| Dedi in hieroglyphs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Djedi D(j)dj [1] he who endures [2] | |||||
Djedi (also Dedi [3] or Djedi of Djed-Sneferu [4] ) is the name of a fictional ancient Egyptian magician appearing in the fourth chapter of a story told in the legendary Westcar Papyrus. He is said to have worked wonders during the reign of king (pharaoh) Khufu (4th Dynasty).
Djedi appears only in the fourth story of the Westcar Papyrus – there is no archeological or historical evidence that he existed. Nevertheless, he is an object of great interest for historians and Egyptologists, since his magic tricks are connected to later cultural perceptions of the personality of king Khufu. Djedi is described as a commoner of extraordinary age, endowed with magical powers and talented in making prophecies. [3] [5] [6]
According to the Westcar Papyrus, prince Djedefhor brings up the story of Djedi. He stands before his father, king Khufu, and says: “There is only speaking of miracles which happened a long time ago, something known by past generations only. Truth and falsehood cannot be distinguished here. But there is someone under thy majesty´s own lifetime who is not known, someone who is able to make an ignoramus become wise.” [3] Khufu asks: “What's the meaning of this, Djedefhor, my son?” [3] Djedefhor answers: “There's a commoner named Djedi, living in Djed-Sneferu. He's a simple citizen, but 110 years old, eats 500 loaves of bread, a shoulder of beef and drinks 100 jars of beer every day. He is capable of resurrecting decapitated beings. He is also said to be able to make wild lions so obedient that the animal would follow him with a cord dragging on the ground. Furthermore, this Djedi has knowledge of the number of Iput [7] in the wenet-sanctuary of Thoth.” [3] The pharaoh spent a good deal of time to seek for these chambers, for he planned to build something similar to his horizon. [8] And Khufu orders: “You thyself, Djedefhor, my son, may bring him to me!” [3]
And so Djedefhor arranges his journey during the first month of the schemu-season [9] and travels to Djed-Sneferu. He finds Djedi and invites the old man to the king's palace with the words: “Your condition is equal to someone who lives from aging and to someone who sleeps until dawn, free of illness and wheezing. For ‘aging’ is the time of dying, the time of the preparing the burial and the time of being buried. This is the questioning about the condition of a noble man. I have come to summon you in order of my father, justified, that you may eat from the delicacies my father gives, the food of his followers. And then he may guide you to the ancestors which are in the necropolis now.” [3] Djedi replies: “Welcome, welcome, Djedefhor, son of the king, beloved of his father! May you be praised by your father, Khufu the justified. May he let your place be at the front of all time-honored ones. May thine Ka successfully champion all things against any enemy. May thine Ba know the ways that lead to the gateway of the mummified deceased.” [3] Djedefhor brings Djedi to the harbor and makes a boat prepared for traveling. The old man promises to follow Djedefhor, on the condition that he may bring his books and scholars with him. Djedefhor accepts, and both men travel to Khufu's royal palace.
Djedefhor enters the palace and goes immediately to his father, king Khufu. The prince says: “May thy majesty live, be blessed and being prosperous! I have brought Djedi to you!” [3] Khufu replies: “Go and bring him to me!” [3] Then Khufu takes place in the royal audience-hall. The Pharaoh receives Djedi with the words: “What is it, Djedi, this denying to have seen you ever before?” [3] Djedi answers: “Oh sovereign, my lord! Only the one who is summoned is one who will come. I was summoned, and now see, oh sovereign, my lord, I have come.” [3] The pharaoh continues: “Is it true, this talk-about that you could mend a severed head?” [3] Djedi says: “Yes, oh sovereign, my lord. May you live, be blessed and prosperous. I know how to do that.” [3] Khufu replies: “May a prisoner, who is jailed, be brought to me, so that his execution may be enforced.”. [3] Djedi refuses with the words: “Not to make a human suffer, oh sovereign, my lord! May you live, be blessed and prosperous. You see, it was never allowed to do something like that on the noble flock.” [10] Djedi chooses three animals instead - first a goose. He decapitates the goose and places her head at the eastern side of the audience hall, the body at the western side. Then Djedi utters a secret spell and the head of the goose stands up, starting to waddle. Then the body of the goose stands up and waddles, too. Both body-parts move into equal directions, then melt together. The resurrected goose now leaves the hall cackling. The same performance is done with an undefined water bird [11] and a bull. Both animals are brought