Euphoria
October 21st, 2001, 07:22 PM
Ok someone asked in another thread (i think it was Silver Venus) for a thread on the Goddess Bast so here it is lol
C:\My Documents\Bast.gif
Bast comes from the Kemetic religion, a beliefs system that for many years was traditionally typecast as polytheistic in nature. Recent modern research has questioned this label, and the Egyptological community today is now vastly under the opinion that the Kemetic religion was, keeping with most indigenous African religions, "monolatrous" -- meaning one god who can take on multiple faces (the One and the Many).
Some people question the categorization of ancient Egypt as a monolatry because it would seem to be so obviously polytheistic. People who purport that ancient Egyptian religion is polytheistic are actually half correct -- however, numerous references to deity in the singular and to priests priding themselves on knowing the "Names of Netjer" point toward more than just a polytheistic categorization of the religion, which is where the term monolatry comes into use. One God with multiple faces .
Because Kemet was absorbed by the Roman Empire (which was polytheistic) and encountered by the Greeks before even that (who were also polytheistic), and because for over a thousand years the hieroglyphic language was lost, it is easy to see why it has been miscategorized. However, just as one could not fairly call the religion of Yoruba or the Hindu religion polytheistic, so also one would not--when dealing with pre-Graeco-Roman Egypt--do the same with Kemetic religion. It is extremely important when studying ancient Egypt to differentiate between the time when Egypt was held by foreign powers--the Late Period on--and when it was not. Culturally, religiously, and structurally, the differences are readily apparent--enough so that Egypt may as well have been two different countries entirely: the land of the native Pharaohs, and the land of the foreign rulers.
Finally, while Bast is one of the better-known and visible Goddesses of Netjer, She is also part of a magnificent and complex composite. This is a fact that should be kept in mind throughout the course of reading this. People who have had a problem grasping ancient Egyptian religion and its seemingly confusing flurry of myriad, over-lapping concepts may also find that their view of the theology has changed with this new understanding of how it was most likely viewed by the ancient Egyptians themselves.
When dealing with something as enduring as Bast, it's easy to forget just how old She really is. Since She has been dated to at least the Second Dynasty, this means She predates the following events:
The founding of America.
The Industrial and French Revolution.
The European Crusades.
The Dark and Feudal Ages of all the major world cultures.
Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah.
The Roman Empire's fall.
Christ and the Apostles.
The Roman Empire's rise.
Alexander the Great.
The Trojan War.
Lao-tzu, Confucius, and Buddha.
Ramses, Tutankhamen, Akhenaten, Thutmose III, and Hatshepsut.
The building of the Pyramids, Khaefra (Cheops), Senefru.
If you sit back and think about it, this means She has existed--in name--just under five millennia. This is an awesomely vast amount of time, making Her one of the oldest Goddesses in existence.
Bast is most commonly depicted as a woman with the head of either a cat, a lion, or a large desert cat. Note that these desert cats, ferocious in fury and strength, were not the domesticates as we would know them; this was the feral desert cat from which the Kemetics would breed cats similar to our own pets. Except in one Ramesside depiction where She is syncretized with Mut (Mut-Bast), Bast is never shown fully human.
Most importantly, Bast was not depicted with the domesticated cat imagery that has now become synonymous with Her until 1000 BCE -- nearly two thousand years after Her worship began. Previous to that, the cat was considered "beneath" representation except in rare cases involving Mafdet (in the Pyramid Texts) and Ra. In the Litany of the Sun, seventy-five names of Ra are mentioned, along with His seventy-five corresponding forms. Two of those names are cats -- Miuty and Miu-Oa or "The Great Male Cat". While Bast is perhaps better known as a domesticate, Her representation as a lion or desert cat did not cease with the advent of Bast-as-a-housecat. Images of Bast as a lion-headed figure holding a was-scepter (from the Hall of Osorkon at Bubastis) or with a lion's mane and holding the Eye of Ra can be found throughout Egyptian art from the Late Period on. Bast is even shown in one particular Late Period depiction as wearing the Double Crown (the red and the white "nested" together) and suckling the Pharaoh --perhaps an allusion to the rise of popularity with Per-Bast or Bubastis, the Domain of Bast. Additionally, there is no reason to believe that the lion device on the aegis wielded by the cat-headed Bast is not in fact a second representation of Her (a concept not unknown to Kemetic art and symbology).
