Goddesses of Ancient Egypt ~ B-G

Bahet
Goddess of wealth and abundance.

Bast
Ancient Egyptian Cat Goddess. Patron Goddess of pleasure and music, she also offered protection against contagious diseases and evil spirits. The Mother of all cats, Egypt's most sacred animal. Bubastis, Her Holy city was home to the land's greatest temple. Cats were taken to the Holy city upon their deaths, where they were embalmed in Sacred Temples and buried. Originally in the Nile delta, she was the Lion Goddess of Sunset, symbolizing the fertilizing force of the Sun's rays. She ruled pleasure and dancing, music and joy. Bestower of mental and physical health. Hundreds of thousands of Her worshipers gathered in Her holy city Bubastis where they were greeted by flutes. It was a great celebration - worship service and vast trade fair. Bast, the Sacred Cat, symbolized the moon in its function of making a woman fruitful, with swelling womb. She was also a fierce protectress of children, and was invoked by those wishing offspring. As a sun goddess she represents the warm, life giving power of the sun. Like a cat, she was admired for her agility and strength. A goddess of the home and of the domestic cat, although she sometimes took on the war-like aspect of a lioness. Daughter of the sun god Re, although sometimes regarded as the daughter of Amun. Wife of Ptah and mother of the lion-god Mihos. Her cult was centered on her sanctuary at Bubastis in the delta region, where a necropolis has been found containing mummified cats. Bast was also associated with the 'eye of Re', acting as the instrument of the sun god's vengeance. She was depicted as a cat or in human form with the head of a cat, often holding the sacred rattle known as the sistrum. An important deity in the home (since cats were prized pets) and also important in the iconography (since papyri usually show the serpents which attack the sun being killed by cats). In later Egyptian mythology Bast is also a patroness of luxury and pleasures.

Bat
The Egyptian cow goddess of fertility, also called Bata. She was primarily worshipped in Upper Egypt. Bat was depicted as a cow or in human form with the ears and horns of a cow.

Baubo
A Ptolemaic Egyptian fertility figure who displays her genitals in the manner of Sheela-na-Gig. Baubos were often found in women's chambers, possibly connected with a fecundity and childbirth cult at Bubastis.

Berenice
Wife of Ptolemy Soter, who promised the gods that she would cut off her beautiful hair if her husband returned safely from war. He did, she did, and hung her hair in the temple of Arsinoe. It disappeared from the temple, and appeared in the heavens as the constellation Coma Berenices.

Beset
Beset was a goddess of ancient Egyptian mythology. She was the female version of the dwarf-god Bes. Beset was an Egyptian guard. She protected people from evil spirits, snakes, and misfortune. Beset was also a goddess of human pleasures. Some of these pleasures were music, dance, and jollity. Beset had a protruding tongue, bow legs, and the ears, mane, and tail of a lion.

Buto
A solar cobra Goddess, the personification of Ra's retributive power and, as such, an Aspect of the cleansing and purifying power of the sun's heat. She is regarded as a primary defender of authority, especially royal, and She is a tutelary Goddess of Lower Egypt. She also has some connections with maternal powers, in that She is considered the wetnurse of Horus, as well as the mother of Nefertum.

Candace
Title of the hereditary queens of the desert empire of Meroe. One of them led an army of 10,000 rebels against the Roman occupation of Egypt.

Chensit
Another serpent goddess of lower Egypt. She is pictured with the crown of Hathor or with Maât's feather.

Djet
One of the two deities holding up the pillars of the sky, the other being Neheh.

Edjo
A serpent goddess of the Delta, a symbol and protrectress of Lower Egypt, the counterpart of Nekhbet in Upper Egypt, worn as part of the king's crown.

Êpet
Goddess protector of children. She is pictured as being a hippopotamus with woman's breasts and lion's feet, usually carrying a crocodile on her back.

Ermutu
A goddess of childbirth.

Ernutet
Goddess with the head of a cobra, wearing a headdress with a solar disk between two horns.

Gate-Keepers, The
Guardian goddesses of the gate to the underworld. The dead must say their names before they are allowed to pass through. Aakhabit and Clother are mentioned in the Book of the Dead. The others are called by titles like "Lady of the Light", etc.