Thot: An Exalted Surgeon and Physician

?^etschmann1 has collected very interesting evidence from classical writers, Egyptian papyri, and monuments, of the god ^hot, as a surgeon and physician. Although legendary, it is Pfobably the earliest reference to the science and art of medicine, and is the embodiment of the earliest human ideas known to Us ?n the subject. Thot, the feudal divinity of Hermopolis in Middle Egypt, ^Vas ^presented by the sacred ibis and the cynocephalus. From 6arliest times he possessed a harem, in which however were ?nly two wives?N ahmauit, " she who removes evil," and Seshait. Very traveller up the Nile has seen figures of them carved on the temple of Denderah. Like all other gods Thot possessed a ^?ul and body, and through his body flowed the mysterious Uld " Sa," which carried health, vigour, and life, and he could c?nimunicate this to human beings by placing his hand on the ?aPe of the patient's neck. By his incantations he could control 1 Hermes Trismegistos, p. 20 et seq., 43 et seq., 57.