In Egyptian mythology, Bastet or Bast was a solar deity and a goddess of fertility and protector of pregnant women. She also has power over solar eclipses. Bastet was represented as early as the Second Dynasty of the Old Kingdom as a woman with a feline head. Domestic cat-headed Bastet, as she appears in the Middle Kingdom, is a content goddess; lioness-headed Bastet is potentially dangerous.

She is also considered by some to be another aspect of Sekhmet. Her cult was centered in Bubastis. After the period of Hellenistic civilization, Bastet became a lunar deity whom the Greeks associated with their Artemis. She was considered the daughter of Isis and Osiris, and was associated with Hathor. She was the wife of Ptah, with whom she was the mother of Nefertum and Mihos. She was also the patron goddess of cats. Mummified cats were dedicated in her honor.

Other names

• Bast
• Ubasti
• Ba-en-Aset
• Ailuros (simply Greek for "cat")

External link

• Encyclopedia Mythica: (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/b/bastet.html) Bastet

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