successfully back to life, too. Now the king says: “It is said that you know the number of Iput inside the wenet-sanctuary of Thoth. Now?” [3] Djedi replies: “May you be praised, oh sovereign, my lord! I don't know their number. But I know where they can be found.” [3] Khufu asks: “Where is it?” Djedi answers: “There is a box of scrolls, made of flint, which is stored in a room called ‘archive’ at Heliopolis.” [3] The king orders: “Take that box!” [3] Djedi replies: “May your highness be prosperous and blessed, I'm not the one who can bring it to you.” [3] Khufu asks: “Who may be the one who could bring it to me?” [3] Djedi answers: “The eldest of the three children in the womb of Rededjet , he will bring it to you.” [3] The king says: “I really wish all these things you say. Who is it, this Rededjet?” [3] Djedi replies: “It's the wife of a wab-priest of the god Ra, lord of Sachebu. The god has adumbrated, that the eldest of the three shall worship as a high priest of Heliopolis over the whole realm.” [3] The king's mood becomes grim after this. Djedi asks: “What is that heart of thine, oh sovereign, my lord, becoming so sad! Is it because of the children I have adumbrated? First your son, then his son and then one of them.” [3] Khufu replies: “When will this Rededjet give birth?” [3] Djedi says: “It will happen during the first month of the peret-season, [12] on the fifteenth day.″ [3] Khufu becomes indignant: “But it's when the canal-of-two-Mugilidae [13] is cut off!? I would even work with my very own hands to enter them! And then I will visit that temple of Ra, lord of Sachebu.” [3] And Djedi says: “Then I will make the waters at the fordable spots of the canal-of-two-Mugilidae become four cubits in height for you.” [3] Khufu stands up and orders: “Have Djedi assigned to a place within the palace of my son Djedefhor where he shall live from now on. His daily gainings be 1000 loaves of bread, 100 jars of beer, one neat and 100 bundles of field garlic.” [3] And all things are done as ordered. [3] [5] [14]
Historians and Egyptologists such as Adolf Erman and Kurt Heinrich Sethe once thought the tales of Westcar Papyrus were mere folklore. Magical tricks that show animals being decapitated and their heads being replaced were performed as recently as a few decades ago, though today they are rarely shown because of aesthetical and ethical misgivings. [14] [15]
Modern Egyptologists like Verena Lepper and Miriam Lichtheim deny this view and they argue that Sethe and Erman may have just failed to see the profundity of such novels. They point to multiple similar but somewhat later ancient Egyptian writings in which magicians perform very similar magic tricks and make prophecies to a king. According to Lepper and Lichtheim, their stories are obviously inspired by the tale of Djedi. Descriptive examples are the papyri pAthen and The prophecy of Neferti. These novels show how popular the theme of prophesying already was during the Old Kingdom - just like in the story of the Westcar Papyrus. And they both talk about subalterns with magical powers similar to those of Djedi's. The Papyrus pBerlin 3023 contains the novel The Eloquent Peasant, in which the following phrase appears: “See, these are artists who create the existing anew, who even replace a severed head”, which can be interpreted as an allusion to the Westcar Papyrus.pBerlin 3023 contains another reference which strengthens the idea that many ancient Egyptian novels were influenced by Westcar Papyrus: column 232 contains the phrase sleeping until dawn, which appears nearly word-by-word in the Westcar Papyrus. Since pAthen, pBerlin 3023 and The prophecy of Neferti show the same manner of speaking and equal picking up quaint phrases, Lepper and Lichtheim hold that Djedi (and the other wise men from same papyrus) must have been known to Egyptian authors for a long time. [3] [5]
Khufu or Cheops was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom period. Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu as king. He is generally accepted as having commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but many other aspects of his reign are poorly documented.
Hotepsekhemwy is the Horus name of an early Egyptian king who was the founder of the Second Dynasty of Egypt. The exact length of his reign is not known; the Turin canon suggests an improbable 95 years while the ancient Egyptian historian Manetho reports that the reign of "Boëthôs" lasted for 38 years. Egyptologists consider both statements to be misinterpretations or exaggerations. They credit Hotepsekhemwy with either a 25- or a 29-year rule.
The Second Dynasty of ancient Egypt is the latter of the two dynasties of the Egyptian Archaic Period, when the seat of government was centred at Thinis. It is most known for its last ruler, Khasekhemwy, but is otherwise one of the most obscure periods in Egyptian history.
