Moses a trusted world trader for Egypt in the Pyramid Age

by Damien F. Mackey “It is likely that Iny travelled to Anatoly by land before Weni led several mighty military expeditions by land and sea against “native” countries, which were not specified in his biographical inscription, but the word “native” … is the same used for people to be brought to Egypt from Hundašša”. Alessandro Roccati Upon reading through Alessandro Roccati’s absorbing paper: Iny’s Travels (3) Iny's Travels | Alessandro Roccati - Academia.edu finding common purpose in Iny’s adventures, by way of comparison with those of Weni - and throwing in Sinuhe, to boot - it occurred to me that Iny most likely was Weni. The latter, as well as Sinuhe (a semi-fictitious character along the lines of Imhotep at the hands of later scholars), I have already identified as the biblical Moses: Historical Moses may be Weni and Mentuhotep (2) Historical Moses may be Weni and Mentuhotep | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu Since Iny served during the same Sixth Dynasty period as did Weni, travelled to some of the same geographical locations, and traded in the same sort of fine quality material (jewellery, precious stones, etc.), I think it a fairly safe bet that - Occam’s Razor and all - this was one and the same official of Old Egypt, Iny = Weni (Uni) = Sinuhe. Weni: “His majesty sent me to Hatnub to bring a huge offering-table …. of lapis lazuli, of bronze, of electrum, and silver; copper was plentiful without end, bronze without limit, collars of real malachite, ornaments (mn-nfr’t) of every kind of costly stone. of the choicest of everything, which are given to a god at his processions, by virtue of my office of master of secret things”. From what will follow, I may need to refresh the readers’ minds about the Pharaohs whom I think the historical Moses served. Despite a multiplicity of names; dynasties; and even kingdoms, the career of Moses, until his recall from Midian, knew only the one dynasty in revised terms. In conventional terms, this will constitute the Old Kingdom’s Fourth; Fifth and Sixth dynasties, and the so-called ‘Middle’ Kingdom’s Twelfth Dynasty. And there were only the two major Pharaohs, plus a female ruler at the end. But there were many names amongst these, including: 1. “New King” of Exodus 1:8: Khufu (Cheops); Teti (Merenre[s]); Amenemhet[s]. 2. Moses’ foster father-in-law “Chenephres”: Chephren; Pepi[s]; Sesostris[s]. 3. Sobeknefrure (female). One feature I find most appealing about Alessandro Roccati’s article is his adventurous approach to ancient geography – whether or not I agree with all of his conclusions. That a massive overhaul of ancient geography is urgently required is apparent from the tectonic effect a new geography has had upon a multi-volumed book that I was writing: My book, “A History of the Fertile Crescent”, swamped by a new and unforeseen geographical paradigm (3) My book, "A History of the Fertile Crescent", swamped by a new and unforeseen geographical paradigm | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu and, again, geography will be most relevant subject matter to this present article, especially this one concerning the location of Tarḫuntašša: More uncertain ancient geography: locations Tarḫuntašša and Arzawa (3) More uncertain ancient geography: locations Tarḫuntašša and Arzawa | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu Alessandro Roccati writes: “The splendid jewellery discovered in Egypt bears silent testimony to a trade intercourse, direct or indirect, with many remote and little known lands; and it would be of considerable interest to learn through what channels the precious stones that adorned the necks of the Memphite and Theban ladies found their way to the Egyptian markets ... we are tolerably well informed concerning the expeditions that journeyed thither (Sinai) almost annually in quest of the turquoise; but with regard to other much used stones … some of them, like lapis lazuli, from countries farther afield – our ignorance is almost complete.” …. A passage in the Story of Sinuhe was definitely explained as quoting the titles of rulers as far as the Luvian country … and a biography found in Dahshur told of an official, who in the middle of the 12th Dynasty travelled well beyond Byblos. …. Thereafter, although the outstanding archive found