Did you know that Thoth, the ibis-headed god, also appeared as a baboon?
Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia! My name is Kelly and today's video is all about
the ancient Egyptian god of the moon, wisdom, magic and writing: Thoth. In this video,
we're going to explore his responsibilities as the scribe who kept track of the dead in
Egyptian mythology, his worship and myths associated with him.
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Thoth is the ancient Egyptian god of wisdom, magic, writing and the moon, and was one of
the most important gods of the Egyptian pantheon. As with all mythology, there are numerous myths
surrounding the birth of Thoth with one saying he was self-created and another saying he was born
of the seed of Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis who established order, and that he was born from
the forehead of Set, associated with chaos. As the son of gods representing order and chaos, he
was also considered the god of equilibrium; which in turn means he was often associated with Ma'at,
the concept of harmony and balance and the goddess of the same name who personified those principles
and was sometimes depicted as his wife. He had the consort Nehemetawy, whose name means "She
Who Embraces Those in Need," but was most often associated with Seshat, the goddess of writing,
the patron goddess of libraries and librarians, and depicted as either his wife or daughter.
In the form of A'an, Thoth was an underworld god who oversaw the judgment of the dead along with
Osiris in the Hall of Truth; if a soul was afraid they wouldn't pass through the hall of judgment,
they were encouraged to call upon Thoth for help. Thoth's Egyptian name was Djehuty which means "He
Who is Like the Ibis" and the ibis bird was sacred in ancient Egypt as well as a popular pet and
associated with wisdom. Thoth is often depicted with the head of an ibis and the body of a man
or as a seated baboon, sometimes with and sometimes without the lunar disc
over his head; since he was a lunar deity. He was always closely associated with Ra,
the god of the sun. As the patron god of the scribes, it was said that scribes would pour out
a drop of their ink in Thoth's honour before they started work for the day. As the god of wisdom,
he's also credited with being the creator of many different branches of knowledge including
law, philosophy, religion, science, magic and writing. As the creator of the written language,
Thoth was also linked with the concept of fate and like Seshat, knew the present as well as
the future, and they both wrote down the fate of humans and of kings. Thoth kept records as the
record keeper of the gods and every morning updated Ra on the events he had documented.
The birth of Thoth, as mentioned before is different in many of the ancient Egyptian myths.
In one story, he was known as the god without a mother because he was born from the lips of Ra
at the very beginning of creation, and there's another version where he is self-made and in
the form of an ibis, lays the cosmic egg which holds all of creation. There is even another
story of Thoth's birth; in "The Contendings of Horus and Set", he is created from the semen
of Horus which was then accidentally swallowed by Set and then he was born from Set's forehead
in "The Contendings," Thoth acts as a scribe and writes down the events of the contest. He heals
both Horus and Seth and gives wise counsel. In this myth, acting as a mediator, he made sure
they were both equally capable which mirrors his role over justice on earth and his responsibility
for enforcing the laws of Ma'at or harmony. Due to his closeness with the god Ra in myths,
he was often tasked with the duty of retrieving Ra's daughter from distant lands she fled to.
A motif in ancient Egyptian mythology known as The Distant Goddess, The Distant Goddess motif
changes depending on which goddess is featured but it always goes that a goddess and daughter of Ra,
disagrees with him about something and then runs away to a distant land and someone has to
go and get her back; when the goddess returns, she always brings some sort of transformation
often when Thoth headed off to retrieve The Distant Goddess, he was disguised as a monkey
or a baboon to trick her into drawing close so he could catch her, but this didn't always work
and there is a story where Thoth has to ask the goddess to come with him 1,077 times before she
finally obliges. Thoth was also an underworld god and appeared alongside Osiris and Anubis
in the Hall of Truth where the heart of the soul was weighed against the feather of truth.
Thoth was the scribe who kept track of the deceased souls and the outcome of judgment,
whether their heart was lighter and they could go onto the paradise of the Field of Reeds,
or whether they were destroyed by the monster Ammit. Thoth in the underworld
lived in the Mansion of Thoth which was also a safe place for souls to both rest
and receive help in the form of spells to help them reach paradise safely and keep them safe
against the demons they may come across along the way. Thoth and his magic was also a key part in
reanimating souls in the underworld who'd fallen asleep at death and could not wake themselves.
Thoth has a long history of worship which most likely started in Lower Egypt as early as the
Pre-Dynastic period between circa 6000 and 3150 BCE, and it continued all the way through to the
Ptolemaic Period which spanned from 323 to 30 BCE, and was the last dynastic era of ancient Egypt.
Thoth was venerated for an immense amount of time, and his importance is clear with Egyptian kings
often including his name in their own such as with that Thutmose which means "Born of Thoth."
Though venerated widely throughout Egypt, his main centre was at Hermopolis. His priests were
highly educated scribes, and his cult was loosely associated with the ruling class of ancient Egypt.
Thoth was an important deity to both the elite and ruling class but also to individuals who made
offerings to him in tombs and possessed amulets of Thoth for protection in the form of an ibis
or a baboon. Mummified ibis birds were sold at the centre of Hermopolis as votive offerings to Thoth,
and thousands have been found in excavations of the necropolis Tuna el-Gebel nearby, as well as
a large number of baboons and ibis birds found at a burial ground at Saqqara. This vast number
of buried animals dedicated to Thoth, as well as the incredible amount of amulets of the god
discovered at various sites, attest his popularity and continued veneration throughout the history
of ancient Egypt, from its early days to the very end. Why do you feel Thoth was so popular? Let us
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