Statue of the Egyptian god Thoth represented as a baboon or Papio cynocephalus, Louvre museum

If Thoth's greatest quality was to have been intelligent, his greatest virtue was undoubtedly to have always been wise and competent. His very ancient origin goes back to the story that gave birth to him from the skull of Set. However, Thoth curiously presents none of the bad sides of the terrible God. Thoth does not manipulate for his own profit and works on the contrary unceasingly for the permanence of the world wanted by Re.

The Greeks assimilated him to Hermes because of his attributes and similar functions, and the Romans to Mercury. One of the titles of Thoth "Three times great" has been translated into Greek: τρισμεγιστος (Trismegistus), referring to Hermes Trismegistus.

The legends depicting Thoth associate him with knowledge and more generally with the organization of the celestial and terrestrial world. His intelligence and pragmatism served as a model for Pharaonic Egypt and its highly organized administration, so Thoth was a model God for mortals.

By the Verb, Thoth created the world. Thus the Hermopolitan cosmogony depicts the origin of the world. A world that was certainly created, but still had to be organised. Intelligence lay in Thoth's heart. It is to her, helped by Sia, personification of knowledge, that mortals owe the world as it is. To speak, calculate, write, to create was a gigantic work, Thoth then invented language for this purpose. Through the Verb made intelligible, the world was built according to the desires of this God. The great universal mechanics of the celestial bodies began to work.

However, without the justice of Maat, who sits with the Gods, but also in the hearts of men, the world would be nothing. Therefore Thoth is also "he who writes Maat". In all points, knowledge, organization, justice, Thoth is a true model for men, starting with the King or Pharaoh and his administration.

Thoth enjoys the highest esteem among the other Gods. Not content to sit in the divine courts, he is the clerk of them, who approves and records the verdicts. He is the Keeper of the Seals. Thoth does not fail to intervene often in the quarrels between the Gods. The active part he plays in the settlement of the conflict between the two long-time enemies, Set and Horus, earned him much respect. As a skillful referee, he was "the one who managed to separate the two combatants". A feat that one admires when one knows how much hatred Set had against his nephew.

A text of Edfu relates his birth:

"In the midst of the primordial ocean appeared the emerged land... On it, the Eight came into existence. They made appear a lotus from which Re, assimilated to Shu, came out. Then came a lotus bud from which emerged a dwarf, a necessary feminine auxiliary, whom Ra saw and desired. From their union was born Thoth who created the world through the Word".