Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Where is this Egyptian god Thoth hidden in Egypt?

This is the finest depiction of Thoth, god of magic, wisdom and writing, and it's hidden from the view of most visitors and even local guides.



(Thoth appears directly beside, and facing, the paired image of Seshat in the temple of Luxor, hidden behind a seated statue of Rameses II.)


Thoth is at the heart of my novel 'The Ibis Apocalypse'. (Amazon Kindle and paperback.) Here is an excerpt...


 

Chapter 3
WHEN THE WOMAN came into the occult bookshop, Anson forgot about the German book browser and his incredible claims.


She was a dark beauty in a long black leather coat, and, promisingly, she looked quite mainstream, he thought. Definitely not a crank, this one. She swept a glance around the deserted interior.

“Tell me you haven’t just popped in here for directions,” he said hopefully.

“Hello Anson Hunter.” Angelic choirs began to sing inside the occult bookshop, or so it seemed to him.

“Come straight to the head of the queue,” he said.

“No need for crowd control here, I see.”

Crowd control. A strange quip. It had a law enforcement ring, he thought. She wasn’t the law, surely. He’d upset the Intelligence community in the past, but the police?

“Would you care for a signed copy?” he said. She had a calm, self-possessed manner.

“No, thanks.”

“No?” She shook her head and made her black hair swing. 

Not another non-reader. This called for desperate measures. “Look, I’ll give you money outside,” he said in a whisper.

“Meaning?”

“It’s been a bit slow in here today and I’ve got to encourage the bookseller. Let’s make her believe that someone’s going to read my book.”

She smiled. That mouth did not part easily with smiles, he guessed.

“I’ve read your book.” Angelic choirs returned to the occult bookshop. A precious reader. So they did exist. He warmed to the woman. He felt like asking for her signature.

“Zara Margolin,” she said, offering her hand in a surprisingly firm handshake. “You really believe that this ancient stone tablet actually existed?” she said.

“Yes, it actually did and it actually still does.” 

“And it has the powers you fear?” 

“I wrote a whole book in support of that belief.” It was as if a book alone were not enough for her. She wanted to hear it from the author himself.

“You believe the Stela has appeared in history at times before struggles and suffering? In the time of Rameses and the suffering of the Hebrews... and in Hitler’s Germany?”

Suffering - Old Testament - a Jewish woman. Did that account for her interest? She searched his face as he answered, her eyes almost level with his. The intensity of her gaze made him flinch. She was quite rangy, he noted, almost matching his lanky height.

“I’m sure of it,” he said. “In fact, I believe its message is about to resurface, if it hasn’t already done so.”

“This tablet would be very ancient,” she said.

“Exceedingly. It comes from the womb of history – from an age that the ancient Egyptians called Zep Tepi.”

“Zep Tepi,” she said after him. She played with the words.

“An age before the pharaohs, when divinities like Thoth were supposed to have reigned over Egypt.”

A frown briefly disturbed the smoothness of her forehead.

“Yes, but pre- the invention of writing, surely?”

“Not necessarily. They keep pushing back the date of Egypt’s invention of hieroglyphs with new discoveries. I believe writing goes back further than Egyptologists believe.”

“I forget. You’re alternative. But people always called it a scroll - The Scroll of Thoth.”

He shook his head.

“The first books, like the Ten Commandments, were in stone and Egyptian stelae were books in stone. So-called papyrus Scrolls of Thoth appeared later in the New Kingdom.”

“Okay. But to believe in the Stela of Thoth, you’ve got to believe in Thoth. An Egyptian god with a bird’s head.”

“We don’t know who, or what, Thoth may have been,” he said. “But even putting aside the question of whether or not a race called the Neteru, or the gods, actually existed at some distant age, consider it a case of inspired agency. Like the Bible. Egyptian religion and mythology tells us that Thoth was the first example of the divine mind, the logos, or the ‘word’ of creation as Christians call it. He was known as the master of wisdom, writing and time, symbolised by both the sacred ibis and the dog-faced baboon.”

“A bird and a baboon as the god of wisdom?”

“Not so unexpected. Have you ever looked at an ibis? The curve of its beak echoes a crescent moon, or perhaps the rim of an eclipse. Watch the measured way an ibis strides, picking out small fish, snakes, frogs and insects like a master scribe judiciously selecting his words. Thoth was also the god of time and measurement. Picture the way the ibis strides the fields of Egypt, pace by measuring pace, like a scribal surveyor of ancient times re-measuring the land and setting boundaries after mud from the inundation covered the river banks.”

“And a baboon?”

“Before man could utter words, baboons were facing the rising sun and chattering. Look into those deep-set eyes and it’s possible to believe that you’re looking into the depths of mysterious wisdom and it was mainly in the form of a baboon that scribes revered Thoth as the ‘Lord of Script...’”

 'The Ibis Apocalypse' is the third in my Anson Hunter Egypt adventure thriller series of 9 novels (Amazon Paperback and Kindle)