"You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews". (John 4:22)
Thursday, March 14, 2024
Lysander and Usanhuru
by
Damien F. Mackey
Herodotus, in The Histories, tells of a skilful physician, Democedes of Croton, a character that I claim to be fictitious and based upon a really attested historical figure, the Egyptian, Udjahorresne:
Udjahorresne and Democedes
(5) Udjahorresne and Democedes | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu
The latter, who was a mentor in Egypt to Cambyses, appears under different names, all of which are mergeable the one with the other. Thus:
Esarhaddon and Nes-Anhuret, Ashurbanipal and Usanahuru, Cambyses and Udjahorresne
(5) Esarhaddon and Nes-Anhuret, Ashurbanipal and Usanahuru, Cambyses and Udjahorresne | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu
The Greek writers (whoever they really were) have supposed Greek navy men, such as Polycrates, Lysander, fighting in Greek wars, but also interfering in Egypto-Persian battles. These supposed Greeks – and presumably their Greek wars (at least in part) – were a fiction.
With all of this in mind, the name Lysander (Greek: Λύσανδρος) now looms for me as a Greek-ised version of Usan[a]huru, the Assyrian rendering of the Egyptian name, Udjahorresne. Compare:
Usan[h]ur[u] and [L]usan[d]er
Lysander was supposedly, like Udjahorresne (Usanhuru) really was, a navy admiral.
Lysander was named admiral of the Spartan navy in 407 BC.
Lysander: The Ambitious Admiral - Spartapedia
Udjahorresne … had previously held the office of navy commander.
http://www.displaceddynasties.com/uploads/6/2/6/5/6265423/displaced_dynasties_chapter_7_-_udjahorresne_-_statue__tomb.pdf
Serving a Great King, Darius
…. Great King Darius of Persia replaced the local satrap Tissaphernes with Darius’ younger son, Cyrus. Cyrus was an ambitious prince with a desire to foster closer ties with Sparta that they might one day assist his future claim to the Persian throne. He was thus eager to build a relationship with the incoming admiral [Lysander].
Udjahorresne … identified as a high official under Cambyses and Darius I ….
Left something of a bad legacy:
… scholars have wrongly maligned him, falsely accusing him of collaborating with the enemy.
Lysander was a most unspartanlike Spartiate. Time and again he put him own goals before the common good, used his position for self-benefit, and promoted and celebrated himself in the most unpious fashion. In many ways, he exemplified the human flaws which characterized the unravelling of Lycurgan Sparta and its decline from power.
To fill him out completely, as Udjahorresne, Lysander probably needs to be aligned also with the physician, Democedes:
Udjahorresne and Democedes
(6) Udjahorresne and Democedes | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu
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