DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4144#0017
11
PLATES LXIX.-LXXXVI.
THE NAVAL EXPEDITION TO THE LAND OP PENT.
The Land of Punt.
The fragments of inscriptions found in the course of
the excavations at Deir el Bahari show that during
Hatshepsu's reign wars were waged against the
Ethiopians, and probably also against the Asiatics.
Among these wars that which the queen considered
the most glorious, and which she desired to be
recorded on the walls of the temple erected as
a memorial of her high deeds, was the campaign
against the nations of the Upper Nile.
On the short wall closing the Eastern Colonnade, on
the south side, there was a sculpture describing that
campaign. The god of Nubia, Tetun, was seen bringing
to the queen a series of captive nations or j>laces,
each of them represented, as usual, by a crenellated
cartouche surmounted by a negro head. This sculp-
ture had been entirely carried away by the Copts to
the upper part of the temple; nothing of it remained
in situ except the end-signs of some of the cartouches.
However, several blocks have been recovered ; among
them the figure of the god Tetun and a few of the
prisoners. Most of these blocks were built into the
supporting wall of the central court. The names
which have been recovered are :
Q
IIli
u
l\ J
Ui J
&£&
(W)
PPil
mm
They all belong to the land of
or
A^ Kuah, and they
are called by Tetun u J L V*> or | [11 ft) p " , Khasetu
rexu or Aidiu KJ/mt, the nation of the South or
the Anti of Nubia. This explains why on pi. lxxvi.
we see chiefs, evidently not natives of the Land of
Punt, who are bringing their tributes to the queen.
Tf they Avere subjects, they could not have been
conquered by the few ships she sent out for trading-
purposes rather than for war. It is true that before
Hatshepsu, her father, Thothmes I., had made several
successful campaigns against the Ethiopians and had
reduced them to vassalage ; but the history of the
kings of the XvTIIth Dynasty, and even of the
powerful rulers of the Xllth, shows that the subjection
of the negroes of Kush never lasted longer than the
life of the sovereign who had conquered them. When-
ever there was a change of king they rebelled, and
the first campaign of the new ruler was always on
the Upper Nile. This inscription proves that it was
the same with Hatshepsu as with her father, and that
her campaign against the Ethiopian rebels was suc-
cessful, whether made by herself or through a general.
Hatshepsu did not prize her military laurels as high
as her naval expedition to the Land of Punt, which
probably proved more beneficial to the country, since
it established a commercial intercourse between Egypt
and the nations of Inner Africa. Therefore it could
not be omitted on the walls where the events of
the queen's life were to be narrated. The chief
episodes of it were engraved on the southern wall
of the Middle Colonnade, being symmetrical to the
legend of the miraculous birth, on the other side.
The considerable space which these sculptures cover,
the fulness of the details, and the exquisitcness of the
work, all prove how highly the queen valued the
achievements of her ships, and took pride in their
results.
Where was the Land of Punt ? Few geographical
names occur so often in Egyptian inscriptions from a
remote antiquity. Generally Punt is written without
the sign indicating a foreign country, and it is often
employed as synonymous with ] ^^^^ Neterto, " the
divine land." The frequent mention of Punt in
mythological inscriptions seems to show that the
Egyptians considered they were in some way con-
nected with that country. There may have been a
vague and ancient tradition that they originally came
from the Land of Punt, and that it had been their
home before they invaded and conquered the lower
valley of the Nile.
As to its site, I believe it an error to consider the
name of Punt as applying to a territory with definite
boundaries, to a state or kingdom, or to a group
of states. It is a vague geographical designation,
covering a region of vast extent, situated to the east
of Egypt, the resort of several nations belonging to
different races and not connected with one another.
Since Mariette first discovered the sculptures of Hat-
shepsu's expedition, the opinion has prevailed that
Punt was Somaliland, the country which, with the
opposite coast of Arabia, produces frankincense. Punt
—the land of ointments and of all sorts of fragrant
gums, whither the Egyptians repeatedly sent expedi-
PLATES LXIX.-LXXXVI.
