“We have come from the well of Ibhet”: Ethnogenesis of the Medjay*
In: Journal of Egyptian HistorySearch for other papers by Kate Liszka in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
Our current understanding of the ancient Nubian people called the Medjay has been informed by textual and artistic representations created by the ancient Egyptians. By studying these sources, Egyptologists have argued that the Medjay were an ethnic group living in the Eastern Desert near the Second Cataract. Yet these studies exhibit an Egyptocentric bias, in which the Egyptian sources have been interpreted literally. This paper reexamines Egyptian references to the Medjay before the New Kingdom and demonstrates how the Egyptians conceptualized and fostered the creation of a Medjay ethnicity. The Egyptians perceived the people of the Eastern Desert near Lower Nubia as one unified ethnic group. Yet these people were not politically unified and did not identify themselves as Medjay until the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty. Increased interaction between the Egyptians and the people of the Eastern Desert caused certain pastoral nomads to adopt the term “Medjay.” Whatever role ethnicity may have played in their society previously, ethnogenesis of a “Medjay” ethnic group began towards the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Alcock S.E., D’Altroy T.N., Morrison K.D. & Sinopoli C.M. Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History 2001 Cambridge Cambridge University Press
-
Altenmüller H. & Moussa A.M. “Die Inschrift Amenemhets II. aus dem Ptah-Tempel von Memphis. ein Vorbericht.” SAK 1991 18 1 48
-
Anthes R. Die Felseninschriften von Hatnub Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Altertumskunde Ägyptens 1928 9 Leipzig J.C. Hinrichs
-
Aufrère S.H. “Le Nomarque Ânkhtyfy et la situation politique en Haute-Égypte avant le Règne d’Antef II.” EAO 2000 18 7 14
-
Barfield T.J. Alcock S.E. et al. “The shadow empires: imperial state formation along the Chinese-Nomad frontier.” Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History 2001 Cambridge Cambridge University Press 10 41
-
Barth F. Barth F. “Introduction.” Ethnic groups and boundaries: The social organization of culture difference 1969 Boston Little Brown 9 38
-
Barth F. Barth F. “Pathan identity and its maintenance.” Ethnic groups and boundaries: The social organization of culture difference 1969 Boston Little Brown 117 134
-
Bechhaus-Gerst M. Takács G. “Beja Identity in Tu Bedawie.” Egyptian and Semito-Hamitic (Afro-Asiatic) Studies in Memoriam W. Vycichl 2004 Leiden Brill 195 204
-
Bietak M. Ausgrabungen in Sayala-Nubien 1961–1965: Denkmäler der C-Gruppe und der Pan-Gräber-Kultur Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophish-Historische Klasse Denkschriften 1966 92 Wien Hermann Böhlaus Nachf.
