Medjed
 | This is Wikipedia's current article for improvement – and you can help edit it! You can discuss how to improve it on its talk page and ask questions at the help desk or Teahouse. See the cheatsheet, tutorial, editing help and FAQ for additional information. Editors are encouraged to create a Wikipedia account and place this article on their watchlist.
Find sources: "Medjed" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR |
| Medjed | |
|---|---|
.png) A depiction of Medjed based on the Greenfield papyrus. Note that the original papyrus illustrations are colourless outlines. |
| Part of a series on |
| Ancient Egyptian religion |
|---|
 |
 Ancient Egypt portal |
In Ancient Egyptian religion, Medjed is a minor and obscure god 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.[1][2]
Archaeological evidence
The Book of the Dead refers to 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.[3] Spell 17 mentions, amongst many other obscure gods, one Medjed (meaning "The Smiter"), in the following line:
I know the name of that Smiter among them, who belongs to the House of Osiris, who shoots with his eye, yet is unseen.[4]
E. A. Wallis Budge interpreted the corresponding passage in the New Kingdom Papyri, known as the "Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead" as follows:
I know the being Mātchet [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.[5][A]
In the illustration to the spell on sheet 76 of the Greenfield papyruas, a figure thought to be Medjed[4] is depicted as a dome with a pair of eyes and eyebrows, supported by two human-like feet.[B]
-
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.
According to John Taylor of the British Museum, nothing else is known about Medjed.[4]
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. The god was embraced by Japanese popular culture. He became an internet meme, as well as a character in video games[1][9][10] and in anime (e.g. as the protagonist of Kamigami no Ki, 2016).[1][9][11]
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
References
Notes
- ^ Other interpretations/translations proffer different language and concepts.[6]
- ^ Another interpretation of the inscription on E.A.W. Budge Papyrus, British Museum The Greenfield Papyrus Cell BD 17b is: "Oh Re .... save me from that god whose shapes are secret, whose eyebrows are the arms of the balance, on that night of reckoning up the robbers ... Save me from those who deal wounds, the slayers whose fingers are sharip, who deal out pain, who decapitate those who follow after Osiris. Their knives shall not have power over me, I will not falls into the cauldrons, because I know them, I know their names, I know the name of that Medjed (“Smiter:) among them who belongs to the house of Osiris, who shoots with his eye, yet is unseen. The sky is encircled with the fiery blast of his mouth and he heralds the inundation, yet he is unseen."[7][8]
Citations
- ^ a b c Salvador, Rodrigo (2017). "Medjed: from Ancient Egypt to Japanese Pop Culture" (PDF). Journal of Geek Studies. 4 (2): 10–20. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
- ^ Cariddi, Ilaria (15 September 2015). Kahlbacher, Andrea; Priglinger, Elisa (eds.). Reinventing the Afterlife. The Curious Figure of Medjed in the Book of the Dead (PDF). Vienna, Austria: Denkschriften der Gesamtakademie, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-7001-8005-0. 0xc1aa5576 0x003a4a83, ISBN 978-3-7001-8470-6.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Taylor 2010, p.54
- ^ a b c Taylor, John (22 September 2010). "What is a Book of the Dead?". British Museum. Archived from the original on 17 April 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
- ^ Wallis Budge, Ernest Alfred (1898). Book of the dead : the Chapters of coming forth by day, the Egyptian text according to the Theban recension in hieroglyphic, ed. from numerous papyri. Princeton Theological Seminary Library. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd. pp. 55–56. Papyrus of Nebseni, Brit. Mus. No. 9,900, sheet 14, 1. 16 ff.
- ^ See EgyptologyLessons (August 3, 2021). "Medjed the Obscure God of Ancient Egypt - Translation of the Hieroglyphs" (Video). Retrieved December 1, 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ Cariddi, Ilaria (November 10, 2020). "Who Is Medjed? Steven Townshend sits down with Ilaria Cariddi" (Video). The Oriental Institute – via YouTube.
- ^ Kytnarová, Katarína Arias; Jirásková, Lucie; Odler, Martin (2018). Kahlbacher, Andrea; Priglinger, Elisa (eds.). "Old Kingdom model and miniature vessels from Giza". Tradition and Transformation in Ancient Egypt: Proceedings of the Fifth International Congress for Young Egyptologists 15 - 19 September, 2015, Vienna. Contributions to the Archaeology of Egypt, Nubia and the Levant (1 ed.). Austrian Academy of Sciences Press: 15–29. doi:10.2307/j.ctvdf0j5w. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
the appearance of the demon³ Medjed is perhaps one of the most remarkable. Featuring in a very limited number of scrolls, namely in vignettes related to Spell 17b
(subscription required) - ^ a b "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.
- ^ "Egyptian God Medjed Stars in New TV Anime Series Starting in November". Anime News Network. Anime News Network.com. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
External links
- Cairo, Neo (October 27, 2019). "Kami Gamioki Funny Japanese Anime of Egyptian Gods Eng Subs 1" (Video) (in Japanese). Retrieved December 1, 2022 – via YouTube.
- EgyptologyLessons (August 3, 2021). "Medjed the Obscure God of Ancient Egypt - Translation of the Hieroglyphs" (Video). Retrieved December 1, 2022 – via YouTube.
