Land Of Punt Research Articles

Ramses II and the Land of Punt in the light of Nubian Enigmatic Inscriptions

This article is dedicated in honor of my Professor Doctor Abdel Moneim A.H. Sayed who has a lot of love, veneration and consideration in my life, as he has great respect and estimation from specialists of Egyptology and the history of Ancient Near East. Doctor Abdel Moneim A.H. Sayed guided me since I was an undergraduate student, was my mentor to learn the basics of scientific research presenting me the perfect example and beacon in ethics and endless guidance. He supported me during the most difficult times in my professional and academic career. He not only opened the doors of his personal library for me, as well as all my colleagues in Alexandria, but also gave me the precious time to teach me the methodology and how to translate and express in a scientific language. For this, I find in writing this article, a simple expression of my gratitude and appreciation to the great teacher, who endlessly supported me and my colleagues, and his endless support to offer help to his disciples scattering far across the country to conserve its heritage and teach generations of archaeologists to be guardians of the Ancient Civilization and Culture that is Egypt.

Hatshepsut and the Politics of Punt

Most discussions regarding the relationship between pharaonic Egypt and the “land of Punt” have focused on the latter’s location (a subject of considerable debate) and exotic imports. The most famous of the ancient expeditions to Punt was launched by the Eighteenth Dynasty female pharaoh Hatshepsut, who boasted that she had reopened this prestigious trade route. If so, it would have been after a long hiatus possibly of some two centuries. Offering a new perspective in the discussion of Punt, this paper explores the rationale behind her particular expedition to this fabled land. Comparisons between the textual and iconographic evidence of Hatshepsut’s expedition and similar records from a distant predecessor (King Sahure) and those of later kings suggest the political nature of the endeavor, which is further underscored by its apparent timing in relationship with her coronation. Like any other Egyptian king, and perhaps more so because of her unorthodox rise to power, Hatshepsut had to prove her fitness to rule. She did so by economic means: international trade under the guise of an act of religious piety. This perhaps allowed her to obtain the cooperation of other influential entities within the Egyptian society.

Biomphalaria alexandrina in Egypt: Past, present and future

The African species of Biomphalaria appeared as a result of the relatively recent west-to-east trans-Atlantic dispersal of the Biomphalaria glabrata-like taxon. In Egypt, Biomphalaria alexandrina is the intermediate host for Schistosoma mansoni. Biomphalaria alexandrina originated in the area between Alexandria and Rosetta and has historically been confined to the Nile Delta. Schistosoma mansoni reached Egypt via infected slaves and baboons from the Land of Punt through migrations that occurred as early as the Vth Dynasty. The suggestion of the presence of Schistosoma mansoni infection in Lower Egypt during Pharaonic times is discussed despite the fact that that there is no evidence of such infection in Egyptian mummies. It is only recently that Biomphalaria alexandrina colonized the Egyptian Nile from the Delta to Lake Nasser. This change was likely due to the construction of huge water projects, the development of new water resources essential for land reclamation projects and the movement of refugees from the Suez Canal zone to the Delta and vice versa. The situation with respect to Biomphalaria in Egypt has become complicated in recent years by the detection of Biomphalaria glabrata and a hybrid between both species; however, follow-up studies have demonstrated the disappearance of such species within Egypt. The National Schistosoma Control Program has made great strides with respect to the eradication of schistosoma; however, there has unfortunately been a reemergence of Schistosoma mansoni resistant to praziquantel. There are numerous factors that may influence the prevalence of snails in Egypt, including the construction of water projects, the increase in reclaimed areas, global climate change and pollution. Thus, continued field studies in addition to the cooperation of several scientists are needed to obtain an accurate representation of the status of this species. In addition, the determination of the genome sequence for Biomphalaria alexandrina and the use of modern technology will allow for the study of the host-parasite relationship at a molecular level.

The cultural benefits of the return of the axum obelisk

In the ancient world Ethiopia was known as the legendary Land of Punt. It played an important part in the religious texts of Pharaonic Egypt and was mentioned in the works of Homer. The most signif...

