-time the peasants
performed their thanksgiving before the figures of Min in this manner.
Hathor and Bast, the two great goddesses of pleasure, were worshipped in
the dance. Hathor was mistress of sports and dancing, and patron of
amusements and mirth, joy and pleasure, beauty and love; and in regard
to the happy temperament of the Egyptians, it is significant that this
goddess was held in the highest esteem throughout the history of the
nation.

Bast was honoured by a festival which for merriment and frivolity could
not well be equalled. The festival took place at Bubastis, and is
described by Herodotus in the following words:--

"This is the nature of the ceremony on the way to
Bubastis. They go by water, and numerous boats are
crowded with persons of both sexes. During the voyage
several women strike the cymbals, some men play the
flute, the rest singing and clapping their hands. As they
pass near a town they bring the boat close to the bank.
Some of the women continue to sing and play the cymbals;
others cry out as long as they can, and utter mocking
jests against the people of the town, who begin to dance,
while the former pull up their clothes before them in a
scoffing manner. The same is repeated at every town they
pass upon the river. Arrived at Bubastis, they celebrate
the festival of Bast, sacrificing a great number of
victims, and on that occasion a greater consumption of
wine takes place than during the whole of the year."

At this festival of Bast half the persons taking part in the
celebrations must have become intoxicated. The Egyptians were always
given to wine-drinking, and Athenaeus goes so far as to say that they
were a nation addicted to systematic intemperance. The same writer, on
the authority of Hellanicus, states that the vine was cultivated in the
Nile valley at a date earlier than that at which it was first grown by
any other people; and it is to this circumstance that Dion attributes
the Egyptian's love of wine. Strabo and other writers speak of the wines
of Egypt as being particularly good, and various kinds emanating from
different localities are mentioned. The wines made from grapes were of
the red and white varieties; but there were also fruit wines, made from
pomegranates and other fruits. In the lists of offerings inscribed on
the walls of temples and tombs one sees a large number of varieties
recorded--wines