Egyptian Gods

Bastet also known as Bast or Ubasti is cat goddess venerated in the town of Bubastis in Lower Egypt. Bastet was a Goddess of Protective and thus sometimes depicted as a fierce lioness.

According to the history of ancient Egyptian, Bastet originally was a sun goddess, but later changed to cat goddess rather than a lion and become the goddess of moon toward the end of civilization by Greeks who associating her with Artemis.

Bastet also known as the goddess of fire, cats, of the home and pregnant women. She was the daughter of Ra, the sun god. Her appearances portrayed as a women with the head of a cat or a desert cat. Cat was the sacred animal for Bastet. Bastet also appeared with the head of a lioness to protect the king during the battles. There are many statutes of cats were made to honour Bastet.

Cats are highly respected by the ancient Egyptians for protecting them from getting diseases caused by rats. Thus, when the cats died they were buried and mummified just like people and the owner of the cats will also be buried next to the mummified cat when they died. Over 300,000 mummified cats were found in the temple at Per-Bast or Bubastis.

Bastet was worshipped all over Lower Egypt. A great temple of cult center was built to honour her at Bubastis in the Delta. The town name Bubastis was names after her. There are few festivals celebrated such as “Procession of Bast”, “Festival of Bast”, “Bast Goes Forth from Bubastis” and “Bast Guards the Two Lands”.