September 22, 2025 • 12 mins
This Egyptian cat statuette is here to set the record straight. Yes, she’s a little bit of a diva, but don’t all cats deserve to be worshiped? No, she’s not really the goddess Bastet, just an offering to her, thank you very much. And no, she’s certainly no phony! Hear about the role of cats in ancient Egypt and how this statuette proved her age, with a little help from some conservation scientists.
This podcast uses episode-specific artwork. If you don’t see an image of the Bastet statuette with this episode, you may have to turn on this setting in your podcast app.
For a listening guide, a coloring sheet, images, and more, visit getty.edu/podcasts/if-objects-could-talk/.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:00):
This is a Getty Podcast.
Host (00:05):
Before we get started, I have to know—are a cat
person or a dog person?
If you said dog person, can youpretend you said cat person?
Because today a veryspecial cat tells her tale.
Welcome to If Objects CouldTalk, a podcast where art
(00:25):
and artifacts get to leavethe museum vault and tell
their side of the story.
Thanks for joining us as webring objects into the light!
When you imagine life inancient Egypt, do you think
about pyramids and mummies?
Maybe libraries?
(00:46):
Or do you think about cats?
Cats were kind of a big dealfor Egyptians—they protected
food from pests, for instance.
But they were also importantin Egyptian mythology.
The goddess Bastet had thehead of a cat and the body
of a human and she hadthe power to shapeshift
(01:06):
into a fully feline form.
This is why many of herworshipers left cat-shaped
gifts at her temples.
Today’s guest was likely oneof these gifts—a bronze cat
statuette, about one foot tall.
It was made in Egypt overtwo thousand years ago.
(01:27):
In the grand history ofEgypt, that’s more than two
thousand years after thepyramids were built, and
a little before Cleopatramet her serpentine end.
This cat has had a historyof being misunderstood, so
we are grateful she agreedto postpone her nap to get
her story straightened out.
(01:48):
Here she comes.
Bastet Statuette (01:54):
[Meows] I am sure it’s a great delight
to hear from me, but this isno casual audio interlude.
There have been a lot ofrumors and half-truths
told about me in the past.
Some thoughtless gossip!
So, I thought I would setthe record straight one last
time and then wash my pawsof the entire situation.
(02:18):
First, I am not, norhave I ever claimed to
be, the goddess Bastet.
I am merely a beautifulgift, made in her image,
in celebration of herdivinity and perhaps in
fear of her power as well.
There were thousands of bronzeand wood cat statuettes like me
(02:42):
meant to be votives at templesdedicated to the goddess.
However, I am one-of-a-kind.
Oh, I should probablyexplain what a votive is.
A votive is a gift oroffering to say thank you.
What do you do to thank someone?
(03:04):
Do you draw a pictureor give a big hug?
I think everyone should practicea little more gratitude.
It makes you feel warm, likestanding in the Egyptian sun.
Try it!
Write a thank younote to someone, even
if it’s to yourself.
(03:24):
Celebrate a great choiceor accomplishment and
don’t spare any details.
Details matter whenyou are giving thanks.
My favorite way to give thanksis to take a little nap,
because being well restedis a gift for everyone.
I say, “Thank you, self,for being gorgeous” and
(03:45):
then off to dream land.
For those of you talkingabout my size, well,
I love the way I look.
I’m not very big—onlyabout a foot tall—about the
height of two dollar bills.
But I sit upright withmy head held proudly and
(04:06):
my ears at attention.
Don’t let my tail curledaround my front paws fool you.
I may love a good nap, butyou should beware of my bite.
I also heard that Iam some sort of diva?
A cat wears a little jewelryand suddenly you’re typecast?
(04:29):
Fine.
Guilty as charged!
I am a fancy cat.
My eyes are currently bare,but were likely inlaid with
gold or another preciousmaterial, like stone or glass.
I can hardly remember anymore.
See—not somaterialistic after all!
(04:50):
But I do still have my necklacewith a pendant of Wedjat, or
sacred eye amulet, which lookslike a stylized eye and eyebrow.
But I don’t just wear itbecause it’s dazzling, I wear
it because it has meaning!
The story goes that theeye was stolen from Horus
(05:12):
the god of goodness andkingship, by Seth, the god
of the wild, untamed nature.
This caused chaosin the universe!
Which I don’t thinkis necessarily bad.
I mean, which cat among ushas never knocked a glass
(05:33):
off a ledge just because?
But anyway, the eye hadto be brought back to
reestablish order—yada,yada, yada—and it represents
healing and protection, justa few of my dear goddess
Bastet’s many specialties.
