Nerdology 101: Bookish Gods
Nerdsssss! Tehe, you totally just clicked on a post to find out which gods were also nerds. Welcome back to Nerdology 101, and if you’re new here, simply welcome. I’m Maria Levato, indie author & host of this here blog. If you’re wondering what my qualifications are: I’m a book nerd, writing nerd, anime nerd, mythology nerd, kink nerd, and nerd nerd, so listen up!
What qualifies as a “Bookish God”?
I’m qualifying this as gods who created writing in their respective culture, gods of knowledge or wisdom, or gods known to be patrons of the arts or literature specifically.
Thoth
Helloooo. This one is so obvious. Not only is Thoth credited with the creation of writing (yes, heiroglyphs were a form of writing) in Egyptian Mythology, he’s also a god of knowledge known to be a patron of art and literature. He checks every box. He’s also an insanely important god when it comes to this subject because like us, our stories evolve with time and context. Thoth also evolved. I’d describe him as the spark that lit the flame that led to gods like Hermes, Mercury, and more.
Hermes and the Hermetic line
No, Hermes wasn’t just a trickster or speedster. Hermes is credited with the creation of writing in Greek mythology and is strongly associated with Hermes Trismegistus (we believe this person to be a mythical fusion of Thoth and Hermes, you really can’t learn about one of these mythologies without learning about both. They’re too intertwined.), who didn’t actually exist and is still the credited author of numerous works. That’s a bookish god.
Mercury
Mercury is said to have created writing in Roman Mythology (yup, it’s a running theme. Every mythology sees it as their gods who did it. In truth, they’re probably all right and all wrong since these gods are essentially the same god being reiterated across cultures and languages, but are also obviously mythological. We have no actual idea where or when writing was created, though our best lead is either somewhere on the continent of Africa or South Asia where the oldest civilizations we can date actually were). Anyway, I don’t know as much about roman mythology as I do Greek and Egyptian, so while Mercury is strong associated with writing, I can’t delve much further into that without the risk of spreading misinformation. The other 2 mythologies I’ve been reading on for years and I can speak on those more confidently.
Seshat
Seshat is another Egyptian God. Her and Thoth had a strong relation, though the nature of that relation is debated. Either way, she is known to be associated with writing, record keeping, knowledge, and more. She’s proof that we’ve always known librarians were badass (Love you, librarians). The Egyptians cared deeply about storytelling and records.
Nisaba
Nisaba was a Sumerian goddess (Mesopotamia, cuneiform was how they wrote, think of it like an older version of heiroglyphs.). She’s a goddess of writing. Funny thing, she actually started out as a Grain Goddess and evolved to become associated with writing. When cuneiform grew in popularity, she seems to have boomed alongside it. She had libraries and scribal houses she was associated. You can learn more about her here. I do think if you’re going to study more on any of the gods here, this is probably the one you should look into first. Out of all the ones I’ve listed, she is obviously the oldest and learning more about her will lead any nerd down a brilliant rabbit hole. When you’re up at 3am nerding out, remember to thank me by engaging with my content here or on social media.
That’s about all I have for this segment of Nerdology 101. I got The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory (one of my WIPs) back from line editing the day before I wrote this and I’m eager to get started on it! I’ll see you back next week for the next segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week.
