The Oldest Magic Trick in Human History

The Westcar Papyrus, preserved at the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, contains what is considered the oldest recorded magic trick in human history. This exceptional document, written in classical Egyptian on papyrus, describes -- among other tales -- a conjurer named Djedi who successively decapitates a goose, a pelican, and a bull before reattaching their heads and restoring them to life before the pharaohPharaohThe title of the ruler of ancient Egypt, regarded as a living god guaranteeing cosmic order (Maat), supreme head of state, army and worship.→ Khufu. A study published in August 2026 in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology re-examines this text in the light of new palaeographic analyses and concludes that the Djedi scene constitutes the first written record of a magic trick performed publicly, with all the narrative elements characteristic of prestidigitation: spectacle, suspense, and the revelation of exceptional talent before a high-born audience.1

Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza
The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. The Westcar Papyrus places the magic trick scene at the court of this pharaoh, founder of the 4th dynasty. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

The Westcar Papyrus takes its name from Henry Westcar, an English traveller who purchased it in Egypt around 1823. It was acquired by the Berlin Museum in 1886 and first studied in depth by the Egyptologist Adolf Erman in 1890. The document dates from the Second Intermediate Period (c. 1650-1550 BCE), but the tales it contains are presented as taking place during the Old KingdomOld KingdomThe first great period of unified pharaonic Egypt (c. 2700-2200 BC, 3rd-6th Dynasties), the golden age of the great pyramids and of a strongly centralised state.→, specifically during the reign of Khufu (c. 2589-2566 BCE), which would place them -- if the oral traditions from which they derive genuinely date to that period -- among the best-preserved narratives of the 3rd millennium BCE.

The Story of Djedi: Structure and Significance

The Westcar Papyrus comprises several stories nested within a framing narrative: the sons of pharaoh Khufu each recount a wonder performed by a magician. Among these tales, that of Djedi stands out for its narrative precision. Djedi is presented as a 110-year-old man living at Djed-Snefru, consuming daily 500 loaves of bread, a side of beef, and 100 jugs of beer -- the hyperbolic figures typical of Egyptian wonder tales. Prince Hordjédef offers to bring him to court.2

Fragment of the Westcar Papyrus
Fragment of the Westcar Papyrus at the Egyptian Museum, Berlin. The document is written in Egyptian hieratic script from the late Middle Kingdom period. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Once at the royal court, Djedi performs his demonstration: he cuts off a goose's head, places the body to one side and the head to the other, then pronounces a formula (or simply acts) and the head rejoins the body, the animal rising up alive. He repeats the feat with a pelican, then with a bull. The scene presents all the characteristics of a structured conjuring trick: context-setting, progressive execution mounting in intensity (from goose to bull), and reveals the mastery of an art that exceeds ordinary understanding. The 2026 study highlights that the Egyptian term used -- heka -- refers both to ritual magic and the art of illusion, an ambiguity that still characterises today the boundary between sacred magic and secular spectacle.

Magic, Prestidigitation and Illusion in Ancient Egypt

Magic -- heka -- occupied a fundamental place in Egyptian cosmology. Considered one of the primordial forces that enabled Ra to create the world, it was not perceived as trickery but as privileged access to the forces governing reality. The kheriheb (lector-priests) and sau (enchanters) formed respected professional bodies charged with the magical protection of the pharaoh, temples, and the dead.

Statuette of pharaoh Khufu
Ivory statuette of Khufu, the only known representation of the builder of the Great Pyramid, preserved at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

But the Djedi narrative introduces a new dimension: that of spectacle. The scene is explicitly staged before a royal audience, with a narrative progression designed to create effect. This is why the 2026 study identifies it as the first documented example of an art that would become, much later, that of the stage magician. The techniques of animal decapitation and restoration remain a mystery -- were they genuine optical illusions, trained animal tricks, or simply narrative fiction? The authors lean towards a combination of real practical knowledge (perhaps the temporary narcotisation of animals using specific plants) and calculated staging.3

The study also notes that the Westcar Papyrus is not isolated: other Egyptian documents -- notably the Salt Papyrus 825 and Leiden Papyrus I 343 -- describe magical techniques combining religious rituals with visual effects intended to impress spectators. Ancient Egypt thus had a tradition of performative arts linked to the sacred, of which Djedi would be the earliest documented example.

Sources

1. Morales A. J., "Djedi's Performance: The Westcar Papyrus and the Origins of Stage Magic", Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, August 2026.

2. Parkinson R. B., The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems, Oxford University Press, 1997.

3. Ritner R. K., The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, SAOC 54, Oriental Institute, Chicago, 1993.

4. Erman A., "Die Marchen des Papyrus Westcar", Berlin, 1890.