During the Third Intermediate Period, in the vignettes illustrating Spell 17 of the Book of the Dead, it is at times possible to spot a rather uncanny figure. Bell-shaped, occasionally adorned with a strip of cloth and provided with human legs and eyes, it can probably be identified with one of the demons mentioned in the Spell: MDd or MaDd, 'the Smiter'. The role and the implications of this creature still need to be fully clarified. Spell 17 is one of the longest, most important and most intricate, as well as one of the spells most frequently included in the manuscripts, but the depiction of Medjed is absolutely exceptional: it features only in some peculiar categories of Book of the Dead papyri of the 21-st-22nd Dynasties, the most renowned example (but also the most atypical) being the Greenfield Papyrus (pLondon BM EA10554). In order to be evaluated, the development of such a noticeable rarity in the visual concept of the netherworld has to be set in the frame of the ‘innovation in tradition’ trend in the 21st–22nd Dynasties’ Books of the Dead. The appearance of this demon also raises some significant questions on the criteria that led the workshop and the scribe to choose certain specific elements during the composition of each scroll.

Reinventing the afterlife: the curious figure of Medjed in the Book of the Dead

CARIDDI, ILARIA
2018-01-01

Abstract

During the Third Intermediate Period, in the vignettes illustrating Spell 17 of the Book of the Dead, it is at times possible to spot a rather uncanny figure. Bell-shaped, occasionally adorned with a strip of cloth and provided with human legs and eyes, it can probably be identified with one of the demons mentioned in the Spell: MDd or MaDd, 'the Smiter'. The role and the implications of this creature still need to be fully clarified. Spell 17 is one of the longest, most important and most intricate, as well as one of the spells most frequently included in the manuscripts, but the depiction of Medjed is absolutely exceptional: it features only in some peculiar categories of Book of the Dead papyri of the 21-st-22nd Dynasties, the most renowned example (but also the most atypical) being the Greenfield Papyrus (pLondon BM EA10554). In order to be evaluated, the development of such a noticeable rarity in the visual concept of the netherworld has to be set in the frame of the ‘innovation in tradition’ trend in the 21st–22nd Dynasties’ Books of the Dead. The appearance of this demon also raises some significant questions on the criteria that led the workshop and the scribe to choose certain specific elements during the composition of each scroll.
2018
Tradition and Transformation. Proceedings of the Fifth International Congress for Young Egyptologists. 15-19 September 2015, Vienna
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10278/3691937
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