Who is Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing?

Thoth (Egyptian Djehuty) was the god of writing, knowledge and the moon in ancient Egypt. He was the scribe of the gods: he kept the records, reckoned time by the moon, and was said to have given people writing itself. He is shown as a man with the head of an ibis, or as an ibis or a baboon. At the judgment of the dead he writes down the verdict when the heart is weighed.

Who he was in Egypt: Thoth was the patron of scribes, who are said to have poured out a drop of water to him before they began work. His great temple stood at Khemenu, which the Greeks called Hermopolis, because they matched him with their own god Hermes. Later writers called him Hermes Trismegistus, thrice-great Hermes, and gave his name to a body of Greek religious writings.
His signs and animals: The ibis, a long-billed bird of the Nile marshes, and the baboon were both his. Baboons call out at sunrise, and Egyptian art often shows them with raised arms, greeting the rising sun. His crown is often a moon disk resting on a crescent.
How Gerald Massey read him in 1907: Massey spells the name Taht, and also Tehuti and Taht-Aan. He reads Taht first as the moon, the measurer of time, and argues that the god’s animals were older signs for the same idea, which Massey calls zootypes. He makes Taht the source of speech and of the sacred writings, and the recorder in the Judgment Hall.
What scholars say now: Thoth’s roles as scribe, reckoner and moon god are well attested. Massey’s larger scheme, in which speech itself grew from animal cries that Taht’s ape stood for, is not accepted by linguists or Egyptologists. The Greek Hermetic writings date from the Roman period and are not Egyptian scriptures written by Thoth.
Where you meet him today: Ibis-headed figures of Thoth stand in most large Egyptian collections, and he appears in judgment scenes on painted papyri. His Greek name lives on in the word hermetic and in modern esoteric books that borrow it.
In Massey’s words: “The divine words when written constituted the scriptures, earliest of which are those ascribed to Hermes or Taht, the reputed author of all the sacred writings.” (Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World (1907), Book IV, p. 193)
In the app: Trainer › Word Trainer. In the app, the Word Trainer sets Massey’s Taht beside Thoth, and the Symbol Trainer explains his ibis and his baboon.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

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