Carthage’s rulers sent Hanno on a voyage of exploration. He
commanded a fl eet of 60 ships, each propelled by 50 rowers,
and explored the west coast of Africa as far south as the Gulf
of Guinea and modern-day Sierra Leone. Aboard his ships he
also carried numerous colonists, who established cities along
the west coast of Morocco.
Hanno documented his journey in a tablet that was
housed in a temple in Carthage. Later the Greeks translated
the tablet under the title Th e Voyage of Hanno, commander of
the Carthaginians, round the parts of Libya beyond the Pillars
of Heracles, which he deposited in the temple of Cronus. (“Pil-
lars of Heracles” refers to the promontories on either side of
the Strait of Gibraltar, the opening from the Mediterranean
to the Atlantic.) Some historians question the accuracy of the
translation—for example, they doubt that Hanno actually
took along as many as 30,000 colonists—though others be-
lieve that it is reasonably accurate. In it Hanno noted details
of his journey. Perhaps one of the most interesting was his
encounter with what he called “hairy women,” which some
historians believe may have been gorillas. He also encoun-
tered the hippopotamus, or “water horse” (hippo being the
Greek for “horse” and potamus for “water” or “river”).
Another Carthaginian explorer was Himilco (the Greek
version of his Phoenician name, Chimilkât). Virtually noth-
ing is known about Himilco’s background or personal life,
but around the middle of the fi ft h century b.c.e. he became
the fi rst navigator from the Mediterranean region to explore
the northwestern coast of Europe. Th e text that records his
adventure does not survive, but the Roman naturalist Pliny
the Elder mentions it in his Natural History, and so does the
later Roman poet Avienus. Himilco apparently made con-
tact with people Avienus calls the Oestrumnides, who per-
haps lived in Brittany. He probably made the voyage for trade
purposes, specifi cally to acquire tin that could be used in the
making of bronze. According to legend, Himilco’s account
described a harrowing journey, complete with sea monsters.
Historians believe that he fabricated details such as this to
deter Carthage’s rivals, the Greeks, from exploring the region
themselves. His voyage, though, provides yet another exam-
ple of the Carthaginian genius for exploration.
EGYPT
BY AMR KAMEL
Th roughout their long history, the Egyptians were confi dent
that Egypt was the heart of the world, where “god (Amun)
established the land of Egypt fi rst,” before all other lands. To
its inhabitants, Egypt was always the only place where it was
worthwhile to live; all foreign territories lay somewhere on
an uncertain and not very attractive edge of the world. For-
eign lands were depicted as a three-peaked desert mountain
ridge with a strip of green at its foot. Th e latter represented
their ideal country—the Nile Valley. Th e same symbolism ex-
pressed the idea of order (the green strip of Egypt) and chaos
(the desert ridge).
Th us, the Egyptians saw no reason to explore the bleak
wilderness beyond their borders either out of curiosity or for
science. Moreover, their literature frequently asserts that the
dangers that one might face abroad, particularly lions and Near
Easterners (“Asiatics”), greatly outweighed any justifi cation to
venture that far. A text from the Twelft h Dynasty (1991–1783
b.c.e.) describes traveling to Asia as a suffi cient reason for an
emissary to will his belongings to his children before leaving.
Th is attitude dominated the Egyptian mentality through-
out the empire’s history. It is apparent in offi cial religious
and royal texts, even with respect to countries with which
Egypt enjoyed good economic or political relations. Th us, not
much information is contained in Egyptian literature about
exploration in the modern sense. However, the Egyptians
did sometimes write descriptions and make drawings with
abundant topographical details of the places they visited or
discovered abroad. Texts give a careful description of several
ethnic groups they encountered in Nubia or the Near East,
including the social mores of these peoples, which typically
the Egyptians thought strange.
Th ese descriptions came in the form of travel accounts,
which dealt mainly with trade, warfare, and diplomatic ac-
tivities, composed by teams of skilled scribes or painters,
who traditionally accompanied Egyptian expeditions to for-
eign lands in the Near East and in Nubia, especially during
the New Kingdom (1550–1070 b.c.e.). Th e earliest-known
example preserved in art comes from the Fift h Dynasty
(2465–2323 b.c.e.) mortuary temple of Sahure at Abusir. Th e
temple’s decorations include a scene depicting what was likely
the safe return home of an Egyptian trading expedition with
exotic goods sent under royal patronage to visit far-off Byblos
on the eastern Mediterranean coast. Th e oldest written ac-
count of an encounter was carved on the external walls of a
late Old Kingdom (2575–2134 b.c.e.) tomb-chapel in Aswān.
Th e tomb’s owners held the title “head of translators,” refl ect-
ing their understanding of local dialects in the areas they vis-
ited when they conducted several offi cial voyages to explore,
or literally “open,” the southern territories of Nubia.
Another important account was that of Harkhuf, a Sixth
Dynasty (2323–2150 b.c.e.) governor of Elephantine (Aswān)
who was responsible for Egyptian interests in Nubia. Harkhuf,
who traveled four times to Nubia, mentioned in his inscrip-
tion the fi rst royal assignment, which was to “open a way to
this foreign country” and “bring back from there all sorts of
beautiful and rare gift s.” His inscriptions refer to three ad-
ditional trips, literally to “fulfi ll a horizontal mission” to an
unnamed area, that he took alone. Few topographical details
of these territories were recorded. Nevertheless, Harkhuf re-
ported a clash between the ruler of Yam and some Libyans,
and his role in stopping it.
Th e fi rst full description of a territory outside of Egypt
appears in the story of Sinuhe, from the Twelft h Dynasty. Th e
story describes Palestine, where the author had spent much of
his life aft er his fl ight from Egypt immediately aft er the assas-
sination of Amenemhet I (r. 1991–1962 b.c.e.). He describesexploration: Egypt 437