Ancient Egyptian religion Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture. It centered on the Egyptians' interactions with many deities believed to be present in, and in control ...

, Medjed is a minor and obscure god mentioned in the ''

Book of the Dead The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, 𓂋𓏤𓈒𓈒𓈒𓏌𓏤𓉐𓂋𓏏𓂻𓅓𓉔𓂋𓅱𓇳𓏤, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom ...

''. His ghost-like portrayal in illustrations on the

Greenfield papyrus The Greenfield papyrus is a papyrus that contains an ancient Egyptian '' Book of the Dead'' and is named after Mrs. Edith Mary Greenfield, who presented it to the Trustees of the British Museum in May 1910. Now in the collections of the British ...

earned him popularity in modern Japanese culture, including as a character in

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s and

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

Archaeological evidence

The ''Book of the Dead'' refers to a group of

Ancient Egyptian funerary texts The literature that makes up the ancient Egyptian funerary texts is a collection of religious documents that were used in ancient Egypt, usually to help the spirit of the concerned person to be preserved in the afterlife. They evolved over time, ...

generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the

New Kingdom New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

(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 The Duat ( egy, dwꜣt, Egyptological pronunciation "do-aht", cop, ⲧⲏ, also appearing as ''Tuat'', ''Tuaut'' or ''Akert'', ''Amenthes'', ''Amenti'', or ''Neter-khertet'') is the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology. It has been ...

'', or underworld, and into the afterlife. Spell 17 mentions, amongst many other obscure gods, one Medjed (meaning "The Smiter"), in the following line:

E. A. Wallis Budge Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (27 July 185723 November 1934) was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East. He made numerous trips ...

interpreted the corresponding passage in the New Kingdom Papyri, known as the "Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead" as follows: In the illustration to the spell on sheet 76 of the

, a figure thought to be Medjed is depicted as a dome with a pair of eyes and eyebrows, supported by two human-like feet. File:Greenfield papyrus - sheet 12 - vignettes.png, Greenfield papyrus, sheet 12. Medjed is depicted on far-right, with feet facing both directions. File:Greenfield papyrus - sheet 76 - vignettes.png, Greenfield papyrus, sheet 76. Medjed is depicted on centre-left, with both feet facing the right. According to John Taylor of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, nothing else is known about Medjed.

In popular culture

After the Greenfield papyrus illustrations were exhibited in 2012 at the

Mori Art Museum The is a contemporary art museum founded by the real estate developer Minoru Mori (1934–2012) in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in the Roppongi Hills complex both of which he built in Tokyo, Japan. The exterior architect of the museum's gall ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and the Fukuoka Museum of Art, Medjed became a sensation on Japanese

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

due to the resemblance to a stereotypical

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people. The term also was tradition ...

. The god was embraced by

Japanese popular culture Japanese popular culture includes Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, anime, manga, video games, music, and doujinshi, all of which retain older artistic and literary traditions; many of their themes and styles of presentation can be t ...

. He became an

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

, as well as a character in video games and in anime (e.g. as the protagonist of ''Kamigami no Ki'', 2016).

Archaeological evidence

In popular culture

See also

References

Notes

Citations

External links