[6] Names of ancient Egyptian deities often were represented as references to associations or with euphemisms, being cult secrets. Archeologists found over 300,000 mummified cats in or near the site of her primary temple at Bubastis. In some Egyptian tales, she is the wife of Anubis, who helped with mummification, but in others she is married to Ptah, the god of learning. While the meaning of her name is unclear, Bastet does have several epithets or nicknames, for which we have clarity. Learn more about the history, symbols, myths, and connections of Bastet, the cat goddess of Egypt. The Battle of PelusiumSimon Seitz (CC BY-NC-SA). The "slaughterers of Bastet" were said to inflict plague and other disasters on humanity. When we think of how our feline friends behave, it's easy to see why a cat would enter the Egyptian pantheon and why the Egyptians loved their cats. (Histories, II.138). Ancient Egyptian deities in popular culture Bastet, Faceted Application of Subject Terminology, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bastet&oldid=1098174240, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox deity with unknown parameters, Articles having same image on Wikidata and Wikipedia, Articles containing Ancient Egyptian-language text, Articles containing Koin Greek-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 14 July 2022, at 15:14. From her earliest attestations until the later New Kingdom, Bastet is exclusively shown as a lioness.
The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Plus, cats require minimal care. In Egyptian art, her iconography borrowed from the earlier goddess Mafdet and also from Hathor, a goddess associated with Sekhmet who was also closely linked to Bastet. Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Bastet and several other deities were collectively known as the Eye of Ra, the protectors of Ra. Cite This Work
Some have short inscriptions mentioning deities, including a Bastet depicted as a female with the head of a lioness, plus priests and a possible cult place of Bastet in Memphis.
20 Jul 2022. In some of her earliest forms, she was shown as a woman with a lioness head. In addition to Sekhmet, Bastet is associated with other feline deities of Ancient Egypt. [13] Two thousand years later, during the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt (c. 1070712 BC), Bastet began to be depicted as a domestic cat or a cat-headed woman. Bastet. The earliest temple to Bastet appears to have been built around 2400 B.C.E., with later pharaohs continuing to build temples to her. When the temple was excavated in 1887 and 1889 CE over 300,000 mummified cats were found. In the early periods of her history, she was known as: In later periods, her epithets changed to reflect her changing nature: In the earliest periods, Bastet is pictured with the head of a lion or desert cat and a woman's body. Create an account to start this course today. It is easy to imagine the rowing of Bastet's sacred barque on the, on fieldwork in Egypt and programs near you, The Goddess Bastet and the Cult of Feline Deities in the Nile Delta, Digital Epigraphy and Academic Publishing Workshop, Antiquities Endowment Fund (AEF) Projects, Research Supporting Members (RSM) Projects. Some of the women make a noise with rattles, others play flutes all the way, while the rest of the women, and the men, sing and clap their hands. Her cult center at Bubastis in Lower Egypt became one of the richest and most luxuriant cities in Egypt as people from all over the country traveled there to pay their respects to the goddess and have the bodies of their dead cats interred in the city. She had at least two children, the gods Mahes and Nefertem. Cats in ancient Egypt were highly revered, partly due to their ability to combat vermin such as mice, rats (which threatened key food supplies), and snakesespecially cobras. The Papyrus wand, sometimes shown with Bastet, symbolizes her relationship to Lower Egypt. (178). There was a ceremonial procession, and the image of Bastet would be paraded around for everyone to see. Bastet, Sekhmet (the goddess of healing and warfare), and Mafdet (the goddess of justice and first feline deity in Egypt) are all associated with cats and considered feline deities. The World History Encyclopedia logo is a registered trademark. Bastet was worshipped in Bubastis in Lower Egypt, originally as a lioness goddess, a role shared by other deities such as Sekhmet. Kittens symbolize her relationship to fertility. Other symbols of Bastet include the following. Related Content In the earliest iterations, she was well known, honored, and feared for her ferocity. - Definition, Temple & Facts, Ancient Egyptian God Khepri: Mythology, Symbol & Facts, Ancient Egyptian God Shu: Myth, Symbol & Facts, Ancient Egyptian God Khnum: Temple, Symbol & Facts, Ancient Egyptian God Atum: Creation Myth, Appearance & Facts, Egyptian God Khonsu: Mythology, Hieroglyphs & Facts, Ancient Egyptian God Tefnut: Mythology, Symbol & Facts, Praxis World & U.S. History - Content Knowledge (5941): Practice & Study Guide, SAT Subject Test US History: Practice and Study Guide, Praxis Social Studies - Content Knowledge (5081): Study Guide & Practice, Western Civilization I: Certificate Program, TExES History 7-12 (233): Practice & Study Guide, High School World History: Tutoring Solution, NY Regents Exam - US History and Government: Test Prep & Practice, NY Regents Exam - Global History and Geography: Test Prep & Practice, The Achaemenid Empire: History, Region & Timeline, Adeimantus of Corinth & the Battles of Artemisium & Salamis, Alexander the Great: Biography, Conquests & Facts, Anaxagoras: Biography, Philosophy & Quotes, Clytemnestra of Greek Mythology: Character Analysis, Overview, Who Was the God Prometheus? Egyptians could easily observe attacks by lions and especially lionesses, which are known to be active hunters that use impressive teamwork. He asks about her and learns her name is Taboubu, daughter of a priest of Bastet. It dates to the Late Ptolemaic Period and is current at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Delia, Diana (1999). [17][18] Each year on the day of her festival, the town was said to have attracted some 700,000 visitors, both men and women (but not children), who arrived in numerous crowded ships. A road, paved with stone, of about three furlongs' length leads to the entrance, running eastward through the market place, towards the temple of Hermes; this road is about 400 feet wide, and bordered by trees reaching to heaven. Who is Bastet and what does she have to do with cats? Kathleen Halecki possesses a B.A. At some point, an unnamed pharaoh claimed that Bastet was his mother. It is the demonic aspect that mainly features in the Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead and in medical spells. As with many of the other festivals throughout Egypt, Bastet's celebration was a time to cast aside inhibitions much in the way modern revelers do in Europe during Carnivale or in the United States at Mardi Gras. The temples of Bastet at Sakkara and Alexandria are witness to this increasingly cosmopolitan cult. Anyone who lives with a feline knows that cats expect to be worshiped, and there's even a dignified air about them. For some unaccounted reason she is furious with her father and spreads fear in the deserts by her presence. Ancient Egyptians considered them sacred and claimed they were domesticated in Bastet's name because they carried aspects of her. In the later Coffin Texts (c. 2134-2040 BCE) she retains this role but is also seen as a protector of the dead. Cats of royalty were, in some instances, known to be dressed in golden jewelry and were allowed to eat from the plates of their owners. First and foremost, Bastet was the goddess of protection.
