Birds and Bird Imagery in the Book of Thoth

Richard Jasnow

“The Book of Thoth is the modern title of a compositionfrom the Greco-Roman period dealing with initiation into the House of Life (Jasnow and Zauzich 2005). This institution was not only a sort of

temple scriptorium and center of scribal training, but also the location of important Osirian rites. Structured as a dialogue between a Master, who is probably Thoth himself (or a priest playing the role of Thoth),

and a Disciple (called “the-one-who-wishes-to-learn”), thework covers a very wide variety of subjects. The conversation ranges from how to hold the scribal brush to sacred geography. The author was particularly fascinated by scribal matters, the nature of sacred

animals, and all manner of priestly knowledge. Birds and bird imagery play a very significant role in the Book of Thoth. This is hardly

surprising, considering how much the ancient Egyptians valued the mysterious qualities and behavior of birds. Most spectacularly,

perhaps, their unrivaled mobility enabled them to visit the farthest reaches of the universe.”

In a famous scene showing the sky goddess Nut supported by Shu in the Abydos cenotaph of Seti I (fig. 7.2) the rightmost vertical line declares:

The United Darkness, the marshes ofthe gods, the place from which the birds Come

(von Lieven 2007, pp. 76–77 and410; Jasnow, forthcoming)

Consequently the author of the Book of Thoth delights in references to that bird. In one section the Disciple proudly portrays himself as a lector-priest responsiblefor the cult-ceremony, declaring:

(4201) I shall raise my hand to the great, great,great one (= Thoth), and jubilate to the ibiswho tramples the turtle.

In this case the ibis is Thoth destroying that enemy of the sun god, Apopis, who can be represented as a turtle

In a less grandiose vein, the author elsewhere states:

(412) Let me hurry to (or “look to”) the ibis whois at the top of his brush (or “standard”),he who has ordered the earth with his scaleplates.

Here the Book of Thoth may be referring to the image of a scale. The oft-depicted scenes of the Book of the Dead spell 125 show the heart of the deceased being measured upon a scale against the maat-feather symbolizing “truth.” Usually another sacred animal of Thoth, the baboon, sits atop the central post of the scale, but occasionally an ibis takes its place (Seeber 1976, p. 68). This may be what the author of the Book of Thoth had in mind.

The students of the House of Life themselves seem to be called “ibises” in the Book of Thoth. In one section with a strong ascetic coloring the Master strikingly describes the hardships or challenges of the priestly scribe. The Master states:

(30) So he says, namely, The-one-who-praises knowledge(= the Master), he says: “Theibises who are here, difficult is their food,painful is their mode of life.

(31) They do not sate themselves with bread.They do not become drunk with wine. Theydo not anoint with unguent. Their abominationis saying a name to the bedroom(?).”

The idea is presumably that the scribal students do not think of anything other than learning their craft. In the difficult first column of the Book of Thoth, theauthor employs the vivid imagery of hungry baby birds to illustrate the scribal Disciple’s desire for knowledge:

(12) … to baby birds, while they hurry the sacredanimals, while they swallow with their excellent mouths.

Egyptian religion is famously rich in symbols and images. The appearance and behavior of birds

provided the priests with an almost inexhaustible source of such material. The Book of Thoth, the product of a time in which the great animal cults

flourished, is only one example of how such imagery appears in a sophisticated theological treatise of the

Greco-Roman period. Still, it well illustrates the mastery with which the priestly authors used bird

symbolism as they engaged with themes of profound importance to their cultural traditions.