Medjed Explained
In Ancient Egyptian religion, Medjed (Egyptological:) is a minor deity mentioned in certain copies of the Book of the Dead. While not much is known about the deity, his ghost-like depiction in the Greenfield papyrus has earned him popularity in modern Japanese culture, and he has appeared as a character in video games and anime.
In the Book of the Dead
The Book of the Dead is made up of a number of individual Ancient Egyptian funerary texts with accompanying illustrations. They are in general written on papyrus and were used from the earliest period of the New Kingdom until around 50 BCE. These texts consist of magic spells, some of which are to grant the dead person mystical knowledge in the afterlife, or to give them control over the world around them through their journey in the Duat, or underworld.[1]
Of the Book of the Dead copies that have been found, a limited number reference an obscure entity in spell 17b named "Medjed" (also spelled "Metchet"),[2] which means "The Smiter".[3] [4] In an English translation of the Papyrus of Ani, Raymond O. Faulkner renders the portion of the spell referring to Medjed as follows:
Apart from this short passage, nothing is known about Medjed. Hermann Grapow proposed that Medjed could refer to a star (given that Medjed is said to radiate light and to have a connection with the cyclical flooding of the Nile), but as Ilaria Cariddi notes, the name is never written with a star determinative.[5]
Visual depictions
According to Ilaria Cariddi, visual representations of Medjed can be found on only nine papyrus scrolls, all of which date to around the time of Egypt's Twenty-first Dynasty (1077943 BCE).[6] These scrolls (of which the Greenfield papyrus is arguably the most well-known)[7] [8] [9] are as follows:
In these scrolls, Medjed is depicted as a dome with eyes, supported by two human-like feet. A few scrolls also portray the deity with a red knotted belt above or below his eyes.[14] The scholars E. A. Wallis Budge, H. Milde, and Mykola Tarasenko have argued that Medjed's dome-like torso is either a shroud or a "shapeless body" that symbolizes the deity's imperceptible nature,[15] [16] [17] and Cariddi has proposed that Medjed's prominent eyes and legs could signify that he can "see, move and act even though humans cannot perceive him".[18] In contrast, Bernard Bruyère and Terence DuQuesne have contended that Medjed is actually a personification of an oil jar, and that his red "belt" is actually a stylized lid fastener.[19] [20]
In popular culture
After the Greenfield papyrus illustrations were exhibited in 2012 at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo and the Fukuoka Museum of Art, Medjed became an internet meme on Japanese social media, thanks largely to his "cartoon ghost"-like appearance.[21] [22] [23] [24] He has since entered into Japanese popular culture and has appeared in video games (e.g., Fate/Grand Order)[25] and anime (e.g., Kamigami no Ki and Oh, Suddenly Egyptian God).[26] [27]
In the 2016 Japanese video game Persona 5, his name is used for a fictional antagonistic hacker group that describe themselves as the "true executors of justice".[28]
See also
References
Bibliography
- Book: The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. Raymond O. Faulkner. University of Texas Press. Austin, TX. 1985. Andrews, Carol. Revised. Faulkner.
- Book: Bruyère, Bernard. Rapport sur les fouilles de Deir el Medineh: 1934–1935. 1939. Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale. Cairo, Egypt. fr. Bruyère.
- Book: Budge. E. A. Wallis. Book of the Dead: the Chapters of Coming Forth by Day. 1898 . Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd.. The Internet Archive. London, England. Budge.
- Book: Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Greenfield Papyrus in the British Museum. London, England. British Museum. 1912. April 12, 2023. Google Books. Budge1912.
- Book: Cariddi . Ilaria . Reinventing the Afterlife: The Curious Figure of Medjed in the Book of the Dead . 2018 . Tradition and Transformation in Ancient Egypt . . 9783700180050 . Kahlbacher . Andrea . Vienna, Austria . 197–206 . Priglinger . Elisa. 10.2307/j.ctvdf0j5w.15. 192570521 . Cariddi.
- Book: DuQuesne, Terence. The Great Goddess and her Companions in Middle Egypt. Mythos und Ritual: Festschrift für Jan Assmann zum 70. Münster, Germany. LIT Verlag. 2008. 1–26. Rothöhler. Benedikt. Manisali. Alexander. 9783825811457. DuQuesne.
