Harkhuf

Harkhuf

Harkhuf
The most intriguing person that garnered a curiosity in me from The Travel in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson, is the governor of southern Upper Egypt in the 23rd century BC, Harkhuf and his tradesmen skill set.
Many components of Harkhuf’s service under the young pharaoh Pepi II administration interested me but perhaps a few of the most important ones include trade (with Nubia), shaping political bonds with provincial heads , and preparing the ground for an Egyptian expansion into Nubia and discovering and creating trade routes ( Wikipedia). Harkhuf was important enough to have a tomb built for him. As corroborated by the inscription of his biography on his tomb, he went on at least four paramount expeditions through the Cataracts of Nile which entailed several months of travel and an occasional unsuccessful journey and these official trips evidenced the start of present day business travel and trade (Casson, 28-29). I was enticed to discover that age-old practices, traditions and evils date back to as far as 2290 B.C. For instance, on the last expedition, he brought back with him a dwarf, evidently a pygmy, requested by the pharaoh with explicit instructions through correspondence with Harkhuf which would suggest a form of slavery (Encyclopedia Britannica). While some of these might no longer be in use today, other key elements that led to civilization and continues to lead to urbanization such as trade is still in use today. The aftermath of an exchange of goods, Harkhuf “returned with 300 asses loaded with incense, ebony, oil, leopard skins, elephant tusks, boomerangs and all good products”; an armed escort guided him through the territory of the potentially dangerous tribal coalition (Casson, 28-29). Harkhuf appealed to me more than any other person principally due to his primary business of trade that took him on expeditions that was a part of pioneering pragmatic enterprises....