Naville and Mr. F. Llewellen Griffiths explored during the season of
1886-87 the mound of Tel-el-Yehu-dieh (the mound of the Jew). The
site is probably that on which was once built the city that Ptolemy
Philadelphus allowed the Jews to construct. The remains of a statue of
the cat-headed goddess Bast, to which there is a reference in Josephus,
was also found here. The discovery of tablets of definitely Jewish
origin make it clear that the modern name had been given to the place
for some reason connected with the colony thus proved to have once been
settled there.

Naville also made researches at Tel Basta, the site of the Bubastis
of the Greeks, the Pi Beseth of the Bible, and the Pi Bast of the
Egyptians, which was formerly the centre of worship of the goddess Pasht
and her sacred animal, the cat. The whole plan of the ancient temple was
soon disclosed, the general outline of which bears much resemblance to
that of the great Temple of San. In the division which Naville called
the Festival Hall were numerous black and red statues inscribed with the
name of Ramses II., but many of which were probably not really erected
by this monarch. Here there was also found a standing statue of the
Governor of Ethiopia, a priest and priestess of the twenty-sixth
dynasty, and many other monuments of the greatest historical interest.
The hall itself was built of red granite.

Another hall, which Naville called the "Hypostyle Hall," possessed a
colonnade of such beauty that it would seem to justify the statement of
Herodotus, that the temple of Bubastis was one of the finest in Egypt.
The columns were either splendid red granite monoliths, with lotus-bud
or palm-leaf capitals; or, a head of Hathor from which fell two long
locks. These columns probably belonged to the twelfth dynasty. In what
Naville called the "Ptolemaic Hall" occurs the name Nephthorheb or
Nectanebo I. of the thirtieth dynasty. The relics of this remarkable
temple thus cover a period from the sixth to the thirtieth dynasties,
some 3,200 years. During this season Professor Petrie made important
discoveries in relation to the obscure Hyksos dominion in Egypt. Many
representations of these Shepherd Kings were found, and, from their
physiognomy, it was judged that they were not Semites, but rather
Mongols or Tatars, who probably came from the same part of Asia as the
Mongul hordes of Genghis Khan.

Early in 1888 excavations were resumed on the site of the great temple
o