Why was the baboon sacred in ancient Egypt?

A form of Thoth. Baboons greet the rising sun, and one sits on top of the scales at the judgment of the dead.

What the sign shows: A baboon sitting.
How Gerald Massey read it in 1907: For Massey the dog-headed ape is the companion of the moon god and the saluter of the light.
Where you see it today: Baboons call loudly at dawn, which Egyptologists take to be where the image began.
Where it stands in Massey’s book: Massey names it 96 times across the book. Book XI, p. 691: “Witness to the light”; Book XI, p. 692: “Ra speaks, Horus acts, Thoth writes”; Book XII, p. 857: “The moon as lamp and witness”.
Signs that look like it: Cat, Hare and Lion. The app’s Symbol Trainer sets them side by side, so the eye learns to tell them apart.
In Massey’s words: “Taht and his Cynocephalus represented the Man and his dog in the Moon.” (Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World (1907), Book I, p. 12)
In the app: Trainer › Symbol Trainer › Baboon. The app’s Symbol Trainer reads 42 signs this way, each with Massey’s own words and the page they stand on.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

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