M \ r -! 1:h 1 e-111D t$w “When a man smells of myrrh, ! 11 h z p 7] 1mh ! ! Tb b + his wife is a before him. M M -! 1:h 1Ed9 When a man is suffering, ! 11 h zp 7q 111] 1mh ! ! b + his wife is a lioness before him.”

The Instructions of Ankhsheshonq (a priest of Re at Heliopolis), , P. 10508—a ‘Wisdom Text’ dated to the Ptolemaic Period, ca. 332–30 b.c. Hieroglyphic transcription from the original demotic text courtesy of Christian Casey.

The dual nature of women: sexual playthings to be enjoyed, and cunning creatures of which to be wary. That’s the chauvinistic message from the above papyrus text, dated to the Ptolemaic Era (but perhaps composed a lot earlier). To make the point, the author references the two feline goddesses: and . The first line is charged with erotic imagery: sweet fragrances were connected with notions of rebirth and sensuality. Here, the author is suggesting that when a man was lathered in aromatic scents, his wife appeared, fertile and flushed with desire. These ideas found their expression in the cat goddess Bastet who was worshipped for her protective and nurturing instincts, as well as her capabiltiy for great proliferation. Conversely, if the husband displayed any weakness in his authority, then Sekhmet—the fiery lioness and manifesta- tion of the fury of Re—was ready to pounce and subdue him (and not in the fun way). The patriarchal message: you can’t trust women. Female divinities, however, were highly venerated, and the centuries surrounding the creation of the above papyrus text, and the statue at left, were the heydays of the great Temple of Bastet at . Here, thousands of pilgrims thronged each year for the uninhibited revelry of the Festival of Bastet.

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. ROGERS FUND, 1944. ACC. NO. 44.4.19

6 #25 | MAY–JUNE 2020 Fallen Glory

© HEIDI KONTKANEN

The Temple of Bastet at Bubastis appears to have collapsed The temple’s first major excavations were directed by during an earthquake around 2,000 years ago, and its Swiss archaeologist Édouard Naville, who happily hauled ruins still contain the weather-beaten remains of statuary away the finest sculpture and carved masonry for placed there by the 22nd-Dynasty (although museums around the world. Those pieces that Naville belonging to older periods of ’s history). deemed unworthy of museum display were left on site.

Dr. Elsayed Hegazy Director, Team Bastet Kat Hammond Co-Director, Team Bastet Hesham Abdul El Moomen Director of the Eastern Delta Restoration of the Great Temple of the Goddess Bastet

The temple of Bastet, at Bubastis in the 1889, British author (and founder of the eastern Delta, presents itself to today’s Egypt Exploration Society) Amelia Edwards visitors as a huge field of rubble. Its ruins— wrote that “it was with the satisfactory cer- around 4,000 rose-granite fragments of tainty that there remained no gleanings for statues and monumental architecture—are any future explorer.” Of course, the ruins the only visible remains. of the Temple of Bastet, have a lot more to When archaeologist Édouard Naville offer—including plans to restore the temple wrapped up his final season of digging in to its former glory.

(OPPOSITE) THE BEER THAT SAVED HUMANKIND. This Third Intermediate Period/Late Period statue shows Bastet seated on a throne decorated with two registers of figures—some holding wine cups. This imagery could be connected with the Festival of Drunkenness, which celebrated the salvation of humankind from a rampaging Sekhmet (the destructive aspect of ). The goddess was tricked into binging on vast amounts of beer to a state of happy excess, thus forestalling the destruction of the human race.

