Le Commerce en Egypte ancienne.

• Author: Leprohon, Ronald J.
• Position: Review

Le Commerce en Egypte ancienne. Edited by NICOLAS GRIMAL and BERNADETTE MENU. Bibliotheque d'etude, vol. 121. Cairo: INSTITUT FRANCAIS D'ARCHEOLOGIE ORIENTALE, 1998. Pp. ix + 297, maps, illus.

This book had its genesis in a colloquium sponsored by the French Institute in Cairo and the Association internationale pour l'etude de droit de l'Egypte ancienne held in Cairo in October 1996. The articles are divided into two main categories, on trade with Egypt's neighbors and within Egypt itself. The topic is an important one, as trade has always played a major role in the history of Egypt, indeed, as far back as the late prehistoric period. It should therefore not surprise us to find that most of the major prehistoric centers--especially Maadi, Nagada, and Abydos--were each situated close to a wadi that gave them access to trade routes, which led either northeasterly across the Sinai and thence to Canaan (Maadi), easterly toward the Red Sea via the Wadi Hammamat (Nagada), or southwesterly toward the western desert oases and the regions further south (Abydos). (On this subject, see also D. B. Redford's remarks in Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times [Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1992], 14.)

After a foreword by N. Grimal, the director of the French Institute and host, the section on exterior trade begins with an introduction by B. Menu, who addresses the question of trade with southern Canaan and Nubia. This is followed by F. Smyth's chapter on trade between Egypt and Canaan from the late pre-dynastic period to the late New Kingdom; the author presents the thesis that what is found is more in the nature of "colonial exploitation" on the part of Egypt than trade between equals. On p. 9, n. 8, a slight error appears: with reference to the Annals of Amenemhat II from Memphis, two references to Amenhotep II are given. The note should have read: S. Farag, RdE 32 (1980): 75-82; G. Posener, JSSEA 12 (1982): 7-8; H. Altenmuller and A. M. Moussa, SAK 18 (1991): 1-48; H. Goedicke, RdE 42 (1991): 89-94; J. Malek, Egyptian Archaeology 2 (1992): 18; J. Malek and S. Quirke, JEA 78 (1992): 13-18.

The next article, by S. Aufrere, is a study of the Myth of the Sun's Eye and its dissemination throughout the ancient eastern Mediterranean, a topic carried over by J. Padro in the next chapter, on commercial relations between Egypt and the Phoenician-Punic world during the later periods of Egyptian history. The later periods are also investigated in the...