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 Physical Appearance:
- he is depicted in human
form with the head of an Ibis
- he sometimes is shown
in the full form
of an Ibis
- the full form of
a human
- a
man with the
head of a baboon
- a dog faced
baboon
- a baboon holding up a
crescent moon
Symbolized
By:
- Thoth was represented as
the reckoner of times and seasons by a lunar disk sitting
in a crescent moon placed atop his head.
- Thoth
wore the Atef
Crown and the United Crowns of Upper and Lower
Egypt.
- As
a god of Egypt, he carried the ankh,
(the symbol of
life), in one hand, and in the other he held a
scepter, (the symbol of power).
- In
The Book of the Dead, he was shown holding a writing
palette and reed pen to record the deeds of the
dead.
- As
the voice of the sun-god Ra, he carried the Wedjat,
(Eye of Horus or Ra), the symbol of
Ra.
Primary
Role(s):
- a god of creation
where, in Ibis
form, laid the
World Egg
- The Moon
god
- the god of
Scribe
- the god of the Egyptian
calendar
- Thoth was the patron god
of the occultists of ancient Egypt.
(He was
petitioned in many of the spells contained in the Egyptian
Book of the Dead).
- considered the heart and
tongue of Ra as well as the means by which Ra's will was
translated into speech
- master of both physical
and Divine law
- involved
in:
-
- arbitration
- balance
- judging of the
dead
- magic
- mediation
- medicine
- music
- science
- time
- writing
- a god who civilized men, teaching
them civic and religious practices
- a god of
measuring the passage of time
- he was:
-
- the Voice
of Ra
- counselor of Ra
- He who
Balances
- God of the
Equilibrium
- Master of
the Balance
- Lord of the
Divine Body
- Scribe of
the Company of the
Gods
- Author of
every
work on
every
branch
of knowledge,
(both
human
and Divine)
- he who
understood 'all that is hidden under the
heavenly
vault'
- the One who Made Calculations Concerning the
Heavens, the Stars and the Earth
- the Reckoner of Time and of Seasons
- the one who Measured out the Heavens and
Planned the Earth
Noted
For:
- Thoth was
the principle of
intelligence, who spoke the world into
existence.
- Without
the words
of Thoth, the Egyptians believed, the gods would not
exist.
- Thoth's power was almost unlimited in the Underworld
and rivaled that of Ra and Osiris.
- He was credited as the
author of all works of science, religion, philosophy, and
magic.
- Thoth invented writing and alphabets (i.e.
hieroglyphs).
- Thoth
was credited with
making the calculations for the establishment of the
heavens, stars, Earth, and everything in
them.
- Thoth
directed the
motions of the heavenly bodies.
- titles belonging to
Thoth:
-
- Scribe of Ma'at in the Company of
the Gods
- Lord of
Ma'at
- Lord of Divine
Words
- Judge of the Two Combatant
Gods
- Judge of the
Rekhekhui,
- the Pacifier of the Gods, who
Dwelleth in Unnu,
- the Great God in the Temple of
Abtiti
- Twice
Great
- Thrice
Great
- Three Times Great,
Great
- One
of Thoth 's titles, "Three Times Great, Great" was translated to the Greek
word Trismegistos.
- Thoth's qualities also
led to him being identified by the Greeks with their
closest matching god - Hermes, with whom Thoth was
eventually combined, as Hermes
Trismegistus.
- Thoth's centre of worship
was in Upper
Egypt at Khmunu.
Greeks renamed it Hermopolis, meaning city of Hermes.
(Hermes was the alleged author of the Hermetic books
on occult, philosophical, and religious
subjects).
- Thoth had shrines in
Abydos, Amen-heri-ab,
Antcha-Mutet,
Bah,
Hat, Hesert, Khmunu, Per-Ab, Urit, Pselket, Rekhui, Sep, Ta-kens, Talmsis, and Ta-ur.
- Greeks declared
him the
inventor of:
-
- astrology and
astronomy
- the science of
numbers, mathematics, and
geometry
- land
surveying
- medicine
- botany
- theology
- civilized
government
- the
alphabet
- reading, writing,
and oratory
- the true author
of every work of every branch of knowledge,
Human and
Divine
- Thoth judged the deceased and reported
the results to Osiris.
- His
sacred animals were the Ibis and the baboon, millions of which were mummified
in his honor.
- His
feminine counterpart was
Ma'at.
- In the myth of Osiris,
Thoth protected the pregnant Isis and healed the eye of her
son Horus.
- According to legend, Thoth
was both a
healer and a magician. He restored the Eye of Horus that was
torn to bits after he fought his uncle Seth (Set) to
revenge the death of his father Osiris. (The eye of
Horus, also known as the udjat eye, became a funerary amulet and
magical, all-seeing
eye).
- Thoth helped Isis
work the ritual to bring Osiris back from the dead
and
drove the magical
poison of Set from her son, Horus, with the power of
his
magic.
- He was Horus'
supporter during the young god's deadly battle with
his uncle Set, helping Horus with his wisdom and
magic.
- With his skill at
games, Thoth overcame the curse of Ra, allowing
Nut to give birth to her five
children.
- Thoth
brought Tefnut, (who left Egypt for
Nubia in a sulk after an argument with her father),
back to heaven to be reunited with
Ra.
- Plato ascribes the invention of the game
of 'Teruo', or draughts, to
Thoth.
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“Mythology: the body of a primitive
people's beliefs, concerning its origin, early history,
heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished from the
true accounts which it invents later.”
-- Ambrose
Bierce
"It is the part of
men to fear and tremble when the most mighty gods by tokens
send such dreadful heralds to astonish
us."
-- William
Shakespeare
“A one sentence
definition of mythology? "Mythology" is what we call
someone else's
religion”
-- Joseph
Campbell
"In all the antique
religions, Mythology takes the place of
dogma."
-- William Robertson
Smith
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