Expeditions, not routine trade
Most Egyptian commerce moved along the Nile, as described in the article on Egyptian Nile commerce. Sea voyages were different. They were often organised by the crown, sent out with a particular purpose, and recorded in inscriptions or temple reliefs as royal achievements. Two main regions were involved: the Red Sea in the south and the eastern Mediterranean coast in the north. The records come with a bias, since they were written to praise the king, so details need to be read carefully.
The Land of Punt
Punt was a region that the Egyptians regarded as a source of incense, myrrh, gold, ebony and animals. Its exact location is debated. Most scholars place it somewhere on the southern Red Sea coast, in the area of modern Sudan, Eritrea and perhaps parts of Ethiopia or even the southern Arabian side. The evidence of the products brought back supports a location in that general region, but certainty is not possible.
Egyptian expeditions to Punt are attested from the Old Kingdom. An inscription connected with the Fifth Dynasty pharaoh Sahure, about the twenty-fifth century BCE, is usually cited as an early example. Middle Kingdom records, including inscriptions at the Red Sea harbour of Mersa Gawasis, mention further expeditions. The later article on Egyptian sea lanes describes how the route was organised.
Hatshepsut’s expedition
The best-known voyage is the Punt expedition shown on the walls of Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir el-Bahari, near Thebes. Hatshepsut ruled in the Eighteenth Dynasty, in the fifteenth century BCE, and the expedition is generally dated to the middle of her reign, though the exact year is debated.
The reliefs show five ships, with rows of rowers, a square sail and a large steering oar. They depict the arrival in Punt, the meeting with the local ruler, the houses on stilts and the loading of cargo. Items shown include incense trees in baskets, bags of resin, ebony, ivory, gold, animal skins and live animals. The relief of the incense trees is notable, as it suggests that the Egyptians tried to bring living trees home, perhaps to plant them at the temple.
It is important to remember what the reliefs are. They are formal temple decoration meant to show the king as a successful ruler, and they are not a ship’s log. The scenes were arranged for effect, and so the numbers of ships, trees and goods should not be taken as an exact record.
How the ships got there
The Red Sea coast is far from the Nile valley’s population centres, so expeditions began with an overland journey. Parts of the ship, or the supplies, were hauled across the desert from the Nile to the coast. At Mersa Gawasis, archaeologists have found remains of ship timbers, rope, anchors and storage caves, which indicates that boats were assembled or repaired there and stored between expeditions. The wood in some cases appears to be reused, suggesting a shortage of good timber.
Sailing the Red Sea required care. Reefs, changing winds and limited harbours all made the journey difficult. Some scholars suggest the northern winds helped the outward journey and that the return might have been slower, but evidence for the details is limited. Red Sea navigation is covered more generally in its own article.
Other expeditions
Egyptian rulers also sent ships to the eastern Mediterranean. Records from the Old Kingdom, including the Palermo Stone, mention ships bringing cedar from the Levant during the reign of Sneferu, though the interpretation is debated. Cedar was needed for temples, ships and coffins.
Later records are fewer. A literary text known as the Story of Wenamun, dated to around the eleventh century BCE, describes an official sent to Byblos to buy cedar for a sacred barge, and it suggests that Egypt’s influence had declined by then. It is a story, not an official report, but it gives a flavour of how such missions were seen.
Another claim comes from the Greek historian Herodotus, who says that the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II, about 600 BCE, sent Phoenician sailors to sail around Africa. Herodotus reported that they took about three years and said they saw the sun on their right as they sailed west. Historians disagree about whether the voyage happened as described, and the account is second-hand.
What the expeditions brought back
The expeditions served several purposes: they brought goods for temples and the court, they proved royal power, and they created contacts with distant peoples. Incense and myrrh were used in religious ritual, while gold, ebony and ivory were prestige materials. Exotic animals added to the king’s image. The scale of such trade should not be exaggerated, since each voyage involved a few ships and was an occasional event.
Why the expeditions matter
These voyages show that the Egyptians were capable of organising complex sea journeys with the resources of the state. They also show the limits of Egyptian seafaring, which depended on the crown, on supplies hauled across the desert, and on the skills of foreign sailors at times. The study of Egyptian maritime trade and the broader context of ancient maritime commerce put these journeys in perspective. Evidence will continue to change as excavations at the Red Sea harbours go on.