Gods of Egyptian mythology. Egyptian mythology: god Thoth Description of the god Thoth
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That- Ancient Egyptian god of wisdom and knowledge.
Initially he was revered as a Hermopolitan deity who did not belong to, and as the god of the Moon and time, but later he was represented, first of all, as the wisest god who gave people writing and was the scribe of God (in this capacity he was present at the judgment of the dead). In the original belief system, Thoth-Moon was considered the left eye (the Sun was considered the right eye of Horus), damaged during the battle with. Later, during the Old Kingdom era, Thoth transformed into a self-sufficient god, who was sometimes called the son of Ra. Being the god of the Moon (these functions were increasingly taken over by the son), Thoth through the phases of this celestial body was associated with any astronomical or astrological observations, which ultimately caused Thoth to become the god of wisdom and magic.
In advanced ancient Egyptian mythology, Thoth was considered the patron of education and writing. Besides writing, he was considered the inventor or founder of most religious and everyday practices. Therefore, he was supervised by measurements and various events occurring in the world. He was also revered, along with , as the god of time. In the pantheon of gods, he occupied an honorable place as the scribe, secretary and vizier of the supreme god Ra, and, together with the goddess of justice and order, Maat, during Ra’s heavenly journey, he stood immediately behind him.
In addition, he was credited with the invention of a year consisting of 365, rather than 360, days. According to Plutarch, he won 5 additional days, amounting to 1/72 of the year, in a game of dice, and, adding them at the end of the year, dedicated them to festivities in honor of Horur, and (Nephthys) - the gods born precisely on these 5 additional days (a later version of the myth tells that that the goddess Nut was forbidden to give birth in 360 calendar days, so her children were born within 5 days won by Thoth).
Thoth's sacred animals were the ibis bird and the monkey (baboon). He was most often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis and a writing cane in his hand, although sometimes there are images of Thoth in the form of a baboon, since this monkey was considered a very intelligent creature. Thoth's assistant was believed to be a baboon named Astennu (or Isten), one of the four baboons who oversee the judgment of Osiris in the afterlife (Duat) and was sometimes considered an incarnation of Thoth himself. The goddess of writing was usually considered the daughter of Thoth, although she sometimes acted as his wife.
The main center of the veneration of Thoth was Shmun, or Eshmunen (Hermopolis the Great). During the Third Intermediate Period, when Hermopolis began to play an important role in Egyptian politics, the cult of Thoth became increasingly popular.
During the Second Intermediate Period, one of the pharaohs of the Sixteenth Dynasty bore the name Djehuti, that is, Thoth. Thoth's name was also included in the names of four powerful pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty, including Thutmose III (Djehutimeses III).
Since among the ancient Greeks, wisdom was patronized by a goddess, and not a god, He was identified by them with, to whom such functions had not previously been attributed. The result of the mutual influence of Egyptian and Hellenistic cultures was the emergence of the mythological image of Hermes Trismegistos (Hermes the Thrice Greatest), the central figure of Hermeticism and the legendary founder of alchemy.
God Thoth is one of the earliest Egyptian gods.
He patronized wisdom, therefore he was the deity of scientists, libraries, and officials.
He was in charge of the world order and participated in the court of Osiris, where he wrote down the decisions of the gods, giving them final force.
Origin
It is believed that the cult of Thoth originated in the city of Shmun (Eshmunen), which the Greeks called Hermopolis, because they considered this god to be an analogue of Hermes. Initially, the hare was revered there, then various animals, such as baboon, snake, and frogs.
Subsequently, of all these sacred animals, only the baboon remained, which began to be associated with Thoth, a recently appeared deity. The baboon was a very smart animal - probably the most intelligent of those that were found within Egypt.
Another sacred animal included in the iconography is the ibis. Thoth was depicted as a man with his head. The ibis was praised for announcing the flood of the Nile and eating poisonous snakes.
The Pyramid Texts indicate that Thoth was an assistant to the deceased pharaohs in the afterlife. However, it remains unclear exactly what functions he performed in this case. In one early interpretation, Thoth was considered to be the left eye of Horus, damaged during the battle with Set. Then he developed into an independent god, allegedly born of Ra himself. Thoth was also revered as the “language of Ptah.”
