Egyptian Cat Goddess Bast

Bastet goddess of cats is one of the most well known figures of the egyptian pantheon.

Egyptian cat goddess bast. As bastet was the goddess of cats she was usually depicted with a cat head and an ankh the egyptian symbol of life. In the late and ptolemaic periods large cemeteries of mummified cats were created at both sites and thousands of bronze statuettes of the goddess. At the same time cultures in upper egypt honored sekhmet a similar cat headed goddess of battle. She was generally revered as the daughter of ra the creator god and king of the egyptian gods.

Or she takes the form of an attractive woman with the head of a cat. The daughter of re the sun god bastet was an ancient deity whose ferocious nature was ameliorated after the domestication of the cat around 1500 bce. She is typically represented by the image of a cat. Her main attributes include being the protector of lower egypt the patron goddess of cats and firefighters and being a goddess of the sun war fertility music and celebration.

In the early days she was the fierce lion headed goddess of the lower nile who protected the pharaoh and the sun god ra. Bast was known as a goddess of warfare in lower egypt during the period in which egypt was still divided. Therefore it makes sense that numerous pharaohs have been associated with her. She became both a nurturing mother figure and a terrifying avenger.

Bastet originally ubaste or bast is the egyptian cat goddess often depicted in egyptian tv scenes movies and books. She was typically represented in the form of a domestic cat or as a woman with the head of a cat always carrying a sistrum musical instrument because she was especially pleased by humans dancing and playing music in her honor. She was native to bubastis in the nile river delta but also had an important cult at memphis. Bast is the egyptian goddess also known as bastet whose mission is to protect the home.

She s been known as both bast and bastet. She protected the home from evil spirits and disease especially diseases associated with women and children. Bast the egyptian cat goddess had numerous areas of influence that developed over time. In egyptian mythology bastet bast is the goddess of protection cats pregnancy fertility music warfare and ointments.

Bastet was originally a fierce lioness warrior goddess of the sun worshiped throughout most of ancient egyptian history but later she was changed into the cat goddess that is familiar today becoming bastet. She symbolizes the joy of living as it is considered the deity of harmony and happiness. Scholars believe this goddess might have once been the egyptian lion headed goddess of war sekhmet. Today egyptologists typically refer to bast as bastet because of variants in the spelling that came along later.

Bast the egyptian cat goddess. She then was depicted as the daughter of ra and isis and the consort of ptah with whom she had a son maahes. She is strong both mentally and physically with all the cleverness and ferocity that cats are known for.