In countless museums and exhibitions, we meet her depicted as a seated cat with varying divine iconography such as a scarab on her head. Turner and Bateson suggest that the status of the cat was roughly equivalent to that of the cow in modern India. From this time, her association with fertility and childbirth only strengthened because cats can have up to 12 kittens and are usually good mothers. At the same time, she became less feared among the people. The main character of the Setna tales is Prince Setna Khaemwas who is based on the actual prince and High Priest of Ptah Khaemweset (l. c. 1281 - c. 1225 BCE), the son of Ramesses II (r. 1279-1213 BCE). In her earliest manifestations, she is a fierce lion-headed warrior and protector goddess. Extensive burials of cat remains were found not only at Bubastis, but also at Beni Hasan and Saqqara. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. She protected the home from evil spirits and disease, especially diseases associated with women and children. The honoring or worship of Bastet continues today in isolated places, particularly among Pagans and Wiccans. She is associated with both Mau, the divine cat who is an aspect of Ra, and with Mafdet, goddess of justice and the first feline deity in Egyptian history. There was also the hope that Bastet would grant them fertility. "Bastet." There may have been some idea that the goddess had a role in helping the parents in conceiving and bringing the child into the world. Although scholars disagree on who Taboubu represents, her close association with Bastet as the daughter of one of the goddesses' priests makes this deity a very likely candidate. It is customary for men and women (but not children) to assemble there to the number of seven hundred thousand, as the people of the place say. Statue of Bastet the cat goddess after her transformation. Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess, was adored throughout ancient Egyptian society for her protection of the family, home, and Pharaoh, for her role in fertility and childbirth, and for pleasure and sexuality. Bastet or Bast (Ancient Egyptian: bstjt, Coptic: , romanized:Oubaste[2] /uast/) was a goddess of ancient Egyptian religion, worshipped as early as the Second Dynasty (2890 BCE). [12], Bastet first appears in the third millennium BC, where she is depicted as either a fierce lioness or a woman with the head of a lioness. The pharaoh comes by at this time and Prince Setna is completely humiliated. [6] The name of the material known as alabaster might, through Greek, come from the name of the goddess. Pharaohs had five formal names, known as their ''throne names.'' Her status as one of the most popular and potent deities continued throughout the remainder of Egypt's history and on into the era of the Roman Empire until, like the other gods, she was eclipsed by the rise of Christianity. The relationship between Hathor and Bastet extended for three millennia, from the earliest writings about them both. Her name also is rendered as B'sst, Baast, Ubaste, and Baset. In the passage above, Herodotus makes note of how the women in the boats mocked those on shore and this would have been done to encourage them to leave off their daily tasks and join the celebration of the great goddess.
Additionally, Bastet has dominion over many other aspects of daily Egyptian life, including: Bastet became popular beginning in roughly 3rd millennium BCE, remained a critical deity in the Egyptian pantheon for thousands of years, and remains important to some today. Bastet in her late form of a cat-headed woman (rather than a lioness) holding an. Thank you! Cats protected homes and crops from vermin, including snakes and rodents, and thus the diseases and risks they embody. Some attribute her maternal parentage to the ''distant goddess,'' others to Isis, and still others state they do not know. We care about our planet and contribute a share of our revenue to carbon removal from the atmosphere. Bronze Cat from EgyptOsama Shukir Muhammed Amin (Copyright). She is sometimes depicted as a guide and helper to the dead although this was not one of her primary duties. Mark has lived in Greece and Germany and traveled through Egypt. World History Encyclopedia. Web. The Aegis, or breastplate, which she often wears, is decorated with a lion's head, symbolic of her warrior-like nature and history. According to that view, celebrants were exploring such fertility in their own lives. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/Bastet/.
With the documents signed he again moves toward her but, no, she has a third demand: his children must be killed so that they will not try to renege on the agreement and embroil her in a long, drawn-out court battle. Our publication has been reviewed for educational use by Common Sense Education, Internet Scout, Merlot II, OER Commons and School Library Journal. Mark, Joshua J.. [6] A festival of Bastet was known to be celebrated during the New Kingdom at Bubastis. In some early Egyptian texts she was also the protector of the dead. Mark, Joshua J.. The appearance of the sistrum in Bastet's hand in some statues is a clear link to Hathor who is traditionally seen carrying the instrument.
There is no scholarly agreement on the meaning of her name. Sister Sekhmet, the goddess of healing and warfare, Husband, Ptah, the god of architecture and craftspeople, Son, Mahes, the protector of the innocent, Possibly another child, Nefertum, the god or goddess or perfume.
