Bastet - goddess of joy, music and dance R001

Bastet is also the goddess of love, sex and fertility. Like the ferocious war goddess Sekhmet, Bastet was originally a lioness deity, but from 900BC she began to be represented as a cat, perhaps because of her gentle nature. She was sometimes depicted with kittens, which symbolized her role as a fertility deity. Mummified cats were often buried near her shrines.