ANUBIS

Anubis, who the ancient Egyptians called Ienpw (phonetically "Yinepu"), is the mysterious canid funerary deity of ancient Egypt. Even the meaning of his name is unknown -- speculations range from "Royal Child" to having derived from the world for "to putrefy". Both certainly fit the deity, who was at various points in time of Egyptian history known as the lord of the dead before Osiris and, later, became popularly known as the son of Osiris.

Just what type of animal Anubis is represented by is unknown as well; definitely canid and most likely a jackal or a wild dog -- or a hybrid of both -- but, as in the case of Seth, with alterations that deliberately smudge the lines of reality. The deep black color Anubis's animal is not reflective of its actual coat but is instead symbolic of his position as a funerary deity. The reason for Anubis's animal being canid is based on what the ancient Egyptians themselves observed of the creature -- dogs and jackals often haunted the edges of the desert, especially the cemeteries where the dead were buried.

Anubis is an extremely ancient deity. The oldest mastabas of the Old Kingdom have prayers to him carved into their walls, and he is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts in his most celebrated role as a guardian and protector of the dead. A standard offering formula for the dead in the Old Kingdom began thusly:

"An offering which the king gives and Anubis, who is upon his mountain and in the place of embalming, the lord of the necropolis...."

As mentioned previously, Anubis began in the position that Osiris would later command. In the earliest period of Egyptian religion Anubis was clearly the lord of the dead and Osiris the embalmed god while Anubis performed the act of embalming. Titles that were invested unto Osiris -- such as Khenty-Imentiu or "Foremost of Westerners" -- were originally Anubis's. As the drama of Osiris's death and vindication unfolded over the centuries, Anubis assumed the role of the guide who holds steady the scales on which their hearts are measured against the feather of ma'at as "He Who Counts the Hearts". Should the heart be light as the feather, the soul would then be lead by Anubis (or, in some cases, Harseisis) to be presented to Osiris. Should the heart be heavy, it is fed to Ammit and the soul destroyed.

As Imy-ut, or "He Who is In the Place of Embalming", Anubis is the embalmer who washes the entrails of the dead and guards over their physical bodies as well as the places that house them (the tomb and the necropolis). Priests wearing a mask of Anubis were responsible for the Opening of the Mouth ceremony that reawakened a dead person's senses. In a reflection of the royal seal used on the tombs of the Valley of the Kings depicting pharaoh's victory over the "nine bows" (enemies of Egypt), Anubis is shown recumbent over nine bows meant to be hostile forces of the Underworld who he -- as "Jackal Ruler of the Bows" -- has triumphed over.

Anubis's parentage is a mystery -- in one tradition he is the son of Nebt-het (Nephthys) and Ra. In yet another, from the Coffin Text period, the cow goddess Hesat is his mother and, from the same source, Bastet is even accounted as his mother (most likely a pun on the ointment jars that comprise her hieroglyphs -- the same jars that were used during the embalming process Anubis was lord of). The Pyramid Texts even supply Anubis with a daughter in the form of the goddess Qeb-hwt ("Cooling Water") -- a celestial serpent or ostrich Who purifies and quenches the monarch.

Anubis is depicted most often as a man with the head of a black canid with alert, pointed ears. He is also represented by a full black canid wearing ribbons and holding a flagellum in the crook of its arm. Very rarely is he ever shown fully human, though there are some cases (such as in the temple of Ramesses II of Abydos) of this. Perhaps the most famous representation of Anubis, the gold-gilded wooden canid found in the tomb of Tutankhamen, was doubtlessly placed there as a protector of the dead and guardian of the tomb.

Anubis was worshipped throughout Egypt, but the center of his cult was in Cynopolis (Upper Egypt).

The name of Anubis in hieroglyphs

-COURTESY OF ENCYCLOPEDIA MYTHICA. Check them out at www.pantheon.org

MEDJAI

The Medjai lived in the eastern desert of Nubia - between the first and the second Nile-cataract.

