Djedi
Fictional ancient Egyptian magician
title: "Djedi" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["fictional-prophets", "ancient-egyptian-fiction", "folklore-characters", "fictional-ancient-egyptian-people", "fictional-characters-who-use-magic"] description: "Fictional ancient Egyptian magician" topic_path: "geography/egypt" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djedi" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Fictional ancient Egyptian magician ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox hieroglyphs"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | R11-R11-M17 |
| name explanation | Djedi |
| D(j)dj | |
| he who endures | |
| :: |
Prince that Djedi may have been based on|Prince Djedi|the River|Djedi River|other uses|Dedi (disambiguation)}} |name = R11-R11-M17 |name explanation = Djedi D(j)dj he who endures |}}
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).
Literary person
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.
The wonder of Djedi
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 so Djedefhor arranges his journey during the first month of the schemu-season 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 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." 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!" 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."
Modern analysis
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 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 Berlin 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. Papyrus Berlin 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, Papyrus Berlin 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.
References
References
- Westcar-Papyrus, column 7, first row
- Verena M. Lepper: ''Untersuchungen zu pWestcar. Eine philologische und literaturwissenschaftliche (Neu-)Analyse''. In: ''Ägyptologische Abhandlungen'', Band 70. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, {{ISBN. 3-447-05651-7, page 103.
- or '''Djedi of Djed-Sneferu'''„Djed-Sneferu“ was the curatorial name of [[Dahshur]] during the Old Kingdom. See: Jean Claude Goyon, Christine Cardin: ''Proceedings of the ninth International Congress of Egyptologists'', volume 1. page 1128.
- Egyptian word for [[spring (season). spring]]. See Rolf Krauss: ''Sothis- und Monddaten: Studien zur astronomischen und technischen Chronologie Altägyptens'', Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1985, {{ISBN. 978-3806780864
- The bird in question is called ''khet-aa-bird'' which means “the bird with long, wooden legs”. It is highly uncertain which race of bird was meant in the papyrus. Verena Lepper thinks about a [[Eurasian bittern]], which is mentioned in offering lists of the Old Kingdom. See: Verena M. Lepper: ''Untersuchungen zu pWestcar. Eine philologische und literaturwissenschaftliche (Neu-)Analyse''. In: ''Ägyptologische Abhandlungen'', Band 70. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, {{ISBN. 3-447-05651-7, page 115.
- Miriam Lichtheim: ''Ancient Egyptian literature: a book of readings. The Old and Middle Kingdoms'', Band 1. University of California Press 2000, {{ISBN. 0-520-02899-6, page 215 – 220.
- Adolf Erman: ''Die Märchen des Papyrus Westcar I. Einleitung und Commentar''. In: ''Mitteilungen aus den Orientalischen Sammlungen''. Heft V, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin 1890. page 10 – 12.
- Udo Bartsch: ''Unterhaltungskunst A-Z (Taschenbuch der Künste)''. Henschel, Leipzig 1977 (2. Ausgabe), page 85.
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