This book summarises the results of field research--including historical, historico-religious and papyrological studies--conducted on the archaeological site of Bakchias, located in the north-eastern part of the Fayyūm region. The book provides a clear and comprehensive overview of the rise and fall of the kome of Bakchias.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright page
• Introduction Bakchias and its geographical context
  • List of Figures
• Paola Buzi
• Reshaping Bakchias
• Bakchias: Its rediscovery, its cults
• Chapter I
• The rediscovery of an ancient Ptolemaic-Roman village… which turned out to have had a much longer life than previously supposed
• After Grenfell, Hunt and Hogarth
• The multiple names of Bakchias
• The changes in the environment in the twentieth century and the lost necropoleis of Bakchias
• A subject still to be still explored: the administrative relation between Bakchias and some neighboring komai
• The cults of Bakchias in the Ptolemaic-Roman period…and before
• Enrico Giorgi
• The Urban Landscape of Bakchias
• Chapter II
• The genesis and urban development of Bakchias
• The pre-Ptolemaic village
• Figure 1. The Fayyum with some of the main villages (Rossetti 2018 from Google Map).
• Figure 2. Plan of Bakchias with base Google Map (Rossetti 2018).
• Figure 3. Bakchias plan with the locations of the excavation seasons (Rossetti 2018).
• The Ptolemaic Town
• Figure 4. Bakchias plan with some of the edifices testified by papyri (Rossetti 2018).
• Figure 5. The Fayyūm with the expansion of the lake during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, when the first reclamation of the region took place (Morini 2007b).
• Figure 6. The Fayyūm in the Ptolemaic Period, when the second reclamation of the region took place (Morini 2007b).
• Figure 7. Bakchias plan during the early Ptolemaic period (Rossetti 2017).
• Figure 8. Views of the North Kom with the main sacred area in the middle.
• Figure 10. Bakchias plan during the Late Ptolemaic period (Rossetti 2017).
• Figure 9. Bakchias plan during the Ptolemaic period (Rossetti 2017).
• Figure 11. Bakchias plan during the Roman period (Rossetti 2017).
• The Roman Age Town
• The abandonment of the North Kom and the development of the South Kom
• Figure 12. Views of the South Kom.
• Figure 13. A disused mill in the archaeological area.
• The Modern Era
• Figure 14. Stellite image taken in 1968, within the framework of American Corona project (Buzi et al. 2011).
• Chapter III
• Figure 1. General plan of the two temple areas.
• The central sacred area
• The sacred areas of the town
• Figure 2. Plan of the area of the kiln.
• Figure 3. View of the kiln.
• Temple B
• The oldest phases
• Figure 4. The area with of the Amphora near the kiln.
• Figure 5. The Amphora imported from Tyre, that can be dated to the seventh-sixth centuries BC.
• Temple A
• Figure 6. View of the Temple A, on the right, and of Temple B in the background.
• Figure 7. View of the area of the Temple B from south.
• Figure 10. View of the Temple A from east.
• Figure 9. Temple B: floor plan.
• Figure 11. Temple A: floor plan.
• Figure 12. Temple A: a view of kiosk BSE 314, seen from the east, with the temple complex in the background.
• Figure 13. View of the entrance to the Temple A, raised with stones in Roman times, with what remains of the propylon (BSE 385).
• Figure 15. The headless statue of a kneeling male figure with the inscription erased.
• Figure 16. The base for a sphinx or lion that still bears part of the paws and a Demotic inscription.
• Temple C
• Figure 17. Temple C: floor plan with the Temple A on the left.
• Figure 18. Temple C: the sancta sanctum in sandstone blocks, where traces of structures are still visible.
• Figure 19. Temple C: the pylon seen from the north-west.
• Temple D
• The eastern sacred area
• Figure 20. Temple D: floor plan.
• Figure 21. Temple D: the area outside the temple seen from the south-west. Clerical accommodation in the foreground (BSE 330) with storage rooms behind (BSE 404 – BSE 405).
• Temple E
• Figure 22. Temple E: floor plan.
• Chapter IV
• The Northern District
• The house of the priestess of Isis and the surrounding city block
• The northern gate and adjacent buildings
• Figure 1. General plan of the northern district.
