THOTH, or TROET, (called by the Phoenicians Taaut, by the Greeks Hermes, and by the Romans Mercury), was a Phœnician of very superior talents, and one of the civilizers of mankind. He was prime minister to Osiris, whom, after his death, he deified; and he was himself deified by his countrymen the Egyptians, for the benefits that he had rendered to the human race. See MERCURY, MYTHOLOGY, n° 34, and POLYTHEISM, n° 18.