Cat of the Month ~ December 2013Among the animals that the ancient Egyptians respected and venerated was the cat, and they named their Cat Godess ‘Bastet’. In legend the godess Bastet was said to be a sacred and gentle animal, with a long tail (often curled around one leg) and with rather long erect ears. The cult center for Bastet was at Bubastis (modern Zagazig) in the eastern part of the Nile Delta. The cat was also the patron deity of other sites in Egypt including Saqqara and Alexandria. Great temples and underground mausoleums for cats have been excavated at each of these sites.

The Godess Bastet
This fourteen centimetre high statue of Bastet shows the goddess in characteristic Egyptian style.
She sits with her forelegs upright, and her hind legs neatly folded under her. The ears are
erect, and the eyes are big. The muzzle has some detail and the body appears to be strong.
Photograph: The Supreme Council of Antiquities, Egypt

A stone carving of Bastet found in Alexandria in 2010
This stone sculpture was one of many found among the temple’s ruins in the Kom el-Dekkah
area of the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria in 2010. Archaeologists say the
Ptolemaic temple dating back more than 2,000 years may have been dedicated
to the ancient Cat Goddess.
Photograph: The Supreme Council of Antiquities, Egypt