User:Manfarragut/sandbox

The Kingdom of Yam is thought to be the African Kingdom that was leading many aspects of Egypt like culture and trade during its peak of the rule during ancient Egypt. There is little information given about this ancient kingdom and there is also a great lack of evidence that is able to certify much of the speculation and assumptions about this kingdom. The largest debate about The Kingdom of Yam is its point of origins. Historians and archaeologists have dedicated many years in trying to figure the location of Yam, yet this topic still remains under debate.

The implication as to where The Kingdom of Yam may be located is highly debated. The use of ancient geographical clues is some of the main sources we have to debate the location of this ancient kingdom. Yam was likely a hub for Egyptian use of Saharan long-distance trade networks based on archaeological artifacts including ebony, obsidian, gold ivory, and exotic fauna. Many of the artifacts observed can be found throughout different regions in Africa, stirring much dispute amongst historians. While understanding Yam was likely a node in trade routes, the abundance of these goods in several different locations is insignificant in determining Yam’s exact location. Confirming the location of Yam would help historians reconstruct trade routes dating back to the Third millennium BC. Yam has many sources that are traced back to the Old Kingdom texts and ceases after that. The kingdom writes that Yam was clearly in the southern region, linked with others like Watwat, Irtjet, and Medja-land^[1]. Harkhuf’s autobiography is the only source that is more precise as to where it is located. Overall, there is still controversy as to its exact location. In some examples, researchers including Edel, believe that the kingdom laid in Upper Nubia and sites of Kerma. Researchers have argued to even the detailing of other regional locations that would lead to Yam’s exact place. Yam is sometimes referred to as a toponym because its geographical significance is unknown. Some historians divide Yam into two camps: that of Upper Nubia and regions in the western desert, though more recent discoveries point the kingdom to Gebel Uweinat, a mountain range on the border of Egypt, Libya, and Sudan.

The first and second journeys represent the distance made by land. Discussions have concluded that Yam cannot be anywhere north of Upper Nubia but locating it more to the west. Through it all, locating Yam around the region of Shendi has been the best fit of them all based on Harkhuf[2] and his four journeys. To get closer as to where Yam may be, researchers have tried taking from Harkhuf’s stories where he passes through lands such as Irjet and Setju, that has also yet to be uncovered. Once understanding the regions and their trade routes as Harkhuf took by donkey caravan to Yam, arguments will still be made where the lost Kingdom of Yam was originally placed.

It is claimed that Harkhuf has made three different expeditions into Neubia where the Kingdom of Yam is referenced. These three main accounts have served as a small window into the society of Yam and it gives an abstract clue of its location. There is quite some debate amongst historians as to which routes were taken to Yam based mostly on archeological findings in relation to the goods referenced directly by Harkhuf.

Harkhuf has recorded four different voyages on his tomb that have since been translated. His first voyage, he traveled south with his father in only seven months. All the gifts brought back to Egypt were “very greatly praised" ^[3]. The second journey was also for trade purposes. Harkhuf traveled along the Elephantine road and traveled through Irthet, Mekher, Tereres, and Irtheth, taking him eight months. He brought gifts to the Kingdom of Yam that could not compare to anything brought prior. The third journey, instructed by Pharoah Merenra, was also a trade mission. The time it took to make this voyage is unclear but Harkhuf made this voyage accompanied by soldiers as they traveled along the “Uhet” or “Oasis” road. When he arrived in Yam, after realizing their chief was away for military actions, Harkhuf set out to find him. He stated on his tomb that he “went forth after him to the land of Temeh and I pacified him until he praised all the gods for the king's sake.” After settling the dispute, his good rapport with Yam’s chief allowed him to return with “three hundred asses laden with incense, ebony, heknu, grain, panthers, ........., ivory, [throw-sticks], and every good product" ^[4]. And his fourth and final journey recorded was at the request of Pharaoh Pepi II. A letter from the Pharaoh which was recorded on Harkhuf’s tomb said, “My majesty desires to see this dwarf more than the gifts of Sinai and of Punt.” Pharaoh Pepi II wanted the dwarf more than any gift brought back from the Kingdom of Yam.

