Bastet
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In Egyptian mythology, Bast (also spelt Bastet, Ubasti, and Pasht) is an ancient goddess, worshipped at least since the Second Dynasty. 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. Bast was originally a goddess of the sun, but later changed by the Greeks to a goddess of the moon.
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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 suppressed 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 jewelry 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.
Bast in popular culture
In the Disney movie The Three Lives of Thomasina, the eponymous cat 'dies' during the movie and imagines herself going to cat heaven, presided over by a great statue of the cat goddess.
In "The Stackhouse Filibuster" of The West Wing, Bast, her history and a curse from breaking an ancient statue of her likeness features in a subplot.
Bast appears as a minor, but influential, character in two of Neil Gaiman's works, The Sandman and American Gods. In Sandman, Bast appears as a friend and confidant of Dream, at one point openly flirting with him although nothing comes of it. In American Gods, she appears at times as a cat living with other Egyptian gods Thoth and Anubis who now survive as small-town morticians, and during the story Bast provides the protagonist Shadow with comfort and protection (for example, using her powers among other cats to keep an eye on him). There is also a 3 issue limited series called The Sandman Presents: Bast written by Caitlin Kiernan. Perhaps this same Bast is also portrayed as one of the major goddesses worshipped by the Amazons of Bana-Mighdall in the DC Comics book Wonder Woman.
Marvel Comics depicts their own rendition of the goddess Bast.
In the pilot episode of the television show Dark Angel, a major plot element revolves around the main character Max (who has feline DNA) stealing a statue of the goddess Bast.
In the 2004 movie Catwoman, the title character's supernatural powers are linked to the goddess Bast.
Bast also appears in a book called The Catswold Portal by Shirley Rousseau Murphy, she is the mother of a species called Catswold: humans that can turn into cats.
In the Troma film Teen-Age Catgirls in Heat, Bast is a central figure in the plot, often portrayed as a bust.
Bastet also appeared as a Goa'uld System Lord in the television series Stargate SG-1.
In one episode of the television show Early Edition, a statue of Bastet brings vengeance on thieves who steal the statue's emerald eyes, and the mysterious cat who brings a newspaper from the future is linked with the feline deity.
In Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, there is a cat-headed deity called Bast. The difference being that in Egyptian Mythology, Bast is depicted as female, whereas the Discworld Bast is male. He is the God of things left on the doorstep or half-digested under the bed.
Bastet is referenced in Garfield: His 9 Lives
In the role-playing game universe World of Darkness, the Bastet are werecats, one of many shapeshifting breeds.
In the 2004 movie Immortel (Ad Vitam), Bastet, along with Anubis, wait in the floating pyramid for the seven days while Horus tries to produce offspring. They are responsible for awakening Horus, and punishing him for his crimes after the seven-day-long hourglasses run out.
Bastet is the name of a record label owned by Arthur Magazine.
Kimora Lee Simmons (Baby Phat clothing line maker) has a representation of Bastet on her clothing line (the Baby Phat Cat).
External links
- Encyclopedia Mythica: Bast
- Per-Bast.org: The Domain of Bast
