Bastet

She and her litter mates were found by a friend at a construction site. Three of the kittens were huge, and the other three were tiny. She was the smallest of them all, and we worried she might not make it.

Now she is the alpha cat of our household, bossing everyone else around.

I named her after the Egyptian cat goddess, Bast. I had a little statue of the goddess, which I was showing to this kitty one evening.

"See," I said, "You are named after her."

Suddenly a black paw flashed out and knocked the head right off the cat statue. My hand now held only the body.

Kitty stared at me and blinked, inscrutable, yet somehow seeming to say, "I am the real goddess, not some silly little statue, you fool!"

Yes, oh great one! We bow before the mighty goddess.

There is also a character in the Amelia Peabody mystery series by Elizabeth Peters called "the cat Bastet." These are great books, by the way, if you like archeology and Egyptian history.