THE NAVAL EXPEDITION TO THE LAND OP PENT.
The Land of Punt.
The fragments of inscriptions found in the course of
the excavations at Deir el Bahari show that during
Hatshepsu's reign wars were waged against the
Ethiopians, and probably also against the Asiatics.
Among these wars that which the queen considered
the most glorious, and which she desired to be
recorded on the walls of the temple erected as
a memorial of her high deeds, was the campaign
against the nations of the Upper Nile.
On the short wall closing the Eastern Colonnade, on
the south side, there was a sculpture describing that
campaign. The god of Nubia, Tetun, was seen bringing
to the queen a series of captive nations or j>laces,
each of them represented, as usual, by a crenellated
cartouche surmounted by a negro head. This sculp-
ture had been entirely carried away by the Copts to
the upper part of the temple; nothing of it remained
in situ except the end-signs of some of the cartouches.
However, several blocks have been recovered ; among
them the figure of the god Tetun and a few of the
prisoners. Most of these blocks were built into the
supporting wall of the central court. The names
which have been recovered are :
Q
IIli
u
l\ J
Ui J
&£&
(W)
PPil
mm
They all belong to the land of
or
A^ Kuah, and they
are called by Tetun u J L V*> or | [11 ft) p " , Khasetu
rexu or Aidiu KJ/mt, the nation of the South or
the Anti of Nubia. This explains why on pi. lxxvi.
we see chiefs, evidently not natives of the Land of
Punt, who are bringing their tributes to the queen.
Tf they Avere subjects, they could not have been
conquered by the few ships she sent out for trading-
purposes rather than for war. It is true that before
Hatshepsu, her father, Thothmes I., had made several
successful campaigns against the Ethiopians and had
reduced them to vassalage ; but the history of the
kings of the XvTIIth Dynasty, and even of the
powerful rulers of the Xllth, shows that the subjection
of the negroes of Kush never lasted longer than the
life of the sovereign who had conquered them. When-
ever there was a change of king they rebelled, and
the first campaign of the new ruler was always on
the Upper Nile. This inscription proves that it was
the same with Hatshepsu as with her father, and that
her campaign against the Ethiopian rebels was suc-
cessful, whether made by herself or through a general.
Hatshepsu did not prize her military laurels as high
as her naval expedition to the Land of Punt, which
probably proved more beneficial to the country, since
it established a commercial intercourse between Egypt
and the nations of Inner Africa. Therefore it could
not be omitted on the walls where the events of
the queen's life were to be narrated. The chief
episodes of it were engraved on the southern wall
of the Middle Colonnade, being symmetrical to the
legend of the miraculous birth, on the other side.
The considerable space which these sculptures cover,
the fulness of the details, and the exquisitcness of the
work, all prove how highly the queen valued the
achievements of her ships, and took pride in their
results.
Where was the Land of Punt ? Few geographical
names occur so often in Egyptian inscriptions from a
remote antiquity. Generally Punt is written without
the sign indicating a foreign country, and it is often
employed as synonymous with ] ^^^^ Neterto, " the
divine land." The frequent mention of Punt in
mythological inscriptions seems to show that the
Egyptians considered they were in some way con-
nected with that country. There may have been a
vague and ancient tradition that they originally came
from the Land of Punt, and that it had been their
home before they invaded and conquered the lower
valley of the Nile.
As to its site, I believe it an error to consider the
name of Punt as applying to a territory with definite
boundaries, to a state or kingdom, or to a group
of states. It is a vague geographical designation,
covering a region of vast extent, situated to the east
of Egypt, the resort of several nations belonging to
different races and not connected with one another.
Since Mariette first discovered the sculptures of Hat-
shepsu's expedition, the opinion has prevailed that
Punt was Somaliland, the country which, with the
opposite coast of Arabia, produces frankincense. Punt
—the land of ointments and of all sorts of fragrant
gums, whither the Egyptians repeatedly sent expedi-