They give affection and love when they feel it is warranted, but dole out punishment when they prefer to be left alone. The goddess was sometimes depicted holding a ceremonial sistrum in one hand and an aegis in the otherthe aegis usually resembling a collar or gorget, embellished with a lioness head. Two canals ran from the Nile to the temple, which had a moat around it. Bastet and Anubis are not married or mentioned together in most of the literature. Thousands of people would go to the celebration where they would sing, play music, and drink wine. Several of them included Bastet as one of their throne names, indicating her importance, even at the highest levels of Egyptian society. Eventually becoming domesticated, the household cat was very useful to early Egyptians as they would keep away mice and snakes. Although Herodotus claims that this festival outstripped all others in magnificence and excess, in reality there were many festivals celebrating many gods which could claim the same. Thousands of sherds of stone vessels from burials of the 2nd dynasty (around 2800 BCE) were discovered there. Other scholars have claimed her name simply implied that she was from the city of Bast. A stone wall, carven with figures, runs round it; within is a grove of very tall trees growing round a great shrine, wherein is the image of the goddess; the temple is a square, each side measuring a furlong. Wild cats were native to Egypt. The Greek historian, Herodotus, writing in the fifth century B.C.E., described the event as very popular with the people.
[9] In addition to her solar connections, sometimes she was called "eye of the moon". He is Sekhmet against he who transgresses his order. Thousands of people would come to celebrate. "Bastet." Her famed symbolization as a cat is a later development that reflects subtle changes in religious beliefs over many centuries of Egyptian history. But the earliest attestations of Bastet come from the galleries under the famous step pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara near Memphis. Her temples were home to sacred cats, and at death, they were mummified and presented to Bastet as an offering. James P. Allen instead derives the name as a nisba construction from a place name "Baset" (bst) with the meaning "she of bst". Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, described this festival as having 700,000 attendees, but no children were allowed. Great sacrifices were made and prodigious amounts of wine were drunkmore than was the case throughout the year. The Egyptians were undeterred in their veneration of the cat and their worship of Bastet, however. In Bastet's association with Mau, she is sometimes seen destroying the enemy of Ra, Apophis, by slicing off his head with a knife in her paw; an image Mau is best known by. The Egyptians refused to fight for fear of harming the animals and offending Bastet and so surrendered. It was also believed she could help with fertility. In this story young Prince Setna steals a book from a tomb, even after the inhabitants of the tomb beg him not to. Bastet enjoyed relationships with many other Deities in the Egyptian pantheon. As with many deities in Egyptian religion, she also played a role in the afterlife. It might be that Bastet was originally a deity of the royal residence and, judging from the etymology of her name, a derivation of the name of the ointment jar. Traces of Bastet's cults are seen in archeological sites of Italy, particularly Rome, Pompeii, Ostia, and Nemi.
Memphis is the site of the Egyptian capital through most of ancient Egyptian history. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. This "raising of the skirts" by the women, described by Herodotus, had as much to do with freedom from social constraints as it did with the fertility associated with the goddess. Our latest articles delivered to your inbox, once a week: Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. When their pet cats died, her followers would have them mummified and give them to her as offerings. The most common Bastet myths center around her relationship with her father, Ra. Hathor was the goddess of the sky and love, and in the earliest periods, also, of fertility and women. As they travel by river to Bubastis, 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 lift their skirts. Knowing of their great love for animals, and cats especially, he had his soldiers paint the image of Bastet on their shields and then arranged all the animals that could be found and drove them before the army toward the pivotal city of Pelusium. Anybody who dared to kill a cat would be put to death. The so-called Loyalist teaching of the 12th dynasty describes the ideal character of the king as: He is Bastet who protects the two lands. Some Rights Reserved (2009-2022) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. Bastet appears early in the 3rd millennium BCE in her form as an avenging lioness in Lower Egypt. The historian Polyaenus (2nd century CE) writes how, after his victory, Cambyses II hurled cats from a bag into the Egyptian's faces in scorn that they would surrender their city for animals.
He is so consumed with lust that he agrees to this and moves to embrace her. Like many other Egyptian myths, the story of Bastet changed over the long course of Egyptian history. The block statue from the eighteenth dynasty (c.1380 BC) of Nefer-ka, the wab-priest of Sekhmet,[20] provides written evidence for this. Perhaps your cat remembers her divine history and expects you to provide offerings and treat her like the cat goddess, Bastet. Some portrayals show Sekhmet as protector of Upper Egypt, while Bastet is protector of Lower Egypt. Geraldine Pinch concludes that Taboubu is a "manifestation of Bastet herself, playing her traditional role of punisher of humans who have offended the gods" (117). Bastet did not start out as a cat goddess, but was more closely aligned with the goddess, Mafdet, a lioness, who killed a serpent with her sharp claws in the ancient scroll known as the Pyramid Text, which dates to Egypt's Old Kingdom Period. This statue of Bastet shows her holding the sistrum in her right hand, the aegis around her neck, and a bag or ointment jar over her left arm. Hathor is another goddess who underwent a dramatic change from bloodthirsty destroyer to gentle friend of humanity as she was originally the lioness deity Sekhmet whom Ra sent to earth to destroy humans for their sins. Bastet was the chief deity of the city, and she had a festival every year. and M.A. World History Encyclopedia. [4] Because domestic cats tend to be tender and protective of their offspring, Bastet was also regarded as a good mother and sometimes was depicted with numerous kittens. From the Pyramid Texts onward, Bastet has a double aspect of nurturing mother and terrifying avenger. They celebrated the festival of the goddess by drinking, dancing, making music, and displaying their genitals" (116). [6] By the first millennium, then, bstt would have been something like *Ubaste (< *Ubastat) in Egyptian speech, later becoming Coptic Oubaste.[6]. Khaemweset, known as the "First Egyptologist", was famous for his restoration and preservation efforts of ancient Egyptian monuments and, by the time of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, was greatly revered as a sage and magician. He has taught history, writing, literature, and philosophy at the college level. One recent suggestion by Stephen Quirke (Ancient Egyptian Religion) explains Bastet as meaning, "She of the ointment jar". In scholarly discussion, the orgiastic nature of these events are usually connected to the fertility of cats and their conspicuous behavior during mating season. Bastet was the daughter of the god, Re, and Egyptian myths sometimes had her as the wife of Anubis or Ptah. The iconography of the goddess changed, however, perhaps as her nature began to be viewed as milder than that of other lioness deities. It was known in Greek as Boubastis () and translated into Hebrew as P-beset, spelled without the initial t sound of the last syllable. Sometimes, she was shown in lion form. Hathor's sacred city, Denderah, was sometimes known as the Southern Bubastis, and Bastet is frequently seen holding the sistrum, which is most sacred to Hathor. Her name was originally B'sst which became Ubaste, then Bast, then Bastet; the meaning of this name is not known or, at least, not universally agreed upon. She was also considered a domestic goddess; protecting the home and being a good mother. Although she was greatly venerated, she was equally feared as two of her titles demonstrate: The Lady of Dread and The Lady of Slaughter. She was also the goddess of fertility and childbirth, pleasure and sexuality, and family and domesticity. He has never seen any woman more beautiful in his life and sends her a note asking her to come to his bed for ten gold pieces but she returns a counter-offer telling him to meet her at the Temple of Bastet in Saqqara where she lives and he will then have all he desires. 108 lessons, {{courseNav.course.topics.length}} chapters | [5] In Middle Egyptian writing, the second t marks a feminine ending but usually was not pronounced, and the aleph () may have moved to a position before the accented syllable, bst. Setna travels to her villa where he is eager to get to the business at hand but Taboubu has some stipulations.
