Busiris

Abusir Bana, anciently known as Busiris (Greek: ; ), is a village in Gharbia governorate, Egypt. The population is 22,214 people, according to the official census of 2006. In antiquity, Busiris was the chief town of the Ati nome in Egypt. It stood east of Sais, near the Phatnitic mouth on the western bank of the Damietta Branch of the Nile. The city's pharaonic name was Djedu. The modern name is a compound, where the name of the nearby town Bana was added to differentiate it from other settlements of the same name spread around Egypt. History The town and nome of Busiris were allotted to the Hermotybian division of the Egyptian militia. It was regarded as one of the birthplaces of the god of the underworld Osiris, who was commonly given the epithet lord of Djedu (nb ḏdw) and its name maybe etymologically linked. The festival of Isis at Busiris came next in splendor and importance to that of Bastet at Bubastis in the Egyptian calendar. Considerable ruins are still extant. The temple of Isis, indeed, with the hamlet which sprang up around it, stood probably at a short distance without the walls of Busiris itself, for Pliny (v. 10. s. 11) mentions Isidis oppidum in the neighbourhood of the town. The ruins of the temple are still visible, a little to the north of Abusir, at the hamlet of Bahheyt. (Pococke, Travels, vol. i. p. 34; Minutoli, p. 304.)It was in the Roman province of Aegyptus secundus.