Udjahorresnet
Udjaḥorresnet | |
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Darius I | |
Burial | shaft tomb at Abusir? |
Udjaḥorresnet (or Wedjaḥorresnet, and many other variants) was an
We know about his remarkable and controversial career thanks to his
Biography
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Udjaḥorresnet in hieroglyphs | ||||||
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Late Period (664–332 BC) | ||||||
Early in his career, during the reigns of pharaohs Amasis II and Psamtik III, Udjahorresnet was a commander of ships (admiral), a physician and a priest of Neith in Sais.[2] He was probably the Commander of the Egyptian Fleet under Amasis II, as one of his title on the inscription of his statue is "Commander of the King's fleet".[3][4] According to the inscription, he was:
Chief of the Royal Navy under the King of Upper and Lower Egypt Amasis, Chief of the Royal Navy under the King of Upper and Lower Egypt Psamtik.
— Inscription of the statue of Udjahorresnet (fragment).[5]
After the
Nevertheless, his influence grew unexpectedly under the reign of the foreign kings, Cambyses and his successor Darius I: Udjahorresnet apparently became a sort of
After Cambyses' death (522 BCE), Udjahorresnet's mission continued with Darius I: in fact, he even escorted Darius on his return to Susa[2] and before returning to Egypt, he persuaded the new pharaoh to entrust to him the restoration of Per-ankh (the “House of Life”), a well known educational and cultural institution in ancient Egypt.[1]: 173 [8]
Udjahorresnet probably died later during Darius' reign. His huge shaft tomb at Abusir was excavated between 1980 and 1993, and found looted in antiquity.[9]: 7 It is still a matter of debate if Udjahorresnet was indeed buried here or not;[9]: 79 if not, it is possible that he died and was entombed in Persia rather than Egypt.[10]
References
- ^ a b c d Lloyd, Alan B. (1982). "The inscription of Udjahorresnet. A collaborator's testament". Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. 68: 166–190.
- ^ ISBN 0-203-44328-4. p. 212.
- S2CID 163208310.
- ^ Vatican Museum notice
- ^ Posener, Georges (1906-1988) Auteur du texte (1936). La première domination perse en Egypte : recueil d'inscriptions hiéroglyphiques / par G. Posener. p. 7.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - hdl:2027.42/107318.
- JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctvss3wvv.
- ISBN 978-1438109978. p. 419.
- ^ a b Bares, Ladislav (1999). Abusir: Excavations of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, vol. IV: The shaft tomb of Udjahorresnet at Abusir. Prague: Universitas Carolina Pragensis.
- ISBN 88-8492-095-7. p. 105
Further reading
- Lopez, Francesco (2015). Democede di Crotone e Udjahorresnet di Sais. Medici primari alla corte achemenide di Dario il Grande [Democedes of Croton and Udjahorresnet of Sais. Chief physicians at the Achaemenid court of Darius the Great] (in Italian). Pisa: Pisa University Press.