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''"Praise of the Two Lands"'', appearing in an inscription (c. 2613 BCE) of boat building projects of Egyptian pharaoh
Sneferu Sneferu ( snfr-wj "He has perfected me", from ''Ḥr-nb-mꜣꜥt-snfr-wj'' "Horus, Lord of Maat, has perfected me", also read Snefru or Snofru), well known under his Hellenized name Soris ( grc-koi, Σῶρις by Manetho), was the founding phara ...
, is the first reference to a
ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
bearing a name.Anzovin, item # 5393, page 385 ''Reference to a ship with a name appears in an inscription of 2613 BCE that recounts the shipbuilding achievements of the fourth-dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Sneferu. He was recorded as the builder of a cedarwood vessel called "Praise of the Two Lands."''


Description

The large Egyptian vessel, built by the
pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...
Sneferu, was about 100 cubits (just over 50 m) long and made of
cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...
wood. Ancient Egypt was treeless, generally speaking, and domestic wood was very rare. The earliest boats on the
Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...
were assembled of bundled
reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * R ...
s lashed together, the two ''sḥn'' ("armloads") of the
Pyramid Texts The Pyramid Texts are the oldest ancient Egyptian funerary texts, dating to the late Old Kingdom. They are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved onto the subterranea ...
. The earliest written record of international trade of timber is from the Palermo Stone where Sneferu imports cedar from Phoenicia (now Lebanon), ''Bringing forty ships filled
ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediate ...
cedar logs. Shipbuilding fcedar wood, one ship, 100 cubits
ong Ong or ONG may refer to: Arts and media * Ong's Hat, a collaborative work of fiction * “Ong Ong”, a song by Blur from the album The Magic Whip Places * Ong, Nebraska, US, city * Ong's Hat, New Jersey, US, ghost town * Ong River, Odisha, India ...
..'' During ancient times, "name devices" for ships typically were of gods/goddesses of the city in which it came from or the name of the guardian deity. Typically called a parasemon or episemon, it was the ship's name and often indicated the hope for good luck at sea. Many times an ancient Egyptian ship was named after the pharaoh and one of his virtues. For example, the ship of
Amenhotep II Amenhotep II (sometimes called ''Amenophis II'' and meaning ''Amun is Satisfied'') was the seventh pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Amenhotep inherited a vast kingdom from his father Thutmose III, and held it by means of a few militar ...
, who reigned 1427 BCE to 1400 BCE, was called, ''Amenhotep II who made strong the Two Lands.'' This ship was built some 1200 years after Sneferu's, ''Praise of the Two Lands'', which is the earliest known ship name. The "Two Lands" referred to here are
Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...
upriver and
Lower Egypt Lower Egypt ( ar, مصر السفلى '; ) is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, t ...
at the
delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...
. The name of Sneferu's ship ''Praise of the Two Lands'' had political implications as the name is believed to have signified the unity between the lands of
Upper and Lower Egypt In Egyptian history, the Upper and Lower Egypt period (also known as The Two Lands) was the final stage of prehistoric Egypt and directly preceded the unification of the realm. The conception of Egypt as the Two Lands was an example of the duali ...
. It is not known if the name of the ship (i.e. ''Praise of the Two Lands'') was put on its side as is done today so others could see the letters. It is likely that a bold mark was used instead since there were no
telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observ ...
s that could be used from shore or another ship. The special mark would be the means of identification.Casson, p. 345


Footnotes


Sources

* Anzovin, Steven et al., ''Famous First Facts (International Edition)'', H. W. Wilson Company, 2000, * Casson, Lionel, ''Ships and seamanship in the ancient world'', JHU Press, 1995, * Kennedy, Don H. et al., ''Ship names: origins and usages during 45 centuries'', published for Mariners Museum by University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1974, * Meyers, Eric M., ''Wood'', The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, New York, Oxford University Press, 1997, * Spectre, Peter H., ''A Mariner's Miscellany'', Sheridan House, Inc., 2005, * Sperber, Daniel, ''Nautica Talmudica'', Brill Archive, 1986, * Williams, Robert H., ''Joyful Trek'', Texas Tech University Press, 1996,


Further reading

* Clary, James, ''Superstitions of the Sea: A Digest of Beliefs, Custom and Mystery, Maritime History in Art,'' 1994, {{DEFAULTSORT:Praise Of The Two Lands Ancient Egyptian ships Ancient Egyptian society Fourth Dynasty of Egypt Sneferu Ancient Egyptian technology Egyptian inventions