Bastet was the daughter of thesun god, Ra, and traveled with
(05:56):
him across the sky in his sunboat to move the sun throughout
the day from sunrise to sunset.
She was also the goddessof music, dance, family,
healing, and birth.
She had the head of a cat andthe body of a human, but when
she needed to protect herfather, she turned one hundred
(06:17):
percent cat, which means shewas one hundred percent fierce.
And if I may be so bold as tospeak for all cats for a moment,
we are not idle, tame creatures.
We are powerful protectors!
And you are so lucky weallow you to keep us as pets.
(06:40):
Where are the thank younotes for the cats of today?
Why in my time, cats belongingto the wealthy families were
adorned with jewels, likemy beautiful eye necklace.
And when a cat died, as a signof mourning, the cat owners
shaved off their eyebrows,and continued to mourn until
(07:01):
their eyebrows grew back.
Some cats were so beloved thatthey were mummified and placed
in tombs with their owners.
It’s true!
The belief was that by placingcats and their owners in the
same tomb the pair could remaintogether in the afterlife.
Ha, and you say dogsare man’s best friend.
(07:24):
How about not!
I’ve also heard rumorsgoing around that I am
made of one hundred percent“cattitude,” whatever that
is. But I assure you, I’mone hundred percent bronze.
I can prove it.
I was made from a mold in oneof the most advanced technical
(07:46):
processes from antiquitycalled lost wax casting.
Lost wax casting was so advancedthat it’s still used today!
An artisan makes a roughcat model out of clay.
Next, a thin layer of wax wasmodeled over the clay, with
all the finer details, likemy whiskers and necklace.
(08:10):
Then my entire shape was encasedwith more clay, leaving a
few open channels and vents.
The whole block of clayand wax was heated, melting
the wax in between the coreand the outer clay shell.
In the now empty space wherethe wax used to be, hot
(08:31):
liquid bronze was poured.
When the bronze had cooled, themold was broken open and voila!
A perfect kitty cat with atummy full of fired clay.
That could be removed tocreate a hollow inside.
Maybe the perfect space for acat mummy to spend eternity?
(08:55):
I’m sure that being hollow onthe inside is where the rumors
that I’m heartless came from.
But that’s also not true.
How can I be heartlesswhen I love me?
Now, on to therumors about my age.
Because of my youthful andsmooth appearance, for a
(09:17):
long time, experts didn’tbelieve I was really an
ancient Egyptian cat.
They thought I was merelya young copycat, a fake!
To prove that I wasauthentically me, I had to go
through all sorts of tests.
They told me it was allperfectly safe, but still
(09:38):
I was quite nervous.
If you’ve ever beento a hospital, you’ll
understand what I mean.
The lights, sounds, and machinescan be very overwhelming.
But just like you haveto be brave so nurses and
doctors can make you feelbetter, I had to be brave
to prove my doubters wrong!
Here’s how it went down.
(10:00):
First, a team of conservatorsand other experts brought
me into their laboratory.
Conservators are likedoctors who keep artworks
like yours truly healthy.
They use the latest toolsto understand how we’re
made and what we’re madefrom so they can keep us
looking and feeling our best.
(10:22):
Once the conservators got mein the lab, they took x-rays,
did metal analysis, andused teeny tiny microscopes
to check my insides.
Have you ever gotten an x-ray?
Maybe to find a broken bone?
The experts didn’t finda broken bone, but they
did discover somethingrattling around in my head.
(10:46):
Bits of ancient clay perhaps?
I would need surgery to pullout the item stuck inside.
So I was taken off of mywooden base and a conservator
reached inside and expertlyremoved a piece of material
that was near my ear.
A sample of that materialwas carefully packaged and
(11:08):
was sent to a laboratory inOxford, England for testing.
Like I said, I’ma very fancy cat.
It turned out the materialcould be dated to between
1,700 and 2,700 years ago!
(11:29):
So, we have real proof thatI wasn’t lying about my age!
My youthful glow is froman experimental skincare
regimen involving beeswaxand plenty of rest.
Wow!
Setting the recordstraight is exhausting.
(11:51):
Back to the vault.
I’m sure now that the truthis out, I am going to have the
best cat nap of my nine lives.
Host (12:04):
I hope you enjoyed learning about
cats and conservation.
Join us next time when a fishflask swims into the studio.
To see photographs of theBastet statuette and learn
more about her conservation,visit our website at Getty
dot edu slash podcasts.
(12:25):
This episode was writtenby Tocarra Elise and
produced by Zoe Goldman.
Chloe Mei Li Bundtvoiced the statuette.