NILEMAGAZINE.COM.AU 7 Hathor-Headed Pillars of Osorkon II (22nd Dynasty)

Hypothetical reconstruc- tion of the Sanctuary of Nectanebo II with shrines (Late Period: 30th Dynasty) © JEFFREY ROSS BURZACOTT

Hall with a central colonnade of Hathor- Headed columns flanked by shorter columns with palm-leaf capitals. —Osorkon II, 22nd Dynasty Temple of Mahes, son of Bastet —Osorkon II, Hypostyle Hall: 22nd Dynasty. Papyrus bundle columns with Hathor Capitals —Osorkon II Roman Well

Colonnade with papyrus Court bundle columns of Osorkon II —Osorkon II

Sed Festival Gateway of Osorkon II Area of Season One work of Team Bastet

Statue of Karomama (possibly Queen Tiye), 18th Dynasty

First Court —Osorkon I (22nd Dynasty)

Reconstruction by Édouard Naville, Gateway of Osorkon I (22nd Dynasty) published in 1892. North

THE TEMPLE OF BASTET—FACT FILE: DATE: Visible ruins are mostly Third Intermediate Period, LENGTH: Around 200 metres. 22nd Dynasty (ca. 945–715 b.c.) and Late Period, 30th FIRST EXCAVATION: Édouard Naville for the Egypt Explora- Dynasty (ca. 380–343 b.c.). tion Fund (now Society), 1887–89. LOCATION: Modern , 80 km northeast of Cairo. RECENT DISCOVERIES: In 2004—a duplicate of the Canopus REGION: Southeast , . Decree of III (ca. 238 b.c.), demonstrating that the DEDICATION: The lioness (and later cat) goddess Bastet. temple was still important in the 3rd century b.c. MATERIAL: Limestone (mostly missing) and granite. CURRENT CONDITION: Scattered ruins of granite blocks.

8 NILE #25 | MAY–JUNE 2020 ou could hear them coming for miles. Along began as the women on the boats shouted insults at those the side of the great river, people cheered and onshore, raising their skirts and howling with laughter, waved. The blast of horns and the trills of voices mocking them for not also making the pilgrimage. Y rent the air. There were drums booming as well This was one of many barges that plowed the river this as the rhythmic shaking of sistra and tambourines. They time of year. They were headed up to the ancient temple of rounded the bend of the river and flashed into the sunlight. the goddess Bastet, “she of the ointment jar,” she of joy like They sang and laughed and threw sweets to the children the kittens playing on the bank. Her temple lay in the ancient who lined the bank. Then the good-natured wisecracks city of Bubastis in the eastern Nile Delta. COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY PEGGY JOY

“At a depth of but a few feet from the surface, Shocked at the rapid destruction of Egypt’s ancient the picks and spades of the diggers struck heritage, British author Amelia Edwards founded the Egypt granite. . . . Broken columns, capitals, archi- Exploration Fund (now Society) in 1882 to help preserve its traves, building-blocks, roofing-stones, and deteriorating monuments. In 1889 she sailed to the United large slabs covered with elaborate sculptures States to deliver a series of lectures to increase awareness in low relief were uncovered in swift succes- of and to raise badly-needed funds for the sion. Then the plan of the structure began fledgling organisation and the excavations it sponsored. gradually to unfold itself. It was orientated, One of those early projects had been directed by Swiss as usual, from east to west. At the lower, or Egyptologist and Biblical scholar Édouard Naville, who, easternmost end, two enormous columns with two years earlier, had discovered the ancient Temple of palm capitals, now prostrate and broken, Bastet at Tell Basta, the ancient Bubastis in the Nile Delta. marked the entrance to what seemed like a great Naville conducted three seasons at Bubastis, between first hall. The next trench, about 150 feet (46 1887 and 1889, but had initial doubts as to how fruitful metres) higher up, disclosed another hall, excavations there might be: situated apparently about the middle of the “As for Tell Basta I believe it is hopeless to building. A hundred and fifty feet higher yet, do anything there, at least on a large scale.” it was evident that the site of the Hypostyle —A letter to Amelia Edwards in early January 1887 Hall was laid open. Lastly, at the sanctuary (Egypt Exploration Society archives). end, the diggers encountered a vast and con- fused pile of enormous granite blocks, and a The engravings in this article are from an article that mass of limestone chips. . . . Edwards contributed to the January 1890 issue of The “‘It is not a few stray blocks that we are Century Magazine, published in New York. Art collector finding at Tell Basta,’ wrote M. Naville, in the William Joy notes that Edwards’ article “preceded the first flush of his great discovery; ‘it is a appearance by a year of Naville’s first official report of whole temple.’”—Amelia Edwards, The Century excavation work at Bubastis, issued by the Egypt Explor- Magazine, January 1890. ation Fund.”

