Djadjaemankh is the name of a fictitious ancient Egyptian magician appearing in the third chapter of a story told in the legendary Westcar Papyrus.

Nevertheless, he is object of great interest for Egyptologists, since his magical trick is connected to later cultural perceptions of the personality of king Sneferu.

Then it happens that the stroke maiden goes through her braids with her fingers and a hair pendant in the shape of a fish, made of malachite, falls into the water of the lake.

"[3] Sneferu brings the stroke maiden back to her seat and offers: "Let me give you a duplicate of your pendant as a substitute.

The ruler says: "Djadjaemankh, my brother, I have done all things that you have advised and the heart of thy majesty was refreshed when seeing the maidens rowing.

Then a fish pendant made of fresh beaten malachite, belonging to the stroke maiden, fell into the water.

Sneferu spends the rest of the day celebrating together with his royal palace and Djadjaemankh is rewarded generously by the king.

[3][4][7] Egyptologists see an important connection between Djadjaemankh's magic performance and the perception of king Sneferu's personality.

Adolf Erman and Kurt Heinrich Sethe once considered the stories of the Westcar Papyrus as mere folklore.

They saw literary figures like Djadjaemankh and the other heroes of the Westcar Papyrus as a pure fiction, created only for entertainment, since there is no archeological evidence of them.

[7] Modern Egyptologists such as Verena Lepper and Miriam Lichtheim deny this view and argue that Sethe and Erman may have just failed to see the profundity of such novels.

[3][4] Lepper and Liechtheim evaluate the story of Djadjaemankh as some sort of satire, in which a pharaoh is depicted as a fatuous fool, who is easily pleased with superficial entertainment and unable to solve his problem with a little rowing girl on his own.

Since pAthen and The prophecy of Neferti show the same manner of speaking and equal picking up of quaint phrases as the Westcar Papyrus does, Lepper and Liechtheim hold that Djadjaemankh must have been known to Egyptian authors for a surprisingly long time.