Cynocephali, Or Cunocephali (Gr. , dog, and head), a kind of dog-faced baboons, venerated by the ancient Egyptians, and supposed to be endowed with wonderful powers. Their reputation for superior and mysterious intelligence was probably the reason why they were selected as the symbol of intellect and used to represent deities of a peculiarly intellectual character. Thoth, the god of letters and of science, though frequently represented with the head of an ibis, was often delineated with a dog's head or the head of a cynocephalus. The god Anubis was also represented in this manner, though the head of his image is supposed by some writers to be that of a jackal. (See Baboon).

Thoth as the God of Letters.