Medjed
In Ancient Egyptian religion, Medjed (Egyptological: mḏd) is a minor deity[lower-alpha 1] mentioned in the Book of the Dead. His ghost-like portrayal in illustrations on the Greenfield papyrus earned him popularity in modern Japanese culture, including as a character in video games and anime.
| Medjed | |
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.png.webp) A depiction of Medjed based on the Greenfield papyrus. Note that the original papyrus illustrations are colourless outlines. |
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Medjed in the Book of the Dead
The Book of the Dead is a group of Ancient Egyptian funerary texts generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE) to around 50 BCE. These texts consist of a number of magic spells, written by priests, intended to assist a dead person's journey through the Duat, or underworld, and into the afterlife.[4]
Of the Book of the Dead copies that are currently extant, a limited number reference an obscure entity in spell 17b named "Medjed" (which means "The Smiter").[1][5] In an English translation of the Papyrus of Ani,[6] E. A. Wallis Budge renders the portion of spell mentioning Medjed as follows:
I know the being [Medjed] who is among them in the House of Osiris, shooting rays of light from [his] eye, but who himself is unseen. He goeth round about heaven robed in the flame of his mouth, commanding Hāpi, but remaining himself unseen.[7]
According to John H. Taylor of the British Museum, nothing else is known about Medjed.[8]
Visual depictions
According to Illaria 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 (1077–943 BC).[9] The papyri, in chronological order, are as follows:
| Papyrus | Date | Location | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Papyrus Bodmer 101 | Twenty-first Dynasty | Bodmer Foundation | [10][11] |
| Papyrus Bodmer 102 | Twenty-first Dynasty | Bodmer Foundation | [10][11] |
| Papyrus Turin 1818 | Twenty-first Dynasty | Museo Egizio | [10][11] |
| Papyrus Bodmer 100 | Mid Twenty-first Dynasty | Bodmer Foundation | [10][11] |
| Papyrus London BMEA 9948 | Mid Twenty-first Dynasty | British Museum | [10][11] |
| Papyrus Cairo S.R. VII 10222 | Mid or late Twenty-first Dynasty | Egyptian Museum | [10][11] |
| Papyrus Cairo JE 95658 | Late Twenty-first Dynasty | Egyptian Museum | [10][11] |
| Papyrus Cairo JE 95637 | Late Twenty-first Dynasty | Egyptian Museum | [12][11] |
| Papyrus Greenfield | Late Twenty-first or early Twenty-second Dynasty | British Museum | [13][11] |
Of these nine papyri featuring a visual depiction of Medjed, perhaps the most well-known is the Greenfield papyrus.[14][15][8] In this work, Medjed is depicted twice (once on sheet 12 and once on sheet 76) as a dome with a pair of eyes and eyebrows, supported by two human-like feet.[15]
Greenfield papyrus, sheet 12. Medjed is depicted on far-right, with feet facing both directions.
Greenfield papyrus, sheet 76. Medjed is depicted on centre-left, with both feet facing the right.
A portion of Papyrus Cairo JE 95658. Medjed is shown on the far left.
A portion of Papyrus Bodmer 100. Medjed is the central figure.
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 a sensation on Japanese social media due to the resemblance to a stereotypical ghost costume.[16]
The god was embraced by Japanese popular culture. He became an internet meme,[17][18] and he has appeared in video games (e.g., as the name of a hacker group mentioned in the Atlus game Persona 5)[19][17] and in anime (e.g. as the protagonist of Kamigami no Ki, 2016, and a primary character in Oh, Suddenly Egyptian God, 2020–2023).[19][20][21]
See also
- Ghosts in ancient Egyptian culture
- Medjed (fish), believed to have eaten the penis of the god Osiris after his brother Set dismembered and scattered the god's body
Explanatory notes
- Medjed is sometimes referred to as a "demon".[1] However, unlike the contemporary understanding of demons as purely malevolent supernatural entities, the term is often used by Egyptologists in reference to a variety of supernatural entities, including ghosts, evil or benevolent spirits, minor deities, representations of chaos, and even "personifications of the destructive aspects of the [major] gods".[2][3]
References
Citations
- Cariddi (2018), p. 197.
- te Velde (1975), 980-984.
- Lucarelli (2010), pp. 1–7.
- Taylor (2010), p. 54
- Kytnarová et al. (2018), pp. 15-19.
- Budge (1898), p. 48.
- Budge (1898), pp. 55–56.
- Taylor, John H. (22 September 2010). "What is a Book of the Dead?". British Museum. Archived from the original on 17 April 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
- Cariddi (2018), pp. 197–200.
- Cariddi (2018), p. 197.
- Brugière, Sébastien. "Sur la trace du dieu Medjed" (in French). Bodmer Foundation. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
- Cariddi (2018), pp. 197, 200.
- Cariddi (2018), p. 200.
- Salvador (2017), p. 11.
- Cariddi (2018), pp. 201–202.
- Cariddi (2018), p. 204.
- "Meet Medjed, The Egyptian God Who's Big in Japan!". Tor.com. 7 August 2015. Archived from the original on 20 December 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
- Stimson, Eric (31 July 2015). "The Obscure Egyptian God Medjed and His Bizarre Afterlife on the Japanese Internet". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
- Salvador (2017), pp. 10–20.
- "Egyptian God Medjed Stars in New TV Anime Series Starting in November". Anime News Network. 25 October 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
- Mateo, Alex (20 November 2020). "Tōtotsu ni Egypt Kami Net Anime Reveals Extended Promo Video, December 7 Premiere". Anime News Network. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
Bibliography
- Budge, E. A. Wallis (1898). Book of the Dead: the Chapters of Coming Forth by Day. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd. – via The Internet Archive.
- Cariddi, Ilaria (2018). "Reinventing the Afterlife: The Curious Figure of Medjed in the Book of the Dead". In Kahlbacher, Andrea; Priglinger, Elisa (eds.). Tradition and Transformation in Ancient Egypt. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. pp. 197–206. doi:10.2307/j.ctvdf0j5w.15. ISBN 9783700180050.
- Kytnarová, Katarína Arias; Jirásková, Lucie; Odler, Martin (2018). "Old Kingdom Model and Miniature Vessels from Giza". In Kahlbacher, Andrea; Priglinger, Elisa (eds.). Tradition and Transformation in Ancient Egypt. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. pp. 15–29. doi:10.2307/j.ctvdf0j5w.4. ISBN 9783700180050.
- Lucarelli, Rita (2010). "Demons (Benevolent and Malevolent)". In Wendrich, Willeke; Dieleman, Jacco; Frood, Elizabeth; Baines, John (eds.). UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. Los Angeles: UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. pp. 1–10. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
- Salvador, Rodrigo (2017). "Medjed: From Ancient Egypt to Japanese Pop Culture" (PDF). Journal of Geek Studies. 4 (2): 10–20. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
- Taylor, John H., ed. (2010). Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead: Journey through the Afterlife. London: British Museum Press. ISBN 978-0-7141-1993-9.
- te Velde, Herman (1975). "Dämonen". In von Wolfgang Helck, Herausgegeben; Otto, Eberhard (eds.). Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Vol. I: A – Ernte. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 980–984.