Udjahorresne statue: Composition and Inscriptions

Udjahorresne



On the Composition and Inscriptions of
the Vatican Statue of Udjahorresne


On the Composition and Inscriptions of
the Vatican Statue of Udjahorresne
John Baines
he naophorous statue of Udjahorresne in the Vatican has
been studied repeatedly for its important inscriptions, which
form the only preserved native Egyptian account relating to the
Persian conquest in 525
BCE
and its aftermath.
1
Both internally and in
historical terms, the texts pose problems of order of reading that have
been analyzed in particular by Ursula Rößler-Köhler.
2
In this brief study
I return to similar questions in honor of William Kelly Simpson, who
has contributed so much to the study of Egyptian literature and history,
and of the monuments whose owners integrated those two categories to
proclaim their role in events.
The inscriptions are divided quite rigidly down the vertical axis of
the statue, except for the back pillar, which has a single text in three
1
Vatican collections, 196; perhaps from Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli.
PM
VII
, 416 (giving no. as
158). See Ursula Rößler-Köhler,
Individuelle Haltungen zum ägyptischen Königtum der
Spätzeit
, GOF IV:21 (Wiesbaden, 1991), pp. 270–72, no. 78a, with references; good general
photographs, with the eighteenth century head: Orazio Marucchi,
Il Museo Egizio Vaticano
descritto ed illustrato
/
Catalogo del Museo Egizio Vaticano con la traduzione dei
principali testi geroglifici
(Rome, 1899/1902), pp. 79–102 with pls.
I
–
II
, no. 113; see also
Giuseppe Botti and Pietro Romanelli,
Le sculture del Museo Gregoriano Egizio,
Monumenti
Vaticani d’Archeologia e d’Arte 9 (Vatican City, 1952), pp. 32–40, pls. 27–32, no. 40,
with bibliography and photographs of the original and of casts; treatment of the 1930s restoration
of the head, as against the “rococo” head it previously had, and of the texts, with
many photographs and bibliography: Alberto Tulli, “Il Naoforo vaticano,” in
Miscellenea
Gregoriana,
Monumenti Vaticani … 6 (Vatican City, 1941), pp. 211–80; valuable translation,
indicating the distribution of the texts: Miriam Lichtheim,
Ancient Egyptian Literature:
A Book of Readings
III:
The Late Period
(Berkeley, 1980), pp. 36–41. A second statue
of Udjahorresne, apparently made in the fourth century, was found at Mit Rahina: Rudolf
Anthes
et al
.,
Mit Rahineh 1956
(Philadelphia, 1965), pp. 98–100, pl. 35f–g; Edda Bresciani,
“Ugiahorresnet a Menfi,”
EVO
8 (1985), pp. 1–6. His pit tomb was discovered at Abusir in
1988–89: Miroslav Verner, “La tombe d’Oudjahorresnet et le cimetière Saïto-Perse
d’Abousir,”
BIFAO
89 (1989), pp. 283–90. See also Vilmos Wessetzky, “Fragen zum Verhalten
der mit den Persern zusammenarbeitenden Ägyptern,”
GM
124 (1991), pp. 83–89.
Section letters and column numbers of inscriptions used here are those of Georges Posener,
La première domination perse: recueil d’inscriptions hiéroglyphiques
, BE 11 (Cairo,
1936), pp. 3–26. I owe a great debt to Anthony Leahy for advice over this article and to Richard
Parkinson for reading and commenting on a draft.
2
“Zur Textkomposition der naophoren Statue des Udjahorresnet/Vatikan Inv.-Nr. 196,”
GM
85 (1985), pp. 43–54. Rößler-Köhler’s lettered subdivisions are not those of Farina and
Posener, also used here.



http://www.gizapyramids.org/pdf%20library/festschrift_simpson/05_baines.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Udjahorresnet ist in Abusir begraben worden, wo sich sein gigantisches Schachtgrab fand und von 1980 bis 1993 ausgegraben wurde. Es war jedoch schon geplündert worden. Udjahorresnet ist aber vor allem von seiner Statue bekannt, die heute im Museo Gregoriano Egizio von Rom aufbewahrt wird. Auf dieser Statue befindet sich eine ausführliche Biographie von Udjahorresnet. Dieser Text ist vor allem bemerkenswert, da Udjahorresnet die Ankunft der Perser erwähnt und sich als treuen Untergebenen des Kambyses II. und Dareios I. darstellt. Es ist bisher die einzige ägyptische Quelle, die von der Ankunft der Perser im Jahre 525 v. Chr. berichtet.

Museo Gregoriano