Bastet goddess was a protective lioness goddess, however, and is useful only in deciphering the origin of the term, alabaster. Bastet was originally a fierce lioness warrior goddess of the sun throughout most of ancient Egyptian history, but later she was changed into the cat goddess that is familiar today, becoming Bastet. She was also seen as the daughter and consort of Atum-Ra. She also had a son with Atum-Ra, the lion god Maahes. As protector of Lower Egypt, she was seen as defender of the pharaoh, and consequently of the sun god, Ra. Along with other deities like Hathor, Sekhmet,
Eye of Ra human form, including Neith, a sometimes warlike deity sometimes said to be the mother of the sun god, and Satet and Anuket, who were linked with the Nile cataracts and the inundation. Other such goddesses include Sothis, the deified form of the star of the same name, and Maat, the personification of cosmic order, who was connected with the Eye because she was said to be the daughter of Ra. Even Isis, who is usually the companion of Osiris rather than Ra, or Astarte, a deity of fertility and warfare who was imported from Canaan rather than native to Egypt,