-
Bietak M. Hägg T. “The C-Group and Pan-Grave Culture in Nubia.” Nubian Culture Past and Present: Main Papers Presented at the Sixth International Conference for Nubian Studies in Uppsala 11–16 August, 1986 1987 Stockholm Almqvist & Wiksell International 113 128
-
Bietak M. Helck W. & Otto E. “Pfannengräber.” Lexikon der Ägyptologie IV 1982 Wiesbaden Otto Harrassowitz 999 1004
-
Bietak M. Posener-Kriéger P. “Zu den nubischen Bogenschützen aus Assiut: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Ersten Zwischenzeit.” Mélanges Gamal Eddin Mokhtar 1985 Cairo Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire 87 97
-
Bintliff J.L. & Barnard H. Bintliff J.L. & Barnard H. “Concluding Remarks.” The History of the Peoples of the Eastern Desert (between the Red Sea and the Nile in Egypt and Sudan) from Prehistory to the Present In press
-
Bourriau J. Leahy A. & Tait J. “Some Archaeological Notes on the Kamose Texts.” Studies on Ancient Egypt in Honour of H.S. Smith 1999 London British Museum Press 43 48
-
Collier M. & Quirke S. The UCL Lahun Papyri: accounts. BAR international 2006 Oxford Archaeopress series 1471
-
Darnell J.C. “The Rock Inscriptions of Tjehemau at Abisko.” ZÄS 2003 130 31 48
-
Davies V. “Sobeknakht of Elkab and the coming of Kush.” EA 2003 23 3 6
-
Delia R.D. “Khakaure Senwosret III: King and Man.” KMT 1995 6 2 19 33
-
Díaz-Andreu M. et al. The Archaeology of Identity: Approaches to gender, age, status, ethnicity and religion 2005 London Routledge
-
El-Sayed R. Schneider T. “Afrikanisches Lehngut in ägyptischen Schriftquellen des Alten Reiches bis in griechisch-römische Zeit.” Das Ägyptische und die Sprachen Vorderasiens, Nordafrikas und der Ägäis: Akten des Basler Kolloquiums zum ägyptisch-nichtsemitischen Sprachkontakt Basel 9.-11. Juli 2003 2004 Münster Ugarit-Verlag 303 320
-
El-Sayed R. Afrikanischstämmiger Lehnwortschatz im älteren Ägyptisch: Untersuchungen zur ägyptisch-afrikanischen lexikalischen Interferenz im dritten und zweiten Jahrtausend v.Chr. OLA 211 Leuven Uitgeveru Peeters In press
-
El-Sayed R. “r’n Md̠3.iw – Lingua Blemmyica – Tu-Bedawie. Ein Sprachenkontinuum im Areal der nubischen Ostwüste und seine (sprach-)historischen Implikationen.” SAK 2004 32 351 362
-
Ferriol S.L. & Fidanza V.P. “Los š3sw y los md̠3yw en sus relaciones con el estado egipcio.” REE 1991 2 23 44
-
Fischer H.G. Inscriptions from The Coptite Nome Dynasties VI–XI Analecta Orientalia 1964 40 Rome Pontificium Inst. Biblicum
-
Fischer H.G. “The Nubian Mercenaries of Gebelein during the First Intermediate Period.” Kush 1961 9 44 80
-
Gardiner A. Ancient Egyptian Onomastica 1947 Oxford Oxford University Press
-
Gardiner A. “Inscriptions from the tomb of Si-renpowet I, prince of Elephantine.” ZÄS 1908 45 123 140
-
Gardiner A. The Ramesseum Papyri: Plates 1953 Oxford Oxford University Press
-
Giuliani S. “Medja Sources in the Old Kingdom.” DIE 1998 42 41 54
-
Giuliani S. “A New Proposal for the Interpretation of Hatnub Graffito No 16.” GM 1997 159 53 59
-
Giuliani S. Kendall T. “Some Cultural Aspects of the Medja of the Eastern Desert.” Nubian Studies 1998: Proceedings of the Ninth Conference of the International Society of Nubian Studies 2004 Boston Department of African-American Studies Northeastern University 286 290
-
Gnirs A.M. Loprieno A. “Die ägyptische Autobiographie.” Ancient Egyptian Literature: History and Forms 1996 Leiden Brill 191 242
-
Grapow H. “Über die Wortbildungen mit einem Präfix m- in Ägyptischen.” Abhandlungen der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1914 5 3 33
-
