Ancient Egypt Bast (also known as “Bastet”), one of the daughters of Ra, the Sun god. Generally thought of as a cat goddess, Bastet was one of the most popular goddesses of ancient Egypt. The cat goddess was usually represented as a royal lady with the head of a domesticated cat. This Ancient Egypt Bastet Goddess was the gentle protector of the home, fertility, woman’s secrets, childbirth, and cats. However, to protect the king in battle, she was also portrayed as a lioness up until 1000 BC.

Ancient Egypt Bastet Goddess original depiction was that of a royal lady or priestess with a cat’s head. Indeed, cats were sacred to Bast, and thus people of Egypt tended to see the Cat Goddess in every cat that walked past.

Statue of Ancient Egypt Bastet Goddess

According to Herodotus, Bast or Bastet was an Egyptian goddess, a happy and benign Deity who brought good fortune, love, music, dance, and joy to all. Cats were sacred to ancient Egyptians and it is said that statues of cats were commonly passed off as facsimiles of Bastet.

Bastet and Anubis

Bastet was a goddess of protection against evil spirits and diseases and also regarded as the goddess of perfumes and Anubis was considered God of embalming. Thus, Bastet is known to be his wife although for short period of time.

Bastet seemed to have two sides to her personality, one which was docile and other which was aggressive. She displayed her docile and gentle side as a protector of the home, fortune and joy and pregnant women.Her docile and gentle side was displayed in her duties as a protector of the home, and pregnant women. Her aggressive and vicious nature was exposed as Bastet slaughtered her victims in the accounts of battles. The pharaoh was said to have slaughtered the enemy.

Bastet was the Cat goddess and as cats were her sacred animal, any harm to cats was considered to be a crime against her and therefore unfortunate and very unlucky. Sacred cats were kept in her temple by her priests. These were considered to be incarnations of the goddess. When these cats died, they were mummified so that they could be presented to the goddess as an offering.

Bastet was worshiped throughout Egypt and thus her cult apparently had a great deal of power. During the Late Period, Bubastis was even the capital of Egypt for some time. Her name was even taken by some pharaohs in their king-names. A great temple was built in Bastet’s honor at Bubastis in the Delta as she was a protective deity of home and warfare both.