The cat goddess Bastet was once depicted as a female with a lion or wild cat-like head. In the first century BCE, she assumed the tamer guise of a domestic cat.
Later, she was frequently depicted as a seated cat with a regal appearance who occasionally had rings in her ears or nose. She became linked to the Greek deity Artemis, the moon goddess, and divine hunter, during the Ptolemaic era.
Symbols and appearance
Bastet is usually shown either as a seated cat or as a slim woman with a cat’s head, often holding a sistrum (a ceremonial rattle) and a small basket, with kittens at her feet. In her earliest form she was a fierce lioness, close in character to Sekhmet; over time she became the gentler protector of the home, of women in childbirth and of children. She was called a daughter of the sun god Re and one of the goddesses known as the “Eye of Re”.
Bubastis and the festival of Bastet
Her main cult centre was Bubastis, today Tell Basta near Zagazig in the eastern Nile Delta. The Greek historian Herodotus, who visited in the 5th century BC, described her festival as the largest in Egypt: crowds arrived by boat, singing and clapping, and he claimed that more wine was drunk there than in the rest of the year. The ruins of her red-granite temple can still be seen at Tell Basta, along with large cat cemeteries.
Cats and mummies
Because cats were sacred to Bastet, huge numbers were mummified and offered to her in the Late Period, from about 664 BC. Thousands of cat mummies were buried at Bubastis and at Saqqara, where recent excavations have uncovered more cat burials and bronze Bastet statuettes. Cat mummies and Bastet bronzes are on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Quick facts
- Domain: home, protection, fertility, childbirth, joy and music
- Sacred animal: the cat (earlier the lioness)
- Cult centre: Bubastis (Tell Basta), Nile Delta
- Related deities: Re (father), Sekhmet, Hathor
Our Egyptologist guides point out Bastet amulets and cat mummies on museum tours; see more gods in our guide to ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses.