Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures: The Ultimate A–Z of Fantastic Beings from Myth and Magic - John Matthews - Страница 204

The Egyptian Bastet was a cat-headed goddess who was worshipped at Bubastis. Her name means ‘the tearer’ or ‘the renderer’. Despite these harsh epithets, Bast or Bastet became less savage and more benign in later belief, transferring her more destructive qualities to Sekhmet with whom she was closely alllied. It was held that Bastet was the spark of rage in the eye of her father, Ra, and the instrument of his vengeance. It was forbidden to hunt lions on her festival day, which was held, according to the lunar calendar, in April or May. Bastet was the mother of Miysis, the lion god known as the ‘Lord of Slaughter’, and also mother of Khensu, the moon god and Mihos, the lion-headed god. Bastet’s myth is connected with the eye of the moon, and her temple, which became the focus for the cat, as it was where many mummified cats were buried in special cemeteries.