Djadjaemanch

Djadjaemanch in hieroglyphics
Djadja-em- ankh Ḏ3ḏ3-m-ˁnḫ head of life

Djadjaemanch , ancient Egyptian Djadja-em-anch , is the name of a fictional ancient Egyptian magician who appears in one of the five sagas of the Westcar ( Middle Kingdom ) papyrus and, according to the story, was a miracle at the court of King ( Pharaoh ) Sneferu ( 4th Dynasty ) accomplishes.

The literary person

Djadjaemanch only appears in the third story of the Westcar papyrus - there is no historical or even archaeological evidence. However, this literary figure is of great importance for Egyptology , as his magic trick described in the papyrus is related to the later reception of the character of King Snefru.

The story of Djadjaemanch

→ see main article Papyrus Westcar .

According to Papyrus djadjaemankh is asked by Snefru for help when in a rowing trip on the lake of Dahshur a blow lady an amulet falls into the water and they really want to get it back. Djadjaemanch then literally turns the lake over using magic so that he can retrieve the amulet dry-footed and hand it over to the rightful owner. Then he brings the water back to its original position and is rewarded by Sneferu.

Modern considerations

Through the narrative of Djadjaemanch's miracle, Sneferu is portrayed as unusually benevolent and affable . For example, he addresses a subordinate (namely Djadjaemanch) as "my brother". Comparable things can be found in the prophecy of Neferti . Adolf Erman and Verena Lepper rate the story as a biting satire, in which a pharaoh is portrayed as a simple-minded fool who can be fobbed off with superficial conversation and who cannot solve a banal problem with a little hitter alone. The author of the story of Djadjaemankh is thus criticizing an Egyptian ruler.

literature

• Verena M. Lepper: Investigations on the Papyrus Westcar: A philological and literary (new) analysis . In: Ägyptologische Abhandlungen. Vol. 70, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 3-447-05651-7 .
• Miriam Lichtheim : Ancient Egyptian literature: a book of readings. Volume 1: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. University of California Press, Berkeley 2000, ISBN 0-520-02899-6 .
• Wolfgang Helck , Eberhard Otto, Wolfhart Westendorf: Lexicon of Egyptology. Vol. 4, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1982, ISBN 3-447-02262-0 .
• Hermann Ranke : The Egyptian personal names. Volume 1-3. Augustin, Glückstadt et al. 1935, 1952, 1977 ( online as PDF ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hermann Ranke: The Egyptian personal names. Volume 1, Glückstadt et al. 1935, p. 405, no.20.
2. ↑ Harry Eilenstein: Hathor and Re II: The Ancient Egyptian Religion - Origins, Cult and Magic. 1st edition, Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2008, ISBN 978-3-8370-7533-5 , p. 21, excerpts from Google Books .
3. ^ W. Helck, E. Otto, W. Westendorf: Lexicon of Egyptology. Vol. 4, Wiesbaden 1982, p. 151.
4. ↑ Verena M. Lepper: Investigations on the Westcar Papyrus. Wiesbaden 2008, p. 299.