God of civilization
The Egyptians owed various inventions to Thoth, thanks to which they became a prosperous civilization:
- He invented hieroglyphs;
- He invented the calendar;
- He was the founder of all sciences, including magic, which in those days was considered a serious science;
- He was the author of sacred books.
We can say that thanks to Thoth, information about the ancient Egyptian civilization has been preserved to this day. Europeans owe the flowering of philosophy and science in the modern sense of the word to him. The fact is that the oldest of the ancient scientists and philosophers, Thales of Miletus, a Phoenician by nationality, literally brought the first scientific information from Egypt, where he studied with the priests for many years.
Thoth is one of the deities of the ancient Egyptian “logos”, since he, like Ptah, created the whole world with his word.
Astronomical aspect
Thoth in early representations was also the god of the Moon. He even had the nickname “Silver Aten”. Thus, Thoth was closely associated with astronomical observations and astrology. Based on this, he was transformed into the patron of wisdom and magic, and the “lunar” function itself passed to Khonsu, one of the sons of Amun.
"Bird" aspect
In the image of the ibis, Thoth, in later times, when his cult flourished, participated in a new version of the creation myth. He, in the guise of this bird, laid an egg from which Ra emerged. Subsequently, when the connection of the myth with Thoth was lost, a new interpretation appeared: Ra is born from a golden egg laid by a goose.
Inventor of time
He was revered as the inventor of time - almost literally. It was he who divided time into months and years, and also added five more days to the 360 days of the year. On these five days Osiris, Set, Horus, Isis and Nephthys were born. According to one of the stories, Thoth won these days at dice. Another story tells that the goddess Nut was forbidden to give birth during all 360 days of the year, and when Thoth introduced five more, the ban did not apply to them, as a result of which she gave birth to the above-mentioned gods.
Thoth, pharaohs and scribes
The name Thoth (Djehuti) was part of the royal names. This, for example, is Djehuti - the pharaoh of the 16th dynasty, Thutmose the First, Second, Third and Fourth; The name Thutmose was also borne by the son of Amenhotep III and the famous sculptor who worked at the court of Akhenaten. There is a version according to which the later appearance of Thoth was influenced by the scribe of one of the pharaohs, Thutmose, whose character traits were subsequently transferred to the god.
Thoth and Hermes
The ancient Greeks had a woman, Athena, as their goddess of wisdom. Therefore, they began to identify Thoth with Hermes, the god of trade. As a result of this, Hermes began to be assigned functions that he had not previously had - the patronage of wisdom, science, and magic. Subsequently, the image of Hermes Trismegistus appeared in European mythology, which, despite the name, was created on the basis of the Egyptian Thoth.
Study Sources Ancient Egypt They are characterized by incomplete and unsystematic presentation; mainly, these are various religious texts. Egyptian mythology began to take shape in the 6th - 6th millennia BC, when each region (nome) developed its own pantheon of local gods. As a result, a common pantheon Egyptian gods turned out to be very large, and their cult dates back to primitive times, when they worshiped Totem, the patron beast...
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Eyes of an Egyptian God
Full of sacred fire.
There is so much passionate tenderness...
You burned me to ashes.
Worlds of unknown riddles
They melt and call you with them.
And I rush without looking back
Headlong into their black pool.
I can't explain this closeness...
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Archaeologists have discovered in the south of Egypt on the west bank of the Nile near the city of Luxor a statue of an ancient Egyptian god wisdom, education and letters of Thoth (Djehuti), the head of the Supreme Council said on Monday in Cairo... at one time was decorated with a number of granite images of this highly revered figure in Ancient Egypt god. Scientists are still finding it difficult to name the age of the discovered monument. Ancient Egyptian God wisdom and knowledge Thoth (Djehuti) was most often depicted in the form of a man with the head of an ibis...
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Along with the body was the mind,
Am I rewarded or punished?
He took away my peace
He argues with me with his thoughts.
Doesn't want to live simply
There is no end to his questions.
