from Historic Egypt to Japanese Pop Tradition – Journal of Geek Research
Rodrigo B. Salvador
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart. Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
E mail: salvador.rodrigo.b (at) gmail (dot) com
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8352186
Not so way back I’ve devoted a great deal of effort and time analyzing Egyptian mythology within the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona online game sequence (Salvador, 2015). Thus, it was solely pure that I might come again to the subject after the discharge of Persona 5 (Atlus, 2017) earlier this 12 months. In my former article, I mentioned all of the Historic Egyptian deities and monsters who appeared in Persona video games. These included the “prime brass” of the Egyptian pantheon, like Isis and Horus, alongside a number of others. Persona 5, sadly, didn’t add any new deities to the sequence roster, but it surely introduced a worthwhile point out to at least one very peculiar god: Medjed.
WE ARE MEDJED
In Persona 5, Medjed is the identify of a bunch of hackers. Higher put, it was the pseudonym of 1 beautiful little hacker (Fig. 1) that later turned the identify of the entire group.
At a sure level within the recreation, the participant receives an ultimatum from Medjed. Their message may be very properly worded, naturally much like these of actual hacker teams, but additionally (albeit most likely unintentionally) curiously paying homage to the best way historical Egyptian spiritual texts have been written (see, for example, the spells within the Guide of the Lifeless; Faulkner, 2010). The hackers’ ultimatum additionally masterfully included the mythology of Medjed, as we are going to see beneath. Mainly, it says:
“(…) Don’t converse of your false justice. We don’t want the unfold of such falsehood. We’re the true executors of justice. (…) In the event you reject our provide, the hammer of justice will discover you. We’re Medjed. We’re unseen. We are going to remove evil.”
―Medjed, Persona 5
Truthfully, I used to be actually stunned to see Medjed referred to within the recreation, as a result of he’s a really minor god. I’m speaking terribly minor right here, possibly barely qualifying to the rank of deity: he’s absent from practically each textbook and encyclopedia of Egyptology. I remembered his identify due to his very uncommon look (as we are going to see beneath) and in addition, just about by chance, knew one thing in regards to the very scarce mythology behind him — he’s talked about solely a few instances in all inscriptions we at present have from Historic Egypt.
In any occasion, I used to be baffled as to why the sport’s writers had chosen Medjed. He definitely suits the invoice for the entire hacker factor, however so would many different deities and mythological monsters, from Egypt or elsewhere. And so I made a decision to analyze the matter of Medjed’s reputation in Japan. However earlier than moving into that, allow us to be taught somewhat bit about this god.
THE SMITER
The primary supply of data on Medjed is the so-called “Greenfield Papyrus” (Fig. 2), the place he seems twice. If the identify of the papyrus appears somewhat awkward, that’s as a result of it’s common for historical Egyptian artifacts (particularly papyri) to be named after the collector who owned it through the heyday of Egyptomania. On this case, this explicit papyrus belonged to Mrs. Edith M. Greenfield, who donated it to the British Museum in 1910. The curator’s feedback on the web assortment of the British Museum summarizes it properly:
“The ‘Greenfield Papyrus’ is without doubt one of the longest and most fantastically illustrated manuscripts of the ‘Guide of the Lifeless’ to have survived. Initially, over thirty-seven metres in size, it’s now lower into ninety-six separate sheets mounted between glass. It was made for a lady named Nestanebisheru, the daughter of the excessive priest of Amun Pinedjem II. As a member of the ruling elite at Thebes, she was supplied with funerary gear of very prime quality. Lots of the spells included on her papyrus are illustrated with small vignettes, and moreover these there are a number of massive illustrations depicting necessary scenes.”
―British Museum (2017)
The Greenfield Papyrus dates from the historic interval often known as New Kingdom, presumably from the tip of the 21st Dynasty or the start of the 22nd, round 950–930 BCE (British Museum, 2017). The vignettes talked about within the description above seem on prime of every sheet in a way resembling — and I hope Egyptologists will forgive me for this remark — a comic book strip (Figs. 2 and three). (In case you might be questioning what a “Guide of the Lifeless” is, I’ll come again to that in a second.)
Medjed is featured on the papyrus sheets from Figures 2 and three. So allow us to take a better take a look at him: he’s a shrouded kind, like a cartoon ghost (Figs. 4 and 5), however typically is described as a mound with eyes and toes (British Museum, 2017). As a result of his odd look, Medjed is simply unimaginable to overlook and/or to disregard, even to essentially the most informal of observers.
