Medjergelem?

[Andreas Johansson]

A mate (Kristoffer Wingstedt, may be familiar to those also on the DBMM groups.io list) made me aware that while the WRG and WRG-derived army lists has Ugaritic "Medjergelem guards" as swordsmen or similar, other sources, incl AANE and our Simon Elliott's Old Testament Warriors say or suggest that "Medjergelem" means archers.

So, I imagine evolving interpretations, but does anyone have any insight in what's the better or more up-to-date take?

[Duncan Head]

And you will probably get more response on the dbmmlist, since odds are it's either Nigel or Nigel originally behind this.

The attached article does suggest "archers" as one option: "rb mgdlm" could be either "chief of the archers" or "chief of the towers".

[Andreas Johansson]

Thanks. From my very limited Spanish the chief takeaway seems to be that nobody really knows what these guys are.

Also, what's up with the spelling? "Medjergelem" seems a weird way of vocalizing mgdlm.

I believe Kristoffer is going to ask the question himself on the dbmmlist.

[DBS]

You might find this paper interesting.  https://www.academia.edu/1526893/Ugarit_at_war_2

There seem to be two similar words in the texts, which may explain Andreas' observation re: vocalisation.

mdrglm (which makes some sense vocalised as medjergelem) which is taken to mean guards; and

rb mgdlm which is taken to mean chief of the towers (ie mgdlm equals towers).

Note that Vidali mentions that the rb mgdlm is mentioned alongside srtm (bowmen) in one text.

So, if srtm is translated accurately, clear evidence of archers, possibly/probably in at least a defensive garrison role.  Separately, we have the mdrglm, who seem to be "guards" but with what armament?  Are they the same as the srtm or different?

An interesting paper in other regards.

[Andreas Johansson]

Thank you.

I note that Vidal writes the "guards" word as mdrġlm, where the underlined d in Ugaritic apparently represents a sound like English "th" in "the" (not like in "think"). The same sign is however used to transcribe a sound similar to English "j" in Ancient Egyptian, in which use it's often rendered as "dj" in anglicizations, like "Medjay" for mdꜣj, so I'm suspecting that what we see in "Medjergelem" is a mixup of transcription conventions.

The rb mgdlm is then likely wholly unrelated, whether he lords it above towers or archers.

[DBS]

Agreed.  My take is that the rb mgdlm, as you say, lords it over towers, which just possibly may contain srtm archers.

Now, whether the mdrġlm are guards significantly numerous, whatever their armament, to justify inclusion in a wargames army is another question entirely.  They may just be bodyguards for the king or custodians of the palace.  On the field of battle they may even just be a few more chariot crews escorting the king.