Figure of Thoth-Iah (Moon God)
Description
<p>As early as the Old Kingdom, the ibis-headed Thoth appeared in the Pyramid Texts (ca. 2330 BCE) as god of the moon along with Iah and Khonsu. The god of wisdom, writing, and administration, Thoth embodied the moon's dynamic nature; his knowledge extended to the science of numbers, medicine, and all magical secrets.This figure combines iconographical elements which refer to several deities. The human-shaped body with long wig and uraeus above the forehead, together with a moon-disk and crescent, represents the moon god Iah. The ibis head refers to Thoth, the Atef-crown with the feathers stands for the god of the netherworld, Osiris, and the ram horns represent Amun. Because the disk can be interpreted as moon or sun-disk, it is likely that in combination with the ram horns the solar aspect of Amun, or Amun-Re, is intended. All of these different elements express the idea of the renewal of moon and sun, and therefore also of the donor of such a figure in his afterlife.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/54.2068' rel='external'>Figure of Thoth-Iah (Moon God)</a></cite>, visit the Online Collection of the Walters Art Museum.</p>
Cross-references (2)
- Walters-AccNum 54.2068 tier-2
- Walters-id 27232 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Walters Art Museum (Egyptian).
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.