Ancient Mariners 51 



occasion I am concerned more especially with the study of the 

 influence exerted by maritime intercourse in the history of 

 civilization. 



Egypt has preserved literary records in substantiation of 

 the fact that, as early as the time of the Third Dynasty, expedi- 

 tions by sea were being equipped to obtain the incense, resins, 

 and wood required for the funerary ritual and the burial 

 ceremonies. These voyages extended as far as the Lebanons on the 

 Syrian coast in the north and, in the south, Somaliland and Southern 

 Arabia. It is important to remember that the early navigators 

 did not go to sea merely for idle adventure or for pleasure. 

 They were impelled to embark upon such hazardous and dangerous 

 tasks only by the most powerful incentives, to obtain the materials 

 which they had come to regard as essential for the attainment of 

 continued existence after death. ^ 



It must not be supposed that the few records preserved 

 from these remote centuries give any adequate idea of the real 

 extent of early maritime trafficking. 



But there are other kinds of evidence which demonstrate its 

 wide scope and influence. 



One of the outstanding results of the study of Cretan 

 archaeology is the certain proof it has afforded of contact between 

 Crete and Egypt almost at the dawn of the known histories of 

 the two countries. This implies that Egyptian sea-going ships 

 must have made their way to Crete in Protodynastic times, if not 

 earlier. In my essay on ' Ships, etc.," I have cited a small 

 fragment of the large mass of data that is now available to 

 demonstrate the fact of maritime intercourse between the Red 

 Sea and the Persian Gulf at an equally early period. The 

 remarkable identities between the earliest civilizations of Egypt, 

 Sumer, Elam and Crete afford positive evidence of such contact 

 of cultures ; and there are reasons for believing that in the case 

 of Egypt and Sumer the connexion was established mainly, 



^On this subject see "Incense and Libations," Bulletin of the John 

 Rylands Library, 1918. 



