There was a country to the east of Egypt, a place that was the home of the goddess Hathor and the abode of Ra on earth, from where every morning the sun god rose to illuminate the world. An exotic country, the country of perfumes, from which the frankincense tree, myrrh and other aromatic materials used in cults came, as well as ebony, gold, malachite... That country, which the Egyptians knew as ta-netcher , “the land of the god”, a place of unparalleled wealth, is today one of the poorest areas on the planet. To tell the truth, the expression ta-netcher is commonly used in ancient Egyptian texts. , "land of the god", to refer to places that were not ruled by the pharaoh and that also did not have a strong and prominent ruler, as opposed to the so-called "regions under the hand of god".
The country of Punt
Actually, his name was Punt , and was known since the times of the Old Kingdom. In fact the pharaoh Sahura , of the Vth dynasty, had already organized an expedition to this region in the 25th century BC, the oldest on record, to bring myrrh, ebony, electrum (an alloy of gold and silver) and malachite to Egypt.
Myrrh Tree Transfer
And it was not the only organized expedition to this place. Pepi II , of the 6th dynasty, and Menunhotep III , from the XI dynasty, also organized expeditions. And they were important trips, destined not only to import those vital products for Egyptian rituals, but also to maintain relations with this country. Menunhotep III's expedition must have been worth seeing:three thousand men under the command of Chancellor Henu , of which we have an inscription on the rocks of the Wadi Hammamat valley:
I was sent to lead ships to the country of Punt to bring to Pharaoh fragrant spices that the princes of the Red country profusely collect since they excite all nations. And I departed from the city of Coptos because his Holiness ordered that the armed men who were to accompany me must be from the southern country of the Thebans.
Queen Hatshepsut
However, of the expeditions that the pharaohs sent to the country of Punt (whether they were few or many, only a record of these four has come down to us) the one we know best was the one sent by the queen Hatshepsut at the beginning of the New Kingdom. Hatshepsut was a pharaoh-queen of the 18th dynasty who reigned in Egypt for more than two decades in the 15th century BC:the woman who wore the pharaoh's double crown the longest . She, granddaughter, daughter and wife of pharaohs, had been removed from the throne, which belonged to her by right, due to the intrigues of the chaty (Egypt's first official, the most powerful man after the pharaoh) and the royal architect. However, she Hatshepsut was a strong and intelligent woman and she managed to regain the power that had been taken from her through what could be considered a coup. With the support of the first priest, she proclaimed herself pharaoh of the Two Lands and firstborn of Amun before a young and inexperienced nephew, Tutmosis III , who could not prevent his aunt from taking control of the kingdom. Precisely because he seized power in this way, he had to put a lot of effort (and propaganda) into legitimizing his position. And one of the actions that she carried out for this was the largest expedition to the country of Punt that was remembered in centuries.
Sphinx of Hatsheptshut with pharaonic beard
The double expedition to Punt
It was an expedition organized in style, by sea and by land, with the aim of importing frankincense trees, myrrh, gold and precious woods such as ebony, highly valued in Egypt where practically no other wood grows apart from palm trees, which they are not a real tree but a big grass and they have a lousy quality wood, and the sycamores.
By sea, five ships twenty-four meters long and six wide, manned by more than two hundred men. And, on board, gifts for the local rulers of Punt, including a huge statue carved from a single block of pink granite depicting Queen Hapshetsut and the god Amun together. The expedition was a great success and the ships undertook the return trip loaded with more than thirty live trees, extracted from the roots, heaps of myrrh resin, ebony, ivory, "green gold" (malachite), frankincense, animal skins, baboons, dogs... Valuable merchandise that enriched the royal coffers.
Dyeser Dyeseru, the temple of Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahari
Of course, such a success had to be given the publicity it deserved, and it was done in the greatest work of Hatshepsut's reign, the temple of Dyeser Dyeseru in Deir el-Bahari, the most monumental in the valley and the only one of its kind in Egypt. Living trees were planted at the entrance of this temple and that of Amun, in Karnak, and on its walls we can find engravings that tell of the expedition and represent animals of this country unknown in Egypt. It was, without a doubt, the high point of Hatshepsut's reign.
Where is the country of Punt?
Engraving of the expedition to Punt in Dyeser Dyeseru
The Hapshetsut expedition has also left us a description of the rulers of the country of Punt, its inhabitants and their way of life. Queen Ity she was obese, and the king Parehu he had a beard and wore a skullcap and rings on his leg. The skin of its people was darker than that of the Egyptians, some with a copper tone and others black, like the Nubians, and they wore skirts (short skirt) just like the Egyptians. They built round log cabins plastered with mud and conical thatched roofs. Even today it is not clear where exactly Punt was, and perhaps we will never know, because the pharaohs took care to keep the secret of the exact place of origin of so much wealth. What is certain, based on the descriptions of plants and animals that have come down to us thanks to Hatshepsut's expedition, is that it was somewhere near the coast of the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden, in the region occupied by Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
The country of Punt, the abode of Ra on earth, the home of the goddess Hathor, the country of perfumes, the origin of countless riches, was located in what is now one of the poorest regions on the planet.
Collaboration of Enrique Ros of History Notes