Egypt: 2,000-year-old temple dedicated to cat goddess found in Alexandria
By APTuesday, January 19, 2010
Egypt says temple dedicated to cat goddess found
CAIRO — Egypt says its archaeologists have unearthed a Ptolemaic temple dating back more than 2,000 years, which may have been dedicated to the ancient cat-goddess Bastet.
The Supreme Council of Antiquities said Tuesday the temple’s ruins were discovered in the Kom el-Dekkah area in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.
It said the temple was thought to belong to Queen Berenice, wife of King Ptolemy III who ruled Egypt in the 3rd century B.C.
The archaeologist who led the excavation team, Mohammed Abdel-Maqsood, said the ruins indicate this may be the first Ptolemaic temple discovered in Alexandria to be dedicated to Bastet and indicates that the worship of the cat-goddess continued in Egypt after the end of the ancient Egyptian era.