Gratien B. Les cultures Kerma: essai de classification 1978 Lille Publications de l’Universite de Lille III
-
Habachi L. “King Nebhepetre Menthuhotp: His Monuments, Place in History, Deification and Unusual Representations in the Form of Gods.” MDAIK 1963 19 16 52
-
Hodge C.T. “The Medjay / mişri.” Language Sciences 1969 8 11 13
-
Jenkins R. Rethinking Ethnicity: Arguments and Explorations 2008 London Sage
-
Jones S. The Archaeology of Ethnicity: Constructing identities in the past and present 1997 London Routledge
-
Kemp K. Trigger B.G., Kemp B., O’Connor D. & Lloyd A.B. “Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period, c. 2686–1552 BC.” Ancient Egypt: A Social History 1983 Cambridge Cambridge University Press 71 182
-
Koenig Y. “Les Textes d’Envoûtement de Mirgissa.” RdÉ 1990 41 101 125
-
Kraemer B. & Liszka K. “Further ‘Semna Dispatches’ in Papyri Ramesseum 18 and 19: Evidence for Administration of the Nubian Fortresses in the Late Middle Kingdom.” In preparation
-
Khazanov A.M. Nomads and the Outside World 1994 Madison The University of Wisconsin Press
-
Kubisch S. “Die Stelen der I. Zwischenzeit aus Gebelein.” MDAIK 2000 56 239 265
-
Liszka K. “We Have Come to Serve Pharaoh”: A Study of the Medjay and Pangrave Culture as an Ethnic Group and as Mercenaries from c.2300 BCE until c. 1050 BCE PhD Dissertation. University of Pennsylvania. In preparation
-
Lucy S. Díaz-Andreu M. et al. “Ethnic and cultural identities.” The Archaeology of Identity: Approaches to gender, age, status, ethnicity and religion 2005 London Routledge 86 109
-
Meurer G. Nubier in Ägypten bis zum Beginn des Neuen Reiches: zur Bedeutung der Stele Berlin 14753 ADAIK 1996 13 Berlin Achet Verlag
-
Michaux-Colombot D. Bonnet C. “The Md̠3y.w, not Policemen but an Ethnic Group from the Eastern Desert.” Études nubiennes: conférence de Genève: actes du VIIe Congrès international d’études nubiennes, 3–8 septembre 1990 1992 Genève Société d’études nubiennes 29 36
-
Michaux-Colombot D. Bruwier M. “Qui sont les Medjay et où se situait leur territoire?.” Pharaons Noirs: Sur la Piste des Quarante Jours 2007 Belgium Museé Royal de Mariemont 83 93
-
Moret A. Catalogue du Musée Guimet, Galerie Égyptienne, stèles, bas-reliefs, monuments divers Annales du Musée Guimet 1909 32 Paris Ernest Leroux
-
O’Connor D. Nubian Archaeological Material of the First to the Second Intermediate Period: An Analytical Study 1969 PhD Dissertation. Cambridge University
-
Osing J. “Ächtungstexte aus dem Alten Reich II.” MDAIK 1976 32 133 186
-
Posener G. Cinq Figurines d’Envoutement BdE 1987 101 Cairo IFAO
-
Osing J. “ et .” ZÄS 1958 83 38 43
-
Osing J. Princes et pays d’Asie et de Nubie: Textes hieratique sur les figurines d’envoutement du Moyen Empire 1940 Bruxelles Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth
-
Redford D.B. Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times 1992 Princeton Princeton University Press
-
Redford D.B. “The Tod Inscription of Senwosret I and Early 12th Dynasty Involvement in Nubia and the South.” JSSEA 1987 17 139 147
-
Ritner R. Szuchman J. “Egypt and the Vanishing Libyan: Institutional Responses to a Nomadic People.” Nomads, Tribes, and the State in the Ancient Near East: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives 2009 Chicago University of Chicago 43 56
-
Roymans N. Ethnic Identity and Imperial Power: The Batavians in the Early Roman Empire 2004 Amsterdam Amsterdam University Press
-
Säve-Söderbergh T. Ägypten und Nubien 1941 Lund Häkan Ohlssons Boktryckeri
-
Säve-Söderbergh T. & Troy L. New Kingdom Pharaonic Sites: The Finds and the Sites The Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Sudanese Nubia 1991 5 2 Uppsala Almqvis & Wiksell Tryckeri