Eternal dialogue with him,
God help me interrupt.
So that I can in silence,
Hear what you have to say to me.
AND...
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Ultimately, "socialization" Egyptian gods came down to endowing the most significant of them (Amon-Ra, Osiris, Horus) with the “regalia” of the pharaoh ruling in the world of the living or in world of the dead. Rest gods turned into their servants or relatives. Connected... new - with Horus. The name Horus is included in the fivefold title of the pharaoh. That- God moon, God wisdom, bills and letters, "Lord of Truth", judge of the world gods, patron of scribes and judges. He was depicted as a man with the head of an ibis, holding...
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Horus gave it to Osiris to swallow, he revived and passed it on Egyptian throne of Horus. When Horus was hiding in the Nile Delta, he was patronized gods, and almost more than others - He, God wisdom, writing, counting, and magic. One can assume... Wasn’t this the key to great achievements? Egyptian a culture imbued with a bright worldview, despite the cult of the dead (or - thanks to it?). There is another aspect of the Egyptians' ideas about God wisdom. After all, he personified two very different types knowledge...
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As the "Right Burning Eye of Ra", it is capable of scattering opponents. The Left Eye, which is later Egyptian traditions attributed to Horus, to god-falcon, the son of Isis, who inherited it, was called the Eye of Healing and was associated with art... in mid-July, marked the beginning of the new year and served as the basis for complex calendar calculations. Central idea Egyptian theology was the idea that the living pharaoh is the incarnation of Horus, the first divine predecessor of the royal...
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God Amon
... Egyptian mythology God sun. The sacred animal of Amon is the ram and the goose (both are symbols wisdom). God depicted as a man (sometimes with the head of a ram), with a scepter and a crown, with two high feathers and a solar disk. The cult of Amon originated in Thebes and then spread throughout Egypt. Amon's wife, the sky goddess Mut, and son, God...beloved and especially revered god pharaohs, and during the Eighteenth Dynasty of the pharaohs was declared the head Egyptian gods. Amun-Ra granted victory to the pharaoh...
One of the most famous and greatest deities revered by the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt was Thoth - the god of wisdom and knowledge. He is also known by the name Atlas (as he was the successor to the wisdom of the lost Atlantis). In Greek mythology, Thoth corresponds to Hermes Trismegistus, who is the central figure of Hermeticism and the founder of alchemy. It is this most important and most interesting deity that will be discussed in our article.
Life of Thoth
According to legends that have survived to this day, Thoth was the deified king of Ancient Egypt. He lived several tens of thousands of years BC, in an era called by historians the reign of the Gods. He was also called Atlas. It was believed that he possessed secret knowledge inherited from the civilization of the lost Atlantis.
God Thoth married Maat, the patroness of Essence and Order. His close relative was Seshat, the goddess of writing.
What did God Thoth do?
Atlas was believed to be the personal scribe of the great No ancient gods were depicted as often in the society of Ra as Thoth. He was also believed to be involved in the accounting and classification of deceased souls during the judgment of Osiris. At the same time, his wife Maat determines the degree of sinfulness of the deceased by weighing their hearts on special scales. In accordance with this, one can trace the belief of the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt that justice in the image of Maat and wisdom in the image of Thoth should be inseparable, like husband and wife.
In addition, Atlas was an intermediary between gods and people. According to Egyptian mythology, he was considered the patron of not only wisdom, but also writing, accounts, and scribes. In addition, Thoth was called the creator of the calendar and the lord of time. The ancient Greeks, in their works that have survived to this day, wrote that this god revealed numbers and letters to his people, as well as geometry and astronomy. Among the ancient Greeks, Thoth corresponds to a god named Hermes.
Moon God
At first, Thoth was associated in mythology with the image of the night luminary, but later his place was taken by Khnum. According to modern historians, the god Thoth became the patron of wisdom precisely because of his connection with astronomy, astrology and the Moon.
