24/08/2023
Always nice to see such beautiful artifacts! I wonder if I could recreate it in cos clay!?
Cat goddess Bast with kittens. Faience ring from Egypt. Note: you'll often see this name spelled Bastet, but that is a misread of the final T character which is a feminine marker. Wasn't pronounced, only written, until later in Egyptian history. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastet for fuller explanation.)
Bast had many aspects. "Bastet was originally a fierce lioness warrior goddess of the sun, worshipped throughout most of ancient Egyptian history. Later she became the cat goddess that is familiar today. She then was depicted as the daughter of Ra and Isis, and the consort of Ptah, with whom she had a son, Maahes."
"Along with other deities such as Hathor, Sekhmet, and Isis, Bastet was associated with the Eye of Ra. She has been depicted as fighting the evil snake named Apep, an enemy of Ra.[12] In addition to her solar connections, she was also related to Wadjet, one of the oldest Egyptian goddesses from the Southern Delta who was dubbed "eye of the moon".
"Bastet was also a goddess of pregnancy and childbirth... 9and] of protection against contagious diseases and evil spirits"