Weiser und Wesir

In Egyptology, monographs on deities are an important genre, since they collect crucial information on individual deities. Yet those studies - particularly on more significant deities - are also difficult to write, because an analysis can be buried under the vast evidence if it is just catalogued. A god as prominent as Thoth, who is generally and simplistically characterized as a scribal god and a god of wisdom, has not yet been studied in detail. Martin A. Stadler explores new methodologies in combining Thoth with an exegesis of a substantial part of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. He aims at explaining the relevant spells of this central religious corpus as coherent compositions. This is the first approach of this nature, in which an author points out the non-European logic in Egyptian religious thinking. The specific position of the Book of the Dead within Egyptian written sources also allows it to study Thoth throughout Egyptian history.