Egyptian Ceramic History

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Trade Routes of the Ancient Mediterranean | Suite101.com

Some of the earliest accounts of Bronze Age trade in the Mediterranean Sea is dated to the rise of the Kingdom of Egypt . After consolidating control over the Nile valley, around 3,000 BCE, early Egyptian kings sent trade expeditions northwards along the Palestinian coast. These expeditions were likely looking for supplies of timber but they also came into contact with the overland trade routes that extended westward to Mesopotamia and beyond.

The Egyptians would slowly come to dominate the Eastern Mediterranean and centuries later, during the height of the New Kingdom Empire, the sea would become known as the Water of Egypt. Although Egypt was the dominant political power on the waves for at least one thousand years it shared the waterborne trade routes with merchants from across the Bronze Age world.

Traveling north, along the Palestinian coast, Egyptian ships made an average sped of 55km per day. The Ships would bring gold, amethyst, jasper and turquoise to trade for timber and luxury goods like the prized lapis-lazuli from distant Afghanistan. As southern Palestine had few ports most Egyptian ships traveled north to Byblos to conduct their business.

From Byblos ships could travel on to Ugarit and southern Anatolia or they could sail west to Cyprus which was known for its copper ore and olive oil. Such journeys would take as little as two weeks when sailing out of the Eastern Nile Delta region. Travel south again from Cyprus was much quicker in the right season where southerly winds could push the ships southward at speeds of hundreds of Kilometers per day. This southerly journey from Cyprus could be treacherous as it relied on travel across open water; this made ships susceptible to storms.

During the New Kingdom Egyptian shipping was based out of Perunefer(Good Departure/BonVoyage), the port of the capital city of Memphis. It was here that much of the timber from the Syrian coast was brought for shipbuilding. Ships masts were brought in ranging from 6-17 meters in length. The ships themselves were up to 5.5 meters wide and 30 meters long. Although Egypt built many vessels for trade it is possible that some of the longer range vessels were actually built in foreign lands.

Egyptian accounts tell of long range trade vessels known as Byblos ships and Keftiu ships. Keftiu was the ancient Egyptian name for Crete. Some theories suggest that theses ships were so named because of their destinations but depictions of these vessels indicate they were often had crews of non-Egyptians and therefore may have actually originated in Byblos or Keftiu and were merely sanctioned by Egypt to trade in its territory.

Egyptian pottery

Egyptian ceramic art, the MacGregor collection ; a contribution towards the history of Egyptian pottery

Egyptian ceramic art, typical examples of the art of the Egyptian potter portrayed in colour plates

History of the ceramic art, A descriptive and philosophical study of the pottery of all ages and all nations

The Oxford history of ancient Egypt