Vatican Naophorous

Udjahorresnet holds a small shrine containing an image of Osiris. The name Naophorous describes a figure carrying such a shrine. The long robe also bears an inscription, turning the statue into a record of its owner’s offices and his account of Egypt under Persian rule. Udjahorresnet served as chief physician, treasurer of the king of Lower Egypt and commander of the royal fleet. He lived across the transition from the end of Egypt’s Twenty-sixth Dynasty to the beginning of the Twenty-seventh. His inscription presents the Persian kings as respectful of Egyptian traditions. It preserves the account he chose to leave on his monument during a period of foreign rule. The statue’s precise ancient provenance is unknown. It was acquired without its head, and a later restoration supplied a head from another figure. That addition was subsequently removed. The surviving body preserves the shrine and the carved robe through which Udjahorresnet made his identity visible.