THE SHRINE OF
BAST


Bast (Bastet) A Cat Goddess, worshiped in the Delta city of Bubastis. A protectress of cats and those who cared for cats. As a result, an important deity in the home (since cats were prized pets) and also important in the iconography (since the serpents which attack the sun god were usually represented in papyri as being killed by cats). She was also worshiped as the consort of Ptah-seker-ausar; and is joined with Sekhmet and Ra (a very unusual combination of male and female deities) to form Sekhmet-bast-ra, also worshiped as Ptah-seker-ausar's spouse, and viewed as a deity of the destructive, purifying power of the sun. The Egyptian cat-headed goddess, Bastet was said by some to be a solar deity until the arrival of Greek influence on Egyptian society, when She became a Lunar Goddess due to the Greeks associating her with their Artemis. Dating from the 2nd Dynasty (roughly 2890-2686 BC), Bastet was originally portrayed as either a wild desert cat or as a lioness, and only became associated with the domesticated feline around 1000 BC. She was commonly paired with Sakhmet, the Lion headed Goddess of Memphis, Wadjet, and Hathor. Bastet was the "Daughter of Ra", a designation that placed Her in the same ranks as such Goddesses as Maat and Tefnut. Additionally, Bastet was one of the "Eyes of Ra", the title of an "Avenger" God who is sent out specifically to lay waste to the enemies of Egypt and Her Gods.
The cult of Bastet was centered in Bubastis (located in the delta region, near modern day Zagazig) from at least the 4th Dynasty. In the Late Period Bubastis was the capital of Egypt for a dynasty, and a few kings took Her name into their royal titles. Bubastis was made famous by the traveler Herodotus in the 4th century BC, when he described in his annals one of the festivals that takes place in honor of Bastet. Excavations in the ruins of Tell-Basta (the former Bubastis) have yielded many discoveries, including a graveyard with mummified holy cats. Because the Greeks equated Bastet with Diana and Artemis and Horus with Apollo, Bastet became adopted into the Osiris-Isis myth as their daughter (this association, however, was never made previous to the arrival of Hellenistic influence on Egypt). She is stated to be the Mother of the Lion-headed God Mihos (who was also worshipped in Bubastis, along with Thoth). She is depicted most commonly as a woman with the head of a domesticated or wild cat or lion, or as a cat itself. The Goddess Bast is one of the daughters of Ra, the God of the Sun. Like Sekhmet, She has a feline form, but is seen as more cat-like than lion-like. She is considered to represent the gentle warmth of the spring sun that brings new growth. Bast is the Goddess of pleasure, joy, sexuality, and childbirth. She supports creativity, the arts, and beauty. She is also the Goddess of cats, who were sacred to the Egyptians. Her principal center of worship was at Bubastis. One interpretation of Bast's name is "Ba Ast", which translates as "Soul of Isis".