Bast (redirected from bastes)

Bast, in Egyptian religion

Bast (băst), ancient Egyptian cat goddess. At first a goddess of the home, she later became known as a goddess of war. The center of her cult was at Bubastis. Her name also appears as Ubast.

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bast, in botany

bast: see bark.

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Bastet

 or Bast or Ubasti

Bastet, cat-headed goddess of Bubastis, statuette, 22nd–25th dynasty; in the British Museum

(credit: Reproduced by courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum)

In Egyptian religion, a goddess worshiped first as a lioness and later as a cat. Her nature changed after the domestication of the cat c. 1500 BC. She had cults at Bubastis in the Nile delta and at Memphis. In the Late and Ptolemaic periods, large cemeteries of mummified cats were created at both sites, and thousands of bronze statuettes of the goddess were deposited as votive offerings. Bastet is represented as a lioness or a woman with a cat's head, usually holding a bag, a breastplate, and a sistrum (wire rattle). The Romans carried her cult to Italy.

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phloem

 or bast

Plant tissues that conduct foods made in the leaves to all other parts of the plant. Phloem is composed of several types of specialized cells, including sieve-tube cells and phloem fibers. Sieve tubes (columns of sieve-tube cells), which have perforated areas in their walls, provide the main channels in which food substances travel. Phloem fibers are long, flexible cells that make up the soft fibers used commercially (e.g., flax and hemp).

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bast [bast]

(botany)

phloem

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Bast

cat-headed goddess of love and fashion. [Egyptian Myth.: Espy, 20]

See : Love

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Bast

cat-headed goddess representing sun and moon. [Ancient Egyptian Rel.: Parrinder, 42]

See : Moon

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Bast

cat-headed goddess representing sun and moon. [Egypt. Myth.: Parrinder, 41]

See : Sun

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Bast

plants grown for their bast fiber leaf-bearing trees, primarily lindens. Bast is used to weave baskets and other articles; it was formerly used to make lapti (bast sandals).

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Bast

fibers of linden bark that have been separated from the other tissues by soaking the bark in water for an extended period. They are used to make matting, large bags, brushes (for whitewashing), and bindings for plants, as well as mops.