Bastet Artemis. Bastet Bastet or Bast ( "She of the Ointment Jar", ) was a goddess of ancient Egyptian religion, worshiped as early as the Second Dynasty (2890 BCE). Her name is also rendered as B'sst, Baast, Ubaste, and Baset. In ancient Greek religion, she is also known as Ailuros ( "cat"). Bastet was worshipped in Bubastis in Lower Egypt, originally as a lioness goddess, a role shared by other deities such as Sekhmet. Eventually Bastet and Sekhmet were characterized as two aspects of the same goddess, with Sekhmet representing the dangerous side of her personality and Bastet, who was increasingly
Eye of Ra again at nightfall. The solar Eye is said to assist in this effort, slaughtering the gods for Ra to eat. The red light of dawn therefore signifies the blood produced by this slaughter. In the myth called the Destruction of Mankind, related in the "Book of the Heavenly Cow" from the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 BC), Ra uses the Eye as a weapon against humans who have rebelled against his authority. He sends the Eye—Hathor, in her aggressive manifestation as the lioness goddess Sekhmet—to massacre them. She does so, but after the first day of her rampage, Ra decides to