Upper Part of the Figure of a Seated Cat
Late Period (Saite) – Ptolemaic Period
Cats were considered sacred to Bastet, a powerful protective goddess thought to bring great prosperity. Generally represented as a cat or as a female with a cat’s head (see 34.6.1), she is frequently shown, as here, alert and on guard against hostile forces. Cat statuettes were often dedicated as offerings in temples or deposited in sacred animal catacombs alongside cat mummies; larger figures could be hollow to hold actual cat remains. In this example, Bastet wears a protective amulet in the form of an aegis topped with a lion’s head and sun disk, perhaps also invoking her fiercer feline counterpart, Sekhmet.
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