Egypt: Relief depicting the incense and myrrh trees obtained by Queen Hatshepsut's expedition to Punt, c. 1480 BCE

Hatshepsut established the trade networks that had been disrupted during the Hyksos occupation of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, thereby building the wealth of the eighteenth dynasty.

She oversaw the preparations and funding for a mission to the Land of Punt. The expedition set out in her name with five ships, each measuring 70 feet (21 m) long bearing several sails and accommodating 210 men that included sailors and 30 rowers. Many trade goods were bought in Punt, notably myrrh.

Most notably, however, the Egyptians returned from the voyage bearing thirty-one live myrrh trees, the roots of which were carefully kept in baskets for the duration of the voyage. This was the first recorded attempt to transplant foreign trees. It is reported that Hatshepsut had these trees planted in the courts of her Deir el Bahri mortuary temple complex.

She had the expedition commemorated in relief at Deir el-Bahri, which is also famous for its realistic depiction of the Queen of the Land of Punt, Queen Iti, who appears to have had a genetic trait called steatopygia (a large amount of fat accumulating around the buttocks). Hatshepsut also sent raiding expeditions to Byblos and Sinai shortly after the Punt expedition.

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Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

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Pictures From History

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INCENSE ROAD