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 Investigating Ancient Myths
Egyptian Mythology
Within the Inside Ancient Egypt exhibition, you can explore Egyptian mythology and learn about the many gods that ruled the Egyptian's. Statues, amulets, writings on papyrus, and more allow you to examine Egyptian religious beliefs and find out more about their view of the afterlife.
 Bastet the Beloved Cat Goddess
One of the most fascinating sections of the exhibition invites you to step inside a shrine of the cat goddess Bastet. Quite a popular deity, Bastet was the goddess of joy, music, and dancing. Her worshippers participated in festive processions and wild, orgiastic celebrations.
Bastet’s cat nature made her fertile, agile, and strong. She represented the warm, life-giving sun. In her kind and gentle manifestation as a house cat, Bastet protected humanity from disease and evil spirits. But Bastet had a wicked side, too.
In her ferocious manifestation as a savage lioness, she was known as Sekhmet, the goddess of war. Together, Bastet and Sekhmet are often represented as the left and right eye of Re, the sun god. This depiction may have hinted at the dual nature of the sun, which can give life as well as destroy it.
 The Legend of Sekhmet
Sekhmet was created by Re, the sun god, to punish human beings for plotting rebellion. However, Sekhmet relished her bloody mission so much that she could not be stopped, and the gods began to fear that humanity would be destroyed altogether.
To save the world, the gods decided to play a trick on Sekhmet. They prepared seven thousand jars of beer laced with red dye, which made the beer look like human blood. Sekhmet drank the beer and became so drunk that she returned to her palace to sleep—and humankind was saved.
Continue to The Legend of the First Mummy. >>
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