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Book of Thoth

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Book of Thoth The Book Of Thoth Crystalinks

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Book of Thoth is a name given to many ancient Egyptian texts supposed to have been written by Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing and knowledge. They include many texts that were claimed to exist by ancient authors, and a magical book that appears in an Egyptian work of fiction.

Contents

Book of Thoth Fragments of the Book of Thoth Echoes of Egypt Yale Peabody Museum

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Texts that are known or claimed to exist

The Egyptians stored many texts, on a wide range of subjects, in "Houses of Life", the libraries contained within temple complexes. As Thoth was the god of knowledge, many of these texts were claimed to be his work. The Egyptian historian Manetho said that Thoth wrote 36,525 books.

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The church father Clement of Alexandria, in the sixth book of his work Stromata, mentions forty-two books used by Egyptian priests that he says contain "the whole philosophy of the Egyptians". All these books, according to Clement, were written by Hermes (a pre-existing Greek god that the Greeks likened to Thoth, claiming they were one and the same god, having similar qualities, i.e. both invented writing). Translation from Egyptian language and concepts to Greek language and concepts was not entirely accurate and some of the Egyptian authenticity was lost. Among the subjects they cover are hymns, rituals, temple construction, astrology, geography, and medicine.

Book of Thoth The Hunt For The Book Of Thoth

The Egyptologists Richard Lewis Jasnow and Karl-Theodor Zauzich have dubbed a long Egyptian text from the Ptolemaic period "the Book of Thoth". This Demotic text, known from more than forty fragmentary copies, consists of a dialogue between a person called "The-one-who-loves-knowledge" and a figure that Jasnow and Zauzich identify as Thoth. The topics of their conversation include the work of scribes, various aspects of the gods and their sacred animals, and the Duat, the realm of the dead.

Fictional book

The fictional Book of Thoth appears in an ancient Egyptian story from the Ptolemaic period. The book, written by Thoth, is said to contain two spells, one of which allows the reader to understand the speech of animals, and one of which allows the reader to perceive the gods themselves.

According to the story, the book was originally hidden at the bottom of the Nile near Coptos, where it was locked inside a series of boxes guarded by serpents. The Egyptian prince Neferkaptah fought the serpents and retrieved the book, but in punishment for his theft from Thoth, the gods killed his wife Ahwere and son Merib. Neferkaptah committed suicide and was entombed along with the book. Generations later, the story's protagonist, Setne Khamwas (a character based on the historical prince Khaemwaset), steals the book from Neferkaptah's tomb despite opposition from Neferkaptah's ghost. Setne then meets a beautiful woman who seduces him into killing his children and humiliating himself in front of the pharaoh. He discovers that this episode was an illusion created by Neferkaptah, and in fear of further retribution, Setne returns the book to Neferkaptah's tomb. At Neferkaptah's request, Setne also finds the bodies of Neferkaptah's wife and son and buries them in Neferkaptah's tomb, which is then sealed.

The story reflects the Egyptian belief that the gods' knowledge is not meant for humans to possess.

  • The Book of Thoth is mentioned in The Rosetta Key, a novel by William Dietrich.
  • The Book of Thoth plays a major role in the 1972 novel Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed.
  • The Book of Thoth plays a major role in the 1918 novel Brood of the Witch-Queen by Sax Rohmer.
  • The Book of Thoth appears in Rick Riordan's The Serpent's Shadow book, where it is used by Carter and Sadie Kane to banish Apophis from the world.
  • The Book of Thoth is used by the demon Astaroth in the series The Tapestry to banish modern technology and cities.
  • Book of Thoth is a very powerful and expensive magical item purchasable in the Hi-Rez Studios video game SMITE.
  • In Board Game Online, the Book of Thoth is one of the most powerful items, given to those who complete The Archaeology Dig. The artifact contains many dak spells used to harass enemies.
  • The protagonist of an anime Myriad Colors Phantom World has an ability called "The Book Of Thoth" that allows him to summon and seal Phantoms (monster-like spiritual beings) to fight for him. His most recurring phantoms are Cthulhu and Marchosias.
  • The Stand of the antagonist Boingo in Part 3 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is named Thoth and takes the form of a comic book that predicts the future without failure.
  • The Book of Thoth appears in Zora Neale Hurston's novel Moses, Man of the Mountain, a story in which Hurston's Moses, of ambiguous racial identity, derives power not only from the Midianite god, Jehovah, but also from this Egyptian book of power, produced by the Egyptian god of writing, Thoth.
  • Works cited

  • Fowden, Garth (1993). The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691024981. 
  • Jasnow, Richard Lewis; Karl-Theodor Zauzich (2005). The Ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth: A Demotic Discourse on Knowledge & Pendant to Classical Hermetica. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 9783447050821. 
  • Lichtheim, Miriam (2006) [1st. Pub. 1978]. Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume III: The Late Period. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24844-9. 
  • References

    Book of Thoth Wikipedia