In ancient Egypt, cats played many roles and were associated with divinities, as revealed in the exhibition Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt. Cat coffins and representations of the cat-headed goddess Bastet are among the extraordinary objects that reveal felines’ critical role in ancient Egyptian religious, social, and political life. Gain insight into this fascinating aspect of Egyptian culture with Yekaterina Barbash, associate curator of Egyptian art at the Brooklyn Museum and organizer of Divine Felines.
Yekaterina Barbash is an Egyptologist who joined the Brooklyn Museum in 2008. A onetime intern in the museum’s Department of Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art, Barbash received a PhD in ancient Egyptian history, art, and philology from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, where she was also awarded an MA. She received a BA from New York University and has studied at the Netherlands Institute of Archaeology and Arabic Studies in Cairo, Egypt. Dr. Barbash has taught at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, Berkeley College, the College of New Jersey, and Staten Island CUNY. She was a member of the Johns Hopkins University expedition to the Mut Precinct in Karnak, Egypt, where the Brooklyn Museum also maintains an excavation, and she was a researcher at the Walters Art Museum.
Image: Figurine of a Standing Lion-Headed Goddess; 664–30 BCE; faience; Brooklyn Museum; Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.943E