ARCHAEOLOGISTS found the remains of an ancient Greek temple dedicated to Egyptian cat goddess Bastet in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, 220km northwest of Cairo, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) said yesterday. The team discovered the remains of a temple of Queen Berenike, the wife of King Ptolemy III, who ruled Egypt between 246 and 222 BC, in the Kom al-Dikka area in Alexandria, the SCA said. The remains are 60 metres tall and 15 metres in width, the SCA Secretary General Zahi Hawass said. The temple had been subjected to destruction during later eras when it was used as a quarry, which led to the disappearance of many of its stone blocks, Hawass said. More than 600 Ptolemaic statues were also unearthed during the routine excavations in the same area, including a large collection of icons depicting Bastet, he added. Yesterday's discovery, he continued, is the first Ptolemaic temple discovered in Alexandria to be dedicated to Bastet, the Pharaonic goddess of fertility and motherhood. It indicates that the worship of Bastet continued even after the decline of the ancient Egyptian era, he said.