Theme music, mixing and sounddesign by Alexandra Kalinowski.
Christopher Sprinkleis executive producer.
Special thanks to curatorsKen Lapatin, Judith Barr, Hana
Sugioka, and Sara Cole, as wellas conservator Susanne Gänsicke.
(12:50):
Catch you next time!
This is a Getty Podcast.
Host (00:05):
Before we get started, I have to know—are a cat
person or a dog person?
If you said dog person, can youpretend you said cat person?
Because today a veryspecial cat tells her tale.
Welcome to If Objects CouldTalk, a podcast where art
(00:25):
and artifacts get to leavethe museum vault and tell
their side of the story.
Thanks for joining us as webring objects into the light!
When you imagine life inancient Egypt, do you think
about pyramids and mummies?
Maybe libraries?
(00:46):
Or do you think about cats?
Cats were kind of a big dealfor Egyptians—they protected
food from pests, for instance.
But they were also importantin Egyptian mythology.
The goddess Bastet had thehead of a cat and the body
of a human and she hadthe power to shapeshift
(01:06):
into a fully feline form.
This is why many of herworshipers left cat-shaped
gifts at her temples.
Today’s guest was likely oneof these gifts—a bronze cat
statuette, about one foot tall.
It was made in Egypt overtwo thousand years ago.
(01:27):
In the grand history ofEgypt, that’s more than two
thousand years after thepyramids were built, and
a little before Cleopatramet her serpentine end.
This cat has had a historyof being misunderstood, so
we are grateful she agreedto postpone her nap to get
her story straightened out.
(01:48):
Here she comes.
Bastet Statuette (01:54):
[Meows] I am sure it’s a great delight
to hear from me, but this isno casual audio interlude.
There have been a lot ofrumors and half-truths
told about me in the past.
Some thoughtless gossip!
So, I thought I would setthe record straight one last
time and then wash my pawsof the entire situation.
(02:18):
First, I am not, norhave I ever claimed to
be, the goddess Bastet.
I am merely a beautifulgift, made in her image,
in celebration of herdivinity and perhaps in
fear of her power as well.
There were thousands of bronzeand wood cat statuettes like me
(02:42):
meant to be votives at templesdedicated to the goddess.
However, I am one-of-a-kind.
Oh, I should probablyexplain what a votive is.
A votive is a gift oroffering to say thank you.
What do you do to thank someone?
(03:04):
Do you draw a pictureor give a big hug?
I think everyone should practicea little more gratitude.
It makes you feel warm, likestanding in the Egyptian sun.
Try it!
Write a thank younote to someone, even
if it’s to yourself.
(03:24):
Celebrate a great choiceor accomplishment and
don’t spare any details.
Details matter whenyou are giving thanks.
My favorite way to give thanksis to take a little nap,
because being well restedis a gift for everyone.
I say, “Thank you, self,for being gorgeous” and
(03:45):
then off to dream land.
For those of you talkingabout my size, well,
I love the way I look.
I’m not very big—onlyabout a foot tall—about the
height of two dollar bills.
But I sit upright withmy head held proudly and
(04:06):
my ears at attention.
Don’t let my tail curledaround my front paws fool you.
I may love a good nap, butyou should beware of my bite.
I also heard that Iam some sort of diva?
A cat wears a little jewelryand suddenly you’re typecast?
(04:29):
Fine.
Guilty as charged!
I am a fancy cat.
My eyes are currently bare,but were likely inlaid with
gold or another preciousmaterial, like stone or glass.
I can hardly remember anymore.
See—not somaterialistic after all!
(04:50):
But I do still have my necklacewith a pendant of Wedjat, or
sacred eye amulet, which lookslike a stylized eye and eyebrow.
But I don’t just wear itbecause it’s dazzling, I wear
it because it has meaning!
The story goes that theeye was stolen from Horus
(05:12):
the god of goodness andkingship, by Seth, the god
of the wild, untamed nature.
This caused chaosin the universe!
Which I don’t thinkis necessarily bad.
I mean, which cat among ushas never knocked a glass
(05:33):
off a ledge just because?
But anyway, the eye hadto be brought back to
reestablish order—yada,yada, yada—and it represents
healing and protection, justa few of my dear goddess
Bastet’s many specialties.
Bastet was the daughter of thesun god, Ra, and traveled with
(05:56):
him across the sky in his sunboat to move the sun throughout
the day from sunrise to sunset.
She was also the goddessof music, dance, family,
healing, and birth.
She had the head of a cat andthe body of a human, but when
she needed to protect herfather, she turned one hundred
(06:17):
percent cat, which means shewas one hundred percent fierce.