Presumably in 4000 before Christi (BC) they came from Asia via Arabia to Africa, lived outside the Nile-valley, but were in contact with the local Egypts.
Between 4000 - 3200 BC: they became pastoral nomads.
2700 - 1200: The Medjai were a tribal community, but split: one part was pastoral, the other served as soldiers in the Egyptian army.

Middle Kingdom (2040 - 1640)

The relation between the Medjai and the Egyptians becames worse because the Medjai-soldiers didn't any longer want to fight for the Egyptians. So Amenhetep I (1994 - 1964) could claim that he has captured the Medjai. Nevertheless, his assertation refers only to the pastoral Medjai who on their part could only have been enslaved for a short time, because their were handed-down as independent people, just after the conquest of Lower Nubia in 1950.
The enmity between to Egyptians and the pastoral Medjai continued: The Egypts built fortresses in the area claimed by the Medjai for controlling them - if famine-stricken they were not allowed to settle at the rich Nile-valley. However, the Egyptians profited from the knowledge of the pastoral Medjai who were fond of cattle-breeding.

Second Intermediate Period (1640 - 1532)

The Medjai fought again for the Egyptians but non as mercenary troops but as allies - as the only non-Egyptians who helped the Egyptians. Pharaoh Kamose let them fight from the beginning against the Hyksos - side by side with himself.

New Kingdom (1550 - 1070 BC)

The Medjai served yet as soldiers, but also as guardians and leaders in the mines in Nubia. Mining was only possible with their help. They formed the biggest mercenary troop - because of recruitments under Amenhetep III (1388 - 1248 BC). In times of peace the Medjai served as police, as bodyguards of the Pharaoh but also as soldiers. The police was independent from the army. A lot of buildings were identified as Medjai-quarters. The Medjai also lived at Deir el Medina, the village of the workers for the valley of the kings, and guarded the valley of the kings - just because of robbers.
Besides, the pastoral Medjai were not mentioned after 1500 BC - so eventually their went to the South or were absorbed fully with the Egyptians or remained in the eastern desert.

Some "prominent" Medjai

Dedu: Leader of the troops under Tutmosis III (1479 - 1424 BC)
Mahu: Leader of the police troop in Amarna
Nebamun: commander of the Medjai under Tutmosis IV (1398 - 1388 BC) and Amenhetep III. His name is interesting because of the suffix -amun: It shows the adaptation of the Egyptian culture within the Medjai one.
Humay: built temples for Horus and Sesostris III, in that potsherds of vessels of the Medjai-culture remained. There are also pictures of Medjai in this temples who worshipped the Egyptian gods (blending of their own with the Egyptian culture).

Medjai AD


Medjai were warriors until no less than 700 AD when they fought against the Persians.

At the time of the Macedonian dynasty (to whom Cleopatra as last queen of Egypt belonged) the Medjai had marriage relations to the Greeks who on their own part played an active role in Medjai society. At this time the name "Medjai" disappeared.
The eastern nomads of the Medjai-region were known as the "Blemmyes". Because they used for the first time camels they became stronger as a tribe and gained more identity so that they could have challenged the Romans. After military actions the Blemmyes were given the land of Syene up to today's frontier to Sudan by the Romans in 268 AD, moreover an annual tribute, the right to worship in Philae and to have priests there. Practically they ruled the Nile-valley up to Aswan. After 451 AD they were expelled by Macrinus.
In 536 AD Justinian prohibited the so-called pagan religions, whereupon the angry Blemmyes began to fight against the Roman-Byzantine authorities, but they were defeated by the Christian king of Ethopia, Silko, and expelled to the desert. Thus the Blemmyes became the forefathers of today's Bega (Bedja) who still live in the same area as their forefathers: in the South of Egypt/North of Sudan.

