Thoth
Thoth West AsiaThe scribe of the Egyptian gods. The chief deity of Khmun, or Hermo-polis, was conceived as having either the head of an ibis or of a bamboo. In early times Thoth had been a creator god, but from the second half of the third millennium BC he was credited with the foundation of law, the advancement of learning, and the invention of hieroglyphic writing. The modern pack of playing-cards, held by some to be an adaptation of hieroglyphics, is sometimes called‘ the book of Thoth’
From his studies Thoth acquired mastery of hike, ‘magic’. The creation myth of Khmun tells how the god of wisdom, self-created, uttered words which sprang into life:‘they were clothed with being’. This myth had particular appeal to later magicians and thaumaturgists. An interesting variant of the Khmun cosmology was the lotus flower that arose from the primeval waters, opened, and revealed the beautiful child creator of the world, the infant sun
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