A
modern reconstruction of the barge on which Queen Hatshepsut
shipped two huge obelisks down the Nile from Aswan to Karnak
based on a fragmentary relief at Deir el-Bahari, c.1500 BC
Perhaps
the most interesting of the papyri is that in which Wen-Amon,
an official of the Temple of Amon at Karnak, describes his voyage
to Byblos in order to obtain wood for building a ceremonial
barge. The decline in Egyptian power by this time, around 1100BC,
is indicated by the misfortunes of the poor traveller who is
robbed, insulted by the Prince of Byblos, and, finally, after
being blown off course to Cyprus on his return voyage, threatened
with death by the local populace.
From
A History of Seafaring edited by George F.Bass
