God Thoth
The god Thoth: The God of Wisdom and Knowledge in Ancient Egypt
According to the ancient Egyptians, Thoth (or "Gehuti") was one of the most eminent and worshipped gods of Egyptian mythology: a deity connected with wisdom and writing, mathematics and law, language and magic, and even organizing time and calculating days and years. They regarded him essentially as the cosmic mind that organizes the chaos and structures meaning in this universe.
Thoth featured as the central divinity in ancient Egyptian religion and thought, and various manifestations of his worship existed in the land, particularly in Ashmunin (Hermopolis Magna).
Origin and Legend
Egyptian sources state Thoth was born from Ra, the sun-god, or Hathor, according to some accounts, while other sources sometimes assert that he was a self-generated product, meaning that he was considered to exist on his own. Thoth is sometimes said to have emerged from the mouth of Ra or, in some traditions, was created from his heart, somehow implying that wisdom comes from both thought and word.
Thoth's importance in Egyptology lies in the fact that he was seen as a mediator between good and evil and between the gods and humans, so he was the pen that recorded the vision of the gods and ordered human lives. Besides these qualities, Thoth was credited with a couple of famous myths, such as the myth of Isis and Osiris, where he helped Isis revive Osiris and taught her the right magical charms.
Symbolism and artistic imagery
The ibis and monkey served as vital sacred symbols holding meaning related to intelligence and insight for him.
His depiction writing on papyrus documents emphasizes his role as the deity of scripting and intellectual knowledge. Time guardianship and season organization were attributed to Thoth because he controlled lunar movement.
Thoth and his role in language and writing
Thoth established himself as the author of divine knowledge and the chronologer who documented complete earthly and spiritual events. Writers of ancient Egypt honoured him most deeply, so they began their written work by dedicating their first words to him as the creative force behind their ideas.
According to belief, he founded both scientific research and mathematical principles while teaching people their calendar system and religious practices and fulfilling the role of supreme expert in all fields of knowledge.
His role in the Court of Osiris
Thoth served as a central figure in the ancient Egyptian “Court of Osiris,” which required dead people to prove their worth through godly standards. During the heart-weighing process, Thoth inscribed the judgment results after the heart was balanced against the feather of Maat, which symbolized truth combined with justice. Denoting equal weight between heart and feather enables the deceased to reach eternal life, while unequal weight results in Ammamut's consumption of the deceased. During this stage, Thoth establishes his position as upholder of justice together with the moral standard.
His worship and religious sites
The main centre of worship of Thoth was in the city of Ashmunin (Hermopolis), where he was worshipped as the god of wisdom and the first legislator. There are also temples and shrines throughout Egypt, including temples in Luxor and Aswan.
Thoth was also worshipped alongside other gods such as Maat (goddess of justice) and Khonsu (moon god), reflecting his status as a multifunctional deity, capable of being both a mediator and a ruler.
Thoth in later cultures
As the Greek and Roman era entered Egypt, Thoth did not disappear but was merged with similar gods in Greek culture, such as Hermes, to appear as Thoth-Hermes or Hermes Trismegistus, who later became one of the pillars of what is known as Hermeticism, a Gnostic philosophy that merged Egyptian and Greek thought and considered Thoth a teacher of eternal wisdom and divine mystery.
Thoth, known in the dialect of ancient Egyptians as Djehuty, was the god of wisdom, writing, and knowledge. He had an incredibly important part in Egyptian mythology, as he was the god who acted as a mediator between the gods and a divine scribe who included all events in writing.
He was the minister standing next to Ra on the deck of his ship to recite to him the affairs of the state. He is the judge who decides disputes between the gods in heaven, and predicts to the gods and humans what will happen to them. In addition to building cities and setting their borders, he was the one who gave people words, writing, and correct arithmetic.
Thoth was usually portrayed as being one of the following:
A human male, having the head of an ibis, and holding a writing palette and a reed pen.
A baboon, an animal, connected with the moon and intelligence: the Egyptians.
He always takes pictures holding a pen and a tablet on which he writes.
Scribe of the Gods: He recorded the deeds of both gods and mortals and controlled the weighing of the heart in the afterlife.
Patron of Writing & Knowledge: He was said to have invented hieroglyphs and instructed mankind in writing.
God of the Moon: Connected with lunar cycles, it was supposed that Thoth would have authority regarding time and the upkeep of cosmic balance.
Arbiter Among the Gods: It played a role in settling disputes.
Thoth was worshipped as the final source of wisdom in Hermopolis (Khemenu), where he had his main cult center. His influence reached boundaries beyond Egypt, for to Greeks, he was Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary figure of Hermetic traditions.
Thoth remains perhaps the most revered deity in Egyptian mythology: intellect, learning, and divine ordination are those that he symbolizes.
God Thoth was among the most important gods of ancient Egypt and in particular, was the authority in the struggle between Horus and Seth for the successorship of Osiris. God Thoth, better known in ancient times as Theut, was the subject of a particular cult in the locality of Khomonou (in Greek Hermopolis ) in middle Egypt.
Thoth's name means 'He of Djehut', which was a province in Lower Egypt. He was the God of the moon, drawing, writing, geometry, wisdom, medicine, music, astronomy, and magic. Thoth was the patron of scribes as the creator of writing. According to a theory, he had made the creation of the world through word effectiveness.