By doing this, she was present to slay Apep with a large knife that she held in her hand. He who worships him will be protected by his arm. The lioness was the fiercer side of the cat, and Bastet represented the friendlier, more playful side. These cats became domesticated over time entering into households and were helpful in killing mice that tried to get into food sources. This ambivalent character of feline goddesses and especially Bastet developed further in subsequent periods. One spell advises pretending to be the 'son of Bastet' in order to avoid catching the plague. Bastet, however, was also sometimes linked with the god of perfume and sweet smells, Nefertum, who was thought to be her son and this further links the meaning of her name to the ointment jar. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. She taught for history for fifteen years. Around 450 BCE the Greek historiograph Herodotus described the temple and cult of Bastet by focusing on the famous festival regularly held in honor of the goddess: . [19] This accords well with Egyptian sources that prescribe that lioness goddesses are to be appeased with the "feasts of drunkenness". The main cult centre of this deity was the city of Bubastis - Tell Basta - in the eastern Delta, and although only the outlines of the temple of Bastet now remain, Herodotus visited the site in the 5th century BC and praised it for its magnificence. He is a lion-headed man with a long knife or a lion. There are statues of Bastet shown holding a musical instrument known as a sistrum, which is shaken and sounds similar to a rattle. Along with other deities such as Hathor, Sekhmet, and Isis, Bastet was associated with the Eye of Ra. [8] She has been depicted as fighting the evil snake named Apep, an enemy of Ra. As the cat became more and more popular over time, the Egyptians realized the cat's protective nature, and these feline attributes began to take shape in the form of the cat goddess, Bastet. Additionally, Mau is the feline aspect of Ra, who is a god, not a goddess. Aimee has a Master's degree in anthropology and a Master's degree in Nursing. With its seasonal lake at the center, the Wadi Tumilat offered an excellent sanctuary for these animals. As noted, she was as popular among men as women in that every man had a mother, sister, girlfriend, wife, or daughter who benefited from the care Bastet provided.
Bastet is the Egyptian goddess of the home, domesticity, women's secrets, cats, fertility, and childbirth. [14], Scribes of the New Kingdom and later eras began referring to her with an additional feminine suffix, as Bastet. One of the most important aspects of Bastet's festival was the delivery of mummified cats to her temple. Originally it was B'sst, becoming Ubaste, then Bast, and finally Bastet. Bastet is sometimes rendered in art with a litter of kittens at her feet but her most popular depiction is of a sitting cat gazing ahead. Over time, as her association with the home and family grew, she took on the most familiar forms today, either a domestic cat or a cat head with a slender woman's body. Additional temples were located at Heliopolis and Hierakonpolis, as well as Alexandria. Mark, J. J. From her earliest days as a warrior goddess in her lioness form to her later days in her domesticated cat form, Bastet always protected her own. At the time, the Delta supported large herds of cattle that were key to an emerging centralized state with royal agricultural domains but also an irresistible hunting ground for lions. It seems both men and women served as her clergy and, as with the other Egyptian deities, her temple at Bubastis was the focal point of the city providing services ranging from medical attention to counseling to food distribution. The Ankh, or breath of life, is often in her imagery, symbolizing her relationship with life, protection, and fertility. Images of Bastet were often created from alabaster. [7] She then was depicted as the daughter of Ra and Isis, and the consort of Ptah, with whom she had a son Maahes. Bastet, the cat goddess, was one of the most popular goddesses in Egypt, probably second only to Isis. Eventually Bastet and Sekhmet were characterized as two aspects of the same goddess, with Sekhmet representing the powerful warrior and protector aspect and Bastet, who increasingly was depicted as a cat, representing a gentler aspect. World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. Cats were popular because they took care of vermin in homes and with crops. During the early periods, people believed she could cause plague, famine, and disasters to bad cities by denying the area the protection of her cats who ate the rodents. Setna then pulls off his clothes, takes Taboubu, and leads her quickly to the bedroom. The most obvious understanding would be that, originally, the name meant something like She of the Ointment Jar (Ubaste) and the Greeks changed the meaning to Soul of Isis as they associated her with the most popular goddess in Egypt. The Greeks associated her closely with their goddess Artemis and believed that, as Artemis had a twin brother (Apollo) so should Bast. Bastet gained her first popularity in the Second Dynasty of Egypt (2890-2680 BCE) as the avenging cat goddess in Lower Egypt. To accomplish his mission, Thot appears in the form of a baboon and uses music, dance and alcohol to please the lioness. Bubastis was also the site of the annual festival of Bastet. She holds him off, however, and tells him that his children must be sent for and must also sign the documents agreeing to this so that there will be no problems with the legal transference. Baste was the daughter of Re.