The textual content on the papyrus (Fig. 2) names him Medjed (typically spelled as “Metchet” in older literature) and says that he “shooteth forth gentle from his eyes, however is himself invisible” and that he “revolveth in heaven inside a flame produced by his personal mouth, while his personal kind is invisible”. This translation is based on Budge (1912); though this researcher is a relatively controversial determine in Egyptology and his translations are very outdated (for example, see Goelet et al., 2015), this was the one translation of the Greenfield Papyrus that I may attain. Regardless, it largely agrees with later analysis on Medjed. The passage above is a part of Chapter 17 (or Spell 17) of the Guide of the Lifeless.
So one other place to search for Medjed is similar Spell 17 from different copies of the Guide of the Lifeless (they range, as I’ll clarify later).
As anticipated, we are able to discover mentions of Medjed in different New Kingdom (and later) papyri, together with a bunch of papyri often known as the “Theban Recension of the Guide of the Lifeless”. Spell 17 of those papyri are much like that of the Greenfield Papyrus, however bearing some variations. In keeping with Budge (1898): “I do know the being Mātchet [Medjed] who’s amongst them within the Home of Osiris, taking pictures rays of sunshine from [his] eye, however who himself is unseen. He goeth spherical about heaven robed within the flame of his mouth, commanding Hāpi [god of the annual flooding of the Nile], however remaining himself unseen.” A brand new translation of this passage is given by Faulkner et al. (2008) and Goelet et al. (2015): “I do know the identify of that smiter amongst them who belongs to the Home of Osiris, who shoots together with his eye, but is unseen. The sky is encircled with the fiery blast of his mouth and Hapi makes report, but he’s unseen.” Medjed is right here named “the smiter”, or maybe his identify is translated to “smiter”. This translation relatively deindividualizes Medjed, turning him into simply “a smiter”: practically all gods (and mortals) have been liable to smite enemies.
To summarize all the knowledge above, Medjed is unseen (hidden or invisible), can fly, can shoot rays of sunshine from his eyes, can breathe fireplace (like our typical dragon, possibly) and might smite different beings. Moreover this, nothing else is understood about this god.
In any occasion, Budge (1904) lists Medjed (as Mātchet) in his chapter on “Miscellaneous Gods”, however whether or not this refers back to the similar god is unsure. There, Budge lists the deities who shield Osiris through the 12 hours of the day and the 12 hours of the evening; certainly one of them is Medjed. Extra particularly, Budge (1904) experiences that Medjed watches over Osiris through the 1st hour of the day and the 12th hour of the evening. That is in keeping with the passage in Spell 17 the place Medjed is claimed to belong to the Home of Osiris, however I couldn’t hint any more moderen work reporting this (and Budge’s work, as defined above, is usually shunned by Egyptologists[1]).
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD
Now allow us to make a quick pause to speak somewhat in regards to the Guide of the Lifeless. Crucial questions to deal with are: (1) What’s it? (2) The way it got here to be? (3) Is it a single guide or is there a couple of?
The Guide of the Lifeless is a set of funerary texts; its use was widespread and lasted for over one and a half millennium (Munro, 2010). The Egyptians known as it the “Guide of Coming Forth by Day”, however “Guide of the Lifeless” was extra interesting to the trendy viewers. The guide contained hymns praising the gods and a number of other magical spells (for an instance, see Field 1) to guard and information the deceased by way of the perilous journey by way of the Duat, which is the Egyptian underworld (Taylor, 2010). The journey to a pleasant afterlife was riddled with risks, fiends and exams, and the deceased wanted all the assistance he/she may get.
The Guide of the Lifeless was not a brand new invention, nevertheless. Quite the opposite, it has a protracted historical past, as it’s derived from older writings. In the course of the Outdated Kingdom, beginning within the 5th Dynasty, funerary texts have been written on the partitions of the burial chambers contained in the pharaoh’s (and later additionally the queen’s) pyramid (Munro, 2010). These texts, written in hieroglyphic script, are known as “Pyramid Texts” — a relatively uninventive identify, possibly, however environment friendly nonetheless. They have been meant to assist the deceased king to achieve his rightful place among the many gods within the afterlife. In a while, the correct to an afterlife ceased to be a royal privilege and first the elite after which everybody was granted entry to it (D’Auria et al., 1989).
In the course of the Center Kingdom, the spells began to be written on the inside facet of the coffins (typically additionally on partitions and papyri). They’re known as, as you might have already guessed, “Coffin Texts”. Many new spells have been added to the repertoire they usually have been, for the primary time, illustrated. Afterwards, new spells have been developed and every part began to be written on papyrus; the Guide of the Lifeless thus got here into being. The spells may very well be written both in hieroglyphic script or in hieratic (a cursive type of the hieroglyphs) and have been normally richly illustrated.
