Les débuts de la navigation en Égypte. Fendre les flots durant le Pré- et Protodynastique (c. 4500-2686 av. J.-C.)

D. VANHULLE, "Les débuts de la navigation en Égypte. Fendre les flots durant le Pré- et Protodynastique (c. 4500-2686 av. J.-C.)", in L. PLEUGER (ed.), « Du Nil à la mer. L'Égypte au fil de l'eau – From the Nile to the Sea. Egypt along the Water » (CEA, 24), Brussels, 2024.

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The Nile, as a navigable waterway, has long dominated discussions about Egypt’s internal trade and communication networks, on the one hand, and those linking it to the Mediterranean and southern countries, on the other. Then as now, the River was both a natural and a strategic route. Although the first conclusive evidence of an Egyptian presence at sea only appeared during the Old Kingdom, the Pre- and Early Dynastic periods are less sparse in terms of information than some might think: scale models, iconographic productions and real boats buried in elite necropolises bear witness to the development of naval technology in Egypt during the 4th millennium BC and the gradual inclusion of the boat in the ideological, political and religious discourses of the time. These few lines offer an overview of the formative years of Pharaonic civilisation and a fresh perspective on these issues in the light of our current knowledge.

 

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