| Medjed | |
|---|---|
 Bronze figurine of an Oxyrhynchus fish, wearing a horned sun-disc. Late Period–Ptolemaic[1] | |
| Major cult center | Oxyrynchus |
| Symbol | Elephantfish |
Medjed were a kind ofelephantfish worshipped atOxyrhynchus (Gr. Ὀξύρρυγχος) inancient Egyptian religion.
The fish were believed to have eaten the penis of the godOsiris after his brotherSet had dismembered and scattered his body. A settlement inUpper Egypt, Per-Medjed, was named after them. They are now better known by their Greek nameOxyrhynchus,[2] meaning "sharp-nosed", a nod to the Egyptian depiction of the fish.[3] As a sacred fish, they are frequently depicted wearing horned sun-discs. Some figurines have rings to enable their wear as pendantamulets.[1][4]
Freshwater elephantfish (subfamilyMormyrinae) are medium-sized freshwater fish abundant in theNile. Some of the species have distinctive downturnedsnouts, lending them their common name. The Oxyrhynchus fish depicted as bronze figurines, mural paintings, or wooden coffins in the shape of fish with downturned snouts, with horned sun-disc crowns like those of the goddessHathor, have been described as resembling members of the genusMormyrus.[5]
