BASTET

Bastet, cat-headed goddess of Bubastis, statuette, 22nd-25th dynasty; in the British Museum also called Bast, or Ubasti ancient Egyptian goddess worshiped in the form of a lioness, and later a cat. Bastet was an ancient deity whose nature changed after the domestication of the cat around 1500 BC. She was native to Bubastis in the Nile River delta but also had an important cult at Memphis. In the Late and Ptolemaic periods large cemeteries of mummified cats were created at both sites, and thousands of bronze statuettes of the goddess were deposited as votive offerings. Small figures of cats were also worn as amulets; this too was probably related to the cult of Bastet. Bastet is represented as a lioness or as a woman with a cat's head: she carries an ancient percussion instrument, the sistrum, in her right hand; a so-called aegis, or breastplate (in Bastet's case, surmounted with the head of a lioness), in her left hand; and a small bag over her left arm. She wears an elaborately ornamented dress. Her cult was carried to Italy by the Romans, and traces have been found in Rome, Ostia, Nemi, and Pompeii.