The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Plus, cats require minimal care. In Egyptian art, her iconography borrowed from the earlier goddess Mafdet and also from Hathor, a goddess associated with Sekhmet who was also closely linked to Bastet. Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Bastet and several other deities were collectively known as the Eye of Ra, the protectors of Ra. Cite This Work
Some have short inscriptions mentioning deities, including a Bastet depicted as a female with the head of a lioness, plus priests and a possible cult place of Bastet in Memphis.
20 Jul 2022. In some of her earliest forms, she was shown as a woman with a lioness head. In addition to Sekhmet, Bastet is associated with other feline deities of Ancient Egypt. [13] Two thousand years later, during the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt (c. 1070712 BC), Bastet began to be depicted as a domestic cat or a cat-headed woman. Bastet. The earliest temple to Bastet appears to have been built around 2400 B.C.E., with later pharaohs continuing to build temples to her. When the temple was excavated in 1887 and 1889 CE over 300,000 mummified cats were found. In the early periods of her history, she was known as: In later periods, her epithets changed to reflect her changing nature: In the earliest periods, Bastet is pictured with the head of a lion or desert cat and a woman's body. Create an account to start this course today. It is easy to imagine the rowing of Bastet's sacred barque on the, on fieldwork in Egypt and programs near you, The Goddess Bastet and the Cult of Feline Deities in the Nile Delta, Digital Epigraphy and Academic Publishing Workshop, Antiquities Endowment Fund (AEF) Projects, Research Supporting Members (RSM) Projects. Some of the women make a noise with rattles, others play flutes all the way, while the rest of the women, and the men, sing and clap their hands. Her cult center at Bubastis in Lower Egypt became one of the richest and most luxuriant cities in Egypt as people from all over the country traveled there to pay their respects to the goddess and have the bodies of their dead cats interred in the city. She had at least two children, the gods Mahes and Nefertem. Cats in ancient Egypt were highly revered, partly due to their ability to combat vermin such as mice, rats (which threatened key food supplies), and snakesespecially cobras. The Papyrus wand, sometimes shown with Bastet, symbolizes her relationship to Lower Egypt. (178). There was a ceremonial procession, and the image of Bastet would be paraded around for everyone to see. Bastet, Sekhmet (the goddess of healing and warfare), and Mafdet (the goddess of justice and first feline deity in Egypt) are all associated with cats and considered feline deities. The World History Encyclopedia logo is a registered trademark. Bastet was worshipped in Bubastis in Lower Egypt, originally as a lioness goddess, a role shared by other deities such as Sekhmet. Kittens symbolize her relationship to fertility. Other symbols of Bastet include the following. Related Content In the earliest iterations, she was well known, honored, and feared for her ferocity. - Definition, Temple & Facts, Ancient Egyptian God Khepri: Mythology, Symbol & Facts, Ancient Egyptian God Shu: Myth, Symbol & Facts, Ancient Egyptian God Khnum: Temple, Symbol & Facts, Ancient Egyptian God Atum: Creation Myth, Appearance & Facts, Egyptian God Khonsu: Mythology, Hieroglyphs & Facts, Ancient Egyptian God Tefnut: Mythology, Symbol & Facts, Praxis World & U.S. History - Content Knowledge (5941): Practice & Study Guide, SAT Subject Test US History: Practice and Study Guide, Praxis Social Studies - Content Knowledge (5081): Study Guide & Practice, Western Civilization I: Certificate Program, TExES History 7-12 (233): Practice & Study Guide, High School World History: Tutoring Solution, NY Regents Exam - US History and Government: Test Prep & Practice, NY Regents Exam - Global History and Geography: Test Prep & Practice, The Achaemenid Empire: History, Region & Timeline, Adeimantus of Corinth & the Battles of Artemisium & Salamis, Alexander the Great: Biography, Conquests & Facts, Anaxagoras: Biography, Philosophy & Quotes, Clytemnestra of Greek Mythology: Character Analysis, Overview, Who Was the God Prometheus? Egyptians could easily observe attacks by lions and especially lionesses, which are known to be active hunters that use impressive teamwork. He asks about her and learns her name is Taboubu, daughter of a priest of Bastet. It dates to the Late Ptolemaic Period and is current at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Delia, Diana (1999). [17][18] Each year on the day of her festival, the town was said to have attracted some 700,000 visitors, both men and women (but not children), who arrived in numerous crowded ships. A road, paved with stone, of about three furlongs' length leads to the entrance, running eastward through the market place, towards the temple of Hermes; this road is about 400 feet wide, and bordered by trees reaching to heaven. Who is Bastet and what does she have to do with cats? Kathleen Halecki possesses a B.A. At some point, an unnamed pharaoh claimed that Bastet was his mother. It is the demonic aspect that mainly features in the Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead and in medical spells. As with many of the other festivals throughout Egypt, Bastet's celebration was a time to cast aside inhibitions much in the way modern revelers do in Europe during Carnivale or in the United States at Mardi Gras. The temples of Bastet at Sakkara and Alexandria are witness to this increasingly cosmopolitan cult. Anyone who lives with a feline knows that cats expect to be worshiped, and there's even a dignified air about them. For some unaccounted reason she is furious with her father and spreads fear in the deserts by her presence. Ancient Egyptians considered them sacred and claimed they were domesticated in Bastet's name because they carried aspects of her. In the later Coffin Texts (c. 2134-2040 BCE) she retains this role but is also seen as a protector of the dead. Cats of royalty were, in some instances, known to be dressed in golden jewelry and were allowed to eat from the plates of their owners. First and foremost, Bastet was the goddess of protection.