Sanakht is the Horus name of an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the Third Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. His chronological position is highly uncertain, and it is also unclear under which Hellenized name the ancient historian Manetho could have listed him. Many Egyptologists connect Sanakht with the Ramesside cartouche name Nebka. However, this remains disputed because no further royal title of that king has ever been found; either in contemporary source or later ones. There are two relief fragments depicting Sanakht originally from the Wadi Maghareh on the Sinai Peninsula.
The Westcar Papyrus is an ancient Egyptian text containing five stories about miracles performed by priests and magicians. In the papyrus text, each of these tales are told at the royal court of king Khufu (Cheops) by his sons. The story in the papyrus usually is rendered in English as, "King Cheops and the Magicians" and "The Tale of King Cheops' Court". In German, into which the text of the Westcar Papyrus was first translated, it is rendered as Die Märchen des Papyrus Westcar.
Sekhemib-Perenma'at, is the Horus name of an early Egyptian king who ruled during the 2nd Dynasty. Similar to his predecessor, successor or co-ruler Seth-Peribsen, Sekhemib is contemporarily well attested in archaeological records, but he does not appear in any posthumous document. The exact length of his reign is unknown and his burial site has yet to be found.
Nebka is the throne name of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Third Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period, in the 27th century BCE. He is thought to be identical with the Hellenized name Νεχέρωχις recorded by the Egyptian priest Manetho of the much later Ptolemaic period.
Hans Wolfgang Helck was a German Egyptologist, considered one of the most important Egyptologists of the 20th century. From 1956 until his retirement in 1979 he was a professor at the University of Hamburg. He remained active after his retirement and together with Wolfhart Westendorf published the German Lexikon der Ägyptologie, completed in 1992. He published many books and articles on the history of Egyptian and Near Eastern culture. He was a member of the German Archaeological Institute and a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences.
Hudjefa is an ancient Egyptian word meaning "missing" or "erased". It was used by the royal scribes of the Ramesside era during the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, when the scribes compiled king lists such as the Abydos King List, the royal table of Sakkara and the Royal Canon of Turin when the name of a deceased pharaoh was unreadable, damaged, or completely erased.
Baufra is the name of an alleged son of the ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) Khufu from the 4th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. He is known from a story in the Papyrus Westcar and from a rock inscription at Wadi Hammamat. He is neither contemporarily nor archaeologically attested, which makes his historical figure disputable to scholars up to this day.
Djadjaemankh is the name of a fictitious ancient Egyptian magician appearing in the third chapter of a story told in the legendary Westcar Papyrus. He is said to have worked wonders during the reign of king (pharaoh) Sneferu.
Ubaoner is the name of a fictitious ancient Egyptian magician appearing in the second chapter of a story told in the legendary Westcar Papyrus. He is said to have worked wonders during the reign of king (pharaoh) Nebka.
Rededjet is the name of a fictitious ancient Egyptian woman appearing as the heroic character in a story told in the legendary Westcar Papyrus. She is said to have fulfilled a prophecy by giving birth to three future kings that was forecast during the reign of Khufu by a magician named Dedi.
Neferkasokar was an Ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) who may have ruled in Egypt during the 2nd Dynasty. Very little is known about him, since no contemporary records about him have been found. Rather his name has been found in later sources.
Sneferka was an early Egyptian king who may have ruled at the end of the 1st Dynasty. The exact length of his reign is unknown, but thought to have been very short and his chronological position is unclear.
Horus Bird, also known as Horus-Ba, may have been a pharaoh who may have had a very short reign between the First and Second Dynasty of Egypt. Horus-Bird's burial site is unknown.
Pehernefer is the personal name of an ancient Egyptian high official, who held office under the reigns of the pharaohs Huni and Sneferu, in the time between the end of 3rd Dynasty and the beginning of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period.
Sedjes is an ancient Egyptian cartouche "name" for a king (pharaoh), who is said to have ruled during the 3rd Dynasty. The lexeme appears only once in the Abydos King List as cartouche No. 18, presented as if it were the name of the direct follower of king Sekhemkhet and the direct predecessor of king Neferkara I.
Akhetaa was an ancient Egyptian high official during the mid to late 3rd Dynasty. He is mostly known for his tomb inscriptions, which refer to various seldom used titles as well as to the shadowy king Nebka, in whose cult Akhetaa served.
Verena M. Lepper is a German Egyptologist and Semitist.
