Cat Mummy

Mummified cats were frequently given as votive offerings to the goddess Bastet. Bastet was revered as a goddess of motherhood, fertility, and the household. She began as a lioness-headed goddess associated with Sekhmet. In the New Kingdom, she took on her full cat form. The feline embodied the duality of being a fierce huntress and a gentle caregiver. Egyptians regarded cats and other sacred animals as vessels or channels for deities. Harming them for non-ritual purposes was punishable by death.