danese
caravans, helped to fill the treasury of Hermopolis. Thot, the god of
the city, represented as ibis or baboon, was essentially a moon-god, who
measured time, counted the days, numbered the months, and recorded the
years. Lunar divinities, as we know, are everywhere supposed to exercise
the most varied powers: they command the mysterious forces of the
universe; they know the sounds, words, and gestures by which those
forces are put in motion, and not content with using them for their own
benefit, they also teach to their worshippers the art of employing them.

[Illustration: 208.jpg THE IBIS THOT. 1; and THE CYNOCEPHALOUS THOT. 2]

1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from an enamelled pottery figure
from Coptos, now in my possession. Neck, feet, and tail are
in blue enamel, the rest is in green. The little personage
represented as squatting beneath the beak is Mait, the
goddess of truth, and the ally of Thot. The ibis was
furnished with a ring for suspending it; this has been
broken off, but traces of it may still be seen at the back
of the head.

2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a green enamelled pottery
figure in my possession (Saite period).

Thot formed no exception to this rule. He was lord of the voice, master
of words and of books, possessor or inventor of those magic writings
which nothing in heaven, on earth, or in Hades can withstand.[***]

*** Cf. in the tale of Satni (Maspero, _Contes populaires
de l'Ancienne Egypte_, 2nd edit., p. 175) the description of
the book which Thot has himself written with his own hand,
and which makes its possessor the equal of the gods. "The
two formulas which are written therein, if thou recitest the
first thou shalt charm heaven, earth, Hades, the mountains,
the waters; thou shalt know the birds of the sky and the
reptiles, how many soever they be; thou shalt see the fish
of the deep, for a divine power will cause them to rise to
the surface of the water. If thou readest the second
formula, even although thou shouldest be in the tomb, thou
shalt again take the form which was thine upon earth; thou
shalt even see the sun rising in heaven, and his cycle of
gods, and the moon in the form wherein it appeareth."

He had discovered the incantations which evoke and control the gods; he
had transcribed the texts and noted the melodies of these incantations;
he