Thoth, the Egyptian god is known by many different names. Information about Thoth Egyptian god is presented in short, in the paragraphs below.
The ancient Egyptian god Thoth, is known for the wisdom and magic he possessed. He is considered important than many other deities of Egyptian pantheon. His appearance is portrayed as a man with head of ibis or baboon. He is shown as holding a stylus and scribes palette. In some pictures however, Thoth is also portrayed as an ape with the head of a dog. Hermopolis, also known as Eshmunen is the cult center of Thoth the Egyptian god. Earlier, Hermopolis was known as city of Khmun.
The Thoth God of Egypt is one of the important deities of Egypt. This wisest god has played important roles in various battles and other events in Egyptian myths. An interesting thing about Thoth is that, he was a self-created god. He is credited with the invention of hermetic arts and magic. The Thoth Egyptian god had eight children with his wife, Ma’at.
Facts about Thoth God of Egypt
Given below are some of the interesting facts about Thoth God of Egypt.
- The Thoth God of scribes, as he is known, was the patron of all scribes. He is also known as the ‘tongue’ of sun-god, Ra. Due to the curse from Ra, Thoth had to speak on Ra’s behalf and always spoke those words which fulfilled Ra’s wishes.
- Seshat, the goddess of wisdom and writing was the counterpart of Thoth god of knowledge and writing. Thoth had written a book named, ‘Book of the Dead’.
- Apart from the cult center in Hermopolis, the Thoth god of wisdom had shrines in places like Hesert, Abydos, Rekhui, Per-Ab, Urit, Pselket, Hat, Sep, Ta-ur, Bah, Antcha-Mutet, Talmsis, Ta-kens and Amen-heri-ab.
- Thoth is also known as the moon god and is portrayed with a crescent on the head; the crescent shape present on his head is also known as the Atef crown.
- The Egyptian god, Thoth is credited with invention of geometry, astronomy and medicine.
- Thoth is known to have played an important role in the legend of Osiris and Isis. Osiris was murdered by the Egyptian god Set (his brother), and then dismembered. Isis, the lover of Osiris received advice from Thoth regarding the resurrection of dismembered body of Osiris. It helped Isis in conceiving Egyptian god Horus, the child of Osiris.
- Tefnut, the daughter of Ra had left Egypt following an argument with him. Thoth played an important role in bringing her back to Egypt.
- Thoth was known to possess the quality of questioning souls of dead people. He used to question dead souls about their deeds in the past life.
- The Thoth God of Egypt acted as an arbitrator in 3 important battles. The battle between Ra and ‘Apep’ was the first one; the second battle was fought between ‘Heru-Bekhutet’ and ‘Set’. In the third important battle, Horus and Set were the opponents. In these three battles, the gods, Ra, Heru-Bekhutet and Horus represented the good forces; opponents of these gods on the other hand represented evil forces.
- In the 3 important battles fought between gods, Thoth played the role of healing those who were seriously injured.
- Aleister Crowley, who published ‘The Book of Thoth’ helped in reviving the popularity of Thoth Egyptian god.
Interesting facts about Thoth God of Egypt presented above, also provide information about various aspects of Egyptian culture. Thoth was believed to be one of the earliest and wisest Egyptian gods. The information thus, gives a rough idea about beliefs and mythology of Egypt.