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The country of Egypt consisted of two narrow strips of arable land lining either bank of the river Nile, from Aswan to the northern Delta. Ancient Egyptian society treated men and women equally. Women participated in the political, economic, and judicial world of ancient Egypt on the same terms as men. This social system reflects Egyptian mythology, where Goddesses played an equal, if not chief, role.
Egyptian goddesses were creators of deities, and the protectors of the pharaohs in the form of the cobra, vulture, or lioness. Female deities were kept separate from the males, with their own temples and followers. Egyptian mythology is a complex collection of stories, traditions, and practices. This is partly because the culture is so ancient, and partly because each city had its own set of deities, whose unique personalities are lost as their cults age.
Bastet is first and foremost a protectress; specifically of the royal house and the Two Lands. Later she got the life-preserving goddess of joy and protector of women. Worshiped in the Delta city of Bubastis and usually depicted as a cat or in human form with the head of a cat, Bastet was seen as a protector of cats and those who cared for them. The domestic cat became highly regarded by Egyptian civilization as an animal of wonder.
Originating between five and six thousand years ago. The Egyptians found cats fascinating, even regarding them as godlike. Because cats were deeply respected, they were often mummified and even buried in great tombs with their owners. In Egyptian society it was considered a high crime to kill a cat, punishable by death. Families owning cats made sure they received attention and respect.
Deep respect was given to cats even after they died. Whenever a household cat died, the entire family would go through a period of grief, shaving their eyebrows to mark their sadness. Deceased cats were very often mummified and entombed with fine jewelry and treasures; a custom usually reserved for only the most powerful and wealthy. Mummified rats and mice have even been found in cats' tombs, signaling the Egyptian belief in a cat afterlife. According to Herodotus, Bastet was a happy and benign Deity who brought good fortune, music, dance and joy to all cats were indeed her sacred animal and the people of the time tended to see the Goddess in every cat that walked past, but her original depiction was as a royal lady or priestess with a cat's head. Bastet expressed the qualities of the lion or cat family, beauty of movement, agility, strength, caution, and fidelity to the pride, all of which could equally be interpreted at the spiritual level.
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Research essay sample on The Egyptian Goddess Bastet
