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In Egyptian mythology, Bast (also spelt Bastet, Ubasti, and Pasht) is an ancient goddess, worshipped at least since the Second Dynasty. The centre of her cult was in Per-Bast (Bubastis in Greek), which was named after her. Originally she was viewed as the protector goddess of Lower Egypt, and consequently depicted as a fierce lion. Indeed, her name means (female) devourer. As protectress, she was seen as defender of the pharaoh, and consequently of the chief god, Ra, who was a solar deity, gaining her the titles Lady of flame, and Eye of Ra . Bast was originally a goddess of the sun, but later changed by the Greeks to a goddess of the moon.
Later scribes sometimes named her Bastet, a variation on Bast consisting of an additional feminine suffix to the one already present, thought to have been added to emphasise pronunciation. Since Bastet would literally mean (female) of the ointment jar, Bast gradually became thought of as the goddess of perfumes, earning the title perfumed protector. In connection with this, when Anubis became the god of embalming, Bast, as goddess of ointment, became thought of as his mother, although this association was broken in later years, when Anubis became thought of as Nephthys' son.
This gentler characteristic, of goddess of perfumes, together with Lower Egypt's position as the loser in the wars between Upper & Lower Egypt, lead to her ferocity being gradually toned down. Thus by the Middle Kingdom, she had come to be thought of as a domestic cat rather than a lion, although occasionally, she would be depicted holding a lionness mask, hinting at suppressed ferocity. Since domestic cats tend to be quite tender, and protective, toward their children, she was also thought of as a good mother, and sometimes became depicted with numerous (unidentified) kittens. Consequently, a woman who wanted children would sometimes wear an amulet depicting Bast, as a cat, with kittens, the number of which indicated her own desired amount of children.
Due to the severe disaster to the food supply that could be caused by simple vermin such as mice and rats, and their ability to fight and kill snakes, especially cobras, cats in Egypt were revered heavily, sometimes being given golden jewelry to wear, and being allowed to eat from the same plates as their owners. Consequently, as the main cat (rather than lion) deity, Bast was strongly revered as the patron of cats, and thus it was in the temple at Per-Bast that dead (and mummified) cats were brought for burial. Over 300,000 mummified cats were discovered when Bast's temple at per-Bast was excavated. As a cat/lion goddess, and protector of the lands, when, during the New Kingdom, the fierce lion god
Maahes became part of Egyptian mythology, she was identified, in the Lower Kingdom, as his mother. This paralleled the identification of the fierce lion goddess Sekhmet, as his mother in the Upper Kingdom.
As divine mother, and more especially as protectress, for Lower Egypt, she became strongly associated with Wadjet, the patron goddess of Lower Egypt, eventually becoming Wadjet-Bast, paralleling the similar pair of patron (Nekhbet) and lioness protector (Sekhmet) for Upper Egypt. Eventually, her position as patron and protector of Lower Egypt, lead to her being identified as the more substantial goddess Mut, whose cult had risen to power with that of Amun, and eventually being absorbed into her as Mut-Wadjet-Bast. Shortly after, Mut also absorbed the identities of the Sekhmet-Nekhbet pairing as well.
This merging of identities of similar goddesses has lead to considerable confusion, leading to some associating things such as the title Mistress of the Sistrum (more properly belonging to Hathor, who had become thought of as an aspect of Isis, as had Mut), and the idea of her as a lunar goddess (more properly an attribute of Mut). Indeed, much of this confusion occurred to subsequent generations, as the identities slowly merged, leading to the Greeks, who sometimes named her Ailuros (Greek for cat), thinking of Bast as a version of Artemis, their own moon goddess. And thus, to fit their own cosmology, to the Greeks, Bast was thought of as the sister of Horus, who they identified as Apollo (Artemis' brother), and consequently the daughter of Isis and Osiris.
Added note, The color commonly worn by the followers of Bast was green.˜
Sistrum
A sistrum is a musical instrument of the percussion family, chiefly associated with ancient Egypt. It consists of a handle and a U-shaped metal frame, made of brass or bronze and between 10 and 30 cm in width. When shaken the small rings or loops of thin metal on its moveable crossbars produce a sound that can range from a soft tinkling to a loud jangling.
