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Egyptian Mythology
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Protective

Bastet

bꜣstt
HomeProtectionCatsFertility

How it changed

Began as a lioness goddess close to Sekhmet and softened into a cat over centuries. The change is visible in the art: her earliest forms are fierce, her later ones domestic. Herodotus describes her festival as the largest and most exuberant in Egypt.

Cult centre

Bubastis

Best attested

Second Dynasty onward

Family

Daughter of Ra.

Epithets

  • Lady of Bubastis

How to recognise the figure

A cat, or a cat-headed woman, often with kittens and a sistrum.

Carries

Worshipped at

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