In countless museums and exhibitions, we meet her depicted as a seated cat with varying divine iconography such as a scarab on her head. Turner and Bateson suggest that the status of the cat was roughly equivalent to that of the cow in modern India. From this time, her association with fertility and childbirth only strengthened because cats can have up to 12 kittens and are usually good mothers. At the same time, she became less feared among the people. The main character of the Setna tales is Prince Setna Khaemwas who is based on the actual prince and High Priest of Ptah Khaemweset (l. c. 1281 - c. 1225 BCE), the son of Ramesses II (r. 1279-1213 BCE). In her earliest manifestations, she is a fierce lion-headed warrior and protector goddess. Extensive burials of cat remains were found not only at Bubastis, but also at Beni Hasan and Saqqara. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. She protected the home from evil spirits and disease, especially diseases associated with women and children. The honoring or worship of Bastet continues today in isolated places, particularly among Pagans and Wiccans. She is associated with both Mau, the divine cat who is an aspect of Ra, and with Mafdet, goddess of justice and the first feline deity in Egyptian history. There was also the hope that Bastet would grant them fertility. "Bastet." There may have been some idea that the goddess had a role in helping the parents in conceiving and bringing the child into the world. Although scholars disagree on who Taboubu represents, her close association with Bastet as the daughter of one of the goddesses' priests makes this deity a very likely candidate. It is customary for men and women (but not children) to assemble there to the number of seven hundred thousand, as the people of the place say. Statue of Bastet the cat goddess after her transformation. Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess, was adored throughout ancient Egyptian society for her protection of the family, home, and Pharaoh, for her role in fertility and childbirth, and for pleasure and sexuality. Bastet or Bast (Ancient Egyptian: bstjt, Coptic: , romanized:Oubaste[2] /uast/) was a goddess of ancient Egyptian religion, worshipped as early as the Second Dynasty (2890 BCE). [12], Bastet first appears in the third millennium BC, where she is depicted as either a fierce lioness or a woman with the head of a lioness. The pharaoh comes by at this time and Prince Setna is completely humiliated. [6] The name of the material known as alabaster might, through Greek, come from the name of the goddess. Pharaohs had five formal names, known as their ''throne names.'' Her status as one of the most popular and potent deities continued throughout the remainder of Egypt's history and on into the era of the Roman Empire until, like the other gods, she was eclipsed by the rise of Christianity. The relationship between Hathor and Bastet extended for three millennia, from the earliest writings about them both. Her name also is rendered as B'sst, Baast, Ubaste, and Baset. In the passage above, Herodotus makes note of how the women in the boats mocked those on shore and this would have been done to encourage them to leave off their daily tasks and join the celebration of the great goddess.
Additionally, Bastet has dominion over many other aspects of daily Egyptian life, including: Bastet became popular beginning in roughly 3rd millennium BCE, remained a critical deity in the Egyptian pantheon for thousands of years, and remains important to some today. Bastet in her late form of a cat-headed woman (rather than a lioness) holding an. Thank you! Cats protected homes and crops from vermin, including snakes and rodents, and thus the diseases and risks they embody. Some attribute her maternal parentage to the ''distant goddess,'' others to Isis, and still others state they do not know. We care about our planet and contribute a share of our revenue to carbon removal from the atmosphere. Bronze Cat from EgyptOsama Shukir Muhammed Amin (Copyright). She is sometimes depicted as a guide and helper to the dead although this was not one of her primary duties. Mark has lived in Greece and Germany and traveled through Egypt. World History Encyclopedia. Web. The Aegis, or breastplate, which she often wears, is decorated with a lion's head, symbolic of her warrior-like nature and history. According to that view, celebrants were exploring such fertility in their own lives. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/Bastet/. With the documents signed he again moves toward her but, no, she has a third demand: his children must be killed so that they will not try to renege on the agreement and embroil her in a long, drawn-out court battle. Our publication has been reviewed for educational use by Common Sense Education, Internet Scout, Merlot II, OER Commons and School Library Journal. Mark, Joshua J.. [6] A festival of Bastet was known to be celebrated during the New Kingdom at Bubastis. In some early Egyptian texts she was also the protector of the dead. Mark, Joshua J.. The appearance of the sistrum in Bastet's hand in some statues is a clear link to Hathor who is traditionally seen carrying the instrument.
There is no scholarly agreement on the meaning of her name. Sister Sekhmet, the goddess of healing and warfare, Husband, Ptah, the god of architecture and craftspeople, Son, Mahes, the protector of the innocent, Possibly another child, Nefertum, the god or goddess or perfume. They give affection and love when they feel it is warranted, but dole out punishment when they prefer to be left alone. The goddess was sometimes depicted holding a ceremonial sistrum in one hand and an aegis in the otherthe aegis usually resembling a collar or gorget, embellished with a lioness head. Two canals ran from the Nile to the temple, which had a moat around it. Bastet and Anubis are not married or mentioned together in most of the literature. Thousands of people would go to the celebration where they would sing, play music, and drink wine. Several of them included Bastet as one of their throne names, indicating her importance, even at the highest levels of Egyptian society. Eventually becoming domesticated, the household cat was very useful to early Egyptians as they would keep away mice and snakes. Although Herodotus claims that this festival outstripped all others in magnificence and excess, in reality there were many festivals celebrating many gods which could claim the same. Thousands of sherds of stone vessels from burials of the 2nd dynasty (around 2800 BCE) were discovered there. Other scholars have claimed her name simply implied that she was from the city of Bast. A stone wall, carven with figures, runs round it; within is a grove of very tall trees growing round a great shrine, wherein is the image of the goddess; the temple is a square, each side measuring a furlong. Wild cats were native to Egypt. The Greek historian, Herodotus, writing in the fifth century B.C.E., described the event as very popular with the people.
