Pibeseth
Fausset's Bible Dictionary [1]
Ezekiel 30:17. A town in Lower Egypt. In hieroglyphics Bahest, Habahest (The Abode Of Bahest The Goddess) , Greek Βoubastos . On the western bank of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile. The temple of the goddess Bubastis (Bahest), of the finest red granite, (Of Which Fine Remains Exist) Herodotus declared the most beautiful he knew; in the midst of the city, which being raised on mounds overlooked it on every side. The names of Rameses II of the 19th dynasty, etc., are inscribed; also Shishak the conqueror of Rehoboam. Bast is Pesht, the goddess of fire.
A lion headed figure accompanies her, the cat was sacred to her. The Greek Artemis corresponds; at Benihassan is her cave temple, with the lioness, "Pesht the lady of the cave." The annual festival was very popular and licentious (Herodot. 2:59-60,137). The 22nd dynasty consisted of Bubastite kings, beginning about 990 B.C. Ezekiel couples it with Aven (On or Heliopolis) as on the route of an invader from the N.E. marching against Memphis. Manetho mentions a chasm opening in the earth and swallowing up many in the time of Boethos or Bochos, first king of the second dynasty, 2470 B.C.
Morrish Bible Dictionary [2]
Place whose young men were to fall by the sword and others be carried into captivity, mentioned in the judgement of God upon Egypt, Ezekiel 30:17 . Judged to be the city Bubastis on the west bank of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile. Its ruins at Tell Basta, 30 35' N, 31 30' E , attest its ancient grandeur; pieces of the finest red granite are there, which apparently formed part of a temple.
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature [3]
Pi-beseth, a city of Egypt, named with several others in . The name was derived from the goddess Bubastis, whom the Greeks identified with their Artemis. A great festive pilgrimage was yearly made to her temple in this place by great numbers of people. Bubastus was taken by the Persians, who destroyed the walls; but it was still a place of some consideration under the Romans. It was near Bubastus that the canal leading to Arsinoe (Suez) opened to the Nile; and although the mouth was afterwards often changed and taken more southward, it has now returned to its first locality, as the present canal of Tel-el-Wadee commences in the vicinity of Tel Basta. This Tel Basta, which undoubtedly represents Bubastus, is in N. lat. 30° 30′; E. long. 31° 33′. The site is occupied by mounds of great extent, which consist of the crude brick houses of the town, with the usual heaps of broken pottery. The temple, of which Herodotus states that, although others in Egypt were larger and more magnificent, none were more beautiful, is entirely destroyed; but the remaining stones, being of the finest red granite, confirm the historian's testimony.