Bast is often shown holding the ankh or the papyrus wand, and sometimes the was-scepter (usually only in connection to Bubastis, which was the home of Her cult). The papyrus wand is a significant and slightly baffling item for Her to be holding, as this item usually signifies a "first" or primordial god such as Ma'at and Tefnut (both of Whom are daughters of Ra and Tem, respectively). This may provide a tantalizing clue as to Bast's suspicious lack of representation in common Egyptian mythology, and may connect Her to Tefnut, Who, like Bast, is also the Eye of Tem-Ra and depicted with a feline head.
Bast's sacred city in Kemet was Per-Bast (Greek: Bubastis; modern-day Tell Basta, near Zagazig in Northern (Lower) Egypt). Per-Bast translates into "the Domain of Bast" and has been excavated numerous times since Edourard Naville first broke ground there in 1887. Details on Naville's excavation can be found in a set of extremely rare books entitled Bubastis, 1887-1889 and The Festival Hall of Osorkon II in the Great Temple of Bubastis, 1887-1889 by Edouard Naville. Both of these books have long been out of print, and are now outdated by the more recent (mid-1970s) excavation information put forth by the late Dr. Labib Habachi in his book, Tell-Basta (also out of print and difficult to acquire). Finds dating from all periods of Kemetic history have been made at the Tell-Basta site; a current mission recently unearthed war-offerings and other materials dating from King Ahmose of the 18th Dynasty.
Other cities where Bast was venerated (with approximate time of establishment of cult when possible) were:
Memphis (Old Kingdom), where She was associated strongly with Sekhmet (the lion-headed visage Het-hert takes on when She becomes the Eye of Ra).
Heliopolis (Old Kingdom), where She was the "Daughter of Tem" via a possible connection to Tefnut.
Herakleopolis (???), in a city called the "Hill of Bast".
Eastern Delta (???), "Ba-ir-Ra-st on the Waters of Ra".
Denderah (???), via Her connection to Het-hert. Denderah is referred to in some cases as the "Southern Bubastis"--an important implication as it would mean that the worship of Bast from early on was country-wide and not regional.
The Precinct of Mut in Thebes (New Kingdom), via Her connection to Mut.
Sais (Late Period), the city of Nit, where a statue of Bast existed.
Leontopolis (???), the city of Shu and Tefnut, at "'Ihy.n.B3s.t".
Cities in which festivals of Bast were celebrated included Thebes, Memphis, Bubastis, and Esna. It should be noted that contrary to some modern-day claims, there was no festival of Sekhmet-Bast-Ra to coincide with the modern-day Halloween.
Today, no shrines or temples remain of Bast in Egypt; even Bubastis was mostly ruins by the time Naville got around to it. There is a "Portal of Bast" on the Giza Plateau (fittingly, near the Sphinx), and statues have been discovered showing Khaefre accompanied by Her. A painting of Bast is present within the tomb of Nefertari at Abu Simbel, and dozens of bronze statues dating from the Late Period have been discovered amidst the cat cemetery found at Per-Bast. A Bast shrine on display is located in the Field Museum of Chicago; benches flank a small enclosure within which stands a statue of the seated cat and the cat-headed woman (both behind glass). This is perhaps as close as we can currently get in the modern day to a public shrine unto Her.
Bast is one of several Names who are known as the "Eye of Ra", a title that denotes a Name of Netjer Who functions as a protector or avenger. Since the earliest of times She has been associated with the king. Pyramid Texts 892 name Her next to the king as the, "Knowledge through which death cannot approach too closely." She also serves as his protector, a trait that is common in many other feline Names such as Mafdet--protector of Pharaoh's chambers--and Sekhmet--destroyer of the King's enemies.
As a regional Name associated with Per-Bast, Bast was strongly connected to the delta region of Kemet (referred to as Lower Egypt). Her initial role as the protector of the ruler spread out to children and pregnant women in later times as Her image became "softened" by Her associations with such Names as Het-hert [Greek: Hathor], Mut, and Aset [Greek: Isis]. She was also invoked in the hopes of bestowing fertility (perhaps due to the proliferation of cats themselves), and as She became more closely associated with Het-hert She also picked up many of that Netjert's associations, such as music and the arts.
The hieroglyphs for Bast are the jar-like symbol representing "bas" and the half-circle (a loaf of bread) standing for the feminine "-t" ending. The jar and two loaves of bread are the hieroglyphs for Bastet, the name she is goven when in full cat form .The bas-jars themselves are heavy vessels used to store perfume--one of the most valuable commodities of Kemet--and Bast Herself has relations to perfumery (a second translation of Her name is "Lady of the Ointments"). Contrary to claims made by Egyptologists at the beginning of the 1900's (as per E.A. Wallis Budge's The Gods of the Egyptians), Bast's name has nothing to do with "friction", "heat", or "fire".
