Bast, Ancient Egyptian Cat Goddess of Protection

In early times Bast (Ubasti, Bastet) 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. She 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 and Mut. Bast was considered to be the daughter of Atem or Ra. 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. As with Hathor, Bast is often seen carrying a sistrum.

1. t hekeep.o rg http ://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/bast.html
Bast, Feline Protector, Goddess of Lower Egypt
by Caroline Seawright
February 25, 2001
Updated: November 29, 2012
In early times Bast (Ubasti, Bastet) 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
wif e to Ptah. She 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, Tef nut and Mut. Bast
was considered to be the daughter of Atem or Ra. It was only in the New
Kingdom that she gained the head of a house cat and became a much more
'f riendly' goddess, though she was still depicted as a lion-headed woman to
show her war-like side. As with Hathor, Bast is of ten seen carrying a sistrum.
Her name has the hieroglyph of a 'bas'-jar ( ) with the f eminine ending of 't' ( ),
reading 'She of the
bas-Jar
'. (Apparently her name was written as 'Bastet' by scribes in later times to emphasise that the
't' was to be pronounced, but this is unclear.) These jars were heavy perf ume jars, of ten f illed with
expensive perf umes - they were very valuable in Egypt, considering the Egyptian need (with the hot
weather) of makeup, bathing, hygiene and (of course) perf ume. Bast, by her
name, seems to be related to perf umes in some way - a perf umed protector, as it
were. Her son Nef ertem, a solar god, was a god of perf umes and alchemy, which
supports the theory.
Now there is some conf usion over Bast and Sekhmet. She is given the title the
'Eye of Ra' when she's in her protector f orm... but Bast and Sekhmet are not the
same goddess (unlike Hathor who becomes Sekhmet as the 'Eye of Ra'). This all
gives rise to a lot of conf usion about these goddesses. Bast and Sekhmet were
another example of Egyptian duality - Sekhmet was a goddess of Upper Egypt,
Bast of Lower Egypt (just like the pharaoh was of Upper and/or Lower Egypt!)...
and they were linked together by geography, not by myth or legend.
These two f eline goddesses were both very distinct goddesses in their own
rights, despite the below phrase, used rather late in Egyptian history (c. 150 BC):
"She rages like Sekhmet and she is f riendly like Bast" is how the goddess
Hathor-Tef nut w
as described in the Myth of the Eye of the Sun in the temple at
Philae.
-- Ja
romir Malek (1993), The Cat in Ancient Egypt,
p. 95
She was one of the older goddesses, mentioned in The Book of the Dead (this
was a selection of spells, rather than an actual book):
Rubric - If this Chapter be known by the deceased upon earth, he shall become
like unto Thoth, and he shall be adored by those who live. He shall not f all
headlong at the moment of the intensity of the royal f lame of the goddess Bast,
and the Great Prince shall make him to advance happily.

...

2. The breast of this Meri-Ra is the breast of Bast; he cometh f orth theref ore and ascendeth into
heaven.
-- E. A. Wallis Budge (1979), The Book of the Dead, p. 512, 602
Even f rom very old times, as protector, Bast was seen as the f ierce f lame of the
sun who burned the deceased should they f ail one of the many tests in the
underworld.
Some of Bast's f estivals included the 'Procession of Bast', 'Bast appears to Ra',
the 'Festival of Bast', 'Bast Goes Forth f rom Per-Bast (Bubastis)' and 'Bast
guards the Two Lands'. There was even a 'Festival of Hathor and Bast', showing
the connection between the two goddesses.
Herodotus describes the 'Festival of Bast' where thousands of men and women
travelled on boats, partying like crazy. They had music, singing, clapping and
dancing. When they passed towns, the women would call out dirty jokes to the
shore-bound, of ten f lashing the townsf olk by lif ting up their skirts over their heads! When they reached
Per-Bast, they made their sacrif icies of various animals, and drank as much wine as they could stomach. No
wonder it was such a popular f estival!!
When the people are on their way to Per-Bast, they go by river, a great number in
every boat, men and women together. Some of the women make a noise with
rattles, others play f lutes all the way, while the rest of the women, and the men,
sing and clap their hands.
As they travel by river to Per-Bast, whenever they come near any other town they
bring their boat near the bank; then some of the women do as I have said, while
some shout mockery of the women of the town; others dance, and others stand
up and lif t their skirts. They do this whenever they come alongside any riverside
town.
But when they have reached Per-Bast, they make a f estival with great sacrif ices,
and more wine is drunk at this f east than in the whole year besides. It is
customary f or men and women (but not children) to assemble there to the
number of seven hundred thousand, as the people of the place say.
...
Dead cats are taken away to sacred buildings in the town of Per-Bast, where they are embalmed and buried.
-- Herodotus, Herodotus: Book II
In Greco-Roman times she was equated with Diana and Artemis, and the sister of Horus (who was
considered to be the Egyptian Apollo) and thus a child of Osiris and Isis, and became a goddess of the
moon.
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 centre, with the shrine of the goddess herself ... it was also f ull of cats). An alternative
translation of her name could be 'She of Bast', ref ering to the city of Per-Bast. She was also worshiped all
over Lower Egypt.
© Caroline 'Kunoichi' Seawright 2001 - present