Thoth - God of Writing, Knowledge, Magic and the Moon
Thoth was depicted with the head of an ibis.
Photo by Christa Galloway
Thoth was smart.
Thoth was revered for his intelligence. He was in charge of all knowledge, science, mathematics, and the written word.
Ancient Egyptians believed Thoth invented writing.
Egyptians thought Thoth invented hieroglyphs and gave humanity the ability to write. This allowed them to record their myths, history, and laws.
Thoth recorded the deeds of the dead.
In the afterlife, Thoth was the official scribe. He wrote down the results when people's hearts were weighed against Ma'at's feather of truth during the judgment of the dead.
Thoth was sometimes depicted as a baboon.
He was usually portrayed as a man with the head of an ibis, which is a bird with a long, curved bill, but he was also shown as a seated baboon with a disc on his head, representing the moon. Baboons were thought to be very intelligent animals.
Thoth judged the gods.
Thoth helped settle disputes between the gods with his fair judgment and vast knowledge, and sometimes he even spoke for humans.
