon after 1960 the division identified some interesting details about the ruined city.

The present site of the ruins of Bhanbhore, Pakistan consists of a citadel. It is 610 metres in length and 365 metres in breadth. When the population of this area elevated the city was expanded in addition to the citadel. The deep trenches laid inside the citadel reveal 3 different periods of history i.e. the Scytho-Parithan, Hindu-Buddhist and the Muslim Period.

Bhanbhore: The ancient remains of Debal by JanGasior

The archaeologists in the course of their excavations discovered interesting artifacts and the pieces pottery from this site. The study has proved that these pieces have excellent similarity with the Greek pottery art. The ruins of a Shiva Temple created of mud rock have also been found. There is a area, the floor of which is produced with the Chuna Pathar. Traces of Muslim Period can be observed on stone sculptures, ceramic performs, terra cotta specimens and inscriptions in proto-Nagri style. In addition there are ruins of Islamic architecture specially mosques. The digging has also uncovered the boundary wall of the city which was constructed with bedrock and the bricks of limestone.

The archaeologists have explored numerous parts of the site and found the antiquities like pendants in terra cotta and semi-precious stones, iron objects, pottery and Kufic inscription of the Muslim era. But nonetheless it wants more exploration and the archaeologists recommend that there are several treasures buried underneath. No doubt, these ruins are evident that the civilization of Bhanbhore was really sophisticated and the people of this location had been very skillful and artistic. Bhanbhore, which is already popular in the Indian sub continent with the legend of Sassi Pannu, the ruins of Bhanbhore have added a lot more plus in the significance of this city.

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Pompeii: The Historic Ruins of Italy

This is actually difficult to realize the philosophy of nature. We are often the beneficiaries of Nature and often the victims of its aggression. The history of the human development is filled with the catastrophic acts of Nature. Nature becomes furious occasionally in shape of the harassing oceans, often with the calamitous tsunamis and often by the disastrous earthquakes.

By : Trey Ratcliff ( A great image of the ruins of Pompeii with the Mount Vesuvius)

In Europe, Italy is effectively known for its marvelous archaeological heritage. Pompeii is one of it’s the most renowned historic ruins. This famous internet site is actually a sepulcher town which was a center of the Roman civilization, culture, art and customs. This ancient city was destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption almost 1700 years ago. It was an unlucky day of 79 A.D when the Mount Vesuvius exploded ash and lava that destroyed the prosperity of the folks of Pompeii and their amazing cultivation forever.

The Historic Pompeii Ruins ( Image: JAMES MARSHALL D )

It was not achievable for the people of Pompeii to get any thought about the eruption of Vesuvius at the time of the disaster. People have been busy in their day to day affairs and they had been damn positive that the volcano is inactive for a lot more than centuries so it would never explode again. They have been totally unaware of the fact that a longer inactivity of a volcano coupled with mounting seismic activity is a pure sign of forthcoming fiasco. Though they had firm belief in the might of their gods and their potential to predict about the future, but they remained blind about the happenings of 24^th August of 79 A.D. On this day Mount Vesuvius detonated its huge lava and inside no time the entire city was buried below a 20 feet layer of ash and pumice. The complete population and the architecture of Pompeii have been covered in up to twelve various layers of tephra, in total 25 meters deep, which rained down for about six hours. Rest of the planet was completely oblivious about this tragedy till the rediscovery of Pompeii in 1738 by some laborers, who were functioning in the building a summer season palace for the then King of Naples. Nevertheless, Pompeii was correctly identified once again as the result of intentional excavations in 1748 by a Spanish group.

A dead physique of Pompeii inhabitant ( Image: CameliaTWU )

Even so, right after this many excavation activities had been executed in order to bring out the proper facts about Pompeii. The different theories of the historians suggest that Pompeii was inhabited with far more than 20,000 people at that time and it was an best town exactly where the Romans spent their holidays. Pompeii was situated near the contemporary day Naples in Campania area. The building style adopted by the individuals of Pompeii was luxuriant and they possessed a very opulent way of life. The walls, pavements and floors of their villas had been embellished with magnificent mosaics.

POMPEII – ITALY ( Pavement ) Image Courtesy : Ggarner

Pompeii is today a UNESCO Planet Heritage Internet site and the archaeologists from all over the globe have created tremendous study on the remains of Pompeii which includes the Greek-inspired buildings, cobble-stoned streets, brothels, frescoes and several artifacts. These all remained under perfect situations of preservation when they had been out of sight. The lack of air and moisture had been the primary contribution elements that safeguarded these objects from deterioration. Even so after their rediscovery they are on the verge of speedy decay due to the each natural and man-made forces. Weathering, erosion, light exposure, water damage, poor approaches of excavation and reconstruction, introduced plants and animals, tourism, vandalism and theft have all damaged the website in some way. For the final 250 years, Pompeii, the historic ruins of Italy are attracting millions of visitors annually to visit this phenomenal web site and it is one particular of the most common tourist web sites of Italy.

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