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Sais

Egyptian royal city and temple centre in the western Delta, 6th century BCE

In the game: Level 2: The Spear-bearer, Level 5: The Charter

Sais was a city in the western Nile Delta and the home of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, the last line of native kings before the Persian conquest of 525. Its temple of Neith and its House of Life made it a centre of Egyptian cult and learning. Under Persian rule it appears in the record of an Egyptian official who served the Persian kings.

In the game: The game names Sais in Chronicle entries and in the articles on the House of Life and Udjahorresnet. It is not a level or a figure, and it has no mechanic of its own.

Home of the Saite kings

Ancient account

Herodotus says that Amasis, the last strong king before the Persian invasion, came from the Saite district, and he places Amasis's tomb inside the precinct of the temple of Neith at Sais. He also describes that temple as a great one. His picture rests on what he was told in Egypt, and it is a Greek writer's view of the city.

Herodotus 2.169-175

The goddess Neith and her temple

In the record

The statue of Udjahorresnet, an Egyptian official who served Cambyses and Darius, records his work at the temple of Neith at Sais. It says that Cambyses came to Sais, learned about the temple, and ordered foreign people removed from it. The text presents the king as honouring the goddess and restoring her offerings and festivals.

Statue of Udjahorresnet (Vatican)

The House of Life under Darius

In the record

The same statue records that Darius, while in Elam, ordered Udjahorresnet back to Egypt to restore the House of Life at Sais. The House was a temple institution for scribes, probably concerned with sacred writings, medicine and ritual. The inscription says Darius supplied people and means for the work. It is an Egyptian official's own account and naturally praises his service to the king.

Statue of Udjahorresnet (Vatican)

What the House of Life did

Disputed

Historians differ over how far the House of Life was a school or library and how far a temple workshop for texts and rites. Little of the city survives to test the matter. Some scholars see Darius's act as part of a wider policy of winning over Egyptian priesthoods, and link it to later traditions of a codification of Egyptian law.

P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, 2002

The site today

In the record

Sais lies under and around the village of Sa el-Hagar in the Delta. Little of the ancient city stands above ground, and the high water table makes excavation hard. Archaeological work there, including by the Egypt Exploration Society, has examined parts of the site.

Excavation reports, Sa el-Hagar