at Ebla/Tell Mardikh in 1975 still keeps silent about a likely partnership with Egypt concerning the trade of precious materials … an exciting discovery by Michele Marcolin in Japan … provides decisive evidence in favour of an Egyptian trade much farther than Ebla, reaching the heart of Anatoly in the same time of pharaoh Pepy I, to whose reign the Ebla archive is currently dated. …. A stone built chapel from somewhere in Egypt was illicitly dismantled and sold out in pieces all over the world. It had belonged to a first rank official who lived through the Egyptian 6th Dynasty and left a detailed account of his journeys northwards from Egypt: “… I reached (litt. “I did”) ɂmȝw, ḫntš, pȝws four times when I was a chancellor of the god under the Person of my lord Pepy (I). …. I brought him silver and every good produce that his ka wished, and his Person praised me because of that … exceedingly. Then I was sent to Byblos by the Person of my lord Mernerê. …. I brought three Byblos ships and made the big Palace boats. I brought lapis lazuli, tin … silver, bitumen and every gift that his ka wished, so that I was praised therefore in the Palace … and treasures were given to me. I went down to Byblos from R-ḥȝt and came back … in peace. Never was the same done by any general sent by my god earlier”. …. I was sent by the Person of my lord Neferkarê (Pepy II) to ḫntš. …. brought back one Byblos ship and cargo boats laden … with silver, native men and women. …. The Person of my lord praised me etc.” …. Hitherto almost nothing was known of Egypt’s outreach beyond the Sinai peninsula in this early period, but for the expeditions of general Weni during the reign of pharaoh Pepy I, and the information coming from Byblos and Ebla excavations. Although Marcolin could find out and join together several inscribed slabs from different collections, the relevant piece is kept in Tokyo Archaeological Museum (Kikugawa slab). On it one can read the record of four journeys of Iny under the long reign of Pepy I, that took him to three remarkable towns or countries, their names being perfectly preserved as well as somehow unprecedented. I shall now venture to tackle a reasonable clue for all three, provided that the horizon of the Egyptian civilization is extended in a way that had never been admitted before for such an early period, highlighting the magnificence of Pepy I’s reign, whose pyramid gave the name to Memphis. The reason for presenting a paper in a conference at Istanbul is that the farthest point reached by Iny was sited in central Anatoly and must be the renowned silver market of Burus-ḫanda. This place is well known in the later archive of the Assyrian merchants at Kaneš … and is even quoted in the poem Šar Tamkari. However, Iny’s mention is by far the oldest one, and the hieroglyphic spelling is exactly what we should expect for a name “Purus” or “Bur(r)us” in this period. Its connection with silver ensures the correct identification, whereas the lack of “ḫanda” in Iny’s inscription may be due to it being a later addition, or something that could be omitted in the very concise Egyptian writing. Consider however what is going to be said about ḫntš below. Damien Mackey’s comment: As exciting as one might find the thought of Egyptian Sixth Dynasty expeditions into Anatolia, to Purushanda, this may actually be a bridge too far for that early period of time. What could greatly curtail the geographical distance in Iny’s account is my identification of Tarḫuntašša (thought also to be in Anatolia) as Karduniash, now revised to, approximately, NW Syria. Alessandro Roccati continues: Before reaching Burus, Iny touched two certainly important places, one of which had already been known for a long time, though its exact location is still open to debate. I have the impression that their succession may not represent an exact itinerary, but rather mark the extreme points reached on the east and west (and north) sides. The western place name (ḫntš) occurred during the 12 th Dynasty in the annals of pharaoh Amenemhet II [Mackey: same period as Iny], and later in various sources of the 18th Dynasty … and then until the end of the pharaonic civilization. Moreover, it was mentioned in the 6th Dynasty as the source for the (precious) wood of a prince’s coffin. …. [I cannot reproduce the hieroglyphs here] looks to me as a good