Thoth

Thoth-Notes

Thoth (Djehuty) was a god of the moon, writing and magic. At times he could take the form of an ibis and at other times a baboon. As a baboon Thoth was most closely associated with hedj-wer (‘the great white one’), an Early Dynastic god. By the end of the Old Kingdom he was more associated with the ibis. It has been suggested that the beak of the ibis was identified with both the scribal pen and the crescent moon.

With his power of magic Thoth gave Geb and Nut the extra days of the year in which they produced their offspring. The magic of Thoth was concerned so great that the Egyptians had stories of a ‘Book of Thoth’, a great book of wisdom.

Thoth was also a scribe of the gods. He often appears in scenes of the weighing of the heart recording the results for the gods. He also records the names of the kings on a persea tree. Scribes would often choose Thoth as their primary deity.

Thoth was also linked with the moon the left eye of Re and often wore a headrest with a disc and crescent moon. According to Kees (1925), in the Pyramid Texts the knife of Thoth was associated with the crescent moon.

During the New Kingdom the temple of Thoth at Hermopolis was greatly rebuilt and expanded and during the reign of Amenhotep III several colossal baboons were erected. There are many depictions of Thoth from Amarna (e.g. Freed et al. 1999, 258) showing the continued importance of this deity..

His cult centre was Khmun (Hermopolis Magna) and in the Ptolemaic Period he was associated with the Greek god Hermes.

W1326 A stela with Thoth in baboon form

A close-up of a Thoth amulet on a beaded collar

Thoth on a weighing of the heart scene on a 21st Dynasty coffin

References and further reading

Bleeker, C. J. (1973), Hathor and Thoth; Two Key Figures of the Ancient Egyptian Religion. Leiden: Bril.

Boylan, P. (1999), Thoth, the Hermes of Egypt: A Study of Some Aspects of Theological Thought in Ancient Egypt. London: Oxford University Press.

Freed, R.E., Markowitz, Y.J. and D'Auria, S.H., eds., 1999. Pharaohs of the Sun. Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Tutankhamun. London: Thames and Hudson.

Kees, H. (1925), 'Zu den Ägyptischen Mondsagen'. Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde, 60, 1-15.

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