Thoth the Hermes of Egypt

An excerpt from the beginning of the PREFACE: The purpose of this essay is to indicate the chief tendencies of ancient Egyptian speculation in regard to the god Thoth. Taking as the basis of his work a fairly complete examination of the chief references to the god in Egyptian literature and ritual, the author has tried to distinguish the more important phases of Thoth's character as they were conceived by the Egyptians, and to show how these aspects, or phases, of his...
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An excerpt from the beginning of the PREFACE:

The purpose of this essay is to indicate the chief tendencies of ancient Egyptian speculation in regard to the god Thoth. Taking as the basis of his work a fairly complete examination of the chief references to the god in Egyptian literature and ritual, the author has tried to distinguish the more important phases of Thoth's character as they were conceived by the Egyptians, and to show how these aspects, or phases, of his being help to explain the various activities which are assigned to him in the Egyptian legends of the gods, and in the ritual of tombs and temples. An attempt has been made, in many instances, to discover the simple concrete meaning which often underlies characteristic epithets of the god, and the need of seeking groupings among epithets which can in any way be associated with well-defined activities or aspects of the god has been emphasized. The author has not aimed at anything like a full analysis of the individuality of the god. That would have demanded a much closer and more detailed study of Egyptian religious literature, and a more extensive recording of results, than Egypto-logical scholarship has hitherto attempted in regard to any problem of ancient Egyptian religion.

It will be noticed that texts derived from the Egyptian literature of the Greco-Roman period have been freely used throughout this essay. Every student of Ptolemaic texts becomes rapidly convinced that those texts contain a considerable amount of theology, which, though it cannot, perhaps be always paralleled from the older texts, seems to be fully in line with genuine Egyptian thought of the early - sometimes of the very early - period. Hence, whenever the Ptolemaic texts seemed to promise any assistance in explaining aspects of Thoth, they have been used as authentic documents of Egyptian speculation and belief.