Foundation Deposit Plaques from the Boubasteion

Abstract

Between the end of the year 2009 and the beginning of 2010 Dr. Abd El Maksoud, SCA, was endowed with the responsibility of digging, with an Egyptian team, at the site of the Police Security Forces.It was in fact a rescue excavation that lasted only three months.However, its results were extraordinary. 1 Among the finds discovered at this site are inscriptional and archaeological data as for example a group of six foundations deposit plaques.They were recovered at the north-eastern corner of an outer wall (Fig. 1), buried in a rectangular shaped cavity delimited by roughly worked limestone blocks.The text which is inscribed on them indicates without doubt the existence of a sanctuary dedicated to the Goddess Boubastis in this site.This result alone is of great importance because for the first time we know that in Ptolemaic Alexandria from the very beginning; Greek immigrants worshipped the Egyptian cat Goddess "Bastet", but under her Greek name Boubastis. 2 In ancient Egypt, foundation deposits are a common feature from the 3 rd Dynasty till Christian times.3 Although the Greeks in their homeland did not know and performed this ritual, i.e. putting foundation deposits before constructing their temples, it was nonetheless popular for the temples of Ptolemaic Alexandria and its chôra in the form of plaques.4 The 10 famous plaques found at the Serapeion of Alexandria by A. Rowe in 1943/44 are inscribed with Hieroglyphic as well as Greek texts; they are made of different materials: gold, silver, glass, faience and mud.

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