And if I may be so bold as tospeak for all cats for a moment,
we are not idle, tame creatures.
We are powerful protectors!
And you are so lucky weallow you to keep us as pets.
(06:40):
Where are the thank younotes for the cats of today?
Why in my time, cats belongingto the wealthy families were
adorned with jewels, likemy beautiful eye necklace.
And when a cat died, as a signof mourning, the cat owners
shaved off their eyebrows,and continued to mourn until
(07:01):
their eyebrows grew back.
Some cats were so beloved thatthey were mummified and placed
in tombs with their owners.
It’s true!
The belief was that by placingcats and their owners in the
same tomb the pair could remaintogether in the afterlife.
Ha, and you say dogsare man’s best friend.
(07:24):
How about not!
I’ve also heard rumorsgoing around that I am
made of one hundred percent“cattitude,” whatever that
is. But I assure you, I’mone hundred percent bronze.
I can prove it.
I was made from a mold in oneof the most advanced technical
(07:46):
processes from antiquitycalled lost wax casting.
Lost wax casting was so advancedthat it’s still used today!
An artisan makes a roughcat model out of clay.
Next, a thin layer of wax wasmodeled over the clay, with
all the finer details, likemy whiskers and necklace.
(08:10):
Then my entire shape was encasedwith more clay, leaving a
few open channels and vents.
The whole block of clayand wax was heated, melting
the wax in between the coreand the outer clay shell.
In the now empty space wherethe wax used to be, hot
(08:31):
liquid bronze was poured.
When the bronze had cooled, themold was broken open and voila!
A perfect kitty cat with atummy full of fired clay.
That could be removed tocreate a hollow inside.
Maybe the perfect space for acat mummy to spend eternity?
(08:55):
I’m sure that being hollow onthe inside is where the rumors
that I’m heartless came from.
But that’s also not true.
How can I be heartlesswhen I love me?
Now, on to therumors about my age.
Because of my youthful andsmooth appearance, for a
(09:17):
long time, experts didn’tbelieve I was really an
ancient Egyptian cat.
They thought I was merelya young copycat, a fake!
To prove that I wasauthentically me, I had to go
through all sorts of tests.
They told me it was allperfectly safe, but still
(09:38):
I was quite nervous.
If you’ve ever beento a hospital, you’ll
understand what I mean.
The lights, sounds, and machinescan be very overwhelming.
But just like you haveto be brave so nurses and
doctors can make you feelbetter, I had to be brave
to prove my doubters wrong!
Here’s how it went down.
(10:00):
First, a team of conservatorsand other experts brought
me into their laboratory.
Conservators are likedoctors who keep artworks
like yours truly healthy.
They use the latest toolsto understand how we’re
made and what we’re madefrom so they can keep us
looking and feeling our best.
(10:22):
Once the conservators got mein the lab, they took x-rays,
did metal analysis, andused teeny tiny microscopes
to check my insides.
Have you ever gotten an x-ray?
Maybe to find a broken bone?
The experts didn’t finda broken bone, but they
did discover somethingrattling around in my head.
(10:46):
Bits of ancient clay perhaps?
I would need surgery to pullout the item stuck inside.
So I was taken off of mywooden base and a conservator
reached inside and expertlyremoved a piece of material
that was near my ear.
A sample of that materialwas carefully packaged and
(11:08):
was sent to a laboratory inOxford, England for testing.
Like I said, I’ma very fancy cat.
It turned out the materialcould be dated to between
1,700 and 2,700 years ago!
(11:29):
So, we have real proof thatI wasn’t lying about my age!
My youthful glow is froman experimental skincare
regimen involving beeswaxand plenty of rest.
Wow!
Setting the recordstraight is exhausting.
(11:51):
Back to the vault.
I’m sure now that the truthis out, I am going to have the
best cat nap of my nine lives.
Host (12:04):
I hope you enjoyed learning about
cats and conservation.
Join us next time when a fishflask swims into the studio.
To see photographs of theBastet statuette and learn
more about her conservation,visit our website at Getty
dot edu slash podcasts.
(12:25):
This episode was writtenby Tocarra Elise and
produced by Zoe Goldman.
Chloe Mei Li Bundtvoiced the statuette.
Theme music, mixing and sounddesign by Alexandra Kalinowski.
Christopher Sprinkleis executive producer.
Special thanks to curatorsKen Lapatin, Judith Barr, Hana
Sugioka, and Sara Cole, as wellas conservator Susanne Gänsicke.
(12:50):
Catch you next time!
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