NILEMAGAZINE.COM.AU 9 COURTESY OF THE EGYPT EXPLORATION SOCIETY. REF. BUB.PRINT.02

“Standing on the western part of the mounds of Excavations at Bubastis, ca. 1888–89. Tell Basta, and looking towards Zagazig, the Édouard Naville favoured the pith helmet-look, which was visitor has before him an area of several acres, popular among European travellers, explorers and Swiss which has been dug out thoroughly. Near the archaeologists at the time. Here he poses for a photograph numerous pits by which the place is honey- of the works-in-progress at Bubastis. combed, are seen heaps of white bones of . The British Museum’s Neil Spencer wrote about Naville’s This spot has been one of the most productive Bubastis excavation in The Egypt Exploration Society— mines which the fellaheen had at their dispos- The Early Years, and notes that “the lack of stone blocks al. There they found the numerous bronze cats suggests it may have been taken in the sacred cat which fill the shops of the dealers at Cairo. . . . cemetery to the west of the temple.” Although the cemetery was considered as The reclining bearded man is Reverend William exhausted, I made an attempt at excavations in MacGregor, a prolific English collector of ancient Egyptian order to find bronze cats, and to ascertain the artefacts who joined Naville’s Bubastis excavations from manner in which the animals are buried. . . . We the second season in 1888. discovered a few of them.”—Édouard Naville, Note the young children in the picture, who were often Bubastis: (1887–1889), London, 1891. employed to carry baskets of rubble to the spoil heaps.

As British author and adventurer Amelia Edwards de- the Temple of Bastet was enlarged and embellished to its scribed, it was to the shrine of Bastet “that 700,000 Egyptians greatest extent—millions of cats were sacrificed to the were wont to throng every year from all parts of the goddess to curry some sort of favour or blessing. The country. . . so that from the Ethiopian frontier to the sea it belief was that such an offering would carry one’s prayers was one universal carnival.” directly to the ear of the goddess. That description is based on a story told by the Greek historian in the 5th century b.c. He may have HISTORY been an eyewitness to Bubastis’ intoxicating festival, and The Nile Delta has always been a gateway to trade around wrote that “more wine is drunk at this feast than in the the Mediterranean, and Bubastis sat at the junction of two whole year besides.” He also spoke highly of the Temple of important branches in the eastern Delta: the Pelusiac and Bastet in that “other temples are greater and more costly, the Tanitic. Ever since it was founded in the Predynastic but none pleasanter to the eye than this.” Period—possibly even before the Egyptians developed Not far from the temple was a huge cemetery where writing, ca. 3200 b.c.—Bubastis would have hummed with priests interred the cats that people had offered to Bastet activity as ships came and went all year round. Its location to win her good grace. During Egypt’s Late Period—when also made it a flourishing trading hub for caravans going

10 NILE #25 | MAY–JUNE 2020 THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

“We noticed in particular part of a cornice of a very vigorous style... it is covered in hieroglyphs, of which we made a drawing.... Enormous masses of granite, nearly all mutilated, are heaped up in the most wonder- ful way. It is difficult to conceive what power could break and pile them up in that manner.”—French scholar Étienne-Louis Malus. Quoted from Édouard Naville’s official report of his excavations, Bubastis, published in 1891.

The ruins of the Temple of Bastet had caught the eye of visitors long before Édouard Naville’s landmark excava- tions at Tell Basta in the late 1800s. One of these earlier curious folk was Étienne-Louis Malus, a French engineer and physicist who accompanied Napoleon’s ill-fated attempt at expanding the French empire over Egypt between 1798 and 1801. One hundred and fifty-four scholars from every profession—from archaeology to architecture, medicine to geography—had accompanied Napoleon to Egypt as part of this expedition. Their scientific studies of both ancient and modern Egypt appeared in Napoleon’s monumental, multi-volume Description de l’Égypte. Although Malus had no way of knowing (the decipher- ment of hieroglyphs was still two decades away), his drawing featured some of the decorated masonry from the most recent part of the temple: the western sanctuary area built by Nectanebo II (ca. 350 b.c.). The ceiling of the sanctuary was decorated with five-pointed stars. METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. ROGERS FUND, 1907. ACC. NO. 07.228.19

