Image Details

Freud Museum

The Egyptian god Thoth. Prominently displayed on Freud’s desk, this 8-inch-high Egyptian marble statue of Thoth (in his guise as a baboon) dates from the Roman period (30 B.C.‒395 A.D.). Thoth was associated with the moon (note the lunar crescent and disc on his head) and was one of Egypt’s principal gods of learning and writing. Freud may well have sought wisdom (as well as tactile pleasure) when he habitually stroked the marble baboon as he worked.