600 BC

Attention! Cat Content!

Neues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

From the #HistoryOfUs series: Cats Cats Cats Cats

Statue of the goddess Bastet, Artist unknown, Late Period, c. 600 BCE, From the collection of: Neues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Cat memes, cat cafes, cat wine, cat spas – if you think people are crazy about cats today, they were super crazy about them in Ancient Egypt. Felines were worshipped – not just for their godlike mouse-catching abilities.

Bastet, human, cat-headed, unknown, Late Period, 664–332 BCE, From the collection of: Neues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Bastet was a goddess in cat form, daughter of the sun god Ra and revered by the Egyptians
as the goddess of joy, dance, music, festivals and – because Ancient Egyptian music festivals were a lot like ours – love, sexuality and fertility.

Bronze figure of a seated cat, From the collection of: British Museum

"Bubasteia" was the cheerfully debauched annual celebration of Bastet. Egyptians travelled by boat from all over the kingdom to the city of Bubastis. Every time they passed a town, Greek historian Herodotus tells us, the women would “stand up and expose their genitals ... More wine is drunk at this feast than in the entire rest of the year.”

Statue of the goddess Bastet, Artist unknown, Late Period, c. 600 BCE, From the collection of: Neues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Bastet, then, was embraced by the kind of people who embraced life, those who
knew life is short and probably believed that cats were the truest symbol of #YOLN, or “You Only Live Nine times” – the cat version of #YOLO.
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Credits: Story

#HistoryOfUs series

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz

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Neues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

British Museum