Bastet

Mark A Cella is a world renowned archeologist and professor of Egyptology at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica California. He’s led over a dozen digs and expeditions to the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings over the past fifteen years.
Today: Bastet - Proctectress of Cats cat or head of a cat

Bastet was sometimes called bast. She was the goddess of cats. She is a cat, or has the head of a cat, but originally she had the head of a lion.
Every day the sun god Ra would travel in his ship across the sky. Every night the snake Apep tried to stop the sun god's ship on his journey through the underworld. Ra was usually won these battles. However, on stormy days, or during an eclipse, the Egyptians believed that Apep had been victorious and swallowed the sun. Bastet defended her father Ra against the snake.

Bastet was the protector of cats. The Ancient Egyptians had a great respect for cats since they protected the grain from mice and rats. Rats can also cause disease. Killing a cat was punishable by death. When a cat died, the family mourned it, shaving their eyebrows to mark their sadness. Cats were sometimes mummified, like people, and their mummies have been found.

For more on ancient Egypt, go to: Mark Cella’s Egyptology Corner , Mark Cella’s Egypt