| Medjed | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Real Name |
Medjed |
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First Appearance |
Egyptian Mythology |
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Created by |
Egyptian Mythology |
Origin[]
In Ancient Egyptian religion, Medjed is a minor deity mentioned in certain copies of the Book of the Dead.
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"), which means "The Smiter". In an English translation of the Papyrus of Ani, Raymond O. Faulkner renders the portion of the spell referring to Medjed as follows:
I know the name of that smiter [i.e., Medjed] among them who belongs to the House of Osiris, who shoots with his eyes, yet is unseen. The sky is encircled with the fiery blast of his mouth and Hāpi makes report, yet he is unseen.
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. 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, 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". 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.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Medjed from before January 1, 1930 are in the public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
- The Book of the Dead
- Papyrus Bodmer 101
- Papyrus Bodmer 102
- Papyrus Turin 1818
- Papyrus Bodmer 100
- Papyrus London BMEA 9948
- Papyrus Cairo S.R. VII 10222
- Papyrus Cairo JE 95658
- Papyrus Cairo JE 95637
- Papyrus Greenfield
Notes[]
- 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.