Book of Thoth
Book of Thoth is a name given to many
Texts that are known or claimed to exist
The Egyptians stored many texts, on a wide range of subjects, in "Houses of Life", the libraries contained within temple complexes. As Thoth was the god of knowledge, many of these texts were claimed to be his work.[1] The Egyptian historian Manetho said that Thoth wrote 36,525 books.[2]
The
The Egyptologists Richard Lewis Jasnow and Karl-Theodor Zauzich have dubbed a long Egyptian text from the
Fictional book
The fictional Book of Thoth appears in an ancient Egyptian short story from the Ptolemaic period, known as "Setne Khamwas and Naneferkaptah" or "Setne I". The book, written by Thoth, contains two spells, one of which allows the reader to understand the speech of animals, and one which allows the reader to perceive the gods themselves.[5]
According to the story, the book was originally hidden at the bottom of the Nile near
The story reflects the Egyptian belief that the gods' knowledge is not meant for humans to possess.[7]
In popular culture
The Book of Thoth is often featured in fiction with Egyptian or supernatural themes. Novels that do so include Brood of the Witch-Queen (1918) by Sax Rohmer; Moses, Man of the Mountain (1938) by Zora Neale Hurston; Mumbo Jumbo (1972) by Ishmael Reed; The Rosetta Key (2008) by William Dietrich; and The Serpent's Shadow (2012) by Rick Riordan. The Book plays a role in Henry H. Neff's juvenile fantasy series The Tapestry, Lisa Maxwell's young adult series The Last Magician, and Lynne Ewing's young adult series Sisters of Isis.
The "Book of Thoth" is mentioned in several stories by
The Book of Thoth also appears in video games. For example, it is a side-quest element in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. In both the multi-player online battle arena Smite and Board Game Online, the Book of Thoth is a usable item. In Sid Meier's Civilization VI, it is present as a holy relic that generates faith and tourism. In The Fool's Errand, it represents the overarching meta-puzzle that must be unlocked and solved to complete the game.
In the third arc of the manga (and anime) JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the antagonist Boingo's supernatural ability is named Thoth and takes the form of a fortune-telling comic book. In the Japanese novel (and anime) Myriad Colors Phantom World, the protagonist has an ability called "The Book of Thoth".
The Book of Toth and the tomb of Nefer-Ka-Ptah also are animated in the short film The riddle of the Sphinx, directed by the Ukraïnian director Vladimir Pekar (1985).
The Book of Toth is mentioned in
See also
- Etteilla, who originally described tarot cards as pages from the Book of Thoth
- Emerald Tablet
References
- Citations
- Works cited
- Fowden, Garth (1993). The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691024981.
- Jasnow, Richard Lewis; Karl-Theodor Zauzich (2005). The Ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth: A Demotic Discourse on Knowledge & Pendant to Classical Hermetica. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 9783447050821.
- ISBN 0-520-24844-9.