That also suggests that the worship of the cat-goddess continued in Egypt during the later, more Greek-influenced, Ptolemaic period, he said. Statues of other ancient Egyptian deities also present, he added.
The archaeologist who led the excavation team, Mohammed Abdel-Maqsood, said the ruins indicate this may be the first Ptolemaic temple discovered in Alexandria to be dedicated to Bastet and indicates that the worship of the cat-goddess continued in Egypt after the end of the ancient Egyptian era.
Cat Goddess Cp
At least some of the burials contained gold foil grave goods that had been fashioned into the shape of Egyptian deities, including Isis, a goddess associated with healing and magic; Bastet, a cat goddess who was thought to protect people; and the falcon-headed god Horus.
A bronze statue showing Bastet, an Egyptian goddess in the shape of a cat, was discovered along with the cat statues. The goddess statue is shown in the foreground of this photo along with some of the 100 wooden cat statues. Bastet served a protective role in Egyptian mythology, while also being associated with music, dancing and pleasure.
Bast was the ancient Egyptian goddess of protection and cats. She was the daughter of Ra, the sun god. As protectress, she was seen as defender of the pharaoh, and consequently of the chief god, Ra.
Bast is also known as Bastet, Ubasti, and Pasch. She was worshipped at least since the Second Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. The centre of her cult was in Per-Bast (Bubastis in Greek), which was named after her. Originally she was seen as the protector goddess of Lower Egypt, and therefore her image was a fierce lion. Her name means (female) devourer.
In later times Bast became the goddess of protection and blessing,and was the protectress of women, children, and domestic cats. She was the goddess of sunrise, music, dance, and pleasure as well as family, fertility, and birth. In connection with this, when Anubis became the god of embalming, Bast, as goddess of ointment, and she was regarded as his mother, until Anubis became Nephthys' son.
This gentler characteristic, of Bast as goddess of perfumes, and Lower Egypt's loss in the wars between Upper and Lower Egypt meant that in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt she was seen as a domestic cat and not any more as a lionness. Because domestic cats tend to be tender and protective toward their offspring, Bast was also regarded as a good mother, and she was sometimes shown with kittens. Therefore, a woman who wanted children sometimes wore an amulet showing the goddess with kittens, the number of which showed how many children she wanted to have.
The Temple of Lao-Tsun was built in Asia for the worship of the goddess Tsun-Kyan-Kse. She was a golden goddess with sapphire blue eyes. Mun-Ha, one of the priests of the temple, would kneel before the statue of the goddess with the white temple cat named Sinh sitting beside him. One night, raiders came into to the temple as Mun-Ha was worshipping and killed him. As Mun-Ha was dying, Sinh put his feet on Mun-Ha and faced the goddess. His body immediately turned from white to gold, and his eyes turned blue, just like those of the goddess. His legs turned brown, but where his feet touched his master, they remained white as a symbol of purity. All the other cats in and around the temple also changed in this way. Sinh stayed with his master for the next seven days when he too died, and Sinh carried the soul of Mun-Ha to paradise. To this day, it is believed that whenever one of the sacred temple cats dies, the soul of a priest accompanies the soul of the cat to paradise.
Bastet, also known as Bast, is a cat-headed Egyptian goddess of cats, protection, and the moon. She was the goddess of warfare in Lower Egypt, the Nile River delta region, before the unification of the cultures of ancient Egypt. She is said to have the body of a human but the head of a cat. The goddess was sometimes depicted holding a ceremonial sistrum in one hand and an aegis in the other, the aegis usually resembling a collar or gorget embellished with a lioness head.
Bastet was originally a lioness warrior goddess of the sun throughout most of Ancient Egyptian history, but later she was changed into the cat goddess of the moon which is familiar today due to the Greeks occupying Ancient Egypt toward the end of its civilization. As protector of Lower Egypt, she was seen as defender of the pharaoh, and consequently of the chief deity, Ra. Along with the other lioness goddesses, she would occasionally be depicted as the embodiment of the Eye of Ra. Bastet was one of the gods to fight the evil snake Apep.
Her name was associated with the lavish jars in which Egyptians stored their ointment used as perfume. Bastet thus gradually became regarded as the goddess of perfumes, earning the title of perfumed protector. In connection with this, when Anubis became the god of embalming, Bastet came to be regarded as his wife for a short period of time. Bastet was also depicted as the goddess of protection against contagious diseases and evil spirits.
Ravi saidthat one of the descendants of the Egyptian cat-goddess was astowaway in a Pallava ship. The descendant of this cat wasthe Mahabalipuram Rishi-Cat, and their kitten had descended from theMahabalipuram Rishi-Cat. His narrative concerning the genealogy ofthe kitten is unbelievable. 2ff7e9595c
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