Expedition to Punt
Hannu · 2000 BCE · Earth
Lead an army from Coptos to the Red Sea and dispatch a ship to Punt for fresh myrrh, in Year 8 of Mentuhotep III.
Historical context
Egypt traded with Punt, the land of incense somewhere on the southern Red Sea, from the Old Kingdom: the Palermo Stone records myrrh brought from Punt under Sahure. About 2000 BCE, with Egypt again under one king, Mentuhotep III of the Eleventh Dynasty sent his steward Hannu across the Eastern Desert to dispatch a ship there; in the Twelfth Dynasty, Punt expeditions sailed from the harbour of Saww at Mersa Gawasis.
The voyage, step by step
The pharaoh's commission
2000 BCE
In Year 8 of Mentuhotep III, his steward Hannu is sent to dispatch a ship to Punt for fresh myrrh, and sets out from Coptos with an army of the South.
Across the Eastern Desert
2000 BCE
Three thousand men march from Coptos through the Wadi Hammamat, each given water and bread every day, and Hannu digs wells along the road.
A ship sent from the shore
2000 BCE
At the sea Hannu builds a ship and dispatches it to Punt after a great offering of cattle, bulls and ibexes; by Breasted’s reading he does not sail with it.
Southward down the Red Sea
2000 BCE
The ship runs south, perhaps 1,200 km or more, towards the coasts of Punt; Hannu’s inscription does not follow it.
God's Land
2000 BCE
Where the ship landed is unknown: the Egyptians called Punt God’s Land, and its place is still disputed, from eastern Sudan and Eritrea to Somalia and Arabia.
Carved into the record
2000 BCE
Back from the sea, Hannu brings the gifts of God’s Land and blocks for temple statues through the Wadi Hammamat, and his account is cut into the rock.
Outcome
Dug wells along the desert road, dispatched a ship to Punt and brought back the gifts of God’s Land and blocks for temple statues from the Wadi Hammamat; by Breasted’s reading Hannu himself did not sail.
Hannu
Steward of the Egyptian king Mentuhotep III who, about 2000 BCE, led an army of three thousand men from Coptos to the Red Sea and dispatched a ship to the incense land of Punt.
Sources
- Ancient Records of Egypt, vol. 1: The First to the Seventeenth DynastiesJames Henry Breasted · University of Chicago Press · 1906
- Ancient Records of Egypt, vol. 2: The Eighteenth DynastyJames Henry Breasted · University of Chicago Press · 1906
- Spatial Use of the Twelfth Dynasty Harbor at Mersa/Wadi Gawasis for the Seafaring Expeditions to PuntKathryn A. Bard and Rodolfo Fattovich · Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 2 (3), 1–13 · 2010
- From River to Sea: Evidence for Egyptian Seafaring ShipsCheryl Ward · Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 2 (3), 42–49 · 2010
- Mummified baboons reveal the far reach of early Egyptian marinersNathaniel J. Dominy, Salima Ikram, Gillian L. Moritz, Patrick V. Wheatley, John N. Christensen, Jonathan W. Chipman and Paul L. Koch · eLife 9, e60860 · 2020
- Wadi Hammamat — Wikipedia
- Hannu — Wikipedia
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