Bast has been associated closely with Het-hert since the Old Kingdom; toward the Middle Kingdom, Bast also became associated with Mut and, even later, Aset (Greek: Isis). As well, just as images of Bast have been found in Memphis (the city of Sekhmet, Ptah, and Nefertem), images of Sekhmet have been found in Bubastis. As the Eye of Ra, Bast acts as His personal "hitman"--ripping out the hearts of the transgressors of ma'at and delivering them personally to His and the Pharaoh's feet.
As we can see, this is far from the "happy fluffy sex goddess" that has been set forth by the media and many modern-day religious institutions. This approach may not even be appropriate for the cat-goddess She became with the arrival of Hellenistic influence on Her society, and even if it was, it is fairly appropriate to say that this Hellenized version is no more Bast than processed Velveeta is really cheese. Defining the Egyptian Bast by the Greek and Roman worldview does not leave Her empowered to do the job She was originally allotted in the Kemetic theology.
While Bast and Sekhmet have been paired together since as early as 1850 BCE, their relationship is not along the lines of facets of a pacified/angry goddess. Bast's role as a "raging" goddess quickly discourages this notion, and even in the very later periods She was still depicted bearing the Uadjet and wearing Wadjet which would imply divine vengeance and the role of the divine avenger. Sekhmet is no more the "angry" side of Bast than Bast is the "pacified" side of Sekhmet; if any Egyptian deity occupies this role, it would be Het-hert, Who clearly becomes Sekhmet after She has gone forth to slaughter those who would disobey the will of the Creator (Ra or Tem). In regards to Sekhmet, another pairing that should be considered by those who wish to explore Her as the divine destroyer would be the one the ancient Egyptians themselves established by "marrying" Her to Ptah. In this union, the two compliment each other suitably as in Egyptian theology Ptah occupies a position of industrious craftsmanship and even creation of the world.
However, the fact remains that Bast and Sekhmet were paired. Bast was primarily a Northern god (since Her main place of worship was in Lower Egypt), while Sekhmet (as a form of Het-hert) was a Southern god. Just as Nekhbet and Wadjet are paired (Nekhbet being the vulture and Wadjet the royal cobra) as the Two Ladies, so Bast and Sekhmet are paired, one representing Lower Egypt (Bast) and the other representing Upper Egypt (Sekhmet). This is traditionally a "She of the North and She of the South" representation, and not necessarily a "She of the Content and She of the Really Ticked Off" kind.
Bast shares qualities of both Sekhmet and Het-hert in Her role as protector, destroyer, and avenger; witness the dozens of shields belonging to soldiers with Bast's device on them that have been unearthed in Egypt. However, at no time in the history of Kemetic religion were Sekhmet and Bast associated in a "sister-sister", "mother-daughter", "aunt-niece" or "big bad lioness/nice kitty" context. The phrase, "She rages as Sekhmet, She is pacified as Bast." is a fairly late one (150 BCE), and in specifying "Kemetic religion", one is implying the state of the theology previous to the Third Intermediate/Late Period.
A final note on the sisterhood issue -- while it might be convenient to put Sekhmet and Bast back-to-back as the lion/cat twins, keep in mind that sisters in ancient Egyptian theology were extremely important and rare occurences, and that Bast and Sekhmet in particular are never mentioned in this sort of relationship. Aset [Greek Isis] and Nebt-het [Greek Nephthys], Who are sisters, share a very distinctive relationship that carries through into Their iconography and depictions. Rarely do you see one without the other in funerary scenes, and there are numerous paired statues of the two as well as extant mythology relating Them as born of the same parents. The same is not true in antiquity with Bast and Sekhmet, aside from references of Ra as Their father -- a reference that rings true for nearly every ancient Egyptian goddess. If one is to understand the theology of Kemet, one would be wise to avoid instituting one's own presumptions onto the framework of the society. It is our duty, as responsible historians, to preserve and respect the wishes of those from whom we have inherited.
