Thoth is the God of Knowledge and Wisdom and the husband of Maat.

Appearance

Thoth is a slim, pale-skinned man in his humanoid form, with long silver hair that he usually ties back in a tail.^[1] He typically wears a long white sheath skirt that goes down to his ankles, with a thick golden and white belt^[2] and a white cloth banner in front, fringed in gold and red.^[1] He wears a golden armlet and bracelet on both arms. He wears a thick golden usekh or wesekh, with translucent cloth bound to it that falls over his arms and goes around his back in a long cape. He wears a golden crown in the shape of an ibis, his sacred bird. The head and neck are blue.^[2] He wears earrings that resemble scales.^[1] He has black, purple, and blue marks around his blue eyes.^[2] He does not wear shoes.^[1] He wears a ring on his right middle finger.^[3]

Personality

Thoth is quiet and thoughtful, and often seen smiling in the background of scenes. He adores Maat, and mostly follows her lead. He is sometimes wily. He is easily flustered, and nervous of other powerful gods like Ra and Isis. He is protective of birds.

Life

According to Seth, Thoth is as old as Ra.^[4]

Thoth courts Maat, and even goes to his friend Nut to practice courting.^[5] Maat removes his heart to question him about it. Ra interferes with Thoth's efforts, and when Thoth asks what will make her stop, Ra asks for a prophecy. Thoth tells her that Nut and Geb's children will change the fate of Egypt.^[5][6] Ra curses Nut to be unable to bear children.^[5][6] Nut asks Thoth for help.^[5] Thoth plays senet with Ra and wins, making Ra cover her eyes for four days, wherein Nut bears her four children: Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, and Seth. Despite Thoth's win, Ra goes to war.^[2]

Eventually, Thoth and Maat marry.^[2]

During Isis' flight from Heliopolis and Seth, Thoth at times protects her and Horus, in part to make amends for leading to Ra cursing Nut and delaying the birth of the four siblings.^[2]

Nut eventually finds Isis and Horus and takes them to Thoth for help, and he advises that Horus needs someone to strengthen him.^[7] He is unable to discover why Horus' body is stunted.^[2] When Nut asks how to quell the anger of the gods against Isis, Thoth advises her to go to Ra. When Isis is skeptical of Ra's help, given Osiris stole the throne from Ra, Thoth notes that Ra does not take sides, but she will give Horus what he needs most.^[8]

After hundreds of years of Seth's rule, Thoth joins Maat, Isis, Horus, Nut, Geb, and Anubis in confronting Seth over the throne.^[1]

During the trial, Seth seems to imply that Thoth might be Horus' father, which unnerves Thoth.^[9] When Maat calls an end to Ra interrogating Osiris, Ra whispers to Thoth about Maat in annoyance, making him nervous.^[10]

Horus' insight indicates that the mirror Hathor gives him is the thing he needs most from Thoth's prophecy.^[11]

After the first match, Isis asks Thoth for more prophecies.^[2] Thoth tells her there's no use, and notes that due to Maat's neutrality, he can't take sides in the matter. Isis says that supposedly Thoth and Nut were an item in ages past, and perhaps Thoth is refusing to help Isis out of a grudge against Nut bearing children with Geb. Thoth is infuriated by the accusation. He also suggests Isis focus on helping Horus be reborn as a god, and notes that it seems someone is still stunting his growth. He suggests Isis speak to Anubis, as Anubis' stunted growth is similar to Horus'. Thoth notes that, "The children of gods can only become gods themselves by having the perfect mind and body."^[2]

Skills

Thoth can see the future, and give prophecies.^[2] There are limits to what he can tell people/the prophecy's value.

He can sense curses.^[2]

He can transform into a bird and fly. All birds are under his sway, and he can speak to them.

As a male god, Thoth does not have the ability to give birth to gods.

Relationships

"Foreign God"/"FG"

Thoth seemingly has a low opinion of Foreign God.

