Illustrative model — an approximation, not a scan of the original object.
c. 525 – 500 BCE
Statue of Udjahorresnet (“Vatican Naophorous”)
Early Persian rule; whether the text was carved under Cambyses or Darius I is debated.
- Material
- Dark hard stone
- Findspot
- Attributed to the temple of Neith at Sais
- Discovery
- Known in Rome since the seventeenth century as the "Vatican Naophorous"; its find context in Egypt is unknown.
- Held by
- Musei Vaticani, Museo Gregoriano Egizio, Vatican City
- Inventory number
- 22690
A headless statue of a man holding a small shrine (naos) with a divine image before him. A long autobiographical text covers his body.
The text tells how Udjahorresnet served Cambyses, gave him an Egyptian throne name, and persuaded him to expel the foreigners who had settled in Neith’s temple.
Certainty: Established
The statue, in the Vatican Museums as no. 22690, carries Udjahorresnet’s autobiography describing his service to the Persian kings.
- Musei Vaticani, Museo Gregoriano Egizio ““Vatican Naophorous” (statue of Udjahorresnet), inv. 22690” museivaticani.va
- Miriam Lichtheim (1980) “Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume III: The Late Period” University of California Press, Berkeley
Certainty: Established
The text says Udjahorresnet composed an Egyptian throne name for Cambyses: Mesutire, "offspring of Ra".
- Miriam Lichtheim (1980) “Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume III: The Late Period” University of California Press, Berkeley
- Pierre Briant (2002) “From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire” Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake