Is there really a tribe called the Magi (or Med-jai)?
   Tracy, Web Post

Dr. dig responds:

I guess that you have been watching The Mummy!

In ancient Egypt, the Medjay were a group of nomads who lived in the Nubian Eastern Desert. Originally, they were not on good terms with their Egyptian neighbors, but at the start of the New Kingdom (1550 b.c.) they fought alongside the Theban princes to expel the Hyksos invaders and re-unite Egypt. They then settled in the Nile Valley and, since they were tough, worked as security guards. As they intermarried with members of the local communities they gradually lost their ethnic identity, and the name Medjay was soon used for the state policemen who patrolled the towns and deserts and who acted as royal bodyguards.