Kristen Finlayson

Among the various Egyptian deities, Bastet was considered to be of utmost importance. The deity was pictorially represented with the head of a cat, as a result of which the Egyptians paid respect to cats too. With the passing years, the appearance of this deity was varied by a continual change in attire.

The initial picture of this god showed the formidable form of a lioness. But later, with the domestication of cats as the Egyptian people started liking them, this deity was rendered to show a cat-headed lady instead of the formidable lioness.

The people built a temple called Bubastis in reverence of Bastet. Within this temple were hundreds of statues that were supposed to represent the cat headed goddess. It is by analyzing these statues that historians have been able to get an idea of the kind of clothing that the deity was considered to wear.

A sculpted image of the goddess typically pictured a young woman with a cat's head. Nearly all of them are sculpted to portray the cat-headed aspect, while very few of them portray a lion or leopard.

The clothing of the deity was decorative with lots of stylish features added to make it intricate. A small purse carried by her adorned many of the sculpted images, whereas some others portrayed her holding a musical instrument namely, the Sistrum in one of her arms whereas, she has a tender basket worn on the other arm.

There was a breastplate to decorate her attire in the center. It was an Egyptian myth that dance and music were favorites of this goddess, and she was supposed to be rich and having generosity. The basket hung over her arm was actually ascribed to rich harvest.

The temple dedicated to the god had many living species of Egyptian cats in reverence of the goddess herself. Archeologists have been able to find a large number of mummified bodies of cats from the temple of Bubastis which was considered as being a burial ground for domesticated cats in Egypt.

A bronze sculpture clothed in the regular style was supposed to be empowered to bring luck, and so a lot of Egyptians took possession of them. Lots of people offered these bronze sculptures within the temple. Hence, many of them reaching to thousands have been found by archaeologists in the temple.

Cats attained a special place amongst the Egyptians on account of Bastet. There were special laws in place that protected cats. Any person who would intentionally harm a cat was to be punished and similarly they had elaborate burial rituals for when a domesticated cat died in a family.