Author Topic: Egyptian Mythology, Predynastic Period, The God, Thoth  (Read 86 times)

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Egyptian Mythology, Predynastic Period, The God, Thoth
« on: April 18, 2015, 10:45:46 pm »
The God, Thoth

Thoth, God of Knowledge.

Thoth, in one of his forms as an ibis-headed man
Major cult center   Hermopolis
Symbol   Moon disk, papyrus scroll
Consort   Seshat, Ma'at, Bastet or Hathor
Parents   None (self-created); alternatively Ra or Horus and Hathor.

Thoth (/ˈθoʊθ/ or /ˈtoʊt/; from Greek Θώθ thṓth, from Egyptian ḏḥwty, perhaps pronounced */tʃʼiħautiː/ or */ɟiħautiː/, depending on the phonological interpretation of Egyptian's emphatic consonants) was one of the deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat, and his wife was Ma'at.[1]

Thoth's chief temple was located in the city of Khmun,[note 1][2] later called Hermopolis Magna during the Greco-Roman era[3] (in reference to him through the Greeks' interpretation that he was the same as their god Hermes) and Shmounein in the Coptic rendering. In that city, he led the Ogdoad pantheon of eight principal deities. He also had numerous shrines within the cities of Abydos, Hesert, Urit, Per-Ab, Rekhui, Ta-ur, Sep, Hat, Pselket, Talmsis, Antcha-Mutet, Bah, Amen-heri-ab, and Ta-kens.[4]

Thoth played many vital and prominent roles in Egyptian mythology, such as maintaining the universe, and being one of the two deities (the other being Ma'at) who stood on either side of Ra's boat.[5] In the later history of ancient Egypt, Thoth became heavily associated with the arbitration of godly disputes,[6] the arts of magic, the system of writing, the development of science,[7] and the judgment of the dead.[8]

Common names for Thoth[9]
in hieroglyphs
The Egyptian of ḏḥwty is not fully known, but may be reconstructed as *ḏiḥautī, based on the Ancient Greek borrowing Thōth (Θώθ [tʰɔːtʰ]) or Theut and the fact that it evolved into Sahidic Coptic variously as Thoout, Thōth, Thoot, Thaut, as well as Bohairic Coptic Thōout. The final -y may even have been pronounced as a consonant, not a vowel.[10] However, many write "Djehuty", inserting the letter 'e' automatically between consonants in Egyptian words, and writing 'w' as 'u', as a convention of convenience for English speakers, not the transliteration employed by Egyptologists.[11]

According to Theodor Hopfner,[12] Thoth's Egyptian name written as ḏḥwty originated from ḏḥw, claimed to be the oldest known name for the ibis although normally written as hbj. The addition of -ty denotes that he possessed the attributes of the ibis.[13] Hence his name means "He who is like the ibis".


Thoout, Thoth Deux fois Grand, le Second Hermés, N372.2A, Brooklyn Museum
Further names and spellings
Djehuty is sometimes alternatively rendered as Jehuti, Tahuti, Tehuti, Zehuti, Techu, or Tetu. Greek versions Thot, Thout and Thoth are derived from the letters ḏḥwty.

Not counting differences in spelling, Thoth had many names and titles, like other goddesses and gods. (Similarly, each Pharaoh, considered a god himself, had five different names used in public.[14]) Among the names used are A, Sheps, Lord of Khemennu, Asten, Khenti, Mehi, Hab, and A'an.[15]

In addition, Thoth was also known by specific aspects of himself, for instance the moon god Iah-Djehuty, representing the Moon for the entire month,.[16] The Greeks related Thoth to their god Hermes due to his similar attributes and functions.[17] One of Thoth's titles, "Three-times great, great" (see Titles) was translated to the Greek τρισμεγιστος (Trismegistos), making Hermes Trismegistus.[18]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
« Last Edit: September 12, 2015, 11:36:46 am by Golden Falcon ☥ »

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