Khnum

EGYPT 249 - THOTH & KHNUM - *Egyptian Gods IX* (by Egyptahotep

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• published: 30 Jul 2012
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THOTH (or TOTH, and also DJEUTY,).. Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon, depicted with the head of an Ibis. His feminine counterpart was Seshat. He was special important in tuna el gebel-el ashmunein zone Thoth, like many Egyptian gods and nobility, held many titles. Scribe of Ma'at Thoth has been involved in arbitration, magic, writing, science and the judging of the dead.He was the god of scribes In the Egyptian mythology, he has played many vital and prominent roles, including being one of the two deities (the other being Ma'at) who stood on either side of Ra's boat. In the underworld, he appeared as an ape,he was the god of equilibrium, who reported when the scales weighing the deceased's heart against the feather, representing the principle of Ma'at, was exactly even.In art, Thoth has been depicted in many ways depending on the era and on the aspect the artist wished to convey. Thoth was usually depicted with the head of an ibis, deriving from his name, and the curve of the ibis' beak, which resembles the crescent moon (lunar God).for that reason sometimes was headed with the crescent moon (THOTH AAH (Aah-te-Huti) related with the god KHONSU) .Moreover also, he was depicted as a baboon holding up a crescent moon, as the baboon was seen as a nocturnal, and intelligent, creature. The association with baboons led to him occasionally being said to have as a consort Astennu.He also appears as a dog faced baboon or a man with the head of a baboon (BABI), . These forms are all symbolic and are metaphors for Thoth's attributes. The Egyptians did not believe these gods actually looked like humans with animal heads . For example, Ma'at is often depicted with an ostrich feather, "the feather of truth," on her head , or with a feather for a head. KHNUM "The Potter of gods and Men" He was The main god in the mythology of Elephantine Island in the Nile at Aswan, who headed his own triad. He was the god of the cataract region, which included the sources of the Nile guarded by Hapi. There is evidence in the Pyramid Texts that he had been known long before the time of those writings, but no one knows for sure just how long he had been worshipped. Apparently he came to be known as a creator god rather late, but he survived until two or three centuries after Christ. He was rep resented on monuments as a man with a ram's head, holding scepter and ankh. Often the white crown of Upper Egypt was on his head, and sometimes the crown was decorated with plumes, disk, or cobras. Occasionally a jug of water, representing the Nile, rested over his ram's horns. Like most chief gods, he was later considered a creator. His followers thought that on his potter's wheel he molded an egg from which sprang the sun. Wall carvings at various temples in the Luxor area show him sitting at his potter's wheel on which he is fashioning a child; he was thought of as the master craftsman who molded children out of clay and then implanted them as a seed in their mother's womb. In this manner he was considered the "father of fathers and the mother of mothers." It was said he created the gods in a similar manner. Khnum was thought to be the combination of the forces that made up the entire world; he was Ra, the sun; Shu, the air; Osiris, the underworld; and Geb, the earth-all wrapped up in one figure. In this form he was represented as a man with four ram's heads. A Ptolemaic inscription preserves for us an interesting myth about Khnum's role in a seven-year drought that must have been an old story when it was finally written down. The story supposedly took place during the reign of a king of the Third Dynasty,