Thoth

(Thot, Thout; Egyptian Djhowtey, Djehuti, Tehuti, Zehuti)

Egyptian moon god. Over time, he developed as a god of wisdom, and came to be associated with magic, music, medicine, astronomy, geometry, surveying, drawing and writing. Thoth was generally depicted in human form with the head of an ibis, wearing a crown consisting of a crescent moon topped by a moon disk. He could also be depicted wholly as an ibis or a baboon. Both the ibis and the baboon were sacred to him. His principal sanctuary was at Hermopolis (Khmunu) in the Nile delta region.


Thoth served as an arbiter among the gods. In the Osirian legend, he protected Isis during her pregnancy and healed her son Horus when Seth tore out his left eye. Thoth was later identified with the Greek god Hermes in the form of Hermes Trismegistos ("Hermes the thrice great"), in which form he remained popular in medieval magic and alchemy. Thoth was also a god of the underworld, where he served as a clerk who recorded the judgments on the souls of the dead. Alternatively, it was Thoth himself who weighed the hearts of the dead against the feather of Truth in the Hall of the Two Truths.

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