Were the ancient Egyptians able to use reed boats to travel as far as the Black Sea thousands of years ago?
A group of adventurers believe so, and will try to prove their theory by embarking on a similar journey in reverse.
In mid-August the team of two dozen researchers and volunteers from eight countries will set off from the Bulgarian port of Varna, hoping their Abora IV reed boat will take them the 700 nautical miles through the Bosphorus, the Aegean and as far as the island of Crete.
The team is specifically seeking to prove a hypothesis lent credence by Herodotus, the expedition’s German leader, Dominique Goerlitz, told AFP.
The ancient Greek historian wrote: “Egyptians sailed through the Black Sea to get materials that they could not have from the east Mediterranean.”
It would be nice if we were provided with the precise reference in Herodotus they set out to prove. But apparently the team is out to prove a number of other theses that at first glance seem somewhat, hmm, original.
Egyptian seafarers brought iron to Egypt from the Caucuses in order to build the pyramids, says Görlitz. He was part of a group that studied iron traces in the mammoth blocks of the Great Pyramid of King Khufu, dating back to the third millennium B.C., 1,000 years earlier than the generally understood beginning of the Iron Age.
Görlitz cites this evidence to explain that iron tools had been used to lift such heavy stones, as described by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who wrote about the use of iron during the epoch of the pyramid construction.
Even if they succeed in their trip, I’m not sure how far it goes in proving these ideas.
Could he be referring to Herodotus’ Book 2, Chap. 125.7, where Herodotus talks about the total cost of building a pyramid? So far, that’s the only reference I can find in H.
Indeed – in Herodotus, information and misinformation are promiscuously intermingled. As a source on early Egyptian history he is particularly suspicious. His chronology is a mess and he has no idea about the pyramid builders, who lived 2000 years earlier. And how could he have had – it’s as if we went to modern Egypt and asked people on the street how they felt about Julius Caesar coming to Alexandria.