The oldest recognized Guide of the Lifeless is from Thebes (round 1700 BCE), through the Second Intermediate Interval, and by the New Kingdom, the Guide had already turn into highly regarded (Munro, 2010).
Crucial factor to grasp is that there’s not a canonical Guide of the Lifeless: when an individual commissioned his/her personal copy of the Guide, they might select the spells they wished. Additionally, there are some variations amongst books even for a similar spells, which may be as a result of poor copyediting, deliberate omission of elements of the spell or easy evolution by way of time.
To the trendy public, the best-known scene from the Guide of the Lifeless is the Judgement, or the “weighing of the guts” (Fig. 6). This was essentially the most essential step of the journey to the afterlife. The center of the deceased was weighed towards the feather of Maat, the goddess of reality, stability and order. If the particular person behaved in life in accordance with the ideas of Maat, he/she can be granted entry to the afterlife. In any other case, his/her coronary heart can be devoured by Ammit, a goddess whose physique was a mixture of crocodile, hippopotamus and lioness. This so-called “second loss of life” was everlasting and thus a lot feared by the Egyptians.
So now that that is out of our manner, allow us to return to the unique query. Why was Medjed chosen for Persona 5? What does he need to do with Japan anyway?
Field 1. Excerpt from the Guide of the Lifeless
SPELL 83
Spell for being remodeled right into a phoenix
I’ve flown up just like the primeval ones, I’ve turn into Khepri, I’ve grown as a plant, I’ve clad myself as a tortoise, I’m the essence of each god, I’m the seventh of these seven uraei who got here into being within the West, Horus who makes brightness together with his particular person, that god who was towards Seth, Thoth who was amongst you in that judgement of Him who presides over Letopolis along with the souls of Heliopolis, the flood which was between them. I’ve come on the day once I seem in glory with the strides of the gods, for I’m Khons who subdued the lords.
As for him who is aware of this pure spell, it means going out into the day after loss of life and being remodeled at will, being within the suite of Wennefer, being content material with the meals of Osiris, having invocation-offerings, seeing the solar; it means being hale on earth with Re and being vindicated with Osiris, and nothing evil shall have energy over him. A matter 1,000,000 instances true.
—Translation by Faulkner (2010: 80).
MEDJED GOES TO JAPAN
Elements of the Greenfield Papyrus have been on public show in Japan through the 12 months of 2012 as a part of particular exhibitions in regards to the Guide of the Lifeless on the Mori Artwork Museum in Tokyo and the Fukuoka Museum of Artwork (British Museum, 2017). Guests to the Tokyo exhibit shortly took discover of Medjed’s surprisingly manga-like look and images of him (on the papyrus) began to flow into on Twitter (Stimson, 2015). As typically occurs on the Web, fan artwork of Medjed began to pop up: there have been drawings, comics, toys, cookies, you identify it. Quickly, any Japanese Medjed fan was capable of purchase merchandise of the god (Fig. 7).
Curiously, because the translations of the textual content from the Greenfield Papyrus mentioned Medjed “shooteth forth gentle from his eyes”, a number of the fan artwork began to depict him — clearly — firing lasers from his eyes. He was additionally proven flying, which is one other of the “superpowers” assigned to him within the Greenfield Papyrus. Nevertheless, as much as my data, no fan artwork alludes to his fire-breathing potential.
THE SACRED IN POP CULTURE
Medjed was changing into an icon in Japanese popular culture and there was just one factor left to solidify his place as such: video video games. In early 2014, the sport Flying Mr. Medjed was launched for cellphones (Fig. 8) and afterward the identical 12 months, Medjed appeared on the favored Puzzle & Dragons recreation (because the character Medjedra; Fig. 9). On this case, the god’s energy to shoot “forth gentle from his eyes” is a pair of laser beams, like these earlier fan artwork items.
Medjed was additionally included within the MMORPG Aura Kingdom in a way similar to that of Puzzle & Dragons (with lasers), however this time below the identify Nakama and accompanying a personality named Zephyrine (Fig. 10).
Then — and maybe unavoidably when coping with Japan — Medjed starred in a relationship sim. The sport known as Ejikoi! (Fig. 11), which interprets to one thing alongside the strains of “Egy-love”. The participant takes management of a highschool lady searching for romance with certainly one of her classmates, who all occur to be Egyptian deities. As bizarre as this recreation might sound, some individuals should have actually favored it, as a result of it’s getting a sequel quickly.
Lastly, the god received his personal anime sequence in 2016, Kamigami no Ki (translated merely as “Chronicles of the Gods”; Fig. 12). The animated sequence reveals Medjed’s misadventures alongside his pantheon fellows Ra, Anubis and Bastet.
