punt | historical region, Africa

Punt , in ancient Egyptian and Greek geography, the south coast of the Red Sea and the adjacent Coasts of the Gulf of Aden , corresponding to the modern coast Ethiopia and Djibouti .

For the ancients, Punt was a place of Legend and the fable as Herodotus' account (in Book II by him) illustrated History , 5th century v . Chr. ) The exploits of an Egyptian Pharaohs , a Sesostris who took a fleet of ships and made conquests along the shores of the Erythraean Sea (Red Sea and adjacent waters ) and then "the entire continent of Asia traversed . ”

Historically verified is an expedition that took place during the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Pepi II Neferkare at 2200 v. In the country punt was undertaken, as was travel, during the 11th Dynasty (2081–1938 v . Ch. ) Made . Queen Hashepsut (reg . Around 1472–1458 v . Ch. ) Made made a trip to Punt and left the details of the trip on the walls of her Temples in Hold Dayr al-Bahrī . Journeys to the "divine land" eventually became routine. The so-called Ethiopian dynasty - the 25th -, the 716–656 v. Came from the south to rule Egypt was sometimes used to prove an even closer connection between Egypt and Ethiopia, but these invaders actually came from Nubia ( Cush).

The Label "Ethiopian" was first used by ancient Greek writers to describe any African with more or less dark skin. Your concept of the country these black residents came from included sometimes the entire continent of Africa and sometimes just what is now Ethiopia. Only after Alexander the Great and the rise of the Ptolemies to the throne of ancient Egypt late 4th century v . Chr . Were opened the trade routes to Punt for the Greeks. Navigational manuals were then compiled and depots set up along the coast to store ivory, hides, ostrich feathers, and even live elephants. A stele inscribed with hieroglyphs erected in Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (reg. 285–246 v . Ch. ) And found in Pithon, refers to Ptolemy founding the city of Ptolemais Theron on the Erythraean coast. Eratosthenes later made a reference to the possibly Ethiopian Tana - See (known to the Greeks as Psebo or Koloë) and to his island of Dak. Agatharchides, a 2nd-century Greek historian and geographer v . Ch. , Observed the habits of the cave dwellers in Punt; and Artemidorus , a Greek geographer of about 100 v. , Described the configuration of the coast, naming various harbors and the desert region of Danakil, where he indicated the existence of certain lakes - Possibly Assal (in today's Djibouti) and Awsa (in Ethiopia). . Beyond this lay an incense-producing region, and beyond that one could perhaps identify the district of Harer and the valley of Awash (both now in Ethiopia). But nobody really knew the interior of the country, where apart from big rivers like the Astaboras (Tekeze) and lakes like Psebo there was only speculation.