The most intelligent couple in Egyptian mythology is He, the god of wisdom, who taught people to write, and his wife Maat, the goddess of truth and order. Jehuti (middle name of Thoth) is a very ancient god. It is mentioned in the pre-dynastic period - 5000–3100. BC.
The time of the great dynasties
At the same time in ancient Egypt appears writing, the earliest monuments of which date back to 3400 BC. During the time related to the dynastic period, the
mythology of Ancient Egypt itself changed very much. Each dynasty that came to power established a cult of the deity who patronized their family. So, the V dynasty of the Ancient Kingdom recognized Ra as the supreme deity
of the sun god , replaced by the god of space and air Amon, and then the god of the dead - Osiris. The god of wisdom, who taught people writing, was known long before the supreme deities listed above.
Oldest god
According to some sources, Thoth was an Atlantean possessing all the knowledge of the lost civilization of Atlantis. It is claimed that he was the deified king of Egypt in the "era of the reign of the Gods." That is, a very long time, for tens of millennia BC. In addition, according to some reports, it was this ancient Egyptian god of wisdom who built the Great Pyramid in Giza, where he hid the ancient annals of the Atlanteans. As soon as he is not called — the leader of the seven Egyptian sages, and Hermes the Greatest, who, according to legend, wrote about 36 thousand books, which contain all the wisdom of the world.
The image that has accommodated many
For some reason, the Hellenes drew analogies between Thoth and his deity Hermes, although the latter was the messenger of the gods and the patron of commerce. But sometimes Hermes is compared with Prometheus in the field of teaching mankind sciences and skills. And here you can find a lot in common between Thoth and Prometheus. The god of wisdom, who taught people writing in Ancient Egypt, echoes the image of a titan who taught the literacy of his fellow tribesmen, the ancient Greeks. In addition, the image of Thoth has much in common with the ancient Greek
goddess of wisdom, Athena Pallas. Some similar traits can be found in Jehuti and Hades, the ruler of the underworld of Ancient Greece. And although in Douth, the underworld of the ancient Egyptians, the kings were first Anubis, later Osiris, He had the most direct relation to the dead.
Court of Osiris
He kept records of them, since he was always present at the court of Osiris with his wife. The god of wisdom, who taught people writing, the personal secretary of Ra, who was always shown next to him in the boat of eternity (or the boat of millions of years), kept a record and classification of the souls of the dead. Maat had his own duties in court. She weighed the hearts of people who went to another world. And on one side of the scales laid the heart of the deceased, on the other - a statue of Maat herself. Balance meant that a person is righteous and worthy of the ancient Egyptian paradise - eternal bliss in the reed fields of Iaru.
Time creator
They also paid tribute to Thoth as the god of time, because he was credited with creating the year of 365 days, 5 of which he allegedly won in dice. This is a very interesting version, since it was on these added days that Osiris, Seth, Nephthys, Khoruru and Isis were born. According to legend, their mother, the goddess Nut, was forbidden to give birth during the whole year, consisting of 360 days. He, adding the days he won, made the year full, and Nut gave the happiness of motherhood. Thus, the god of wisdom in ancient Egypt ensured the birth of the main gods of the ancient Egyptian pantheon. He broke the year into months, them into days and weeks, and so on. He kept records of time and events. In large quantities, he invented everyday and religious rituals, that is, he arranged the life of people. Taking care that the amount of information taught to mankind dies with their departure to another world, the god of wisdom in the Egyptian pantheon decided to teach people writing and thus ensure the transfer of accumulated knowledge from generation to generation. And then he introduced humanity to all the exact sciences. He is considered the organizer of the entire intellectual life of Ancient Egypt.
God is virtue
Do not count his good deeds and duties. It is believed that Thoth is associated with the tides of the Nile, that it was he who returned Tefnut from Nubia to Egypt, the goddess of moisture and humid air, dew, rain and fertility, thus ensuring the flowering of Egyptian nature. They consider him the god of higher magic, writing and music. Probably, everything that distinguishes a person from an animal was known to God Thoth. All types of knowledge and creativity were in his diocese. He is a perfect and positive god, which also very much resembles Prometheus, who did not commit any dual acts. The god of wisdom in ancient Egypt is usually portrayed as a man with an ibis head on his shoulders. According to scientists, it is the forest ibis - a bird that has almost disappeared now. Nobody knows why the ancient Egyptians chose ibis as the symbol of wisdom. There are suggestions that because of the feathers that served for writing. Very often this god is depicted with a baboon. In his hands, as a rule, Thoth holds a writing board that looks like a palette.
Vast pantheon
The ancient Egyptian gods are significantly different from other gods of the ancient world. For example, each of them had five names that could change during the day. They did not contact people, did not have clear tasks and functions, that is, they were more abstract than, say, the inhabitants of Olympus. There are many gods in the Egyptian pantheon, a list of them will take more than one page. There are many lists where the main ancient Egyptian gods are represented in an amount from 13 to 18 subjects. These are Ra and Amon, Anubis and Osiris, Aton and Horus, Thoth and Khnum, Seth, Pta and Sebek. In addition, the list of "main" includes the goddess Isis and Hathor.