wiki: Bastet or Bast (Ancient Egyptian: bꜣstjt "She of the Ointment Jar", Coptic: Ⲟⲩⲃⲁⲥⲧⲉ /ubastə/) was a goddess of ancient Egyptian religion, worshiped as early as the Second Dynasty (2890 BCE). Her name is also translated as B'sst, Baast, Ubaste, and Baset. In ancient Greek religion, she is also known as Ailuros (Koine Greek: αἴλουρος "cat").
Bastet was worshipped in Bubastis in Lower Egypt, originally as a lioness goddess, a role shared by other deities such as Sekhmet. Eventually Bastet and Sekhmet were characterized as two aspects of the same goddess, with Sekhmet representing the dangerous side of her personality and Bastet, who was increasingly depicted as a cat, representing her benign side.
Bastet is the cat goddess in Egyptian mythology,
depicted as having a woman's body with a cat's head.
The Egyptians devoted great honors to cats.
They were considered sacred animals.
The felines had a meaningful role in the Egyptian world since,
thanks to them, their food was safe from rodent infestations.
Also, cats could scare treacherous, poisonous snakes.
Bastet is a goddess associated with the sun and, because of that,
the goddess followed Ra during the day in his solar boat, crossing through the skies.
At night, the goddess turned into a cat.
And, attentive, the goddess protected the world against the dreadful serpent Apophis.
The goddess was worshipped throughout Egypt.
Doing harm to any cat was a terrible sacrilege.
The author of such a violent act could be punished with death.
Cats were seen as family members and, according to some reports,
whenever a house was set ablaze,
the cats entered the burning house to help their residents escape the fire.
Sometimes, these cats appeared to be dead in the flames,
but they returned to life thanks to the goddess Bastet,
emphasizing the popular saying of a nine-lifed cat.
For being sacred animals, cats were mummified,
and Egypt has cemeteries dedicated to these animal mummies.
According to some versions, the goddess Bastet is linked to Sekhmet,
the lion goddess.
This goddess was violent and bloodthirsty, but was tamed,
becoming a gentle and milk-drinking cat goddess.
In other versions, Bastet and Sekhmet were sisters and Ra's daughters.
Even after the end of the worship of the Egyptian gods,
cats, to this day, continue to look men up and down,
hoping to have their deity acknowledged again.
