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That is interesting and from a very layman’s understanding it would be unexpected. I’m just a casual fan of history and have listened to a lot of lectures for
by dpeck 5y ago
That is interesting and from a very layman’s understanding it would be unexpected.
I’m just a casual fan of history and have listened to a lot of lectures for Mediterranean history around bronze age, and my takeaway was that the consensus among Egyptologists was that ancient Egyptians never got very good at navigation & seamanship because they didn’t have to be. They had wind to go upstream on the Nile and current to go downstream and hugged close to the coast as a rule.
Maybe one-off journeys happened? Handfuls of people do things completely out of the ordinary for their culture from time to time. But if someone did it, it didn’t make much difference back home.
- mytailorisrich 5y agoThe article quotes Herodotus as saying that the Egyptians hired a Phoenician crew for this. Phoenicians criss-crossed the Med for trade and settlements.
- not2b 5y agoI suppose they could have hugged the coast all the away around Africa. It's also possible that the voyage never happened. But yes, being first doesn't matter as much as being first to be successful and following up. Other Europeans got to the New World first but Columbus kicked off Spain's colonization and that led to everything else.
- dragandj 5y agoIt was the Phoenicians who did this, while Egyptians ordered and paid for it.