Thoth: Creator of the Moon - Egyptian Mythology Explained

Welcome to Mythology Explained. Today, discussing the Egyptian God Thoth. Here’s what’s in store: a god who called out to the semen of two other gods; a god who recorded if the heart of each and every dead person was lighter than the feather of truth; a god who created the moon to illuminate the night; and finally, a god who summoned ingested semen to a god’s forehead where said semen gains the appearance of the sun.

Let’s get into it.

Thoth was depicted as having the head of an ibis, which is a long-beaked, wading bird. He came to be the god of learning, wisdom, and all vocations that centered on either the pursuit of knowledge or record keeping, but originally, he was a lunar deity; and as such, his sphere of influence included the passage of time (for which the waxing and waning of the moon was a key marker) and the cyclical passage of the seasons. The part of divine judge was another of his responsibilities, and throughout the entire ancient Egyptian mythos, Thoth is shown to be a staunch supporter of both Horus and Osiris, advocating for them on numerous occasions.

Like many gods from long-defunct pantheons, Thoth’s lineage, or genesis, is more than a little ambiguous, meaning that there are a multitude of competition origin stories. Here are the more salient versions that have survived through to today: Thoth being the son of RA, the sun god; Thoth being born out of the side of set’s head after set was tricked into eating some of Horus’ semen; and Thoth being the first god to emerge from the primordial mound and, thus, the primary figure in one version of the Egyptian creation myth.

Thoth’s province was the entire spectrum of human knowledge. Scribes especially maintained a deep affinity for Thoth. All scientific knowledge was said to be held in the sacred books in the house of life, and included in them, was the book of Thoth, which comprised 42 papyrus scrolls and was written by the god himself.

One of the main parts that Thoth played in the myths of ancient Egypt was his maintaining of law and order when night fell. Ra, the sun god and the first king, had grown old and tired. He relinquished his crown and ascended into the sky, but up high, now ensconced on his celestial boat, what Ra observed below troubled him. People had turned on each other; fighting had broken out; and everyone was looking for someone else to blame for the departure of the sun. To stop the chaos below, Ra did two things: he installed a successor, his first born, the god Shu (air), to rule in his stead, and secondly, Ra deputized Thoth to act with his own authority during the night. Thoth was tasked with upholding law and order, bestowing mankind with the gift of writing, and illuminating the night sky, the last of which he accomplished by creating the moon.

Thoth was a stalwart defender of Horus, and he remained so throughout Horus’ decades-long conflict with set, in which they relentlessly competed for the throne. His most notable contribution was in the events that followed set’s rape of Horus. set forced himself upon Horus while he slept, and then, the following day, set rushed off to the divine council to boast to the other gods about what he had done. But in the intervening time, many things happened of which set was not apprised. Horus was not actually filled with set’s seed. He caught it in his hand, which Isis then chopped off and cast into the nile. (Don’t worry, though: Isis used her magic to later restore Horus' hand.) The second thing that happened was that some of Horus' own seed was put on the favourite lettuce plants that set ate each morning, impregnating him.

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