Egyptian Bronze Sculpture of Bastet with Gold Earrings

Ancient Egyptians venerated cats for their ability to keep down the rodent population in the economically important grain fields along the Nile. They were kept as pets in the home and assisted hunters by retrieving their small birds like dogs do today. Because they were economically useful and believed to ensure many children for a family, cats were revered to the point that they were mummified and buried either with their owners or in specially designated cemeteries. The Egyptians had a cat goddess, Bastet, also known as Bast, who was depicted with the body of a woman and the head of a cat, or just as a cat. Goddess of joy, music, and dance, the cult of Bastet was centered in Bubastis in the Nile River Delta, home of the 22nd Dynasty. Although her cult can be traced back to the 4th millennium B.C., she did not become a central goddess until Bubastis became the capital. Herodotus describes her temple in Bubastis as a sanctuary of great splendor, rivaled only in its scope and elegance by the temples of Ra and Horus.

This bronze sculpture of Bastet is a masterpiece of Egyptian art. She is represented with the head of a cat and the body of a woman dressed in a tightly fitting robe. She carries a sistrum rattle in her raised right arm, alluding to her identity as a goddess of music. Gold earrings decorate her pierced ears.