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In Egyptian mythology,
Bast (also spelt Ubasti, and Pasht) is an ancient goddess, worshipped
at least since the Second Dynasty, for whom the centre of her
cult was in Per-Bast (Bubastis in greek), which was named after
her. Originally she was viewed as the protector goddess of Lower
Egypt, and consequently depicted as a fierce lion. Indeed, her
name means (female) devourer. As protectress, she was seen as
defender of the pharaoh, and consequently of the chief god,
Ra, who was a solar deity, gaining her
the titles Lady of flame, and Eye of Ra.
Later scribes sometimes named her Bastet, a variation on
Bast consisting of an additional feminine suffix to the one
already present, thought to have been added to emphasise pronunciation.
Since Bastet would literally mean (female) of the ointment
jar, Bast gradually became thought of as the goddess of perfumes,
earning the title perfumed protector. In connection with this,
when Anubis became the god of embalming,
Bast, as goddess of ointment, became thought of as his mother,
although this association was broken in later years, when
Anubis became thought of as Nephthys'
son.
This gentler characteristic, of goddess of perfumes, together
with Lower Egypt's position as the loser in the wars between
Upper & Lower Egypt, lead to her ferocity being gradually
toned down. Thus by the Middle Kingdom, she had come to be
thought of as a domestic cat rather than a lion, although
occasionally, she would be depicted holding a lionness mask,
hinting at supressed ferocity. Since domestic cats tend to
be quite tender, and protective, toward their children, she
was also thought of as a good mother, and sometimes became
depicted with numerous (unidentified) kittens. Consequently,
a woman who wanted children would sometimes wear an amulet
depicting Bast, as a cat, with kittens, the number of which
indicated her own desired amount of children.
Due to the severe disaster to the food supply that could
be caused by simple vermin such as mice and rats, and their
ability to fight and kill snakes, especially Cobras, Cats
in Egypt were revered heavily, sometimes being given golden
jewelery to wear, and being allowed to eat from the same plates
as their owners. Consequently, as the main cat (rather than
lion) deity, Bast was strongly revered as the patron of cats,
and thus it was in the temple at Per-Bast that dead (and mummified)
cats were brought for burial. Over 300,000 mummified cats
were discovered when Bast's temple at per-Bast was excavated.
As a cat/lion goddess, and protector of the lands, when,
during the New Kingdom, the fierce lion god Maahes became
part of Egyptian mythology, she was identified, in the Lower
Kingdom, as his mother. This paralleled the identification
of the fierce lion goddess Sekhmet, as his mother in the Upper
Kingdom.
As divine mother, and more especially as protectress, for
Lower Egypt, she became strongly associated with Wadjet,
the patron goddess of Lower Egypt, eventually becoming Wadjet-Bast,
paralleling the similar pair of patron (Nekhbet)
and lioness protector (Sekhmet)
for Upper Egypt. Eventually, her position as patron and protector
of Lower Egypt, lead to her being identified as the more substantial
goddess Mut, whose cult had risen to
power with that of Amun, and eventually
being absorbed into her as Mut-Wadjet-Bast. Shortly after,
Mut also absorbed the identities of
the Sekhmet-Nekhbet pairing as well.
This merging of identities of similar goddesses has lead
to considerable confusion, leading to some associating things
such as the title Mistress of the Sistrum (more properly belonging
to Hathor, who had become thought
of as an aspect of Isis, as had Mut),
and the idea of her as a lunar goddess (more properly an attribute
of Mut). Indeed, much of this confusion
occurred to subsequent generations, as the identities slowly
merged, leading to the Greeks, who sometimes named her Ailuros
(Greek for cat), thinking of Bast as a version of Artemis,
their own moon goddess. And thus, to fit their own cosmology,
to the Greeks, Bast was thought of as the sister of Horus,
who they identified as Apollo (Artemis' brother), and consequently
the daughter of Isis and Osiris.
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