Bast

Bast (or Bastet) is the Egyptian Goddess of cats and protection.

Birth
Not much is known about Bast's birth.

Importance to the Egyptians
Cats were a sacred symbol in ancient Egypt. Cats also helped the Egyptians many times by being able to track down kill vermin such as mice, rats, snakes, and cobras. After a while the ancient Egyptians realized how important cats were to them, and decided to pray to the gods that they would find a cat goddess. Then a painting was found. It depicted a goddess that looked greatly like a cat decending from the heavens. And that's how Bast became known to the Egyptians.