Egyptian cat goddess : Bastet ( God of ancient Egypt )
Egyptian cat goddess
The deity Bastet got her name from the Egyptian city of Bast (or Bubastis as referred by the Greeks), which is present day Tell Basta located around 12 km south of the city of Zagazig in the Sharqia Governorate. This region has produced many small relics of this goddess. The city of Bast, the center of worship of the goddess, is located east of the Delta, and thus Bastet was known as the goddess of the East.
Above all, her veneration extended to other localities as well culminating in Memphis where she was associated with the lion glaring goddess, Sekhmet who is situated at a site now known as Mit Rahina about twenty kilometers from Cairo. The god Bastet was also blended with several other goddesses, including goddess Hathor during Old Kingdom 2686-2160 BC and goddess Mut in the Middle Kingdom of 2055-1650 BC. Towards the end of the New Kingdom, the figure of the goddess Bastet gained much prominence amongst the Egyptians who referred to her as the goddess of pleasure and plenty.
They welcomed her as a protector of them and their homes. The "sistrum" as a musical instrument was among the specialties of "Bastet"; the latter was associated with fun and dancing. According to Egyptian mythology, Bastet was the offspring of the sun god Ra, married to Ptah the creator and lord of Memphis, and the mother of Maahes a war god of Egypt.
Bastet, in many similar iconographies, is shown as a woman with a lioness's head known as Sekhmet, which is regarded as her fierce terrifying side. The association of the cat with the gentle side of Bastet dates back to a relatively late period in Egyptian history, corresponding to the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period (1069 – 664 BC). It is sometimes difficult to distinguish precisely between the lion and feline features of the goddess in art.
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