Diplomacy in Ancient Times: the Figure of Udjahorresnet
Close readings from across the ancient world
12.09.2018 – 15.09.2018
Publication workshop organized by the Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires of the University of Helsinki (Dr Melanie Wasmuth) and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Dr Alexander Schütze, Egyptology, and Prof Dr Andreas Schwab, Greek Philology).
Venue: Institut für Ägyptologie und Koptologie, Katharina-von-Bora-Str. 10, D-80333 München
6th c. BCE Egypt spawned a key figure of ancient cross-regional diplomacy. The Egyptian politician and physician Udjahorresnet held high inner political functions in the former Egyptian kingship realm and became an important figure in transforming Egypt into a regional centre within the first ‘global’ and exceedingly culturally diverse empire of the Achaemenians. Though the ‘autobiographic’ inscription on his statue in the Musei Vaticani has been discussed in various aspects from an Egyptological perspective, the potential of a cross-regional close reading has not been taken up until now. Similarly, a discussion of the person and function of Udjahorresnet as a diplomat based on the cross-regional contemporary evidence throughout the Achaemenid empire is still missing. The workshop aims at a detailed cross-disciplinary commentary on one of the key sources on early Achaemenid expansion politics. This close reading of a specific primary source for ancient diplomacy in a phase of highly increasing globalization will be embedded into a set of contributions concerning Udjahorresnet’s personal life and his professional functions as well as on Udjahorrenet as diplomatic figure and as historical mediator.