Cats in ancient Egypt
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In ancient Egypt, cats were represented in social and religious scenes dating as early as 1980 BC. Several ancient Egyptian deities were depicted and sculptured with cat-like heads such as Mafdet, Bastet and Sekhmet, representing justice, fertility, and power, respectively. The deity Mut was also depicted as a cat and in the company of a cat.
Cat-headed deity Bastet
Cat amulet
Cat eating a fish under a chair, mural in the tomb of Nakht copied by Norman de Garis Davies
Sarcophagus of Prince Thutmose's cat, exhibited in the Museum of Fine Arts of Valenciennes, France
Bastet
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Bastet or Bast is a goddess of ancient Egyptian religion, worshipped as early as the Second Dynasty. Her name also is rendered as B'sst, Baast, Ubaste, and Baset. In ancient Greek religion, she was known as Ailuros.
Wadjet-Bastet, with a lioness head, the solar disk, and the cobra that represents Wadjet
Statue of Bastet, in her hands she holds a sistrum
Bastet, Albert Hall Museum, Jaipur, India
An Eighteenth Dynasty burial artifact from the tomb of Tutankhamun (c. 1323 BC), an alabaster cosmetic jar topped with a lioness representing Bastet — Cairo Museum