Cats were sacred to Bastet, a sun goddess who represents the warm, life giving power of the sun. She was known as the goddess of joy and protector of women. She is usually represented as a lion- or cat-headed figure.
It was believed that she assumed the form of a cat when she came to earth. She also shares with cats the quality of once having been a wild cat whose more undomesticated characteristics were gradually tamed, and shares a cat's agility and grace. The first reference to the domestic cat appears in the eleventh dynasty. Because it was hostile to snakes, it became a sacred animal of the Sun God. In the New Kingdom, the male cat was regarded as an incarnation of the Sun God and the female cat was equated with the solar eye. Feline figures may display a scarab, the symbol of the rising sun, engraved on the head or breast thus showing their solar significance. The domestic cat attained special significance as the sacred animal of the Goddess Bastet. Hundreds of figures were set up as votive offerings in the temple at Bubastis in order that the donor might share in the Goddess's grace. Actual mummies of cats were buried by the thousands in special cemeteries in the area.