-
Schlee G. Leder S. & Streck B. “Forms of Pastoralism.” Shifts and Drifts in Nomad-Sedentary Relations 2005 Wiesbaden Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag 16 53
-
Schneider T. Ausländer in Ägypten währen des Mittleren Reiches und der Hyksoszeit: Teil 2 Die ausländische Bevölkerung ÄAT 2003 43 Wiesbaden Harrassowitz Verlag
-
Seidlmayer S.J. Redford D.B. “Execration Texts.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt 2001 Oxford Oxford University Press 487 489
-
Sethe K. Die Ächtung feindlicher Fürsten, Völker und Dinge auf altägyptischen Tongefässcherben des mittleren Reiches, nach den Originalen im Berliner Museum, herausgegeben und erklärt Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften 1926 5 Berlin Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften
-
Smith H.S. The Fortress of Buhen: the Inscriptions Excavation Memoirs 1976 48 London EES
-
Smith H.S. & Smith A. “A Reconsideration of the Kamose Texts.” ZÄS 1976 103 48 78
-
Smith S. T. “Askut and the Role of the Second Cataract Forts.” JARCE 1991 28 107 132
-
Smith S. T. Wretched Kush: Ethnic identities and boundaries in Egypt’s Nubian Empire 2003 London Routledge
-
Smither P.C. “The Semnah Despatches.” JEA 1945 31 1 10
-
Strudwick N. Texts from the Pyramid Age Writings from the Ancient World 2005 16 Atlanta Society of Biblical Literature
-
Takács G. Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian: Volume 3, m- HdO 2008 48 vol. 3 Leiden Brill
-
Török L. Between Two Worlds: The Frontier Region between Ancient Nubia and Egypt 3700 BC–500 AD PdÄ 2009 29 Leiden Brill Academic Publishers
-
Trigger B.G. Nubia under the Pharaohs 1976 Boulder, Colorado Westview Press
-
Voss B.L. The Archaeology of Ethnogenesis: Race and Sexuality in Colonial San Francisco 2008 Berkeley University of California Press
-
Wegner J.W. “Regional Control in Middle Kingdom Lower Nubia: The Function and History of the Site of Areika.” JARCE 1995 32 127 161
-
Wilkinson T. Lives of the Ancient Egyptians 2007 London Thames & Hudson
-
Zibelius K. Afrikanische Orts- und Volkernamen in hieroglyphischen und hieratischen Texten TAVO Reihe B 1972 Wiesbaden Dr. Ludwig Reichert
-
Zibelius-Chen K. Die ägyptische Expansion nach Nubien: eine Darlegung der Grundfaktoren Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients. Reihe B, Geisteswissenschaften 1988 78 Wiesbaden L.Reichert
-
Zibelius-Chen K. Berger C., Clerc G. & Grimal N. “Die Kubanstele Ramses’ II. und die nubischen Goldregionen.” Hommages à Jean Leclant 1994 Cairo IFAO 411 417
-
Zibelius-Chen K. “Die Medja in altägyptischen Quellen.” SAK 2007 36 391 405
-
Zibelius-Chen K. >>Nubisches<< Sprachmaterial in hieroglyphischen und hieratischen Texten: Personennamen, Appellativa, Phrasen vom Neuen Reich bis in die napatanische und meroitische Zeit Meroitica 2011 25 Wiesbaden Harrassowitz Verlag
-
Zibelius-Chen K. Moers G., Behlmer H., Demuß K. & Widmaier K. “Ein weiterer Beleg zum sprachlichen Kontinuum des Medja-Bedja (Tu-bedauye).” jn.t dschr.w: Festschrift für Friedrich Junge 2006 Gottingen Universitat Gottingen 729 735
-
7
Bietak, Ausgrabungen in Sayala-Nubien, 61–79; Bietak, “Pfannengräber”; Bietak, “The C-Group and Pan-Grave Culture in Nubia,” 123–25.
-
17
Bechhaus-Gerst, “Beja Identity in Tu Bedawie,” 196. The words “Medja” and “Bedja” are not etymologically connected, as often asserted (Zibelius-Chen, “Die Medja in altägyptischen Quellen,” 391), even if their peoples may have spoken related languages (Zibelius-Chen, “Ein weiterer Beleg zum sprachlichen Kontinuum”).
