Throughout history, it is surprising to see how, by chance, part of history, mythology, and culture interweave, creating surprising connections that are in turn separate from each other. A clear example of this is the connection between the Egyptian god Thot, with the legendary Saint George, and what are known as the chivalric ideals, which developed over the vast Middle Ages until reaching modernity.
At first glance, such a connection may seem doubtful. In this article, we will see how through time, ancient gods and Christian saints would become a chivalric archetype that served as a model of behavior among the nobles in medieval society.
To understand the genesis of such an unusual comparison, we must attend to Egyptian mythology. Beliefs along the Nile were associated with zoomorphic deities, that is, beings with human bodies and animal heads. In this sense, the personalities of these gods conveyed the qualities of the native fauna of the territory.
Among the main gods of ancient Orient, there was Thot. This deity was often depicted with an ibis head (a pelecaniform bird) crowned by a disk or crescent moon, while in his hands he held tools related to writing. During the late period, Thot «of Deyhut» was considered a night guardian since he was closely associated with the moon; he watched over and protected it during long nights.
Thus, he also played a fundamental role as Thot in his warrior form protected Ra during the nights since Thot accompanied Ra along with other deities on their journey by boat, which consisted of two long voyages. The day boat or «Mandjet» across the sky and the night boat or «Mesektet,» used to cross the underworld during nights, battling with the serpent Apep, understood by Egyptians as an incarnation of chaos and evil. Horus was also considered in ancient mythology as a defender and protector against evil, known for his dispute with Seth, symbolizing the same way a battle between order and chaos (Segura Zariquiegu, 2019, pp. 14-22).
In addition to being a protector, Thot performed numerous and diverse tasks related to time and writing. One of his roles was that of the inventor of the calendar, (a calendar quite similar to the one we use today) since he was in charge of recording the annals of real events, i.e., the years of reign of different monarchs who held power. In other legends, this god was associated with justice, as he participated in the judgment of Osiris, where his duty was to record the proceedings along with all the disputes between gods in their writings. Due to this, he was considered a patron of scribes and languages (Castel, 2002).
On the other hand, it is interesting to observe how these beliefs intertwined with secular Christian tradition due to the connection between this pagan god and Saint George.
Although there is no historical evidence, the most widespread versions of this story describe Saint George as a soldier from Cappadocia (in today's Turkey) who served under Emperor Martyr Diocletian. After the death of the Christian, the commander George would pass into history as a saint, becoming the figure par excellence of justice and aid during much of the Middle Ages (Palomar A, 2022, pp. 1-2).
One of the most famous passages in this saint's life was the battle he fought in the city of Libya, where there was a large lake inhabited by a dragon. According to numerous legends, George arrived at the city to protect and defend it from such a creature since the inhabitants, terrified by livestock losses, decided to sacrifice a maiden as a sacrifice for the dragon to appease him. Faced with this threat, Saint George, clad in armor, cloak, and helmet, armed with his sword, charged at the dragon with a long lance on horseback, saving the princess Silene from a terrible fate (Palomar, A, 2022, pp. 1-2).
Although there are numerous versions of this famous legend, others claim that after subduing the beast, he would tie it to the princess's belt, accompanying her faithfully as a companion animal until they returned to the city (Carvajal Gonzalez, 2012, pp. 21-28).
Thanks to his brave feat, the venerable saint would achieve the conversion of the king and consequently all of his city to Christianity. In this sense, Saint George was accepted by the church since this anecdote served as a symbol of the supremacy of good over evil, understanding Saint George's figure as the transmitter of Christian faith and thus of good, alongside the dragon's figure as an incarnation of evil. This is a topic of vital importance for the development of faith from its early religious inklings to the present day, where this myth is recognized within popular folklore in various regions such as Spain (Cayenas López, 1966-1976, pp. 7-22).
The religious conflict attributed to the knight's figure stems from ancient iconography since we must go back to ancient Egypt where we saw how Thot in his warrior form fought during the night with the serpent Apep, understood as a representation of evil. This is also seen in other classical myths such as Apollo and Piton (Carvajal Gonzalez, 2012, pp. 21-28).
This intricate connection would be, to some extent, related to the complex chivalric ideals disseminated throughout much of the Middle Ages, which were based on a series of conduct models proper to the knight of the time, centered around concepts such as honor, loyalty, and courtesy. One of the fundamental pillars was the dexterity in combat and religious faith.
It is for this reason that a relationship is proposed between the god Thot and Saint George, similarity based on their legends which share certain resemblance with the chivalric code of honor mainly focused on defense and honor of the knight.
Joshua J. Mark (2016, pp. 1-4) tells us:
"Thot received a place of honor in the boat that crossed the skies during the day and at night Thot helped to repel the serpent Apep who wanted to destroy the sun god. His participation in defeating Apep linked him to the cycle of day and night, and thus also intimately to human lives."
These models of conduct persisted until the early modern era when the knight would take on a new quality as a poet.
It is worth mentioning that other authors have already related Saint George to Egyptian culture, and they did so through the figure of Horus. Many of these articles served as inspiration for this new observation closely linked with Thot (Carvajal González, 2012, pp. 21-28).
Conclusions
I found it quite interesting to perform this comparative analysis between two important figures closely related by what each of these mythological characters entails in relation to the principles of chivalric ideals during the Middle Ages, giving rise to a narrative that highlights the universal persistence of the search for virtue and excellence. Based mainly on the bibliographies cited at the end of the article, I established an interesting parallelism between Saint George, inspired by his devotion and courage, who embodies knightly values, while Thot as guardian of knowledge symbolizes the importance of a knight's wisdom.
Bibliography
Canellas López, A. (1966-1967). Legend, cult and patronage in Aragon of Saint George, martyr and knight. Cuadernos de Historia Jerónimo Zuritas, 19-20, pp. 7-22.
Carvajal González, H. (2012). Saint George. Digital Journal of Medieval Iconography, 7, pp. 21-28.
Castel, E. (2002). The Great Dictionary of Egyptian Mythology. Aldebarán Editions.
Menéndez Pidal, R. (1948). Cervantes and the Chivalric Ideal. Mundo Hispánico, pp. 1-23.
Limonche, S. (2022). Ka or Ba, the soul in ancient Egypt. Santi Limonche. Fantasy Writer https://www.santilimonche.com/ka-ba-alma-antiguo-egipto/
Palomar, A. (April 22, 2022). The legend of Saint George and the dragon. Historia National Geographic.https://historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/leyenda-san-jorge-y-dragon_12574
Ra and the Heliopolis Ennead. Egyptopía (s.f)
Segura, Zariquiegui, A (2019). Comparative study of the dragon in history and traditional Spanish and Chinese tales: "Saint George and the Dragon (Spain) and the daughter of the dragon (China)". Revista de Estudios Filológicos, 36, pp. 14-22.
Vila, M. P. (1994). Chivalric ideals in medieval society. Epos: Journal of Philology at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, 10, pp. 401-414.
Mark, J. J. (July 26, 2016). Thoth. World History Encyclopedia. Thoth - Enciclopedia de la Historia del Mundo (worldhistory.org)
Comments