Thoth

Ra’s Eye broke away from him and went into the world. Thoth, Ra’s deputy, searched for her and found her as a goddess. He told her fables about her father. In these stories, Ra saw everything and often intervened to establish justice on earth. The goddess changed her mind and returned to Ra. Thoth restored the estranged Eye through healing and magic, then brought it back to her father.

Thoth also acted as a divine physician during the conflict between Horus and Set. Set tore out the Eye of Horus while he appeared as a black pig. In another telling, Set nearly killed the young Horus with poison in the marshes of Chemmis. Thoth came with Ra’s authority and drove the poison from the child. He used his healing and magical powers to make the damaged eye whole again. Earlier tellings said that he made the Eye new. The complete eye was called the wedjat. Thoth gave it to Horus, and Horus offered it to Osiris.

Thoth’s spells and amulets protected Osiris from Set. He also acted as Osiris’s advocate before the Divine Tribunal. His healing of the Eye belonged to this wider work as mediator and guardian. Egyptian magical traditions treated the sun eye and the moon eye as the same image, and both appeared as the wedjat. The lunar Eye that Thoth restored to Horus became a protective amulet for the living and the dead.

Thoth writes the judgments issued by the gods as secretary to the Ennead of Heliopolis and deputy of Ra. He records the laws of maat, the divine order, and fixes the destinies assigned to gods and mortals. His authority comes from Ra, and his records preserve the decisions of the divine tribunal.

He is called the Master of the Words of God. He invented writing and the languages of humanity. He is also said to have written a book of magic and forty-two volumes containing the wisdom of the world. Some of this knowledge is reserved for initiates who will not misuse it. In the Eighteenth Dynasty, the volumes were brought into courts of law as references for the laws governing the kingdom.

When the gods consider the claims of Horus and Seth, Thoth writes letters on behalf of the Ennead and advises Ra. The tribunal asks Neith, goddess of Sais, for guidance, and Thoth writes the formal letter requesting her opinion. Neith declares that Horus should receive the throne. She assigns Seth compensation in the form of twice his existing property and two additional wives, Astarte and Anat. The gods accept her judgement, although Ra-Harakhte objects to their haste.

Thoth also records verdicts concerning the dead. During the judgement of the deceased, he waits to write the result when the heart is weighed against the feather of maat. He once pleaded for Osiris, and those who fear failure ask him to plead for them. His spells protect the dead. In the Book of Two Ways, his Mansion gives spirits a safe haven where his magic helps them pass the demons of the underworld.

Thoth created the characters of writing and became the Master of the Words of God. He was called the inventor of speech, and one account credited him with creating the different languages of humanity. Writing, speech and magical words preserved knowledge and helped people understand religious mysteries. His wisdom was linked to the laws that governed the kingdom and upheld divine order.

Thoth was said to have written a book of magic with his own hand. He also wrote forty-two books that contained all the wisdom of the world. Some of this knowledge concerned occult matters and was meant only for initiates who did not misuse it. In the Eighteenth Dynasty, the books were brought into courts of law for reference because the laws of the kingdom expressed the wisdom of divine order.

Thoth applied his knowledge to disputes among the gods. He served as secretary to the Ennead of Heliopolis and wrote letters while the gods tried to decide whether Horus or Seth should prevail. He advised Ra and acted as an advocate for the murdered Osiris before the Divine Tribunal. He mediated between Horus and Seth during their conflict and helped uphold order. He also defended the family of Osiris before the tribunal, and Osiris was acquitted and declared true of voice.

With authority from Ra, Thoth drove the poison from the young Horus after Seth nearly killed him in the marshes. He restored the Eye of Horus after Seth tore it out, and he returned the estranged Eye of Ra to her father. He later recorded the verdict when the heart of a dead person was weighed against the feather of maat. In one telling, he appeared on a lotus at the dawn of time. In another, he came from the lips of Ra or sprang from Seth's forehead. He was also described as self-created.

Thoth watched the moon decline and renew itself across the sky. He measured its passage from the crescent of the new moon to the disk of the full moon. With the notched palm branch in his hand, he reckoned the course of time and established the divisions of the Egyptian calendar.

As Measurer of Time, Thoth applied mathematics and astronomy to his reckoning. His skill with numbers allowed the gods to count their possessions, so he became their accountant and the secretary of Ra. As the deputy of Ra, he joined the movements of the moon and heavens to the arts of magic and divination.

Thoth also invented writing, speech, languages, mathematics, astronomy and engineering. He was called Master of the Words of God, and he used written knowledge to order the wisdom by which time was reckoned. Ra created his baboon form to shine in the night sky, while his ibis form carried messages between earth and heaven.

Thoth wrote a book of magic with his own hand. He also wrote forty-two volumes that contained the wisdom of the world. This wisdom concerned the divine order and the laws that governed the kingdom. Through his reckoning of the moon, his knowledge of the heavens and his written words, Thoth established the calendar and kept account of time for the gods.