Джеди: Волшебник из папируса Уэсткар и тайны фараона Хуфу

Fictional ancient Egyptian magician
the fictional magician

Djedi (also Dedi) 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.

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.” in the wenet sanctuary of Thoth.” And Khufu orders: “You thyself, Djedefhor, my son, may bring him to me!” 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.” 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 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?” on the fifteenth day.″ 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.”

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. Modern Egyptologists like de 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.