Ok i'm real sorry this was sooo long but i wanted to get Bast across as wholly as i could
Any questions or comments i will be happy to answer if i can that is
C:\My Documents\Charysma.bmp
PLEASE NOTE: Most of this information is not from my own knowledge and in fact from a site on bast ... http://www.per-bast.org/bast/ and the rest comes from a multitude of websites which i carelessly forgot to write down... This is not my own work
C:\My Documents\Bast.gif
Bast comes from the Kemetic religion, a beliefs system that for many years was traditionally typecast as polytheistic in nature. Recent modern research has questioned this label, and the Egyptological community today is now vastly under the opinion that the Kemetic religion was, keeping with most indigenous African religions, "monolatrous" -- meaning one god who can take on multiple faces (the One and the Many).
Some people question the categorization of ancient Egypt as a monolatry because it would seem to be so obviously polytheistic. People who purport that ancient Egyptian religion is polytheistic are actually half correct -- however, numerous references to deity in the singular and to priests priding themselves on knowing the "Names of Netjer" point toward more than just a polytheistic categorization of the religion, which is where the term monolatry comes into use. One God with multiple faces .
Because Kemet was absorbed by the Roman Empire (which was polytheistic) and encountered by the Greeks before even that (who were also polytheistic), and because for over a thousand years the hieroglyphic language was lost, it is easy to see why it has been miscategorized. However, just as one could not fairly call the religion of Yoruba or the Hindu religion polytheistic, so also one would not--when dealing with pre-Graeco-Roman Egypt--do the same with Kemetic religion. It is extremely important when studying ancient Egypt to differentiate between the time when Egypt was held by foreign powers--the Late Period on--and when it was not. Culturally, religiously, and structurally, the differences are readily apparent--enough so that Egypt may as well have been two different countries entirely: the land of the native Pharaohs, and the land of the foreign rulers.
Finally, while Bast is one of the better-known and visible Goddesses of Netjer, She is also part of a magnificent and complex composite. This is a fact that should be kept in mind throughout the course of reading this. People who have had a problem grasping ancient Egyptian religion and its seemingly confusing flurry of myriad, over-lapping concepts may also find that their view of the theology has changed with this new understanding of how it was most likely viewed by the ancient Egyptians themselves.
When dealing with something as enduring as Bast, it's easy to forget just how old She really is. Since She has been dated to at least the Second Dynasty, this means She predates the following events:
The founding of America.
The Industrial and French Revolution.
The European Crusades.
The Dark and Feudal Ages of all the major world cultures.
Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah.
The Roman Empire's fall.
Christ and the Apostles.
The Roman Empire's rise.
Alexander the Great.
The Trojan War.
Lao-tzu, Confucius, and Buddha.
Ramses, Tutankhamen, Akhenaten, Thutmose III, and Hatshepsut.
The building of the Pyramids, Khaefra (Cheops), Senefru.
If you sit back and think about it, this means She has existed--in name--just under five millennia. This is an awesomely vast amount of time, making Her one of the oldest Goddesses in existence.
Bast is most commonly depicted as a woman with the head of either a cat, a lion, or a large desert cat. Note that these desert cats, ferocious in fury and strength, were not the domesticates as we would know them; this was the feral desert cat from which the Kemetics would breed cats similar to our own pets. Except in one Ramesside depiction where She is syncretized with Mut (Mut-Bast), Bast is never shown fully human.
Most importantly, Bast was not depicted with the domesticated cat imagery that has now become synonymous with Her until 1000 BCE -- nearly two thousand years after Her worship began. Previous to that, the cat was considered "beneath" representation except in rare cases involving Mafdet (in the Pyramid Texts) and Ra. In the Litany of the Sun, seventy-five names of Ra are mentioned, along with His seventy-five corresponding forms. Two of those names are cats -- Miuty and Miu-Oa or "The Great Male Cat". While Bast is perhaps better known as a domesticate, Her representation as a lion or desert cat did not cease with the advent of Bast-as-a-housecat. Images of Bast as a lion-headed figure holding a was-scepter (from the Hall of Osorkon at Bubastis) or with a lion's mane and holding the Eye of Ra can be found throughout Egyptian art from the Late Period on. Bast is even shown in one particular Late Period depiction as wearing the Double Crown (the red and the white "nested" together) and suckling the Pharaoh --perhaps an allusion to the rise of popularity with Per-Bast or Bubastis, the Domain of Bast. Additionally, there is no reason to believe that the lion device on the aegis wielded by the cat-headed Bast is not in fact a second representation of Her (a concept not unknown to Kemetic art and symbology).