These engravings come from the opposite sides of a silver bottle that once belonged to a woman named Meritptah back and forth to Syria and Palestine, as well as mining (“Beloved of ”), who was a chantress of Bastet during or shortly after the reign of Ramesses II (19th Dynasty, ca. expeditions to the Sinai. Today, the site is referred to as Tell 1250 b.c.) Here she shakes a sistrum to delight the Basta, a name that, like the Classical Bubastis, is derived enthroned, -headed Bastet. from its pharaonic name, Per-Bastet: “House of Bastet”. The bottle was likely used for serving wine, and given While kings throughout Egypt’s Old, Middle and New the Bubastis context, may be a relic of the boozy annual Kingdoms chose Bubastis as the site for temples and chapels, festivals where revelers enacted the drop-down-drunken- it was the pharaohs of Egypt’s 22nd Dynasty (ca. 945 b.c.) ness that prevented Sekhmet—the hot-headed lioness— from wiping out humankind. Both Sekhmet and Bastet who honoured the Temple of Bastet with its most visible were regarded as solar deities: the feline daughters of the remains of royal patronage. sun-god (hence the solar disc and shown here The 22nd Dynasty had a distinctively Libyan character, on her head). Such heavy ritual drinking ensured that with its founding , Sheshonq I (ca. 935 b.c.) likely Bastet remained happily sedated and prevented the descending from a ruling line of Libyans in the eastern emergence of her Sekhmet-like fiery rage. Delta city of . Ironically, this elite class had emerged This vessel was found in one of two caches of “trea- sure” unearthed at Bubastis in 1906. Along with vessels from the Libyan prisoners of war who had been forcibly connected with wine service (decorated cups, vases, settled in the Delta by the 20th Dynasty’s Ramesses III. It’s bowls, and platters) were fabulous items of gold and why this line is often referred to as the Libyan Dynasty. silver jewellery. Some of the items were spirited away by Sheshonq I was a general under Psusennes II, the last the workers, however, and the chief inspector of Lower king of Egypt’s 21st Dynasty, who died without an heir. Egypt, C. C. Edgar, who oversaw the excavation of the second hoard, described how “from the mouth of one of However, the general’s son, Osorkon, had married the royal the workmen a flat piece of silver covered with gold leaf princess Maatkare, and on Psusennes’ death, the throne was extracted with some difficulty.” passed peacefully to his son-in-law’s family.

NILEMAGAZINE.COM.AU 11 By the time the Delta’s 22nd-Dynasty rulers inherited the throne, Bubastis had been the cult centre for Bastet for over 2,000 years. Given their own eastern Delta origins, it is perhaps no surprise that these pharaohs favoured the goddess and made the city their royal residence. Sheshonq I’s son, Osorkon I, and his grand- son, Osorkon II, improved upon the already ancient Temple of Bastet with extensive build- ing work that included grand pylons, ceremo- nial gates and forests of columns. Although much of this building work was carried out using limestone (now mostly lost), the site is still littered with huge blocks of pink granite, carved with scenes of ceremony and devotion. Around 500 years later, the last native Egyptian king, the 30th Dynasty’s Nectanebo II renewed the sacred “home” of the cult statue of Bastet— the sanctuary at the temple’s western end (see plan on page 8).

