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EGYPTIAN GODDESS BASTET
GODDESS OF FIRE, CATS, PREGNANT WOMEN
In early times Bast (written as 'Bastet' by scribes in
later times to emphasize that the 't' was to be pronounced)
was a goddess with the head of a lion or a desert sand-cat
and was regarded as mother of Maahes, a lion-headed
god, and wife to Ptah.
Bastet was usually depicted as a cat, or as a woman with
the head of a cat or lion. She was also connected to
Hathor,
Sekhmet, Tefnut, Atem (her father) and
Mut. It was only in the New Kingdom that she gained the
head of a house cat and became a much more 'friendly'
goddess, though she was still depicted as a lion-headed
woman to show her war-like side.
Her cult centre was in Per-Bast (the temple is now in
ruins, but it was made of red granite with a sacred grove in the
center, with the shrine of the goddess herself. An alternative
translation of her name could be 'She of Bast', refering to the city
of Per-Bast. She was also worshiped throughout Lower Egypt.
| TITLE |
The Tearer |
| ANIMALS |
cat, lioness |
| SYMBOLS |
sistrum, udjat (eye of Horus) |
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The gentle cat-headed Goddess of Bubastis. Bast is the daughter
of Osiris and consort
of Ra. Cats were kept in her temple and embalmed when they died. She
carried a sistrum in her right hand and a basket in her left hand.
Bast is the Goddess of fire, the moon, fertility, pleasure, joy,
sexual rites, music, death, protection against diseases and evil
spirits, warmth, intuition, and healing. Her sacred animal is the
black cat and she is the mother of all cats.
Variants: Bast, Pasht, Ubasti.
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