Book of Thoth

Book of Thoth is a name given to many ancient Egyptian texts supposed to have been written by Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing and knowledge. They include a text that is known and has been translated, many texts that were claimed to exist by ancient authors, and a magical book that appears in an Egyptian work of fiction.

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. The Egyptian historian Manetho said that Thoth wrote 36,525 books.

The church father Clement of Alexandria, in the sixth book of his work Stromata, mentions forty-two books used by Egyptian priests that he says contain "the whole philosophy of the Egyptians". All these books, according to Clement, were written by Hermes (A pre existing Greek God that the Greeks likened to Thoth, claiming they were one in the same God, having similar qualities I.e. Both invented writing). Translation from Egyptian language and concepts to Greek language and concepts was not entirely accurate and some of the Egyptian authenticity was lost. Among the subjects they cover are hymns, rituals, temple construction, astrology, geography, and medicine.