EXCAVATION HISTORY Until the 21st century, the most significant work at the Temple of Bastet was by Édouard Naville, who began his first excavation at the area in 1887 (see captions on pages 9 and 10). In the late 1930s/early 1940s, Labib Habachi, a chief inspector in the Egyptian Department of An- tiquities, established the centre’s antiquity when he discovered the earliest confirmed royal build- COURTESY OF THE EGYPTOLOGY LIBRARY OF PEGGY JOY ing—the ka temple of Pepi I (6th Dynasty, ca. 2300 b.c.), not far south of the Temple of Bastet. Édouard Naville had an eye for impressively large, gallery-worthy The most long-running explorations at artefacts, and so museums around the world owe some of their most Bubastis began in 1991 and are still ongoing— eye-catching pieces to the excavator. Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts a joint mission of the University of Potsdam, (MFA) is one of those institutions that received an impressive share of Germany and the Egyptian Supreme Council the finds. This Hathor-head column capital, drawn in situ among the ruins of of Antiquities. In 2001 the mission uncovered Osorkon II’s Hypostyle Hall, was added to the MFA collection in 1899 a colossal statue of a queen, possibly Tiye, prin- (Acc. No. 89.555). Capitals of this type were also donated to museums cipal wife of Amenhotep III—see page 14. And in Boston, Sydney, Berlin, Paris, London and Cairo. just last year, the Egyptian-German team pub- This engraving comes from Amelia Edwards’ article in the January lished their discovery of the suspected remnants 1890 issue of The Century Magazine. of the ancient waterway (the Isheru) that curved around three sides of the temple, shaped some- what like a horseshoe. The Isheru may have represented the on page 8). This hall was built to commemorate the king’s primeval waters from which the first mound of creation Sed Festival, a series of rituals celebrating the renewal of appeared, with the temple at its centre portraying the sacred the living king’s authority over Egypt, and the rebirth of mound itself. It also provided the setting for the rowing of his divine status. Many of the remaining blocks bear reliefs the sacred barque of the goddess, which was a central feature displaying parts of the ceremonies. Our aim was to docu- of religious festivals held at the temple. ment the blocks in situ (material, dimensions etc.), care- In the Journal of Archaeological Science, the mission’s fully remove them from where they lay, clean them and director, Eva Lange-Athinodorou, states that “sacred lakes make epigraphic copies of the inscriptions. were specifically associated with the temples of goddesses Some of the blocks weigh up to seven tonnes, so a crane who would appear as lionesses, specifically Sekhmet, , was brought in to remove the stones and place them on and Bastet, to name but a few.” wooden beams in a graveled area to separate them from ground moisture. This initial operation yielded 112 blocks, TEAM BASTET mostly of rose-coloured granite, with 32 bearing inscrip- In partnership with the Ministry of Antiquities, and under tions. Ten blocks turned out to be broken pieces of statues, the leadership of Dr. Elsayed Hegazy and Hashem Abdul with six of these inscribed for King Ramesses II. Moomen, the mission to restore the Temple of Bastet began its first season in November 2019. DOCUMENTATION The first season of work focussed on the northern side Each block is numbered, carefully measured and docu- of Osorkon II’s Festival Hall (marked in blue on the map mented, recording the material, inscriptions and scenes.

12 NILE #25 | MAY–JUNE 2020 © TEAM BASTET © TEAM BASTET

Looking across the block field that represents the tumbled The first stage in the restoration of the Temple of Bastet remains of Osorkon II’s once-grand Festival Hall. Here, involves the relocation of the blocks to a work area where members of Team Bastet attach the straps of a harness to they are kept off the ground and away from the corrosive a block for it to be hauled out of the soil and taken to a effects of ground moisture and salt. nearby working area (right) for documentation, cleaning In the background, you can see the modern city of and conservation. Zagazig, which surrounds the archaeological site.

This will help us to work out where each block fits when temples and rock-grottoes, with their images and inscrip- we are ready to reconstruct the scenes. When Édouard tions, are pounded and burnt into lime, that they may again Naville excavated the temple in the 19th century, he turned cement together other blocks. . . for some cattle-stall or over and copied the reliefs on every block he could. Naville’s other government purposes.” published records will enable us to compare our blocks It was, no doubt, a similar story of destruction in Bubas- against his drawings, and determine how much of our tis. Much of the Temple of Bastet was built using limestone material is being documented for the first time. which has since been stripped away for use as lime, leaving the scattered granite elements behind. It is going to be a CONSERVATION huge undertaking to not only reconstruct what is left but Salt is the enemy for delicate reliefs, and 15 conservation also to fill in the blanks. To learn more about the project, specialists are working to save the retrieved blocks from and find out how you can be involved, visitteambastet.com . damage caused by salt crystals. This involves applying a solution of alcohol and water to loosen the salt crystals so they can be carefully pried away.