“The tombs of the nobles excavated in the rocks on the Nile west bank at Qubbet el-Hawa in Aswan testify the role of the city as the southern gate of Egypt.”^[5] Aswan was the main location of travel for most ancient traders who visited deep into the parts of the south, reaching unclaimed lands and returning home with new items with immensely more value. The tombs that belong to the nobles of that time give some clue as to what the traders used as products, the culture of society was like, and the challenges of the journey they traveled through. The evidence that can be used for investigation is steadily decreasing due to natural deterioration. One of the tombs that still remains at this site is the tomb of Harkhuf. His tomb is strategically covered with multitudes of texts that have been interpreted to reveal more about the Kingdom of Yam. The inscriptions on the tomb are located above the entrance door, the right and left sides of the doorway, as well as the far right of the doorway wall. A translation of the inscriptions has been completed by Claire Lalouette in “Sacred and Secular Texts from ancient Egypt, Gallimard, 1984.”^[6]

“May the king and Anubis - he who is on his mountain, who presides at the divine chapel, who resides in the place of embalming, the Lord of the Ta Djeser deign to grant an offering -: may the prince, governor of Upper Egypt, treasurer to the king of lower Egypt, the sole companion, lector- priest, chief of interpreters, the imakhu to Ptah-Sokaris, Herkhuf., having reached a great age and endowed with the quality of imakhu before the Great God, be entombed in the necropolis of the Western Desert. May the king and Osiris, lord of Busiris, deign to grant an offering and may he, the prince, Chamberlain, attaché at Nekhen, chief of Nekheb, the sole companion, lector -priest, the Imakhu to Osiris, Herkhuf, walk in peace on the sacred ways of the West where the Imakhu usually walk and may he raise himself towards the Lord God of the sky in his rank of Imakhu of …… May the king deign to grant an offering: may bread and beer come forth for him when invoked in the necropolis, may he be “transfigured” by the lector-priest at each year's beginning, at each feast of Thoth, on each New Year's day, at each Wag festival, at the time of each feast of Sokaris, at the time of every great feast and every daily festival-… The treasurer of the king of Lower Egypt, Sole Companion, Lector-Priest, Chief of Interpreters, Herkhuf. I came today from my town, I came from my Nome; I built a house, I dug a lake, planted sycamores. The king praises me; my father made a testament in my favor. I am an excellent man… loved by his father, praised by his mother, loved by all his brothers. I gave bread to the starving, a garment to he who was naked, I ferried him who had no boat. O, you living who are upon the earth and who pass before this tomb, whether going upstream or downstream on the river, say “ may a thousand loaves and a thousand pots of beer belong to the owner of this tomb”, thanks to them I may pass (my “life”) in the necropolis. I am an excellent spirit, educated, a lector-priest whose mouth is learned. As for any man who enters this tomb as if it were his own, I shall seize his neck like that of poultry and, for that, he shall be judged by the Great God. I am a man who speaks well and repeats willingly that which is liked. Never have I reported bad things to a powerful man so that, as a result, he acted against someone. So I hope that all will go well with me before the Great God. Nor have I ever judged two brothers such that one son be dispossessed of his father's goods. May the king deign to grant an offering, may Anubis who is on his mountain and who presides at the divine chapel deign to grant an offering: may bread and beer come forth when invoked for him, for the Imakhu to Anubis who is on his mountain and who presides in the divine chapel… the prince, lector-priest… Sole Companion, lector -priest, chief of interpreters, the Imakhu Herkhuf.”^[7]

“The prince, Sole Companion, Lector-Priest, Chamberlain, attaché at Nekhen, chief of Nekheb, treasurer to the king of Lower Egypt, Sole Companion, Lector-Priest, Chief of Interpreters, secret advisor for all business concerning the South of Upper Egypt, he who is in the heart of his royal Lord, Herkhuf, treasurer of the king of Lower Egypt, Sole Companion, Lector-Priest, Chief of Interpreters- who has brought back the produce of all foreign lands for his royal Lord and who has brought gifts for the ornament of the king (the Queen), The Steward of the southern lands of Upper Egypt, who spreads the fear of Horus (= the king) in foreign lands, who accomplished that which is praised by his royal Lord, the treasurer of the king of Lower Egypt, the Sole Companion, the Lector-Priest, chief of interpreters, the imakhu to Ptah-Sokar, Herkhuf, saying: (Travels & Exploration in Africa)

