190 Thoth The city of Thebes sprawled across the east bank of the Nile; on the west bank was a city of the dead, the site of mortuary temples and tombs of the pharaohs and their families and officials. Thebes was a city of great prosperity during the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1069 b.c.). Homer, the Greek poet, called it “hundred-gated Thebes,” probably for the countless huge pylons that formed the entrances to the many temples. The patron god of the city was Amun-Re, the “hidden one,” to whom the Egyptians attributed their wealth and success. They gave thanks to him for their deliverance from anarchy and foreign invasions and for maintaining divine order in their land.
Thoth
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(Djehuty) God of writing and knowledge, Thoth’s most ancient association is as the moon god, symbolized by the ibis or the baboon. Both symbols are well known in Egypt’s early history. Thoth appears in the image of an ibis on slate palettes and on totems or standards from the Predynastic period (5500–3100 b.c.). In the First Dynasty (3100–2890 b.c.), figurines from Abydos represented Thoth as a squatting baboon with a full moon resting on a crescent moon. Some myths cast Thoth as the actual moon, and in others he is the moon’s guardian. When he is the actual moon, Thoth is frequently called “Lunar-Thoth.” A passage in the Turin Papyrus associating him with the Duat, the Underworld, reads: “Hail O LunarThoth who enlightenest the Duat in the necropolis! Hail to thee Lunar-Thoth, thou self-engendered, the unknown!” Thoth often acts with Aah, another ancient moon god. In the New Kingdom (1550–1069 b.c.), Thoth was associated with Khonsu, a moon god who was the son of Amun and Mut. When Thoth was not viewed as the moon itself, he was a protector of the moon. In this case the mythology tells us that Thoth is the left eye of god or the heavens, and the sun is the right eye. The left eye, represented by the waxing and waning of the moon, is called the healthy or sound eye. In one version of the myth of the Contendings of Horus and Set, Thoth heals the damaged Eye of Horus. Thoth accompanies Re in his solar barque as a protector, but mythology tells us that he rendered a far greater service to the sun god when he recovered the Eye of Re from Nubia after it had escaped in the form of Tefnut. In gratitude, Re created the moon as a reward for Thoth, and he made Thoth his representative in the night sky. Because of the waxing and waning of the Moon, one of Thoth’s many titles was the “Measurer of Time,” symbolized by the frond of notched palm
Thoth, the god of writing, draws the hieroglyph for truth. (Photograph by Pat Remler)
branches π he sometimes held. In this capacity Thoth was called the bringer of mathematics, astronomy, and magic. Thoth was the great lord of magic, and his spells allowed Isis to bring her husband back to life. It was from Thoth that Isis learned her magic, and it was Thoth’s magical spell that brought the infant Horus back to life when he had been bitten by a scorpion. Thoth was known as the scribe of the gods and was the patron of all scribes. As “lord of the sacred word,” Thoth represented the embodiment of all knowledge, scientific and literary. He was the patron of the per ankh, “the house of life,” where the sacred papyri were kept. Books of Divine Words or the Book of Thoth are mentioned in ancient inscriptions, and it is believed that they are a collection of “sacred spells” compiled by Thoth. The most important cult center for Thoth was in Hermopolis, although he was worshipped throughout Egypt and in Nubia.
Thoth, the Book of The Greeks attributed a group of 42 papyri to the Egyptian god of writing, Thoth. According to Clement of Alexandria, a Greek theologian (a.d. 150–215), the Book of Thoth included: Two papyri with hymn to Thoth, Four papyri on astrology and astronomy,