the wonderful land of punt

7/27/2019 The Wonderful Land of Punt

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Ancient Egyptians: The Wonderful Land of Punt

The Wonderful Land of Punt

by Jimmy Dunn

To the ancient Egyptians, the land of Punt, with its reed, beehive-shaped houses raised onstilts above water, was the most exotic and mysterious of places to visit, and from which to

receive visitors, for more than once the Royalty of Punt came to the court of the Pharaoh in

Egypt. It seems to have been considered by them a most uniue haven! an emporium of

goods for both "ing and gods, and gradually acuired an air of fantasy, li"e that of Eldorado or

#tlantis. $or this reason, it was sometimes featured in narrative tales such as the Tale of the

%hipwrec"ed %ailor.

The people of Punt, at first are depicted with dar"-reddish complexions and fin features

wearing long hair, but by the&'th (ynasty, they had apparently adopted a more close

cropped hair style.

)e "now of trading missions sent to Punt by the Egyptians dating from at least Egypt*s +th(ynasty, while our latest definite record of a Punt expedition comes from the th

(ynastyreign of Ramesses III

.

Punt indeed seems to have been a commercial center for goods not only from within its own

borders, but from elsewhere in #frica. ere, the Egyptians sought and found many items that

did not exist within the Two /ands. $rom Punt, they received the incense "nown as antyu,which was produced in considerable uantities near Punt in the region of 0t1enet 23od*s
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/and4, as well as ivory, ebony 2hebny4 and gum 25emy4. $rom this mystical place they also

imported the s"ins of giraffes, panthers and cheetahs which were worn by temple priests, and

sometimes the live animals themselves for their own amusement or religious purposes. $or

example, the sacred 6ynocephalus baboons were imported from Punt. 7ecause of the goods

from Punt used by priests and to adorn temples, it was "nown as a region of 3od*s /and, and

considered a personal pleasure garden of the god,#mun.# stele in the mortuary temple

of#menhotep III2&'th (ynasty4 records a speech delivered by the god #mun, stating89Turning my face to sunrise I created a wonder for you, I made the lands of Punt come here to

you, with all the fragrant flowers of their lands, to beg your peace and breathe the air you

give.9

owever, the Egyptians may have brought bac" more than goods from Punt, for it has often

been suggested that their well "nown pygmy god, 7es, may have also been a Punt import. It

would seem probable that dwarfs and pygmieswere indeed imported from Punt, for

an inscription in the tomb of ar"huf, and expedition leader under Pepy II,tells of his

acuisition of a dwarf for that "ing.The oldest surviving record of a 1ourney to Punt comes from the Palermostone, which dates

to Egypt*s+th (ynasty./ater, during the&&th (ynasty, enenu tells us of a 1ourney to Punt

ordered by:entuhotep IIIwith three thousand men who transported material for building

ships through )adi ammamat to the cost of the Red %ea8

9I left 5optos on the road set by his ma1esty. The soldiers I had with me came from the south.

#ll the "ing*s officials, the men from the city and the village, marched behind me. The scouts

opened up the road ahead repulsing the "ing*s enemies. #ll the officials obeyed me. They

were in constant touch with the runners... 9

In order to transport the material to build their ships, don"eys were used, as camels were not

available until after the invasion of the Persians much later8

To every man I gave his rations, a water-bottle, a staff, two 1ars of water, twenty loaves of

bread. The don"eys carried the 1ars. )hen one of them tired, another was substituted. Iexcavated twelve holes in the wadi, two holes at Idahet, twenty cubits wide and thirty deep.

;ne hole at Idahet ten cubits in every direction, at a place where water sprang.

:entuhotep III was the first :iddle 5ingdomruler we "now of to send an expedition to Punt,

though such expeditions became more freuent during the &th (ynasty.
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)e do "now many of the routes ta"en to reach Punt. It could certainly be reached by boat

from the Red %ea. (uring the ;ld 5ingdomthis involved crossing the desert east

of :emphisto the 3ulf of %ue


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@et, Punt remains a mystery to us even today, for we do not precisely "now its actual

location. It has been suggested that Punt, because of its exotic 9overseas9 character, might

be as far away as %omalia, @emen or even the orn of #frica. owever, many modern

Egyptologists place Punt much nearer to Egypt. )e "nown that some of Punt*s treasures

were carried over land by way of ?may and Irem 2through the modern %udan4. )e also hear

of the children of the chiefs of Punt that were raised at the Egyptian court alongside the

children of 5ush 2?ubia4 and Irem. Therefore, it has been assumed that Punt was not so faraway, and most modern scholars place it perhaps on #frica*s East 6oast perhaps only 1ust

south of Egypt. $urthermore, modern attempts to classify flora and fauna suggest that Punt

may have been located in the southern %udanese or the Eritrean region of Ethiopia. @et this

would place Punt to the east of?ubiaand there is no evidence of military conflict between

Punt and Egypt, as there was between Egypt and ?ubia.

;ne even wonders whether Punt was indeed an actual political entity through all the years

between Egypt*s ;ld and ?ew 5ingdoms, or was rather more of a generali

the wonderful land of punt

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