Plant Exploration: From Queen Hatshepsut to Sir Joseph Banks

The worldwide exchange of fruits has been facilitated by traders, travelers, sovereigns, conquerors, diplomats, missionaries, and botanists. The beginnings of organized plant exploration date to the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, who, as early as 2000 bce, brought back exotic trees and plants in their foreign campaigns and illustrated them on their temple walls. Queen Hatshepsut (ca. 1500 bce) sent out ships to bring back trees from the land of Punt (northeast African coast). The exchange of plants throughout antiquity was a by-product of trade routes between East and West as well as though the campaigns of conquerors including Alexander, the warriors of Islam, Genghis Khan, and the crusades. The age of exploration starting at the end of the 15th century was inspired by the search for a sea route to the spice-rich East. The encounter of Columbus with the Americas brought about an explosive exchange of New World and Old World plants. The rise of science in the 17th and 18th centuries was associated with botanical exploration involving travels and expeditions, including Hans Sloan to the West Indies, James Cunningham to China, Georg Eberhard Rumpf (Rumphius) to the Moluccas, and Sir Joseph Banks to Newfoundland, Labrador, South America Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, the Malay Archipelago, Hebrides, and Iceland.

The Horn of Africa

T tHE name 'Horn of Africa', is usually applied to the old 'Land of Punt' or Terra Aromatica on the shores of the Gulf of Aden whence came the frankincense and myrrh. I am now using it loosely to apply to all the desert country inhabited by Somalis which lies between the Highlands of Ethiopia and the Highlands of Kenya and the sea. It is a big area extending from north to south for about I,000 miles and from east to west in some places for 400 or 500 miles, but it is very sparsely inhabited and it is thought to contain not more than two million Somalis. Very little indeed is known about the early history of this territory, but it is quite likely that what happened was this. Some thousand years before the beginning of our era, people who possibly came from Palestine or Syria and who have since been called Galla, worked their way up the Nile Valley and into the foothills of the Ethiopian Plateau. They then spread to the south and south-east and by the tenth century they had covered a large part of the Horn of Africa. These Hamitic invaders were followed from about 8oo B.C. onwards by waves of Semitic immigrants who crossed the Red Sea from Southern Arabia, bringing with them their special arts and skills, and settled on the eastern fringe of what is now Ethiopia. It was the mixture of the Semite with the indigenous negroid people which produced (over a period of 500 years) the collection of petty highland kingdoms which became known as Ethiopia. The years between 900 and I400 saw the rise and fall of a group of Muslim States which at one time ringed the Ethiopian Plateau and under whose influence many of the pagan nomads turned to Islam. In this period too there came from Arabia the first big wave of Islamic missionaries which was to hasten and intensify the conversion of the Galla of the coastal plains. It is to two parties of such missionaries that the Isahaak and Darod Somalis attribute their beginnings, basing their claims to noble blood partly on direct Arab ancestry. By the end of the fourteenth century the Muslim States were in decline and the stage was then set for the first of the great migrations to the south which for six centuries have been the dominant characteristic of life in the Horn of Africa. Subsequently in the north the initiative was recovered by the Muslims and the old kingdom of Ifat was re-established under the Amirs of Adal who, using Danakil and Somali tribesmen, carried on an intermittent war against the Ethiopians. The issue remained in doubt until I529 when Ahamed Gran, the famous left-handed Imam of Harar, having raised and

Origin of Incense

IT is natural that incense should interest a botanist. For at least 4000 years mankind has used for this purpose the product of several species of Boswellia, natives of S.E. Arabia and Somaliland (the land of Punt). The English nanle Frankincense, borrowed from old French, substantially means incense par excellence, and represents the fact that, except amongst the Hebrews, it has been the substance exclusively employed in ritual. At last Epiphany frankincense and myrrh, in accordance with custom, were offered at the altar of the Chapel Royal, St. James's, on behalf of the King.