NEXT SEASON In season two we hope to complete the removal of the stones from the Festival Hall. Then, it will be time to excavate the area which we have cleared. This earth beneath these blocks has not been touched in thousands of years. Who knows what lies beneath?

RECONSTRUCTION Of course, this is a task of mammoth proportions. Édouard KHADIJA HAMMOND is a DR. ELSAYED HEGAZY is Naville attempted a reconstruction (on paper) of the Fes- scholar of ancient Egypt. She Director of the project to writes historical fiction and has restore the Great Temple of tival Gate of Osorkon II and determined that “not much several books available on Bastet. He is former Director of more than one-third has been preserved.” Hopefully, further Amazon.com. She is co-director and Temples, excavation will bring to light more pieces of the puzzle. of the team restoring the Great and the Valley of the Kings and In 1845, the German Egyptologist Karl Lepsius described Temple of Bastet in Zagazig Queens, and retired as Director the following depressing scene that he witnessed in Luxor: (teambastet.com). She also runs of the Eastern Delta. He a cat sanctuary in Luxor called worked with Dr. Mohammed “There is a bare white spot in the middle of the fertile the Sanctuary of Bastet, where Sohier in the discovery and plain: on this, two limekilns are erected, in which, as often she resides with her husband, restoration of the Luxor as they are wanted, the very best blocks of the ancient Dr. Elsayed Hegazy. Cashette at Luxor Temple.

NILEMAGAZINE.COM.AU 13 BUBASTIS: ITS LONG HISTORY IN STONE

© TEAM BASTET © TEAM BASTET

THE KING’S RENEWAL NEFERTARI OR TIYE? This granite block comes from Osorkon II’s gateway that The Delta’s largest statue so far discovered was unearthed led to his Sed Festival Hall at the Temple of Bastet. in 2001 by an Egyptian/German (University of Potsdam) Osorkon II commissioned the gateway to celebrate one of mission within Osorkon II’s peristyle court in the Temple the most important royal festivals in ancient Egypt: The of Bastet. This colossal queenly figure (above), carved Sed Festival. This ritual served to renew the physical and from red granite, stands over nine metres tall. divine powers of the ruler and to confirm his rank as a The statue had split in two when it tumbled to the king of Upper and Lower Egypt. ground, possibly during the earthquake that devastated The top register on this block shows three royal the temple in the 1st century b.c., and has now been princesses, while below, a musician beats a drum that is re-erected in the vicinity of the temple. held aloft by another. Édouard Naville did an amazing job This queen wears a heavy wig, adorned with the at bringing blocks together to complete scenes, and here vulture headdress of queens and goddesses. Her left hand we see that the above block forms part of a processional holds a lily, which falls in an arc across her chest. Next to scene that follows the king and his wife, Karomama. The her right leg is the figure of a daughter, 1.6 metres tall. first block is now in the British Museum (EA 1077). Unfortunately, the bottom fragment of the sculpture suffered most from the effects of groundwater, and the details of this smaller figure are lost. The back pillar identifies the statue as Karomama, wife of Osorkon II, however, the inscriptions had been tampered with, and so her true identity comes down to two notable queens: Nefertari, the first wife of the 19th Dynasty’s Ramesses II, or Tiye, principal wife of Amen- hotep III, who ruled 70 years earlier in the 18th Dynasty. Dr. Elsayed Hegazy, Director of the Team Bastet Project, believes that this is Queen Tiye. Amenhotep lll was active at Bubastis—he built a chapel west of the Temple of Bastet—and the round-faced statue bears a strong similarity to portraits of Amenhotep’s queen. Writing in Amenhotep III: Egypt’s Radiant Pharaoh, Arielle Kozloff suggests that the statue “was carved late in the (Amenhotep III’s) reign, judging from her middle-aged figure and fashions—a trailing gown and enormous wig nearly enveloping her small, round face.”