-
19
Gardiner, “Tomb of Si-renpowet I,” 124; Wilkinson, Lives, 113.
-
21
Zibelius, Afrikanische Orts- und Volkernamen, 72, 74–75, 104; Zibelius-Chen, “Die Kubanstele Ramses’ II.”
-
30
Smither, “The Semnah Despatches,” 7–8. The Semna Dispatches seem to contain the direct speech of Medjay individuals. Of course, this direct speech is heard by the Egyptians and rendered by the Egyptian scribe, or a translator rendered their speech into Egyptian. The speech could have been paraphrased and/or changed in some way. Nevertheless, it still maintains a hint of the speaker’s original intent and allows us to glimpse at how these people identify themselves, even if we cannot be absolutely certain that this is what they said.
-
44
Fischer, “The Nubian Mercenaries of Gebelein”; Kubisch, “Stelen der I. Zwischenzeit aus Gebelein,” 239–46.
-
45
Aufrère, “Le Nomarque Ânkhtyfy,” 9; Zibelius-Chen, “Die Medja in altägyptischen Quellen,” 395–96. Zibelius-Chen has associated these iconographic traits with Eastern Desert people through ethnographic parallels with the modern Bedja. Not all scholars consider these stelae to be commissioned by Medjay, some believe that they are Nehesy (Kubisch, “Stelen der I. Zwischenzeit aus Gebelein,” 239–46; Bietak, “Zu den nubischen Bogenschützen aus Assiut,” 92; Fischer, “The Nubian Mercenaries of Gebelein”) and others believe that they are Egyptians (Meurer, Nubier in Ägypten, 94–96).
-
52
Török, Between Two Worlds, 23–52, 75–102; Zibelius-Chen, Die ägyptische Expansion nach Nubien.
-
56
Delia, “Khakaure Senwosret III,” 22; Meurer, Nubier in Ägypten.
-
59
Voss, Archaeology of Ethnogenesis, 1–33; Roymans, Batavians in Roman Empire, esp. 1–7, 251–59.
-
60
Translation adapted from Smither, “The Semnah Despatches,” 9. For additional discussion of the translation, see Kraemer and Liszka, “Further Semna Dispatches.”
-
69
The Biography of Sobeknakht: Davies, “Sobeknakht and the Coming of Kush,” 6.
-
72
Säve-Söderbergh and Troy, New Kingdom Pharaonic Sites, 2–6; Török, Between Two Worlds, 157–69.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 2298 | 472 | 57 |
| Full Text Views | 657 | 26 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 777 | 66 | 0 |
“We have come from the well of Ibhet”: Ethnogenesis of the Medjay*
In: Journal of Egyptian HistorySearch for other papers by Kate Liszka in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Our current understanding of the ancient Nubian people called the Medjay has been informed by textual and artistic representations created by the ancient Egyptians. By studying these sources, Egyptologists have argued that the Medjay were an ethnic group living in the Eastern Desert near the Second Cataract. Yet these studies exhibit an Egyptocentric bias, in which the Egyptian sources have been interpreted literally. This paper reexamines Egyptian references to the Medjay before the New Kingdom and demonstrates how the Egyptians conceptualized and fostered the creation of a Medjay ethnicity. The Egyptians perceived the people of the Eastern Desert near Lower Nubia as one unified ethnic group. Yet these people were not politically unified and did not identify themselves as Medjay until the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty. Increased interaction between the Egyptians and the people of the Eastern Desert caused certain pastoral nomads to adopt the term “Medjay.” Whatever role ethnicity may have played in their society previously, ethnogenesis of a “Medjay” ethnic group began towards the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 2298 | 472 | 57 |
| Full Text Views | 657 | 26 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 777 | 66 | 0 |