Bedja

I got this information from various sources (books, internet, especially from the excellent and detailed representations by Alisha Jourdenais (A History of the Med-jai Nubians). She stated today's descendants of the Medjai as "Bega". Instead of "Bega" I have found also the term "Beja" / "Bedja" which linguistic-etymologically could be related with "Medjai" - more than "Bega" (b/m are linguistically related, "b" is often beoming "m" and otherwise).

The Beja bedouins have attacked the place Korosko in 1887 und one year later the place Kalabsha. 1891 they have occupied the city Berber (just before the Anglo-Egyptian army under Lord Kitchener arrived) because of food shortage. Life in the desert was always frugal and pasture-grounds for animal must be found. After this attack they retired speedily into their own region, the hilly desert in the east of the Nile. (Info from: Bergmann, Carlo: Der letzte Beduine. Hamburg 2001, p. 82)

So the Medjai reached their apex in the time of the New Kingdom - they served as soldiers, police, guardians of the valley of the kings, and bodyguards of the Pharaoh. The Biblical Archaeology Review states:
"Members of a Nubian tribe known as the Medjai lived outside the walled town [Deir el-Medina] and served as policemen, as they did throughout New Kingdom Egypt; may kept their desert patrol jobs for their entire lives. Their names turn up on the ostraca among those who bartered and dickered with the villagers." As remark to this text it is said, that even today Nubians served as Egyptian desert patrols.
One source on the Medjai states that they were not from Nubia but from Lybia. That is interisting for "Mummy"-fans, because in Pharaoh Sethos I's (Seti) tomb pictures from Lybian troops with tattoos can be found.
By all means, the "Mummy"-film-makers strategically used the Medjai well for their purposes, because they served as bodyguards in Pharaoh Sethos I's time (as shown in the scenes of old Egypt), and later they lived as bedouins in the desert (since the time of their expulsion by the Christian king Silko). So that fits very well - and perhaps some speculation is allowed whether they lived today as desert warriors, protecting some ancient sites, always covering their true identity.

(Courtesy of www.ardeth-bay.de/)

THE MUMMY What they got wrong

1. The narrator talks about the city of Thebes (as if we were looking at it) while showing the famous pyramids of Giza. Thebes is quite a ways south of Giza.
2. They show statues of Anubis with his head tilted down. As a general principle of Egyptian art, statues face straight ahead.
3. The Egyptians stored the mummy's internal organs in four canopic jars, not five
4. The Egyptians didn't take the heart out of the body of the dead.
5. Yes, Egyptian embalmers took the brain out through the nose, but not with a "red-hot" poker.
6. If the Egyptians were going to inflict the greatest punishment to a criminal, they wouldn't mummify him and thereby grant him eternal life, they would just throw his body to the dogs or let it rot.
7. The earliest pharoahs were buried in Saqqara or Abydos, not Hamunaptra. We've never heard of a city called Hamunaptra.
8. Egyptian books were in the form of scrolls, not with leaves and bindings. The books didn't have keys.
9. We've never heard of the Book of Amon-Re. (although the Book of Thoth sounds similar to the one they were describing).
10. Scarab beetles eat dung, not human flesh.
11. Any "city of the dead" would be in the West, not in the east. (the rising sun revealed Hamunaptra). The Egyptians believed the afterlife was in the West due to the wide, uncrossable, expanse of desert that marked their western border.
12. Egyptian sarcophagi did not open with keys.
13. The famous vizier Imhotep worked for Djoser, an Old Kingdom pharoah who lived thousands of years before Seti I. However, Seti may have had a vizier named Imhotep (it's possible, but doubtful).
14. The movie seems to allude that the purpose of mummification was to bring the deceased back to life on earth. Once again, not so. Mummification would preserve the body so that the immortal soul could live forever (or as long as the body was intact).

courtesy of www.egyptianmyths.net

DON'T get me wrong though, I do love that movie, it's one of my favorites!!         -Invader Kisa

 Invader Kisa