• Figure 2. The ceiling made of wooden beams and rush matting.
• Figure 3. The flask decorated with erotic depictions.
• Figure 4. A view of the southern end of the block where the house of the priestess of Isis is located.
• Figure 5. A view of the southern end of the block with rooms A and B (BNO 360).
• Figure 6. The wooden fence built after the houses were abandoned.
• Figure 7. The wooden fences.
• Figure 8. A view of room C.
• Figure 9. A view of room D.
• Figure 10. A view of the inner corner of the room D.
• Figure 11. The ritual store of ceramics and animal bones.
• The rubbish dump
• Figure 12. Egyptian amphora with inscription containing a date (the fifth year of the reign of a Ptolemaic sovereign) followed by other letters that have recently been interpreted as two names, perhaps a certain Etearcus and definitely an Alexander.
• The houses furthest east
• Chapter V
• Figure 1. A section of the general plan including the baths and kiln.
• The Roman baths
• The buildings along the canal and the South Kom
• Figure 2. A section of the general plan including the baths and granary.
• Figure 3. The plan of the baths.
• Figure 4. The plan of the baths during the reigns of Augustus and Hadrian.
• Figure 5. A view of room C, with one of the most well-preserved floors.
• Figure 6. A view of room H, with remains of the floors.
• Figure 7. A view of room G, with remains of the mosaic.
• Figure 8. The tank fout of its original position.
• Figure 9. A possible reconstruction of the baths during Hadrian’s reign.
• Figure 10. A view of hypocaust L.
• Figure 11. A view of hypocaust E.
• The craftsmen’s district
• Figure 12. The tank D, on the left, with the channel on the right.
• Figure 13. A plan of the craftsmen’s district with kiln G.
• Figure 14. A view of tanks B and A in the craftsmen’s district.
• Figure 15. The kiln during excavation work.
• The granary and storerooms
• Figure 16. A view of the public granary.
• The South Kom
• Paola Buzi
• The Last Bakchias
• Bakchias in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
• Chapter VI
• Christian Bakchias: archaeological and documentary evidence before the 2006 excavation campaign
• The churches of Bakchias
• The discovery of the Eastern Church
• Figure 1. Planimetric representation the Estern church.
• Figure 2. The Estern church seen from east.
• Figure 3. The floor composed of a first level of stretcher bond mud-brick acted as a bed for a second level that was the actual floor, made of small limestone slabs.
• Figure 4. The silo located south-west of the church, made out of yellowish-white limestone slabs cut in irregular shapes, barely held together by a small amount of lime mortar.
• The Western Church
• Towards the discovery of a second church
• Figure 5. Planimetric representation of the Western church.
• Figure 6. Hypothetical reconstruction of the Western Church.
• Figure 7. One of the mud-brick pedestals that belonged to the late phase of the building’s use and were found in both room D (the apse) and room B (the pastophorium).
• Figure 8. The large, complex building located below the Western Church, whose floors and interior walls had been coated in hydraulic lime and that was used as a workshop that handled liquids.
• Chronological and stylistic considerations
• Figure 10. An example of a Corinthian-inspired capital with a large kalathos at the top, wrapped in four stylised acanthus leaves.
• Figure 9. Two examples of a Corinthian-inspired capital with closed, smooth leaves (Bakchias’ first type).
• Figure 11. A capital – which is very similar to those that can be ascribed to the first type found in Bakchias – used as the base of a column in the church of Dayr al Hammām, near Hawārah.
• Concluding reflections regarding the Christian phase of Bakchias
• Figure 12. Stone materials that were probably taken from Temple C and used to make the foundations of the columns in the Western Church.
• Bibliographical references
• Plates
• Plate 1. Plan of Bakchias.
• Plate 2. Plan of the Central Area of Bakchias.
• Plate 3. Plan of the Northern Area of Bakchias.
• Plate 4. Plan of the Eastern Area of Bakchias.
• Plate 5. Plan of the Western Area of Bakchias.
• Plate 6. Plan of the Southern Area of Bakchias.
• Back cover