Bast is often shown holding the ankh or the papyrus wand, and sometimes the was-scepter (usually only in connection to Bubastis, which was the home of Her cult). The papyrus wand is a significant and slightly baffling item for Her to be holding, as this item usually signifies a "first" or primordial god such as Ma'at and Tefnut (both of Whom are daughters of Ra and Tem, respectively). This may provide a tantalizing clue as to Bast's suspicious lack of representation in common Egyptian mythology, and may connect Her to Tefnut, Who, like Bast, is also the Eye of Tem-Ra and depicted with a feline head.
Bast's sacred city in Kemet was Per-Bast (Greek: Bubastis; modern-day Tell Basta, near Zagazig in Northern (Lower) Egypt). Per-Bast translates into "the Domain of Bast" and has been excavated numerous times since Edourard Naville first broke ground there in 1887. Details on Naville's excavation can be found in a set of extremely rare books entitled Bubastis, 1887-1889 and The Festival Hall of Osorkon II in the Great Temple of Bubastis, 1887-1889 by Edouard Naville. Both of these books have long been out of print, and are now outdated by the more recent (mid-1970s) excavation information put forth by the late Dr. Labib Habachi in his book, Tell-Basta (also out of print and difficult to acquire). Finds dating from all periods of Kemetic history have been made at the Tell-Basta site; a current mission recently unearthed war-offerings and other materials dating from King Ahmose of the 18th Dynasty.
Other cities where Bast was venerated (with approximate time of establishment of cult when possible) were:
Memphis (Old Kingdom), where She was associated strongly with Sekhmet (the lion-headed visage Het-hert takes on when She becomes the Eye of Ra).
Heliopolis (Old Kingdom), where She was the "Daughter of Tem" via a possible connection to Tefnut.
Herakleopolis (???), in a city called the "Hill of Bast".
Eastern Delta (???), "Ba-ir-Ra-st on the Waters of Ra".
Denderah (???), via Her connection to Het-hert. Denderah is referred to in some cases as the "Southern Bubastis"--an important implication as it would mean that the worship of Bast from early on was country-wide and not regional.
The Precinct of Mut in Thebes (New Kingdom), via Her connection to Mut.
Sais (Late Period), the city of Nit, where a statue of Bast existed.
Leontopolis (???), the city of Shu and Tefnut, at "'Ihy.n.B3s.t".
Cities in which festivals of Bast were celebrated included Thebes, Memphis, Bubastis, and Esna. It should be noted that contrary to some modern-day claims, there was no festival of Sekhmet-Bast-Ra to coincide with the modern-day Halloween.
Today, no shrines or temples remain of Bast in Egypt; even Bubastis was mostly ruins by the time Naville got around to it. There is a "Portal of Bast" on the Giza Plateau (fittingly, near the Sphinx), and statues have been discovered showing Khaefre accompanied by Her. A painting of Bast is present within the tomb of Nefertari at Abu Simbel, and dozens of bronze statues dating from the Late Period have been discovered amidst the cat cemetery found at Per-Bast. A Bast shrine on display is located in the Field Museum of Chicago; benches flank a small enclosure within which stands a statue of the seated cat and the cat-headed woman (both behind glass). This is perhaps as close as we can currently get in the modern day to a public shrine unto Her.
Bast is one of several Names who are known as the "Eye of Ra", a title that denotes a Name of Netjer Who functions as a protector or avenger. Since the earliest of times She has been associated with the king. Pyramid Texts 892 name Her next to the king as the, "Knowledge through which death cannot approach too closely." She also serves as his protector, a trait that is common in many other feline Names such as Mafdet--protector of Pharaoh's chambers--and Sekhmet--destroyer of the King's enemies.
As a regional Name associated with Per-Bast, Bast was strongly connected to the delta region of Kemet (referred to as Lower Egypt). Her initial role as the protector of the ruler spread out to children and pregnant women in later times as Her image became "softened" by Her associations with such Names as Het-hert [Greek: Hathor], Mut, and Aset [Greek: Isis]. She was also invoked in the hopes of bestowing fertility (perhaps due to the proliferation of cats themselves), and as She became more closely associated with Het-hert She also picked up many of that Netjert's associations, such as music and the arts.
The hieroglyphs for Bast are the jar-like symbol representing "bas" and the half-circle (a loaf of bread) standing for the feminine "-t" ending. The jar and two loaves of bread are the hieroglyphs for Bastet, the name she is goven when in full cat form .The bas-jars themselves are heavy vessels used to store perfume--one of the most valuable commodities of Kemet--and Bast Herself has relations to perfumery (a second translation of Her name is "Lady of the Ointments"). Contrary to claims made by Egyptologists at the beginning of the 1900's (as per E.A. Wallis Budge's The Gods of the Egyptians), Bast's name has nothing to do with "friction", "heat", or "fire".
