Basalt Stone:
Found in the mountains of the Western Desert located in Fayoum, Egypt; this grey to black colored, fine-grained natural stone was collected by the Ancient Egyptians and transported along the Nile River to Master Craftsmen.
Although basalt stone is one of the hardest stones to carve due to its extremely high density, the Ancient Egyptians were able to carve some of their finest sculptures and works of art. In many cases it took even years with the community effort to craft large scale objects.
Today, Egyptian craftspeople follow in the path of their Ancient ancestors, following every procedure, step by step, to give you the same works of art crafted by the Royal Pharaohs over 5000 years ago.
- Egyptian Cat (Bastet) -
Bast or Bastet was the cat goddess and local deity of the town of Bubastis or Per-Bast in Egyptian, where her cult was centered Bubastis was named after her. Originally she was viewed as the protector goddess of Lower Egypt, and consequently depicted as a fierce lioness. Indeed, her name means (female) devourer. As protector, she was seen as defender of the pharaoh, and consequently of the later chief male deity, Ra, who was a solar deity also, gaining her the titles Lady of Flame and Eye of Ra.
The goddess Bast was sometimes depicted holding a ceremonial sistrum in one hand and an aegis in the other the aegis usually resembling a collar or gorget embellished with a lioness head.
Bast was a goddess of the sun throughout most of Ancient Egyptian history, but later was changed to a goddess of the moon by Greeks occupying Ancient Egypt toward the end of its civilization. In Greek mythology, Bast is also known as Aelurus.
Source from Wikipedia |