Holy souvenirs

In early times Bast (or 'Bastet') was a goddess with the head of a lion or a desert sand-cat. She was regarded as mother of Mahes, a lion-headed god. She was usually depicted as a cat, or as a woman with the head of a cat or lion. It was only in the New Kingdom that she gained the head of a house cat and became a much more 'friendly' goddess. Skulptures of Basted, The Cat Godess, is sold everywere on tourist markets in Egypt. But live cats, who were ones holy creatures, are in no high esteem today. Cats and dogs used to be holy animals in ancient Egypt, but not any more.

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Filename: tholycat.jpg
Copyright: Bente Haarstad
Image Size: 3888x2592 / 995.0KB; holy cat Basted tourist souvenirs Egypt tourism ancient goddess katt hellig Bast animal welfare Egypt souvenir souvenirs cat cats Anubis bast bastet holy dyrevern Spare Africa Afrika images bilder hellig gud guder faraotid
Contained in galleries: Animal rights and welfare

In early times Bast (or 'Bastet') was a goddess with the head of a lion or a desert sand-cat. She was regarded as mother of Mahes, a lion-headed god. She was usually depicted as a cat, or as a woman with the head of a cat or lion. It was only in the New Kingdom that she gained the head of a house cat and became a much more 'friendly' goddess. Skulptures of Basted, The Cat Godess, is sold everywere on tourist markets in Egypt. But live cats, who were ones holy creatures, are in no high esteem today. Cats and dogs used to be holy animals in ancient Egypt, but not any more.