Medjed, the smiter. An enigmatic and uncanny god, Medjed is a member of the house of Osiris. Despite seemingly hailing from Duat, Medjed doesn’t appear to participate in the soul’s journey across the afterlife unlike the other gods that call it home. However, Medjed’s command over the Nile god Hapi implies a higher position in the pantheon.
Medjed smites his enemies with light fired off from his eyes while his breath burns with flame. His body is said to be invisible, remaining unseen to those unlucky enough to draw his ire.
Medjed is a rarely spoken of and depicted Egyptian god, only being mentioned in a single spell in the Book of the Dead. Medjed’s visual depictions are more common, appearing in 9 papyri and some coffins. Because of this rarity, little is known about Medjed.
Medjed’s appearance is incredibly strange for an Egyptian god. Medjed is unlike other gods who’re mainly depicted with animal heads or fully human. Instead, Medjed appears as someone seemingly covered in a shroud with two eyes and feet peeking out from underneath, occasionally Medjed is seen wearing a knotted sash or belt either above or below the eyes. Even stranger is that Medjed is seen facing forward, rather than the typical side profile every other being is depicted in Egyptian art, leading to him being even more unusual. This shrouded appearance is primarily believed to represent Medjed’s imperceptible nature, with his feet and eyes illustrating that he’s still an active being who can move and see. This admittedly both eerie and cute appearance has led Medjed to become world famous in the 21st century, especially in Japan after the greenfield papyrus was shown off in a 2012 exhibition.
Frankly, what Medjed represents as a god is unknown, however that hasn’t stopped some academics from hypothesizing. Some have proposed that rather than a shroud, Medjed is actually an anthropomorphic jar with the belt he wears used as a lid fastener. This however carries little evidence, as the belt integral to this view is frequently missing or is in different places that don’t connote a lid, likely meaning that it wasn’t an essential characteristic. Another hypothesis suggests that Medjed could’ve been a god of a certain star. This conclusion is drawn upon Medjed’s associations with light and fire. Medjed’s command over the Nile god Hapi also plays into this, as the annual flooding of the Nile was connected with ancient Egyptian astronomy. However, despite this substantial circumstantial evidence, Medjed’s name does not carry the star determinative in Egyptian hieroglyphics, casting doubt on this claim. With the high emphasis placed on Medjed’s destructive capabilities, one of the most likely interpretations is that Medjed was a god of punishment and justice, this is primarily evidenced by Medjed’s description in the book of the dead appearing in the section listing Duat’s judges and executioners. With his power, Medjed could’ve been seen as the deific punisher of the sinful souls within Duat. This could’ve been the reason as to why Medjed was rarely mentioned, as speaking of him could incur his wrath. It is also possible that multiple of these theories could be true, as Egypt was no stranger to multifaceted deities.
Aside from Osiris, Medjed was also associated with Horus as well. Frequently, Medjed was depicted alongside two other gods, one a double headed falcon, and the other being a vulture headed god. While the vulture god cannot be concretely identified as it seems to go unmentioned in text, the double falcon god however is. This double falcon god is mentioned in the Book of the Dead as a form of Horus that both unsympathetically punishes evildoers while rewarding the virtuous with truth.
Medjed’s name is actually the Egyptian word for “smiter” or “destroyer”. In other writings Medjed is instead rendered as Medjedu or Metchet.
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