TYPE: God of moon and of wisdom
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: Circa 3000 BCE until the end of Egyptian history circa 400 CE.
SYNONYMS: Djeheuty (Archaic)
CENTER(S) OF CULT: Khemnu [el-Ashmunein] or Hermopolis (Greek). Also in the Sinai, in Nubia and in the Dakhleh oasis in the western desert.
ART REFERENCES: Sculpture; stone reliefs; wall paintings, etc.
LITERARY SOURCES: Pyramid Texts; coffin texts, etc.
ORIGIN: Egyptian
INFORMATION: Thoth is the patron deity of scribes and of knowledge, including scientific, medical and mathematic writing. He is important as a mediator and counselor among the gods and is the scribe of the Heliopolis Ennead pantheon. Thoth is described in some inscriptions as a son of Re, but according to mythology he was born from the head of the god Seth. He may be depicted in human form with the head of an ibis, wholly as an ibis, or as a seated baboon sometimes with its torso covered with feathers. His attributes include a crown that consists of a crescent moon surmounted by a moon disc.
Thoth is generally regarded as a benign deity. He is also scrupulously fair and is responsible not only for entering in the record the souls who pass to the afterlife, but of ajudicating in the Hall of the Two Truths.
The Pyramid Texts reveal a violent side of his nature by which he decapitates the advversaries of truth and wrenched out their hearts.