Cat in myth and religion

This post is merely for entertainment purposes and not a definitive list of religious believes. I did this entirely for fun !

BAST (Ancient Egyptian Lower Kingdom)

Bast is probably the most famous cat deity as it has been worshiped since the second dynasty. Bast is also known as Bastet, Ubasti, Pasht or Pakhet and the name Bast means devourer. She was originally the protector goddess of Lower Egypt and pictured as a fierce lioness and although she began as a solar goddess, the Greeks changed her to the moon deity and this change is suitable for a cat’s nocturnal nature. Bast was associated with fertility and motherhood in those times and temples often sacrifices cats and mummifies them as offerings to Bast.

Source: Google images

Bast

MAAHES (Ancient Egypt)

During the New Kingdom, Egyptian mythology created the Maahes, a fierce lion god. It is said that Maahes is the son of Bast and he was represent as the destructive power of the Sun’s heat. Maahes was said to devour the guilty and he is the protector of the innocents.

Source: Google images

An imagenary picture of Maahes

SEKHMET (Ancient Egyptian Upper Kingdom)

Sekhmet was a fierce lion-goddess that is said to be the protector or the upper kingdom of Egypt and she began as a war goddess. Since the upper kingdom of Egypt conquered the lower kingdom, Sekhmet was considered more powerful than Bast. She then becomes the protector of the Pharaoh. Due to priests protecting her statues from vandalism by coating them with pathogens, she was then said to be the bringer of disease and was also prayed for to cure diseases. This is where she become the goddess of doctors and surgeons in the Middle Kingdom.

Source: Google images

A carving of Sekhmet

SPHINX (Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Assyria)

Sphinx is not actually a god but the lion was a powerful symbol in Ancient Egypt where there were a few fierce lion-human composite deities. The Egyptian sphinx was considered to take the role of the protector, with the head of the pharaoh and the body of a lion; a combination of wisdom and strength. In Greek mythology, there was only one Sphinx – a woman-headed, eagle winged and sometimes serpent’s tailed demon of bad luck and destruction.

Source: Google images

The famous Sphinx statue

Ariconte and Tamendonare (Brazil)

These are the Brazilian twin gods that were actually half-brothers with different fathers (much like kittens in the same litter!). One was born with a normal father and the other was from a deity father and they fought out of confusion of which father was whose. They then united as their mother was eaten by cannibals.

Source: Google images

Ariconte and Tamendonare

CHRISTIANITY

Cats got a much worse deal when they became associated with the devil. In the Middle Ages they were considered the familiars of witches but witches were mostly harmless old women who kept cats as company and to keep put mouse in their home. When cats were tortured to death, their screams were said to be the screams of Lucifer himself. Devil worshippers variously use them as animal sacrifices and up until today, some view black cats as a symbol of bad luck and continue to form part of witch-lore, especially at Hallowe'en.

Source: Google images

Black cat

ISLAM

Our beloved prophet Muhammad himself adores cats very much and he was said to kept one, tagging along with him in his sleeve most of the time. To Muslims, cats is considered to be a very clean animal who bury their own waste, unlike dogs.

Source: Google images

White cat with its kitten

#Myths #Religion