In Egyptian mythology, Thoth recorded the verdict after Anubis weighed the dead person’s heart. As the god of writing, knowledge, calculation, and measurement, Thoth was the appropriate divine official for documenting the result.
Judgment scenes commonly show Anubis managing the scales, while Thoth stands nearby with writing equipment. Osiris presides over the tribunal, and the deceased’s heart is measured against Ma’at’s feather. These roles are distinct even though the gods appear together in the same funerary scene.
Thoth’s importance extended well beyond the afterlife. Egyptians credited him with writing, language, sacred knowledge, and the regulation of time. Greek writers later identified him with Hermes, contributing to the later figure Hermes Trismegistus, but that later tradition should not be confused with the original Egyptian judgment scene.