Bast has been associated closely with Het-hert since the Old Kingdom; toward the Middle Kingdom, Bast also became associated with Mut and, even later, Aset (Greek: Isis). As well, just as images of Bast have been found in Memphis (the city of Sekhmet, Ptah, and Nefertem), images of Sekhmet have been found in Bubastis. As the Eye of Ra, Bast acts as His personal "hitman"--ripping out the hearts of the transgressors of ma'at and delivering them personally to His and the Pharaoh's feet.
As we can see, this is far from the "happy fluffy sex goddess" that has been set forth by the media and many modern-day religious institutions. This approach may not even be appropriate for the cat-goddess She became with the arrival of Hellenistic influence on Her society, and even if it was, it is fairly appropriate to say that this Hellenized version is no more Bast than processed Velveeta is really cheese. Defining the Egyptian Bast by the Greek and Roman worldview does not leave Her empowered to do the job She was originally allotted in the Kemetic theology.
While Bast and Sekhmet have been paired together since as early as 1850 BCE, their relationship is not along the lines of facets of a pacified/angry goddess. Bast's role as a "raging" goddess quickly discourages this notion, and even in the very later periods She was still depicted bearing the Uadjet and wearing Wadjet which would imply divine vengeance and the role of the divine avenger. Sekhmet is no more the "angry" side of Bast than Bast is the "pacified" side of Sekhmet; if any Egyptian deity occupies this role, it would be Het-hert, Who clearly becomes Sekhmet after She has gone forth to slaughter those who would disobey the will of the Creator (Ra or Tem). In regards to Sekhmet, another pairing that should be considered by those who wish to explore Her as the divine destroyer would be the one the ancient Egyptians themselves established by "marrying" Her to Ptah. In this union, the two compliment each other suitably as in Egyptian theology Ptah occupies a position of industrious craftsmanship and even creation of the world.
However, the fact remains that Bast and Sekhmet were paired. Bast was primarily a Northern god (since Her main place of worship was in Lower Egypt), while Sekhmet (as a form of Het-hert) was a Southern god. Just as Nekhbet and Wadjet are paired (Nekhbet being the vulture and Wadjet the royal cobra) as the Two Ladies, so Bast and Sekhmet are paired, one representing Lower Egypt (Bast) and the other representing Upper Egypt (Sekhmet). This is traditionally a "She of the North and She of the South" representation, and not necessarily a "She of the Content and She of the Really Ticked Off" kind.
Bast shares qualities of both Sekhmet and Het-hert in Her role as protector, destroyer, and avenger; witness the dozens of shields belonging to soldiers with Bast's device on them that have been unearthed in Egypt. However, at no time in the history of Kemetic religion were Sekhmet and Bast associated in a "sister-sister", "mother-daughter", "aunt-niece" or "big bad lioness/nice kitty" context. The phrase, "She rages as Sekhmet, She is pacified as Bast." is a fairly late one (150 BCE), and in specifying "Kemetic religion", one is implying the state of the theology previous to the Third Intermediate/Late Period.
A final note on the sisterhood issue -- while it might be convenient to put Sekhmet and Bast back-to-back as the lion/cat twins, keep in mind that sisters in ancient Egyptian theology were extremely important and rare occurences, and that Bast and Sekhmet in particular are never mentioned in this sort of relationship. Aset [Greek Isis] and Nebt-het [Greek Nephthys], Who are sisters, share a very distinctive relationship that carries through into Their iconography and depictions. Rarely do you see one without the other in funerary scenes, and there are numerous paired statues of the two as well as extant mythology relating Them as born of the same parents. The same is not true in antiquity with Bast and Sekhmet, aside from references of Ra as Their father -- a reference that rings true for nearly every ancient Egyptian goddess. If one is to understand the theology of Kemet, one would be wise to avoid instituting one's own presumptions onto the framework of the society. It is our duty, as responsible historians, to preserve and respect the wishes of those from whom we have inherited.
Ok i'm real sorry this was sooo long but i wanted to get Bast across as wholly as i could
Any questions or comments i will be happy to answer if i can that is
C:\My Documents\Charysma.bmp
PLEASE NOTE: Most of this information is not from my own knowledge and in fact from a site on bast ... http://www.per-bast.org/bast/ and the rest comes from a multitude of websites which i carelessly forgot to write down... This is not my own work