Why Ancient Egyptians Linked Thoth’s Baboons to Moonlight

Ancient Egyptians did something truly unusual with Thoth, one of their most significant gods. While nearly every other deity in their pantheon was linked with a single animal, Thoth was depicted in two entirely different forms: a bird and a primate.

Fresh research indicates that this was not simply a matter of mythology or symbolism. Instead, the explanation may rest on something measurable: colour, specifically a shade that appears to correspond almost exactly with moonlight.

Researchers from the University of St Andrews and Dartmouth College led the study.

Their work focuses on Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom, writing, magic and the moon. In ancient Egyptian imagery, he appears both as a sacred ibis and a hamadryas baboon.

One god, two animals

Egyptian deities were generally associated with one animal, whereas Thoth had two. This distinction has long been difficult for researchers to account for.

The ibis was the more straightforward of the pair. Its curved bill resembles a crescent moon, while its black-and-white plumage offered an apparently clear visual connection.

The baboon, however, presented a much less obvious case. Scholars had been unable to identify any definite lunar quality in the animal.

Linguistic evidence provided part of the answer. Earlier research had connected Thoth’s Egyptian name with ancient North African terms meaning “bright” or “white thing”. That interpretation suits the ibis, whose feathers are brilliantly white.

At first sight, though, baboon fur hardly seems white, leaving its association with the moon unexplained.

Measuring moonlight colour

Rather than relying on assumptions, the researchers used spectroscopy, which measures the precise frequencies of light reflected from a surface. The technique determines an object’s colour objectively instead of depending on individual judgement.

This matters because human colour perception is notoriously inconsistent and can vary between cultures.

The team studied twelve baboon specimens held by the American Museum of Natural History in New York. They compared light reflected by the animals’ fur, as well as by sacred ibis feathers, with the true light spectrum of moonlight.

The result was remarkable. The silver-grey fur of the hamadryas baboon and the white plumage of the ibis both produced spectral signatures that were effectively impossible to distinguish from moonlight itself.

One clue changed everything

The researchers also analysed the olive baboon, a species that ancient Egyptians certainly knew. Its fur showed no match with moonlight.

This suggests that the people who selected the hamadryas baboon as Thoth’s animal form were not merely choosing an available primate. They appear to have selected a particular species because of the way its coat reflected light.

Lead author Catherine Hobaiter, a primatologist in the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews, explained how intentional the selection appears to have been.

“Why would two such different animals be used to represent one deity? Most other Egyptian deities are represented by just one type of animal.”

“Ancient Egyptians were familiar with at least three species of ibis, but they chose the white one to embody Thoth. They were also familiar with two species of baboon, along with vervet monkeys and patas monkeys, but again they chose the silver-white species.”

Sacred ibises and hamadryas baboons may be very different creatures, but they possess one conspicuous trait in common: colouring that resembles moonlight.

Egypt’s unusual baboon worship

The findings may also clarify an issue that has long perplexed anthropologists. Throughout most of Africa, both in the past and today, baboons have not been especially well regarded.

They destroy crops, inflict substantial damage, and that tension has influenced people’s views of them for generations.

Ancient Egypt departed from this pattern almost entirely: rather than simply putting up with baboons, Egyptians revered them as divine beings.

This is deeply unusual and difficult to account for, in large part because much of the evidence for ancient Egyptian life consists of material remains, including tombs, pottery and inscriptions.

Chances to understand how ancient Egyptians viewed the world around them, rather than only the structures they made or the words they recorded, are uncommon.

What Egyptians really noticed about Thoth

By basing the question on a physically measurable feature instead of speculation, the research offers a limited yet meaningful view of ancient Egyptian perception.

The first person to associate the hamadryas baboon with Thoth seems to have responded to a genuine, visible similarity-one that modern instruments are now able to verify centuries later.

It is an uncommon instance in which the evidence reveals not only what ancient Egyptians believed, but also provides an indication of how they genuinely saw the world.