Thoth the Ibis-Headed God
In Ancient Egyptian the word Hob means "messenger". It is the name most commonly given to the ibis-headed god, the Messenger of Ra. |  |
 | There are no recorded vowels in Ancient Egyptian, so the name may have been pronounced either Hab, Heb, Hib or Hob.
The ibis god is now normally known by the Greek word Thoth. |
The best reference is The Gods of the Egyptians, Wallis Budge, Vol 1, p400-415. Budge writes:
The commonest name given to Thoth is h*b, ibis...
... From one aspect he was speech itself... In every legend in which Thoth takes a prominent part we see it is he who speaks the word that results in the wishes of Ra being carried into effect.... He has upon his head the crescent moon and holds in his hand the writing reed... The Moon-God was a form of himself...
... The Greeks identified Thoth with their own Hermes. They described him as the inventor of astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. He was the first to establish a system of theology, and invented the letters of the alphabet and writing. The whole of the Book of the Dead is assumed to be the composition of Thoth... The character of Thoth is a lofty conception and is perhaps the highest idea fashioned in the Egyptian mind...
... One further characteristic of Thoth remains to be noted. It is that which is made known to us by the xcvth Chapter of the Book of the Dead wherein he says "I am he who sendeth forth terror and wields the knife in the powers of rain and thunder".
In From Fetish to God in Ancient Egypt, p155, Budge states:
The theology of Thoth was of a highly developed spiritual character, and his character and attributes are well described by the opening words of St John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the word".
A particularly interesting legend of Thoth is given in Legends of the Egyptian Gods, Wallis Budge. The preface, pxxiv, states: This most important mythological text...[is found] on the wall of a chamber in the tomb of Seti I....The image at the right shows one of the walls of the main chamber of the Seti I tomb. |  |
 | The picture at the left shows the astronomical ceiling of the main chamber, outlining the main constellations.
A detail of part of the ceiling is shown below. |
Budge continues with the detail of the Legend, p35:
Ra sent for the god Thoth and invited him to go to the Other World where he had determined to make his light to shine. Ra told Thoth to write down on his tablets the names of all those who were therein and he deputed to Thoth the power to deal absolutely with all the beings in the Other World. Thoth was to be his vicar. He gave Thoth the power to send out a messenger (h*b) and so the ibis (h*b*) came into being. He gave Thoth the power to embrace the heavens so the moon Yah came into being.