Egyptian rendering of “Ḫundašša” (omitting the initial “Tar” of “Tarḫundašša”) and must be related to somewhere on the sea coast. …. Even if a geographical term may have changed its reference in the course of time, I believe that a correspondence with Cilicia Aspera might well fit Iny’s route to Burus. Otherwise that stretch is the closest shore in the continent to Cyprus. …. Damien Mackey’s comment: Byblos is fairly well placed in relation to Cyprus. Alessandro Roccati continues: The third term (ɂmȝw: the first place reached by Iny according to his inscription) is the least certain for a topographical identification as it is known to me only in the present instance, but I suppose that an equation with Palmyra/Tadmor may hit the point. …. Its redundant writing is normal for the archaic writing of the period, but may entail the reduplication of m, perhaps due to assimilation (d > m before m): *Dammuru, or even better *Ṭammuru < *Ṭadmuru. The reference to the writing of the verb “to see” (mȝ, determined with the “eye” sign) may offer a hint of some sort for its reading. Palmyra is already quoted in the letters of Mari, and it must have been from early times the crossroads of important caravan routes. …. The hieroglyphic rendering looks satisfactory in default of another solution, and Palmyra would well suit the easternmost country crossed by Iny. If we trace a line from Palmyra to Cilicia, we notice that it passes not far from Ebla, a town Iny might have stopped at, where a major commercial trade centre for lapis lazuli and tin was thriving and fragments of gifts by the Egyptian pharaohs Chephren (4th Dynasty) and Pepy I have been dug out by the Italian archaeological mission. Moreover most of the evidence in the archive for a trade between Ebla and Dugurasu (Egypt according to Biga) lies during the rule of Išar-Damu, a contemporary of Pepy I …. Damien Mackey’s comment: I never would have thought that: Dugurasu as Egypt, or somewhere therein. Alessandro Roccati continues: It is likely that Iny travelled to Anatoly by land before Weni led several mighty military expeditions by land and sea against “native” countries, which were not specified in his biographical inscription, but the word “native” (ɂȝm = [drm]) is the same used for people to be brought to Egypt from Hundašša. …. During the reign of Pepy I, Iny was not looking for timber or any other materials, but silver, the metal mined in the Amanus. Under the successor of Pepy I, pharaoh Mernerê, Iny was sent not only for silver, but also lapis lazuli and tin … besides bitumen, wherefore he travelled to Byblos (Kbn, namely Gubla), and the inscription stresses that he moved from R-ḥȝt (= Dugurasu ?) …. The choice of a different (sea ?) route was perhaps due to the fact that the inland route was no longer safe and Ebla had been destroyed. Damien Mackey’s comment: Was it a ‘different ’sea route’? Alessandro Roccati continues: Anyway, Iny’s mention of Byblos is the second one we get for the Old Kingdom, after the first one in the reign of Pepy I … besides another one datable to the 6th Dynasty, while the archaeological evidence has shown how many contacts underwent with Egypt since the fourth millennium, and Byblos is well known to the Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts. …. Eventually Iny went back to Ḫundašša once more under the reign of the last pharaoh of the 6th Dynasty, Pepy II, who succeeded Mernerê after his rather short reign. Damien Mackey’s comment: In a revised context, this may have been the same trip. Alessandro Roccati continues: He must have been old by this time, being perhaps the most experienced of the pharaoh’s envoys to the northern countries, and he voyaged by sea, in quest of silver, without going as far as Burus … and of people, male and female, from that “native” country. …. Finally the three place names reported by Iny seem to forecast a parallel to the three ruler names quoted in the Story of Sinuhe. …. A similar expedition to Hundašša, on a larger scale, was sent under Amenemhet II, and it was doubtless directed towards the same country as Iny’s, again reached by sea, in order to provide silver (from Amanus ?), copper (from Cyprus ?), tin (from Iran ?), trees (for the transportation of which ships were indispensable), “native” people. …. Damien Mackey’s comment: Conventional history may be repeating itself.