Medjay

medjay "mDA.y" (throw stick det. , for "foreign-peoples") in hieroglyphs

The Medjay (also Medjai, Mazoi, Madjai, Egyptian mDA.y)–from mDA,^[1] represents the name Ancient Egyptians gave to a region in northern Sudan–where an ancient people of Nubia inhabited. They became part of the Ancient Egyptian military as scouts and minor workers.

Recorded history

The first mention of the Medjay in written records dates back to the Old Kingdom, when they were listed among other Nubian peoples by Weni, who was at the time a general serving under Pepi I.^[2] During this time the term “Medjay” referred to people from the land of Medja, a district estimated to be located just north of the Second Cataract in Nubia. A decree from Pepi I's reign, which lists different officials (including a chief interpreter of Medja and the surrounding districts), illustrates that Medja was at least to some extent subjugated by the Egyptian government.^[3]

During the Middle Kingdom, "Medjay" no longer referred to the district of Medja, but to a tribe or clan of people. It is not known what happened to the district, but, after the First Intermediate Period, it and other districts in Nubia were no longer mentioned in written records.^[4] Written accounts detail the Medjay as nomadic desert people. Over time they were incorporated into the Egyptian army. In the army, the Medjay served as garrison troops in Egyptian fortifications in Nubia and patrolled the deserts as a kind of gendarmerie.^[5] This was done in the hopes of preventing their fellow Medjay tribespeople from further attacking Egyptian assets in the region.^[6] They were even later used during Kamose’s campaign against the Hyksos^[7] and became instrumental in making the Egyptian state into a military power.^[8]

By the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom period, the Medjay were an elite paramilitary police force.^[9] No longer did the term refer to an ethnic group and over time the new meaning became synonymous with the policing occupation in general. Being an elite police force, the Medjay were often used to protect valuable areas, especially royal and religious complexes. Though they are most notable for their protection of the royal palaces and tombs in Thebes and the surrounding areas, the Medjay were known to have been used throughout Upper and Lower Egypt. Each regional unit had its own chiefs and captains.^[10] The Medjay were also known to have been used as desert scouts during this time period as well.^[11]

At first, the group just consisted of those who were considered ethnically Medjay and were descended from the ancient tribal group. This changed over time, however, as more and more Egyptians joined the occupation. Based on the written records, it can be seen that various Medjay chiefs and captains had Egyptian names and were depicted as such. Why this change occurred is not exactly known by Egyptologists, but it could be assumed that because the Medjay were seen as an elite group of warriors, more Egyptians might have joined to achieve a similar status.^[12]

After the 20th Dynasty, the term Medjay is no longer found in Egyptian written records. Egyptologists do not know whether the Medjay as an occupation had been abolished or the name had just been changed. However, there is speculation that a group of people called the Meded who fought against the Kush during the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. might have been related to the Medjay.^[13] Regardless, there is no doubt that the Medjay played an important role in Ancient Egypt, first as foreign mercenaries employed by the Egyptian army and later as a paramilitary police force that guarded royal palaces and tombs. The Medjay will forever be known as a group of elite warriors.

Popular culture

In the adventure film The Mummy, the Medjay were the bodyguards of the Egyptian Pharaohs, with the name thereafter being used to describe the society composed of their descendants who were pledged to prevent anyone finding the mummy of high priest Imhotep and bringing him back from the dead. In the sequel, The Mummy Returns, a large army of Medjay assembles to hold back the army of Anubis, which rises when the Scorpion King is awakened. In the film, the Medjay appear to be Muslims, as they takbir before fighting the Warriors of Anubis, but continue to follow some beliefs of Ancient Egypt.

In the book Men of Bronze by Scott Oden, a fictional character named Hasdrabal Barca leads a group of Medjay warriors through the desert. These are classified as the most elite warriors in Egypt, according to the book, even though they are later slaughtered by a cowardly Greek named Phanes in the city of Memphis. The Medjay bore the symbol of the Wadjet, on their armor, as their trademark.

In the Lieutenant Bak novels by Lauren Haney, Bak is the officer in charge of the Medjay police during the reign of Hatshepsut.

In the 2009 novel Tutankhamun: the book of shadows by Nick Drake, Rahotep is the chief detective in the Theban Medjay during the reign of Tutankhamun.

Bibliography

• Katheryn A. Bard, Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, Routledge 1999, ISBN 0415185890
• J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, part One, Chicago 1906
• Alan H. Gardiner, "Ancient Egyptian Onomastica, Vol. 1", Oxford University Press 1947
• Ian Shaw, The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press 2000, ISBN 0192802933
• George Steindorff and Keith C. Seele, "When Egypt Ruled the East", University of Chicago Press 1957
• Toby Wilkinson, "Dictionary of Ancient Egypt", Thames & Hudson Ltd 2005
• Kate Liszka, "“We Have Come to Serve Pharaoh": A Study of the Medjay and Pangrave Culture as an Ethnic Group and as Mercenaries from c. 2300 BCE until c. 1050 BCE", PhD Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, forthcoming.

References

1. ^ Erman & Grapow, Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, 2, 186.1-2
2. ^ Breasted, op.cit., §§ 317, 324
3. ^ Gardiner, op.cit., p. 74*
4. ^ Gardiner, op.cit., p. 76*
5. ^ Bard, op.cit., p.486
6. ^ Wilkinson, op.cit., p. 147
7. ^ Shaw, op.cit., p.201
8. ^ Steindorff & Seele, op.cit., p. 28
9. ^ Wilkinson, op.cit., p. 147
10. ^ Gardiner, op.cit., p. 82*-85*
11. ^ Wilkinson, op.cit., p. 147
12. ^ Gardiner, op.cit., p. 82*-85*
13. ^ Wilkinson, op.cit., p. 147

External links

• Ancient Egypt's Neighbors
• Nubian Archers