2 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



be of the third order ; and Seb and Netpe only 

 seem to claim a rank in the same class with Re, 

 Atmoo, and the others, from being the parents of 

 Isis and Osiris. 



I should perhaps have placed Atmoo before 

 Thoth, from the rank he holds on the monmnents 

 of Thebes as well as of Lower Egypt ; but the 

 duties of Thoth bringing him into frequent com- 

 munication with Osiris, and his character of the 

 Moon connecting him with Re the Sun, may 

 serve to claim for him prior notice. 



Thoth*, Taut, Hermes, Mercury, The Moon. 



Thoth, the God of Letters, had various characters, 

 according to the functions he was supposed to fulfil. 

 In his office of scribe in the lower regions, he was 

 engaged in noting down the actions of the dead, 

 and in presenting or reading them to Osiris, the 

 Judge of Amenti : *^ the dead being judged out of 

 those things which were written in the books, ac- 

 cording to their works." He also overlooked and 

 re2:istered the actions and life of man while on 

 earth ; holding then, instead of his tablet, a palm 

 branch, emblematic of a year, to which were at- 

 tached the symbol of life, and man in embryo under 

 the form of a frog, t 



Thoth was the ^\first Hermes " mentioned by 

 Manetho; the same who was reputed to have been 

 the preceptor of Isis, and the Hermes of Plutarch 1:, 



* It is remarkable that the Gauls called their Mercury Theutates. 

 + These cnibleius are mentioned by HorapoUo. 

 X Plut.de Is. s. 19. 



