Thoth is a significant god, known as the Egyptian god of writing, magic, wisdom, and the moon. Thoth’s Egyptian name was Djehuty—He Who is Like the Ibis. The Ibis was a sacred bird, a popular pet, and associated with wisdom in ancient Egypt.
Thoth is said to be self-created or born of two deities, Horus and set, who represented order and chaos respectively, he was also referred to as the god of equilibrium and balance and associated closely with both the principle of ma’at(divine balance) and the goddess Ma’at who personified this principle.
Another of his consorts was the goddess Nehemetawy—She Who Embraces Those In Need. She is a protector goddess. In his form as A’an, Thoth presided over the judgment of the dead with Osiris in the Hall of the Truth, and those souls who feared they might not pass through the judgment safely were encouraged to call upon Thoth for help. The consort most often associated with Thoth was Seshat, goddess of writing, the keeper of books, and patron goddess of libraries and librarians who were alternately his wife or daughter.
Worship of Thoth began in Lower Egypt, most likely in the Pre-Dynastic Period. It continued through the Ptolemaic Period, the last dynastic era of Egyptian history, marking Thoth’s veneration as among the longest of the Egyptian gods or any deity from any civilization.
Because of his influence, his name was often taken by the kings of Egypt, scribes, and priests. He is commonly depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a sometimes a seated baboon with or without a lunar disc above his head.
Thoth was considered the patron god of scribes, and it was said that scribes would pour out one drop of their ink in Thoth’s honor before they began their daily work, which is writing.
As he was credited with the creation of several branches of knowledge in between law, magic, philosophy, religion, science, and writing, he was thought to be an infallible judge capable of passing just judgments. The Greeks admired him so much that they credited him as the originator of all knowledge on earth and in the heavens.