- Book: Kytnarová . Katarína Arias . Lucie . Jirásková . Martin . Odler . Old Kingdom Model and Miniature Vessels from Giza . 15–29 . Tradition and Transformation in Ancient Egypt . . Vienna, Austria . 9783700180050 . Andrea . Kahlbacher . Elisa . Priglinger . 2018 . 10.2307/j.ctvdf0j5w.4. 134211246 . Kytnarová.
- Encyclopedia: Lucarelli, Rita. 2010. Demons (Benevolent and Malevolent). Wendrich. Willeke. Dieleman. Jacco. Frood. Elizabeth. Baines. John. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. Los Angeles, CA. 5 April 2023. 110. Lucarelli.
- Book: Vignettes of the Book of the Dead of Neferrenpet. Milde, H.. Leiden, Netherlands. The Netherlands Institute for the Near East. 1991. Milde.
- Salvador . Rodrigo . 2017 . Medjed: From Ancient Egypt to Japanese Pop Culture . PDF . Journal of Geek Studies . 4 . 10–20 . 2 . December 1, 2022. Salvador.
- The Vignettes of the Book of the Dead Chapter 17 during the Third Intermediate Period (21st–22nd Dynasties). Tarasenko, Mykola. Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur. 2012. 41. 379–394. 41812234 . April 12, 2023. Tarasenko.
- Book: Taylor. John H.. Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead: Journey through the Afterlife. British Museum Press. London, England. 2010. 9780714119939. Taylor.
- Book: te Velde, Herman. 1975. Dämonen. 980984. Lexikon der Ägyptologie. I: A Ernte. von Wolfgang Helck. Herausgegeben. Otto. Eberhard. Harrassowitz Verlag. Wiesbaden, Germany. te Velde.
Notes and References
- [#Taylor|Taylor (2010)]
- [#Budge|Budge (1898)]
- [#Cariddi|Cariddi (2018)]
- [#Kytnarová|Kytnarová et al. (2018)]
- [#Cariddi|Cariddi (2018)]
- [#Cariddi|Cariddi (2018)]
- Web site: Taylor. John H.. What is a Book of the Dead?. British Museum. 22 September 2010. 17 April 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150417192941/http://blog.britishmuseum.org/2010/09/22/what-is-a-book-of-the-dead/#comment-57. 17 April 2015.
- [#Salvador|Salvador (2017)]
- [#Cariddi|Cariddi (2018)]
- [#Cariddi|Cariddi (2018)]
- Web site: Sur la trace du dieu Medjed . . 4 April 2023 . fr . Brugière, Sébastien . 14 July 2021 . 4 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230404212010/https://fondationbodmer.ch/sur-la-trace-du-dieu-medjed/ . live .
- [#Cariddi|Cariddi (2018)]
- [#Cariddi|Cariddi (2018)]
- [#Cariddi|Cariddi (2018)]
- [#Budge1912|Budge (1912)]
- [#Milde|Milde (1991)]
- [#Tarasenko|Tarasenko (2012)]
- [#Cariddi|Cariddi (2018)]
- [#Bruyère|Bruyère (1939]
- [#DuQuesne|DuQuesne (2008)]
- [#Cariddi|Cariddi (2018)]
- News: 7 August 2015 . Meet Medjed, The Egyptian God Who's Big in Japan! . . live . 7 August 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201220014953/https://www.tor.com/2015/08/07/medjed-obscure-egyptian-god-is-popular-in-japanese-culture/ . 20 December 2020.
- News: Stimson . Eric . 31 July 2015 . The Obscure Egyptian God Medjed and His Bizarre Afterlife on the Japanese Internet . . live . 7 August 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201208113755/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2015-07-31/the-obscure-egyptian-god-medjed-and-his-bizarre-afterlife-on-the-japanese-internet/.91149 . 8 December 2020.
- [Medjed#Salvador|Salvador (2017)]
- [#Salvador|Salvador (2017)]
- Web site: Egyptian God Medjed Stars in New TV Anime Series Starting in November . 25 October 2010 . 13 May 2021 . . en . 13 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210513130717/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-10-25/egyptian-god-medjed-stars-in-new-tv-anime-series-starting-in-november/.108063 . live .
- Web site: Mateo . Alex . 20 November 2020 . Tōtotsu ni Egypt Kami Net Anime Reveals Extended Promo Video, December 7 Premiere . 23 January 2023 . . en . 24 November 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221124131728/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-11-20/tototsu-ni-egypt-kami-net-anime-reveals-extended-promo-video-december-7-premiere/.166558 . live .
- Web site: August 16, 2020 . August 21 Persona 5 Guide . October 28, 2023 . . en.