Bastet
The goddess of Bubastis, whom Herodotus calls Artemis and names "Bubastis" in Egyptian — daughter of Dionysus (Osiris) and Isis, sister of Apollo (Horus). Her festival was the greatest in Egypt, her temple "none more pleasing to the eye", and dead cats from all Egypt were embalmed and buried in her town.
Why this wins its question: Most pages open with "cat-headed goddess". This object gives the one ancient witness who saw her town, with his exact sentences on the festival, the temple, the cats and the Artemis equation — and notes what he does not say.
Key takeaways
- Herodotus is the whole ancient witness here: he names her Bubastis, calls her Artemis, and makes her daughter of Isis and sister of Horus.
- The cat connection in Herodotus is a burial custom at her town, not a statement about her shape.
- Her festival is described as the largest and loudest in Egypt, with the details that make the description quotable.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
"The principal ... and the most enthusiastically celebrated" of the Egyptian assemblies "is that in honor of Artemis at the town of Bubastis" (Hdt. 2.59.1); pilgrims travel by river, men and women together, women "make a noise with rattles, others play flutes", shout mockery at the towns they pass, and "others stand up and lift their skirts"; at Bubastis they assemble "to the number of seven hundred thousand" (Hdt. 2.60.1–3).
Herodotus gives the Egyptian name and the genealogy in one sentence: "Apollo and Artemis were (they say) children of Dionysus and Isis, and Leto was made their nurse and preserver; in Egyptian, Apollo is Horus, Demeter Isis, Artemis Bubastis" — and he claims Aeschylus took from this the notion that Artemis was Demeter's daughter (Hdt. 2.156.5–6).
Of the temple at Bubastis "other temples are greater and more costly, but none more pleasing to the eye": it stands on an island between two channels from the Nile, with an outer court sixty feet high adorned with figures, a carved stone wall, "a grove of very tall trees growing around a great shrine where the image of the goddess is", a square of an eighth of a mile a side, and a paved road "towards the temple of Hermes" (Hdt. 2.137.5–2.138.4).
Herodotus links cats to her town rather than to her form: when a cat dies "the occupants of a house ... shave their eyebrows" (Hdt. 2.66.4), and "dead cats are taken away to sacred buildings in the town of Bubastis, where they are embalmed and buried" (Hdt. 2.67.1). He does not say the goddess is a cat.
Plutarch describes "the figure of a cat with a human face" on top of the sistrum, symbolising the moon "because of the varied colouring, nocturnal activity, and fecundity of the animal" (Plut. Is. 63) — without naming Bubastis or any goddess.
Questions answered
- Why is Bastet identified with Artemis?
- Herodotus gives the Egyptian name and the genealogy in one sentence: "Apollo and Artemis were (they say) children of Dionysus and Isis, and Leto was made their nurse and preserver; in Egyptian, Apollo is Horus, Demeter Isis, Artemis Bubastis" — and he claims Aeschylus took from this the notion that Artemis was Demeter's daughter (Hdt. 2.156.5–6). source
- What happened at the festival of Bubastis?
- "The principal ... and the most enthusiastically celebrated" of the Egyptian assemblies "is that in honor of Artemis at the town of Bubastis" (Hdt. 2.59.1); pilgrims travel by river, men and women together, women "make a noise with rattles, others play flutes", shout mockery at the towns they pass, and "others stand up and lift their skirts"; at Bubastis they assemble "to the number of seven hundred thousand" (Hdt. 2.60.1–3). source
- Who are the parents of Bastet according to Herodotus?
- Herodotus gives the Egyptian name and the genealogy in one sentence: "Apollo and Artemis were (they say) children of Dionysus and Isis, and Leto was made their nurse and preserver; in Egyptian, Apollo is Horus, Demeter Isis, Artemis Bubastis" — and he claims Aeschylus took from this the notion that Artemis was Demeter's daughter (Hdt. 2.156.5–6). source
- Is Bastet a cat goddess?
- Herodotus links cats to her town rather than to her form: when a cat dies "the occupants of a house ... shave their eyebrows" (Hdt. 2.66.4), and "dead cats are taken away to sacred buildings in the town of Bubastis, where they are embalmed and buried" (Hdt. 2.67.1). He does not say the goddess is a cat. source
- What did the temple of Bubastis look like?
- Of the temple at Bubastis "other temples are greater and more costly, but none more pleasing to the eye": it stands on an island between two channels from the Nile, with an outer court sixty feet high adorned with figures, a carved stone wall, "a grove of very tall trees growing around a great shrine where the image of the goddess is", a square of an eighth of a mile a side, and a paved road "towards the temple of Hermes" (Hdt. 2.137.5–2.138.4). source