[9] In addition to her solar connections, sometimes she was called "eye of the moon". He is Sekhmet against he who transgresses his order. Thousands of people would come to celebrate. "Bastet." Her famed symbolization as a cat is a later development that reflects subtle changes in religious beliefs over many centuries of Egyptian history. But the earliest attestations of Bastet come from the galleries under the famous step pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara near Memphis. Her temples were home to sacred cats, and at death, they were mummified and presented to Bastet as an offering. James P. Allen instead derives the name as a nisba construction from a place name "Baset" (bst) with the meaning "she of bst". Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, described this festival as having 700,000 attendees, but no children were allowed. Great sacrifices were made and prodigious amounts of wine were drunkmore than was the case throughout the year. The Egyptians were undeterred in their veneration of the cat and their worship of Bastet, however. In Bastet's association with Mau, she is sometimes seen destroying the enemy of Ra, Apophis, by slicing off his head with a knife in her paw; an image Mau is best known by. The Egyptians refused to fight for fear of harming the animals and offending Bastet and so surrendered. It was also believed she could help with fertility. In this story young Prince Setna steals a book from a tomb, even after the inhabitants of the tomb beg him not to. Bastet enjoyed relationships with many other Deities in the Egyptian pantheon. As with many deities in Egyptian religion, she also played a role in the afterlife. It might be that Bastet was originally a deity of the royal residence and, judging from the etymology of her name, a derivation of the name of the ointment jar. Traces of Bastet's cults are seen in archeological sites of Italy, particularly Rome, Pompeii, Ostia, and Nemi.
Memphis is the site of the Egyptian capital through most of ancient Egyptian history. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. This "raising of the skirts" by the women, described by Herodotus, had as much to do with freedom from social constraints as it did with the fertility associated with the goddess. Our latest articles delivered to your inbox, once a week: Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. When their pet cats died, her followers would have them mummified and give them to her as offerings. The most common Bastet myths center around her relationship with her father, Ra. Hathor was the goddess of the sky and love, and in the earliest periods, also, of fertility and women. As they travel by river to Bubastis, 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 lift their skirts. Knowing of their great love for animals, and cats especially, he had his soldiers paint the image of Bastet on their shields and then arranged all the animals that could be found and drove them before the army toward the pivotal city of Pelusium. Anybody who dared to kill a cat would be put to death. The so-called Loyalist teaching of the 12th dynasty describes the ideal character of the king as: He is Bastet who protects the two lands. Some Rights Reserved (2009-2022) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. Bastet appears early in the 3rd millennium BCE in her form as an avenging lioness in Lower Egypt. The historian Polyaenus (2nd century CE) writes how, after his victory, Cambyses II hurled cats from a bag into the Egyptian's faces in scorn that they would surrender their city for animals.
He is so consumed with lust that he agrees to this and moves to embrace her. Like many other Egyptian myths, the story of Bastet changed over the long course of Egyptian history. The block statue from the eighteenth dynasty (c.1380 BC) of Nefer-ka, the wab-priest of Sekhmet,[20] provides written evidence for this. Perhaps your cat remembers her divine history and expects you to provide offerings and treat her like the cat goddess, Bastet. Some portrayals show Sekhmet as protector of Upper Egypt, while Bastet is protector of Lower Egypt. Geraldine Pinch concludes that Taboubu is a "manifestation of Bastet herself, playing her traditional role of punisher of humans who have offended the gods" (117). Bastet did not start out as a cat goddess, but was more closely aligned with the goddess, Mafdet, a lioness, who killed a serpent with her sharp claws in the ancient scroll known as the Pyramid Text, which dates to Egypt's Old Kingdom Period. This statue of Bastet shows her holding the sistrum in her right hand, the aegis around her neck, and a bag or ointment jar over her left arm. Hathor is another goddess who underwent a dramatic change from bloodthirsty destroyer to gentle friend of humanity as she was originally the lioness deity Sekhmet whom Ra sent to earth to destroy humans for their sins. Bastet was the chief deity of the city, and she had a festival every year. and M.A. World History Encyclopedia. [4] Because domestic cats tend to be tender and protective of their offspring, Bastet was also regarded as a good mother and sometimes was depicted with numerous kittens. From the Pyramid Texts onward, Bastet has a double aspect of nurturing mother and terrifying avenger. They celebrated the festival of the goddess by drinking, dancing, making music, and displaying their genitals" (116). [6] By the first millennium, then, bstt would have been something like *Ubaste (< *Ubastat) in Egyptian speech, later becoming Coptic Oubaste.[6]. Khaemweset, known as the "First Egyptologist", was famous for his restoration and preservation efforts of ancient Egyptian monuments and, by the time of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, was greatly revered as a sage and magician. He has taught history, writing, literature, and philosophy at the college level. One recent suggestion by Stephen Quirke (Ancient Egyptian Religion) explains Bastet as meaning, "She of the ointment jar". In scholarly discussion, the orgiastic nature of these events are usually connected to the fertility of cats and their conspicuous behavior during mating season. Bastet was the daughter of the god, Re, and Egyptian myths sometimes had her as the wife of Anubis or Ptah. The iconography of the goddess changed, however, perhaps as her nature began to be viewed as milder than that of other lioness deities. It was known in Greek as Boubastis () and translated into Hebrew as P-beset, spelled without the initial t sound of the last syllable. Sometimes, she was shown in lion form. Hathor's sacred city, Denderah, was sometimes known as the Southern Bubastis, and Bastet is frequently seen holding the sistrum, which is most sacred to Hathor. Her name was originally B'sst which became Ubaste, then Bast, then Bastet; the meaning of this name is not known or, at least, not universally agreed upon. She was also considered a domestic goddess; protecting the home and being a good mother. Although she was greatly venerated, she was equally feared as two of her titles demonstrate: The Lady of Dread and The Lady of Slaughter. She was also the goddess of fertility and childbirth, pleasure and sexuality, and family and domesticity. He has never seen any woman more beautiful in his life and sends her a note asking her to come to his bed for ten gold pieces but she returns a counter-offer telling him to meet her at the Temple of Bastet in Saqqara where she lives and he will then have all he desires. 108 lessons, {{courseNav.course.topics.length}} chapters | [5] In Middle Egyptian writing, the second t marks a feminine ending but usually was not pronounced, and the aleph () may have moved to a position before the accented syllable, bst. Setna travels to her villa where he is eager to get to the business at hand but Taboubu has some stipulations.