With such a stable background in Japan’s popular culture, it then turned clear to me why Medjed was chosen for Persona 5 regardless of dozens of different extra “conventional” candidates. Nevertheless, as an alternative of flying round and taking pictures lasers from his eyes, Persona 5 focuses on the god’s position as a smiter and the truth that it stays unseen — each good decisions for a shadowy hacker group.
As an fanatic of every part associated to Historic Egypt, I can not however smile at this second “likelihood” Medjed acquired: he can now shine once more in widespread folklore, albeit inserted in a really totally different cultural background (by the way, one that features relationship sims). Maybe, given time (and extra video games) he may even obtain a form of cult standing amongst followers/followers and be included in a extra particular method within the blended mythology of RPGs.
REFERENCES
D’Auria, S.; Lacovara, P.; Roehrig, C. (1989) Mummies & Magic: The Funerary Arts of Historic Egypt. Museum of Tremendous Arts, Boston.
British Museum, The. (2017) The Greenfield Papyrus. Assortment on-line. Accessible from: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=114900&partId=1 (Date of entry: 09/Jul/2017).
Budge, E.A.W. (1898) The Guide of the Lifeless. The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day. The Egyptian textual content based on the Theban recension in hieroglyphic edited from quite a few papyri, with a translation, vocabulary, and many others. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London.
Budge, E.A.W. (1904) The Gods of the Egyptians, or Research in Egyptian Mythology. Vol. II. Open Court docket Publishing Firm / Methuen & Co., Chicago / London.
Budge, E.A.W. (1912) The Greenfield Papyrus within the British Museum: the funerary papyrus of Princess Nesitanebtashru, daughter of Painetchem II and Nesi-Khensu, and priestess of Amen-Ra at Thebes, about B.C. 970. Order of the Trustees, London.
Faulkner, R.O. (2010) The Historic Egyptian Guide of the Lifeless. British Museum Press / Imago, London / Singapore.
Faulkner, R.O.; Goelet, O. Jr.; Andrew, C.A.R.; von Dassow, E.; Wasserman, J. (2008) The Egyptian Guide of the Lifeless: The Guide of Going Forth by Day. Being the Papyrus of Ani [Royal Scribe of the Divine Offerings] written and illustrated circa 1250 B.C.E. by scribes and artists unknown. Second Version. Chronicle Books, San Francisco.
Goelet, O. Jr.; Faulkner, R.O.; Andrew, C.A.R.; Gunther, J.D.; Wasserman, J. (2015) The Egyptian Guide of the Lifeless: The Guide of Going Forth by Day. The Full Papyrus of Ani. That includes Built-in Textual content and Full-Colour Pictures. Third Version. Chronicle Books, San Francisco.
Munro, I. (2010) The evolution of the Guide of the Lifeless. In: Taylor, J.H. (Ed.) Journey by way of the Afterlife: Historic Egyptian Guide of the Lifeless. Harvard College Press, Cambridge. Pp. 54–79.
Salvador, R.B. (2015) Egyptian mythology within the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona video games. Journal of Geek Research 2(2): 8–32.
Stimson. E. (2015) The obscure Egyptian god Medjed and his weird afterlife on the Japanese Web. Accessible from: http://www.animenewsnetwork .com/curiosity/2015-07-31/the-obscure-egyptia n-god-medjed-and-his-bizarre-afterlife-on-the-japanese-internet/.91149 (Date of entry: 09/Jul/2017).
Stargate Wiki. (2017) Stargate: The Film Transcript. Accessible from: http://www.stargate-sg1-solutions.com/wiki/Stargate:_The_Movie_ Transcript (Date of entry: 09/Aug/2017).
Taylor, J.H. (2010) Journey by way of the Afterlife: Historic Egyptian Guide of the Lifeless. Harvard College Press, Cambridge.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’m very grateful to the British Museum (London, UK) for the permission to breed right here the pictures of the Greenfield Papyrus and the Papyrus of Ani (Artistic Commons, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Rodrigo Salvador is a zoologist and paleontologist, however he’s additionally fascinated with Historic Egypt. In any case, isn’t Archaeology only a tiny portion of Paleontology? One solely targeted on a single very odd animal species? In any case, Persona 5 is now his favourite entry within the sequence, however he’s sick and uninterested in that dammed cat telling him to fall asleep.
[1] Within the sci-fi film Stargate (MGM, 1994), the Egyptologist Daniel Jackson even makes enjoyable of a translation of hieroglyphs he’s analyzing: “Nicely, the interpretation of the inside monitor is improper. Should’ve used Budge. I don’t know why they preserve reprinting his books.” (Stargate Wiki, 2017).
