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Striding ibis, god Thot
Egypt
Late Dynastic Period , 664-332 BC
Bronze, inlayed eyes
Height 11.8 cm ( 4 5⁄8 in )
depth_base 15 cm ( 5 7⁄8 in )
Former private collection C. Paris, France, acquired at Pescheteau-Badin, Drouot Paris, 27th May 1981 lot 32, by descent to the previous owner
G. Roeder: Ägyptische Bronzefiguren, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin 1956
S. Schoske & D. Wildung: Gott und Götter im Alten Ägypten, Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1992
P. Vernus & J. Yoyotte: Bestiare des Pharaons, Perrin, Paris 2005
E. Bleiberg: Soulful Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt, Brooklyn Museum 2013
H. Ranke: Die Ägyptischen Personennamen, Glückstadt 1935, Band I 247-10/42-11/51-22
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Striding ibis on a rectangular base decorated with an oval of zig-zag patterns, representing a water-filled basin. At the front, a mortise hole indicates the now missing statuette of a worshiper. Around the base, hieroglyphic inscriptions, as well as some hieratic signs, read: ‘The god Thot, the very great, lord of Hermopolis, that he gives life, health, a long existence and a long and perfect old age’. The sponsor of this ex-voto ‘Horpakhered, son of Irethoreru who gave birth to the mistress of the house Itemirdis’ is also named.
In Egyptian mythology, Thot (Djehuty in ancient Egyptian) is the lunar god of Khemenu (Hermopolis Magna) in Middle Egypt. He is the embodiment of intelligence and speech, inventor of writing and language, essentially the god of writing with unlimited knowledge, and scribe of the gods.