By doing this, she was present to slay Apep with a large knife that she held in her hand. He who worships him will be protected by his arm. The lioness was the fiercer side of the cat, and Bastet represented the friendlier, more playful side. These cats became domesticated over time entering into households and were helpful in killing mice that tried to get into food sources. This ambivalent character of feline goddesses and especially Bastet developed further in subsequent periods. One spell advises pretending to be the 'son of Bastet' in order to avoid catching the plague. Bastet, however, was also sometimes linked with the god of perfume and sweet smells, Nefertum, who was thought to be her son and this further links the meaning of her name to the ointment jar. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. She taught for history for fifteen years. Around 450 BCE the Greek historiograph Herodotus described the temple and cult of Bastet by focusing on the famous festival regularly held in honor of the goddess: . [19] This accords well with Egyptian sources that prescribe that lioness goddesses are to be appeased with the "feasts of drunkenness". The main cult centre of this deity was the city of Bubastis - Tell Basta - in the eastern Delta, and although only the outlines of the temple of Bastet now remain, Herodotus visited the site in the 5th century BC and praised it for its magnificence. He is a lion-headed man with a long knife or a lion. There are statues of Bastet shown holding a musical instrument known as a sistrum, which is shaken and sounds similar to a rattle. Along with other deities such as Hathor, Sekhmet, and Isis, Bastet was associated with the Eye of Ra. [8] She has been depicted as fighting the evil snake named Apep, an enemy of Ra. As the cat became more and more popular over time, the Egyptians realized the cat's protective nature, and these feline attributes began to take shape in the form of the cat goddess, Bastet. Additionally, Mau is the feline aspect of Ra, who is a god, not a goddess. Aimee has a Master's degree in anthropology and a Master's degree in Nursing. With its seasonal lake at the center, the Wadi Tumilat offered an excellent sanctuary for these animals. As noted, she was as popular among men as women in that every man had a mother, sister, girlfriend, wife, or daughter who benefited from the care Bastet provided.
Bastet is the Egyptian goddess of the home, domesticity, women's secrets, cats, fertility, and childbirth. [14], Scribes of the New Kingdom and later eras began referring to her with an additional feminine suffix, as Bastet. One of the most important aspects of Bastet's festival was the delivery of mummified cats to her temple. Originally it was B'sst, becoming Ubaste, then Bast, and finally Bastet. Bastet is sometimes rendered in art with a litter of kittens at her feet but her most popular depiction is of a sitting cat gazing ahead. Over time, as her association with the home and family grew, she took on the most familiar forms today, either a domestic cat or a cat head with a slender woman's body. Additional temples were located at Heliopolis and Hierakonpolis, as well as Alexandria. Mark, J. J. From her earliest days as a warrior goddess in her lioness form to her later days in her domesticated cat form, Bastet always protected her own. At the time, the Delta supported large herds of cattle that were key to an emerging centralized state with royal agricultural domains but also an irresistible hunting ground for lions. It seems both men and women served as her clergy and, as with the other Egyptian deities, her temple at Bubastis was the focal point of the city providing services ranging from medical attention to counseling to food distribution. The Ankh, or breath of life, is often in her imagery, symbolizing her relationship with life, protection, and fertility. Images of Bastet were often created from alabaster. [7] She then was depicted as the daughter of Ra and Isis, and the consort of Ptah, with whom she had a son Maahes. Bastet, the cat goddess, was one of the most popular goddesses in Egypt, probably second only to Isis. Eventually Bastet and Sekhmet were characterized as two aspects of the same goddess, with Sekhmet representing the powerful warrior and protector aspect and Bastet, who increasingly was depicted as a cat, representing a gentler aspect. World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. Cats were popular because they took care of vermin in homes and with crops. During the early periods, people believed she could cause plague, famine, and disasters to bad cities by denying the area the protection of her cats who ate the rodents. Setna then pulls off his clothes, takes Taboubu, and leads her quickly to the bedroom. The most obvious understanding would be that, originally, the name meant something like She of the Ointment Jar (Ubaste) and the Greeks changed the meaning to Soul of Isis as they associated her with the most popular goddess in Egypt. The Greeks associated her closely with their goddess Artemis and believed that, as Artemis had a twin brother (Apollo) so should Bast. Bastet gained her first popularity in the Second Dynasty of Egypt (2890-2680 BCE) as the avenging cat goddess in Lower Egypt. To accomplish his mission, Thot appears in the form of a baboon and uses music, dance and alcohol to please the lioness. Bubastis was also the site of the annual festival of Bastet. She holds him off, however, and tells him that his children must be sent for and must also sign the documents agreeing to this so that there will be no problems with the legal transference. Baste was the daughter of Re.