religious works in all periods were believed to have been composed
either by himself, or by holy scribes who were inspired by him. They
were believed to be sources of the deepest wisdom, the like of which
existed in no other books in the world. And it is probably to these
books that Egypt owed her fame for learning and wisdom, which spread
throughout all the civilised world. The "Books of Thoth," which late
popular tradition in Egypt declared to be as many as 36,525 in number,
were revered by both natives and foreigners in a way which it is
difficult for us in these days to realise. The scribes who studied and
copied these books were also specially honoured, for it was believed
that the spirit of Thoth, the twice-great and thrice-great god, dwelt in
them. The profession of the scribe was considered to be most honourable,
and its rewards were great, for no rank and no dignity were too high for
the educated scribe. Thoth appears in the papyri and on the monuments as
an ibis-headed man, and his companion is usually a dog-headed ape called
"Asten." In the Hall of the Great Judgment he is seen holding in one
hand a reed with which he is writing on a palette the result of the
weighing of the heart of the dead man in the Balance. The gods accepted
the report of Thoth without question, and rewarded the good soul and
punished the bad according to his statement. From the beginning to the
end of the history of Egypt the position of Thoth as the "righteous
judge," and framer of the laws by which heaven and earth, and men and
gods were governed, remained unchanged.

[Illustration: Thoth, the Scribe of the Gods.]

The substances used by the Egyptians for writing upon were very
numerous, but the commonest were stone of various kinds, wood, skin, and
papyrus. The earliest writings were probably traced upon these
substances with some fluid, coloured black or red, which served as ink.