The Medjay were members of the military in Ancient Egypt. They primarily acted as desert scouts and protectors of areas of pharaonic interest. They were also often used to protect valuable areas, like capital cities, royal cemeteries, and the borders of Egypt.
The Medjay symbol was the all-seeing Eye of Horus (the leader of the Egyptian gods and the god of the sky. The Eye of Horus itself was a symbol of protection, royal power and good health) and Medjays would present their symbol as a sort of badge of office, if they ever needed to do so.
The use of the Medjay had somewhat declined in Egypt by the reign of Cleopatra. The order itself had become obsolete under the rule of the Greek Ptolemies
The last Medjay was Bayek of Siwa, who was also a member of the Assassin Order. Bayek was the respected protector of his community, but in the rest of Egypt, he was viewed as an inconvenient relic by those in power.
In Real Life:
“The Medjay” represents the name Ancient Egyptians gave to a region in northern Sudan inhabited by an ancient people of Nubia. In the New Kingdom, however, the word Medjay developed to refer to members of the Ancient Egyptian military as scouts and protectors of areas designated by the pharaoh.
The Medjay played an important role in Ancient Egypt, first as foreign mercenaries employed by the Egyptian army and later as a paramilitary police force that guarded royal palaces and tombs.
By the 18th century of the New Kingdom period, the Medjay were an elite paramilitary police force. The term, at this point, no longer referred to an ethnic group (in the Middle Kingdom) or an area of land (in the Old Kingdom). Being an elite police force, the Medjay were often used to protect valuable areas, especially areas like capital cities, royal cemeteries, and the borders of Egypt. Though they are most notable for their protection of the royal palaces and tombs in Thebes and the surrounding areas, the Medjay were known to have been used throughout Upper and Lower Egypt. Each regional unit had its own captains.
Some other duties of the Medjay included fighting in war (when the occasion arose), protecting the pharaoh, and were often placed in charge of slaves.
At first, the group just consisted of those who were considered ethnically Medjay and were descended from the ancient tribal group. This changed over time, however, as more and more Egyptians took up their occupation. Based on the written records, it can be seen that various Medjay chiefs and captains had Egyptian names and were depicted as such. Why this change occurred is not exactly known by Egyptologists, but it may be assumed that because the Medjay were seen as an elite group of warriors, more Egyptians joined to achieve a similar status.
After the 20th Dynasty, the term Medjay is no longer found in Egyptian written records. Egyptologists do not know whether the Medjay as an occupation had been abolished or the name had just been changed.
In modern popular culture, the Medjay are mentioned as Pharaoh Seti I’s personal bodyguards in ancient Egypt in the 1999 movie, The Mummy.
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