Historical trace
In ancient Egyptian mythology, Thoth left a noticeable mark, showing himself to be the wisest deity. Despite the fact that he was not destined for the main
role, in all events he showed himself with best side. So, for example, in one of the myths, the god Thoth acts as a mediator between Ra and Isis, without interfering in their complex relationship. At the same time, he manages to help Isis save her son Horus from the bite of a poisonous creature. Speaking in his defense, Thoth structured his speech in such a way that, if necessary, it could be interpreted as support for the god Set. Thus, the patron of wisdom also had admirable diplomatic talent.
In addition, Thoth was the builder of the Great One, where he allegedly integrated his ancient knowledge and hid the secrets of the civilization of the lost Atlantis.
This god also supervised the work of the most important archives of ancient Egyptian civilization. He also patronized the very popular and well-known Hermopolis. In addition, according to the ancient Egyptians, Thoth dominated all the languages of the world, and was also the language of another deity named Ptah.
Appearance
The ibis bird was considered an avatar (or the incarnation of god on earth) of Thoth. However, today birds of this species (scientifically called forest ibises) no longer exist, as they were replaced by other birds. Until now, researchers cannot accurately answer the question of why the ibis was chosen as the patron of wisdom and knowledge. Perhaps the ancient Egyptians endowed the bird with such powers for some traits of its character or due to the fact that its feathers were used for writing.
Another sacred animal of the god Thoth was the baboon. Today, of course, few people would agree that these monkeys are distinguished by their wisdom, but the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt, like the Chinese and Indians, were confident in the high intelligence of the animals mentioned.
Be that as it may, the god Thoth appears in most images with the head of an ibis.
Worship
Apparently, during the times of Ancient Egypt, science was not high on the list of government subsidies. Despite the fact that the god of wisdom Thoth was very revered, to this day the temples intended for worshiping him have practically not survived. Thus, only the remains of two sanctuaries have survived: Tuna El Gebel with a destroyed labyrinth, and Ashmunein, located ten kilometers from it, which the ancient Greeks called the “Great Hermopolis”. According to numerous archaeological studies, it was Hermopolis that acted as the main place of worship of Thoth. It is likely that it was for this reason that the ancient Egyptians did not build many other sanctuaries.
Attributes
Thoth's constant attribute, present in all his images, is the magical rod “Caduceus”. According to legend, it was thanks to him that mortal man became and gained access to three worlds: the Gods, the dead and the living. The rod is a rod crowned with the sun and wings, which are wrapped around two snakes with open mouths. The Caduceus symbolizes the Kundalini energy. It also reflects everything that happens in the Universe in the form of trinity processes.
Another integral attribute of Thoth is the scribe’s palette, personifying his patronage of languages, writing and various exact sciences.
Emerald Tablet
According to legend, the ancient Egyptian god Thoth was the author of a huge number of books on astrology, alchemy, medicine and chemistry. It is believed that in total he wrote more than 36 thousand works, the main one of which is the famous “Emerald Tablet”. The ancient Egyptians believed that the deity was able to fit all the wisdom of our Universe on a small emerald plate. According to another belief, the “Tablet” was discovered in the tomb of Thoth, who was buried in the Great Pyramid of Giza by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC.
Emerald plates have survived to this day, so it is not surprising that many scientists have studied and continue to study them. According to one of them, Dr. Maurice Doreal, who published a translation of the text of the “Tablet” in the 30s of the last century, the writing on it dates back to approximately 36 thousand years BC. The researcher claims that after the death of the legendary Atlantis, Thoth founded a colony in Ancient Egypt. This is confirmed by the presence on the “Tablet” of signs of a language that, apparently, was spoken by the ancient Atlanteans.
It is also believed that part of the knowledge that the god of Egypt Thoth transmitted to people is contained
in the Tarot system, the cards of which originated from golden tablets - pages in the amount of 78 pieces. Also, according to the legends of esoteric orders, 22 paintings of the Major Arcana of the Tarot are depicted on the walls of twenty-two rooms in one of which the initiation of magician students into secret rituals their mentors.
Another proof of the existence of Hermes is ancient papyri describing how Pharaoh Cheops (or Khufu) was searching for the “ark of the wisdom of Thoth.” This relic has survived to this day, was studied by scientists using the most modern methods, and today is stored in the Berlin Museum.
