Egyptian Cat Goddess

The goddess cat was named bastet also known as bast.

Egyptian cat goddess. Bastet also called bast ancient egyptian goddess worshiped in the form of a lioness and later a cat. Malcapone adobe stock. Cats in ancient egypt were represented in social and religious practices of ancient egypt for more than 3 000 years. Several ancient egyptian deities were depicted and sculptured with cat like heads such as mafdet bastet and sekhmet representing justice fertility and power.

However she was also a goddess of war known for her wrathful vengeance. Cats were praised for killing venomous snakes and protecting the pharaoh since at least the first dynasty of egypt. Bastet was also defender of the chief male deity ra a solar deity. Bast the egyptian cat goddess areas of influence.

In egyptian mythology bastet bast is the goddess of protection cats pregnancy fertility music warfare and ointments. As one of the main goddesses of the egyptian pantheon bastet had a huge number of attributes and aspects. As bastet was the goddess of cats she was usually depicted with a cat head and an ankh the egyptian symbol of life. Bastet was worshipped as the protector goddess of lower egypt and guardian of the pharaoh.

She became both a nurturing mother figure and a terrifying avenger. Bastet the egyptian feline goddess. Afterwards she extended special treatment to all cats. She protected the home from evil spirits and disease especially diseases associated with women and children.

She then was depicted as the daughter of ra and isis and the consort of ptah with whom she had a son maahes. The deity mut was also depicted as a cat and in the company of a cat. The goddess cat was highly admired and respected. 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.

Greek mythology tells of how the goddess hecate assumed the form of a cat in order to escape the monster typhon. From the cradle of egypt the earliest form of bastet in ancient egyptian mythology bastet was one of the several deities that held the title of the eye of ra. She was native to bubastis in the nile river delta but also had an important cult at memphis. Skeletal remains of cats were found.

Bast the egyptian cat goddess had numerous areas of influence that developed over time. In the early days she was the fierce lion headed goddess of the lower nile who protected the pharaoh and the sun god ra. 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.