In the blog post "She-Doctor?!" I reported that we only have more detailed information about the lives of very few ancient Egyptian physicians. One exception to this rule (and a very colourful one at that) is the physician Udjahorresnet, who shows us how one could actually achieve world fame as an ancient Egyptian physician.
Udjahorresnet lived in the 6th century BCE in Sais, a city in the western Nile Delta that was the cult centre of the goddess Neith. Sais was the capital of the so-called "Saite dynasty", i.e. the 26th dynasty, whose kings came from this very place. A naophoros statue* of Udjahorresnet was found in the temple there, bearing an autobiographical inscription and telling us of an eventful life:
Naophoros statue of Udjahorresnet
Museo Gregoriano Egizio, Vatican, Cat. 22690
Basalt
Height 58 cm; width 12,5 cm; depth 27,5 cm
* "Naophoros" means that the statue of the person depicted holds a small shrine (naos) in his hands, which contains a statue of a god.
Under the last two kings of the 26th Dynasty, Amasis and Psammetich III, Udjahorresnet was commander of the Egyptian fleet, i.e. a senior military leader, who also had numerous courtesy titles that were common at the time, such as the "king's sealer" or the "king's only friend" (and there were many "king's only friends"). The first king of the 27th Dynasty, Cambyses, now made him "Great of the Doctors" and gave him an administrative post in the palace. So far, so good; if it were not for the fact that the dynastic change came about because the Persians invaded Egypt and made it their subject! With this knowledge, it is remarkable that a high official of the old government also served the new ruler in a prominent position. To put it benevolently, this suggests that Udjahorresnet was sufficiently flexible in his loyalty; one could also call him, as some Egyptologists do, the first known collaborator in history.
His reputation among the first Persian rulers went so far that Udjahorresnet was probably able to exert great influence on day-to-day political decisions. His biography reports that he was able to persuade Cambyses to remove the immigrant Persians who had settled in the Temple of Neith and to have their dwellings demolished in order to reinstate the temple cult. Apparently he also followed Cambyses to the Persian royal court outside Egypt and probably served as the king's personal physician there. This is consistent with accounts of Herodotus, who tells us about an Egyptian physician and advisor to the Persians. Darius, Cambyses' successor, eventually allowed Udjahorresnet to return to Sais to rebuild the "House of Life". The House of Life seems, on the one hand, to have been a kind of library attached to temples. On the other hand, there are strong indications that part of the medical training was also located there, not least through Udjahorresnet's inscription, which says:
"I brought in their disciples, who are sons of (high-ranking) men, and there was no commoner among them. I placed them under learned men who taught them their art. [...] His Majesty did this, knowing the value of this art which brings the sick back to life."
This inscription testifies that the training of physicians was, at least at some times in Ancient Egypt, to a certain extent "institutionalised", i.e. not everyone could pursue the art of healing freely. Furthermore, the impression is created that access to the house of life was limited to the "higher" society; surely this also has something to do with the fact that reading and writing were indispensable for physicians.
That Udjahorresnet did great things for the Persian kings is confirmed by the fact that 177 years later, at the time of the second Persian rule in Egypt, a priest in Memphis reported that he restored statues of Udjahorresnet, "the Great of Physicians", and saved them from decay. This would certainly not have been done for a random person so late after his lifetime! In the article stated below, Burkard assumes that Udjahorresnet obtained this position primarily as a personal physician and less because of his political abilities. For, he concludes, it is well known that collaborators cannot be sure of appreciation from any side in the long run....
Literature
- Günter Burkard, Medizin und Politik - Altägyptische Heilkunst am persischen Königshof, in: SAK 21 (1995), 35-57.
- Joachim Stephan, Überlegungen zur Ausbildung der Ärzte im Alten Ägypten, in: SAK 24 (1997), 301-312.
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