Isis

Thoth is an ally of Isis, at least partially out of guilt for her delayed birth.^[2]

Maat

Maat and Thoth are very close, and love each other. Thoth notes that he can't live without her.^[2]

Nut

Thoth and Nut are friends, and Thoth has relied on her help to court Maat in the past.

Ra

Thoth is very easily intimidated by Ra. Ra seems to enjoy taunting him.

Trivia

• Thoth and Sebek are the only named Egyptian gods in ENNEAD to have an unclear relation to Ra.
• It's possible that Thoth and Maat's potential daughter, or Thoth's other partner, Seshat, is in ENNEAD, given the appearance of one character with Seshat's seven-pointed emblem crown in a few panels.^[7] However, Mojito stated on twitter that the character who appears briefly in season 2 as Hathor's servant is a human whom Nefertum planted in his garden, whom Hathor stole, so this is not seemingly Seshat.^[12][13]

Mythology

"Thoth (Tehuty, Djehuty, Tahuti, Tehuti, Zehuti, Techu, Tetu) was one of the earliest Egyptian gods. He was popular throughout Egypt, but was particularly venerated in Khnum (Hermopolis Magna) where he was worshiped as part of the Ogdoad. As the power of his cult grew, the myth was rewritten to make Thoth the creator god. According to this variant, Thoth (in the form of an ibis, one of his sacred animals) laid an egg from which Ra (Atum, Nefertum, or khepri) was born. Other myths suggest that Thoth created himself through the power of language . . . . His song was thought to have created eight deities of the Ogdoad (the gods Nun, Heh, Kuk, and Amun and the goddesses Nunet, Hauhet, Kuaket, and Amaunet). . . . Although Osiris and Isis were generally credited with bringing civilisation to mankind, Thoth was also thought to have invented writing, medicine, magic, and the Egyptian’s civil and religious practices. He was even credited with the invention of music, which was more often associated with Hathor.

Thoth was the patron of scribes and of the written word. He was [the] scribe of the underworld who recorded the verdict [of] the deceased in the hall of Ma’at and was given the epithets “He who Balances”, “God of the Equilibrium”, and “Master of the Balance”.

Thoth maintained the library of the gods with the help of his wife, Seshat (the goddess of writing). He was the scribe of the gods, and was often described as the “Lord of the Divine Body”, “Scribe of the Company of the Gods”, the “voice of Ra”, or the “counsellor of Ra” who (along with Ma’at) stood on the sun barge next to Ra on his nightly voyage across the sky.

. . . Thoth was a great magician who knew “all that is hidden under the heavenly vault”. He used his knowledge to help Isis after the murder of her husband Osiris by his brother Set. With the help of Anubis he created the first mummification ritual and helped resurrect Osiris (albeit in the land of the Dead). He also protected the son of Isis, Horus, by driving a magical poison from his body when he was very young and supported him in his fight to gain the throne which was rightfully his. . . . Thoth was thought to be the inventor of the 365-day calendar (which replaced the inaccurate 360 day calendar). According to myth, he earned the extra days by gambling with the moon (Iabet or Khonsu) in a game of dice to help the goddess Nut. She was pregnant by her brother / husband Geb, but Ra forbade her to give birth on any day of the Egyptian calendar. Thoth won a portion of light from the moon (1/72) which equated to five new days, and Nut gave birth to her five children on those days (Osiris, Horus the Elder, Set, Isis, and Nephthys).

. . . Thoth was also sometimes considered to be the husband of Ma’at. Because he could take the form of a baboon, he was sometimes described as the partner of Astennu (one of the male baboons who lived in the underworld), although it was also stated that Astennu was simply an aspect of Thoth."^[14]

"Seshat (Sesha, Sesheta or Safekh-Aubi) was a goddess of reading, writing, arithmetic, and architecture who was seen as either the female aspect of Thoth, his daughter, or his wife."^[15]

References