To tell the truth, the Egyptian cat god is actually a cat and is the Egyptian goddess Bastet or Bast, protector of the human and home, and goddess of happiness and harmony. This Egyptian divinity had his cult temple in the city of Bubastis, in the eastern region of the Nile Delta, and that is where a multitude of mummified felines were found in tombs to suit him because they were considered reincarnations of Bastet on Earth., so they could live in the temples, they were sacred cats and when they died, they were mummified as if they were a pharaoh or an Egyptian nobleman.
If you want to know what is the name of the Egyptian cat god actually, how the Egyptian lioness goddess became the Egyptian cat goddess and how cats were considered in Ancient Egypt, keep reading this article on our site and solve all your doubts.
The myth of Sejmet, the lioness goddess
As in all religions, there are a series of myths that serve to explain things that are initially difficult to understand, and this is the case of the myth of Sejmet or Sehkmet, the Egyptian goddess embodied in a human with the head of a lioness and alter-ego of the Egyptian cat goddess.
According to legend, one day the father of Sejmet, the great Egyptian god Ra (creator of the world, humans and gods), being an old man, sent one of his eyes to see what was passing through the land. When he saw that after he had created them, the humans showed him disrespect and mocked him by disobeying the laws that he had created, Ra became very angry and decided to punish them by sending his beloved and powerful daughter Sekhmet to Earth.
When she came down, Sekhmet turned into a lioness with an untold bloodlust, so she started devouring everything human she saw. And the more blood she drank the thirstier she got. It was then that her father Ra and her brothers began to worry because what they wanted was to humble humans but not to extinguish them. So the god Ra talked to Sejmet but she ignored him and she continued devouring all the humans who crossed her path.
Since Sejmet did not see reason, the god Ra came up with a good idea to tame her, and one afternoon when the lioness goddess was taking a nap, he ordered some humans to pour a heaps of pomegranate wine (famous for getting drunk very quickly) so that when he woke up he would drink it thinking it was a pool of blood, and so it was. When the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet woke up and saw that puddle of wine, thinking it was blood, she drank it all and got drunk very quickly, which made her realize the catastrophe she was causing on Earth andhe came to his senses, transforming into the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet That is why they say that the two goddesses, Bastet and Sehkmet, are opposites and represent the balance of the forces of nature, Sejmet being the destructive part and Bastet the pacifying part.
The Egyptian Cat Goddess: Bastet
Thus, the Egyptian goddess Bastet, represented as a human with a cat's head or simply as a domestic black cat, became in protector of humans, home and magic. It is said that she protected mortals from plagues, diseases, evil spirits and the evil eye and that she symbolized the joy of living. Likewise, she also protected both the families and the domestic animals that lived in the houses, especially the cats, which were considered the representations of her on Earth.
Every year the Egyptian cat goddess wanted a festival to be held in her honor where a lot of pomegranate wine was drunk, so humans got drunk without restraint and had great bacchanals. Thus, the Egyptian cat goddess also became the symbol of fertility and motherhood and the protector of pregnant women. She was normally represented with a musical instrument called a sistrum, since she loved to see how humans played music and danced in her honor, that's why she is also considered the goddess of music and dance
But be careful, because if the humans didn't comply with her wishes, Bastet, she could get angry and be as bad as Sejmet. Hence the duality between the cute and peaceful kitten, and the ferocious and violent lionessthat she could become. As her father Ra was a solar god, Bastet personified the warm rays of the Sun and all the beneficial powers they brought, unlike the scorching heat represented by Sejmet. Likewise, the Egyptian cat goddess was also considered the "Lady of the East" which is where the Sun is born, as opposed to the lioness goddess also known as "Lady of the West", which is where the sun king dies.
Cats in Ancient Egypt
The first evidence showing the coexistence of cats with the Egyptians dates back to the seventh millennium BC, in a tomb in the Mostaggeda predynastic cemetery in which a human and a cat were found together inside. According to experts, the Egyptians tried to domesticate all the animals they found, but it was not until the third millennium BC. they got it only with the cats. Although managed to tame them, the humans admired the character and independence of the kittens, so they treated them as companions and not as an inferior race, knowing that they did not they could not be their owners but their friends.
So, cats helped the Egyptians to kill rats and other rodents that entered their houses in search of harvested food, so thanks to them, humans had food throughout the year. Years later, cats in Ancient Egypt were also used to hunt birds, especially, so they replaced the dog in these tasks.
Humans admired cats for their mysterious character, calm and tender but sometimes fierce and defiant, and their ability to hunt their prey with great agility and elegance. Furthermore, according to the Sacred Book of the Dead, the Egyptians believed that Ra, the god of the Sun, creator of all things, took the defensive form of a cat to destroy the snake Apophis, god of absolute evil, in the tree with a knife. Ished of Heliopolis "the night in which the enemies of the Lord of the Universe were destroyed", so they were not only considered the reincarnations of the goddess Bastet but also of her father Ra (the Egyptian cat god) and therefore cats in Ancient Egypt were sacred
Consequently, the Miw or Mau ("cat" in Egyptian) were worshiped and greatly appreciated by the ancient Egyptians, who preferred to starve to death rather than eat them. In addition to being buried with their owners, mummified so that they would be reborn in the afterlife like them and buried with their corresponding funerary rite, the laws of Egypt were very protective and killing a cat was punishable by death.
