Thoth,
God of Communication, Healing and Science

May 13, 2007

Not satisfied with the clumsiness unavoidable in a tiny 2.5 by 3.5 drawing, I got out the 11in by 14in bristol board and had another try at Thoth:


I figured, why follow the statue exactly? So I gave him something useful to do with the hand that had been resting on his knee! Also, I learned something about the heiroglyph 'neb' which means 'lord of'. The bowl shaped heiroglyph also means 'bowl', so perhaps when Thoth is called 'Lord of Ma'at', they are meaning he CONTAINS Ma'at?

So the bowl which I have imagined holds ink for writers and artists, and healing ointment for those who are sick has another meaning.

Also, I tried to make the deco on his collar, arm bands and bowl band meaningful, as well as including the heiroglyph for Thoth (Djehuty) in the lower left. In addition, I looked at ibis pictures. The orangish golden beak does exist with the white feathers. Although this is not the coloring of the traditional 'sacred ibis', with its black beak, it is still ibis colors. It made sense then to have the hair white. Also, white hair is often associated with the wisdom that comes with age, and so it makes sense to me that Thoth have white hair. Yes, it's probably not 'Kemetic' standard, but to me it makes sense. As I am trying to impart a sense of 'realism' to the image, and how an ibis head would fit on a human body, golden brown flesh more aesthetically appealing here, this matches better.

He's available in a print, either 4x5, 5x7, 8x10 or 11x14 version!
See 'Egyptian Inspired' gallery

April 22, 2007
The clumsiness of the following attempt may be explained by the original drawing only being 2.5x3.5 inches!

The two characters outlined in blue at upper right are hieroglyphs for 'Lord of Ma'at', one of his titles

No matter what I did to it digitally, I couldn't overcome its tiny limitations, which is why I made the May 13th image.

June 7, 2006
Meanwhile, earlier I took the model statue, and kept Thoth with the same pose and the offering bowl, but put him in modern garb:


Keeping up with the times...

©JAL - June 2006