GoddessBastet's Profile at Vampire Rave.

Lion and cat and woman, goddess of war and fertility—the Egyptian goddess Bast (also known as Bastet) contains multitudes. While she's not the only cat goddess from ancient history, Bastet is probably the most famous cat goddess today. She has a strong presence in pop culture and a select few even still worship her!

In this complete guide to Bastet, we'll go over exactly what makes this Egyptian cat goddess so compelling. We'll describe her attributes, how she was depicted in ancient Egypt, her major relationships, how she was worshipped, her major myths, and the history of her worship. We'll close out with where you might encounter Bast, goddess of cats, today.

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The goddess we most frequently call "Bastet" today was known as both "Bast" and "Bastet" in ancient Egypt.

"Bast" was her earlier name. It possibly meant either "Soul of Auset" (Auset being an alternative name for "Isis," who is sometimes considered her mother), or "devouring lady."

Later, priests called her "Bastet" to indicate that the "t" in her name should be pronounced. "Bastet" shares one of the same hieroglyphs for the bas jar, which held perfumes and ointments. So "Bastet" also meant "she of the ointment jar."

Bast was originally a lioness goddess, but as time went on, she was more closely associated with the housecat. The cat was her totem animal.

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As one of the main goddesses of the Egyptian pantheon, Bastet had a huge number of attributes and aspects:

She was a goddess of cats, the sun, of the East, of fire, of love, intoxication, music and dancing, joy, celebration, fertility, secrets, magic, and sex.
However, she was also a goddess of war known for her wrathful vengeance.
She protected households and individuals from disease and evil spirits, guarded pregnant women, and protected cats.
She served as the divine nurse and mother of the Pharaoh.
Due to Bastet meaning "she of the ointment jar" she also became known also as a goddess of perfume, and was called the "perfumed protector."
Bast/Bastet was the protector and guardian of Lower Egypt.
She was the patron goddess of fire fighters, because the Egyptians believed that a cat running through a building on fire would draw the flames out.
She was also one of the goddesses who was known as the "eye of Ra" or the "eye of Atum," the sun. In this aspect she symbolized Ra's feminine counterpart and was sent out to take vengeance on his enemies. The "eye of Ra" was both a part of Ra and a separate being from him, and was considered his mother, sister, wife, and daughter simultaneously. She had life-giving, protective and also destructive capacities.

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Bast's Major Relationships
Bast had several major relationships in the Egyptian pantheon. We enumerate the main ones here. However, it's important to emphasize that because Bast was worshipped over a period of thousands of years, many of her relationships with other gods shifted dramatically over time, and were even contradictory!

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Family
Bastet was most commonly considered a daughter of either Ra and Isis or just Ra alone. In her aspect as the "eye of Ra," she was a part of him given independent life.
She was the mother of the god Mahes, a lion or lion-headed man.
In later years she was known as the mother of Nefertum, a god of the sun, perfume, and alchemy.
She was the wife of Ptah, the god of architecture and craftsmanship.
Anubis was sometimes cited as either the son or husband of Bast, because of her status as goddess of perfume and his as god of embalming, but this was not one of her most important relationships.

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Counterpart Goddesses
Bast was linked to all of the other goddesses who were also known as the "eye of Ra:" Sekhmet, Hathor, Wadjet, and Mut. These goddesses could be transformed into one another in the correct (mythic) circumstances.
Sekhmet and Bast were the most closely linked in many ways. They shared a lioness aspect and were sisters and counterparts. Just as Bast was the protector of Lower Egypt, Sekhmet was the protector of Upper Egypt. Both Sekhmet and Bast were the wife of Ptah, god of architecture and craftsmanship.
Bastet was also associated with Hathor as they had similar aspects as goddesses of love, pleasure, music and dance, celebration, and intoxication.

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Combination With Wadjet and Mut
As the mother of the pharaoh and the protector of Lower Egypt, Bast became closely associated with Wadjet, the patron goddess of Lower Egypt. Bast protected Lower Egypt; Wadjet embodied it. As they were both symbolic of the nation and both embodied the "eye of Ra," combining the two goddesses into one figure, Wadjet-Bast, likely seemed natural.

Wadjet-Bast was often portrayed with a lion-head and a cobra-sun headdress. Wadjet-Bast also mirrored the combination of Nehkbet-Sekhmet in Upper Egypt. Eventually Mut, another lioness goddess, also became linked with Wadjet-Bast, becoming Wadjet-Bast-Mut.

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