His Majesty Merenre, my master, sent me, together with my father, Sole Companion and Lector-Priest, Iri, to the land of Yam (an area located in modern-day Sudan) to explore its ways. I carried out this mission in seven months, I brought back all sorts of tributes, beautiful and rare and I was praised for it very highly. His Majesty sent me a second time, alone. I went by way of the Elephantine road and returned via the land of Irtet, Makher, and Teres of Irtet at the end of a voyage of eight months. I returned carrying tributes of this land in very great numbers, of a kind which nobody had ever brought to Egypt before. I returned, coming from the camp of the chief of Setu and Irtet after having explored this land. You will find no other Sole Companion, Chief of interpreters who have reached (so far) into the land of Yam before. His Majesty sent me for a third time to the land of Yam. I went there from the Nome of Thinis by the oasis road and I observed that the chief of the land of Yam had left for the land of the Timhiu to chastise them, as far as the western corner of the sky. I followed his trail to the land of the Timhiu and I pacified him until he adored all the gods for the sake of the Royal Sovereign.”^[8]

	“A fourth, unnarrated, campaign to the land of Yam must have taken place, during which Herkhuf sent a letter to the young king Pepi II to inform him, particularly, that he was bringing back a Pygmy, which resulted in the rest of the inscription. In fact, Pepi II wrote a letter in reply to that of Herkhuf, who was so proud of it that he had the text inscribed on the façade of his tomb in Aswan. Since little space remained, he had to prepare a space for it at the extreme right of the façade. Thus, the only complete royal letter dating from the old Kingdom has reached us.:

Seal of the King Himself. The second year of His reign, third month of the season akhet, fifteenth day. Royal decree (to) the Sole Companion, Lector-Priest, chief of interpreters, Herkhuf. I have acquainted myself with the words of your letter, which you addressed to the king in the palace to inform him that you traveled in peace to the land of Yam, with the army, which accompanied you. You said in your letter that you were bringing back all sorts of presents, important and beautiful, which Hathor, lady of Imaou, gave for the ka of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neferkare- may he live eternally and forever! You also say in your letter that you will bring back a Pygmy (for) the dances of the God and coming from the land of the inhabitants of the horizon and similar to the Pygmy which the treasurer of the God, Bawerded brought back from Punt in the time of the king Isesi. You also say to My Majesty: never before has such a (Pygmy) been brought back by any of those who have visited the land of Yam. It is said that each year, you accomplish that which your royal Lord wishes and praises. You pass your days and your nights thinking of doing that which your Lord wishes, praises and commands. So My Majesty will act such that the numerous and excellent honors which are yours shall also please the sons of your son for eternity and that men will say, when they hear what my Majesty has done for you ‘is there any parallel to that which was done for the Sole Companion Herkhuf when he came back from the land of Yam, because of the diligence with which he carried out that which his Lord wished, praised and commanded.?’ Come back, then, to the north, to the Residence. Leave (everything) and bring with you the Pygmy which you have brought from the land of the inhabitants of the horizon, alive, in good health and strong so that he may dance for the God and make cheerful and rejoicing the heart of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neferkare- may he live eternally! If you come with him in the ship, set well-advised men about him on both sides of the boat and take care that he does not fall in the water. If he lies down to sleep during the night, have wise men to sleep beside him in his tent; go and check, ten times in the night. Because My Majesty wishes to see this Pygmy more than all the tributes of Sinai or Punt. If you reach the Residence and the Pygmy is with you, alive, in good health and strong, My Majesty will do great things for you, more important than those which were done for the treasurer of the God, Bawerded, in the time of the king Isesi, according to the desire which My Majesty has to see this famous Pygmy. Orders have been sent to the chief of the new town, Sole Companion and steward of the priests to command that victuals be taken by his care in every warehouse town and in every temple, without exception.”^[9]