The Egyptian sistrum
The sistrum was a sacred instrument in ancient Egypt. It was used in dances and religious ceremonies, particularly in the worship of the goddess Hathor, with the U-shape of the sistrum's handle and frame seen as resembling the face and horns of the cow goddess. It was also shaken to avert the flooding of the Nile and to frighten away Set. Additionally, the goddess Bast is often depicted holding a sistrum, symbolizing her role as a goddess of dance, joy, and festivity.
Sistra (pl.) are still used in the rites of the Coptic and Ethiopian churches. Besides the depiction in Egyptian art with dancing and expressions of joy, the sistrum was also used in Egyptian literature. The hieroglyph for the sistrum is shown, but there are other varieties (sistrum and castanets).
The sistrum today
The sistrum was occasionally revived in 19th century western orchestral music, nowadays however it is replaced by its close modern equivalent, the tambourine. The effect produced by the sistrum in music when shaken in short, sharp, rhythmic pulses is to arouse movement and activity. The rhythmical shaking of the sistrum, like the tambourine, is associated with religious or ecstatic events, whether shaken as a sacred rattle in the worship of Hathor of ancient Egypt, in the strident jangling of the tambourine in modern-day Evangelism, Gypsy song and dance, on stage at a rock concert, or to heighten a large-scale orchestral tutti.
The "barcoo dog," a sheep herding tool used in Australian bush band music, is a type of sistrum.
Sopdet - Sotis o Sothis
Sothis is the Greek name of a star that the Egyptians considered unusually significant. The star is not explicitly identified, but there are enough clues for modern scholars to be almost unanimous in identifying Sothis as Sirius.
Plutarch states that The soul of Isis is called Dog by the Greeks
Sothis was identified with Isis in many Egyptian texts
The Greeks called Sirius the dog
Sirius is the brightest star visible in the sky
The first appearance of Sirius in the sky each year occurs just before the annual Nile flooding
The Greeks called the Sirius period the Dog Days and associated them with the hottest days of summers as well as diseases 'caused' by this heat. The Egyptians also associated the Sothic period (of Sirius) with epidemics
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Sothic Mythos
Prof Karl Kerenyi claims an ancient mythic figure Iachen (or Iachim) represents a sublimated form of Sirius or Sothis. Sirius rose with the Nile flood and was also associated with epidemics, Sothis was thus a destructive and greatly feared goddess (perhaps akin to Sekhmet, or an Egyptian equivalent of Kali). Iachen was said to be an Egyptian magician who 'tamed' the power of Sirius and transformed it into a life giving power (just as the flood fertilised the land of Egypt with fresh Nile mud). When he died he became the centre of a cult which kept a flame burning on his altar. When Sirius rose the priests of Iachen entered the streets with torches lit from the altar, in order to channel the power of Sirius and heal any diseases unleashed by it. Iachen was known in Minoan Crete as I-wa-ko, who became the Greek torch bearing son of Persephone - Iakchos, who was also associated with Sirius, as ‘the light bearing star of the nocturnal mysteries’ according to Kerenyi. The late Isis took on the role of many more ancient deities, including Neith, Hathor and the lion headed Sekhmet.
The connection between Sirius and a dog may reflect the stars association with the destructive power of the goddess, universally symbolised by various predators of feline or canine origin (lions, tigers, panthers, wolves and hunting dogs in particular). In Greek culture this became the she-dog of Orion, the sublimated form perhaps. Gods who ride such animals, notably Shiva and Dionysos, or who have canine servants, notably Orion and Osiris (with Anubis his gatekeeper and embalmer), were also regarded by Kerenyi as partly derived from Iachen, the sublimator, or an even older myth. Dogs associated with various incarnations of Dionysos, as well as with Orion's dog (Sirius), were regarded as the discoverers, or bearers, of the first grapevine, this was probably because Sirius rose in the period of the vines blossoming, shortly before harvest. It also reached its highest point in the sky on around Jan 1st, just before the birth of Dionysos on Jan 6th (epiphany), associated with the opening of the first wine.
The universality of Sirius lore, even the Pawnee tribe of North America, and others, referred to Sirius as the 'Wolf Star', indicates this Sothic Mythos may have extremely ancient roots, perhaps as old as the first humans to migrate from Asia.
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