14 NILE #25 | MAY–JUNE 2020 WHO WAS BASTET?

Ancient Egypt’s love affair with Bastet lasted almost 3,000 Kingdom’s “Loyalist Instructions of Sehetepibre”. During years. The feline goddess is found in museums around the the reign of Senwosret III, the deputy chief treasurer, Se- world as a seated cat statuette, sometimes still containing hetepibre, recorded a series of instructions to his children. a mummified kitty, dispatched to the afterlife to rendezvous One of these was that they must always be loyal to the king. with Bastet herself. But many people would be surprised Using the contrasting imagery of Bastet and Sekhmet, to learn that Bastet isn’t the lithe, sensual cat Sehetepibre made it clear that the king’s supporters would goddess we usually think she is. be cared for, while his enemies would be destroyed: Well, not all the time, anyway. ! B b Like most feline deities, Bastet K!. #K c! b swung between opposing forces: she “He is Bastet who protects the Two Lands, could be both tender and terrible. t \ This is because when we first see 1K _! $ 7K M $ K h One of the earliest Bastet’s face, it isn’t a cat we are look- b images of Bastet is ing at, but a lioness-headed goddess. Who praises him is protected by his arm. this seated, This leonine-human Bastet appears B ! f+ lioness-headed r . #K M $o 8 ! h woman, from a on 2nd-Dynasty vessels (ca. 2700 ! 2nd-Dynasty stone b.c.) which were stockpiled He is Sekhmet to who defies his command, vessel, now in a in the vast underground B h < | E private U.S. galleries beneath the 1K h!E M M HK5 collection. 3rd-Dynasty Step Who he hates will bear distress.” © MONET BURZACOTT of Djoser (Abydos Stela of Sehetepibre, 12th Dynasty reign at . of Senwosret III, ca. 1850 b.c. Cairo CG 20538.) The above example is an unprov- enanced but typical representation Bastet’s stature was given a boost when the rulers of of those early Bastets: seated and Bubastis became the kings of Egypt and formed the holding an (“life”) in one hand and 22nd Dynasty. It was at this point, around 945 b.c., a was sceptre (“dominion”) in the other. that cats began to represent Bastet’s more Three centuries later, Bastet appears as docile side. The ferocious lioness was now the mother of the pharaoh in the religious regarded as a gentle protector of hearth rites known as the of the and home, motherhood and fertility. 5th and 6th Dynasties. Like most mothers, This was a bad time to be a cat in she is both nurturing and fiercely protective. Egypt, as vast numbers of them had Bastet’s role as defender of the their necks wrung before being mum- pharaoh broadened when mified and offered to the goddess to the Old Kingdom Pyramid give thanks or request a favour. Texts evolved into the On Bastet’s cult temple at Bubas- Middle Kingdom Coffin tis, however, the goddess was never Texts, now available to the pictured as anything but a lioness- aristocracy of the royal court: headed woman. For Egypt’s pharaohs, Bastet always retained a wild streak: ! U K! p C H M “Bastet, the daughter of , Kb jhb M t! b # t > “His majesty proceeded to Retenu (Syria-Palestine), 9! ! MMD H ! 7 9 t t` the first-born daughter of the Lord of All, 1 9 11nh #! ! #! a on his first victorious campaign 1K e 1 Sb - M < # i! Y h B !d

: r1 ]1 K Bastet is sometimes contrasted against another leonine h !7 “His face terrible like (that of) Bastet, goddess, Sekhmet, to emphasise the traits for which both t t deities were famous: the protective Bastet versus the fero- ! h v7 cious Sekhmet. Unlike Hathor, who could become Sekhmet ]1 4 1 FV ! t 5 as the rampaging “Eye of Ra”, Bastet and Sekhmet were like Seth in his moment of raging.” not two sides of the same goddess; they were simply (From the Memphis Stela of Amenhotep II [Cairo, JE 6301] paired for effect. We see an example of this in the Middle 18th Dynasty, ca. 1410 b.c.)

NILEMAGAZINE.COM.AU 15