Figure
Udjahorresnet
Priest and physician of Sais
c. 530 BCE
Served the last Saite kings, then Cambyses and Darius I.
Biography
A fleet commander at the end of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, he became adviser to Cambyses. The autobiography on his statue says he taught the Persian king Egyptian ritual and won protection for the temple of Neith at Sais.
Key facts
Certainty: Debated
Some scholars see Udjahorresnet as a collaborator with the invaders; others as an intermediary who protected his country’s temples.
Scholarly note: His text is an autobiography presenting him in the best light; we have no independent account of him.
- 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