What did cats mean in ancient Egypt?

Bastet; and the Great Cat of Ra, who cuts off the head of the serpent Apep under the tree at Heliopolis.

What the sign shows: A cat sitting.
How Gerald Massey read it in 1907: A watcher in the dark: he reads the cat as a sign of the moon, and in the Book of the Dead of the protecting sun god.
Where you see it today: Bronze cats made as offerings to Bastet are in museums everywhere.
Where it stands in Massey’s book: Massey names it 70 times across the book. Book VI, p. 371: “The cat on watch by the tree”; Book VII, p. 462: “The son who fights the serpent”; Book I, p. 3: “The cat and the tin mirror”.
Signs that look like it: Lion, Jackal and Baboon. The app’s Symbol Trainer sets them side by side, so the eye learns to tell them apart.
In Massey’s words: “The cat sees by night, and was adopted as a type of the Moon that saw by night and kept watch in the dark.” (Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World (1907), Book I, p. 16)
In the app: Trainer › Symbol Trainer › Cat. The app’s Symbol Trainer reads 42 signs this way, each with Massey’s own words and the page they stand on.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

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