| Story Of Wenamun |
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THE TEXT The text is set in a "Year 5", generally taken to be Year 5 of the so-called Renaissance of Pharaoh Ramesses XI , the tenth and last ruler of the Twentieth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt ; this was equivalent to Ramesses XI's 19th regnal year. Egberts (1991) argues, however, that the story is set in the 5th regnal year of Smendes I , the Delta -based founder of the 21st Dynasty . As this latter view assumes the High Priest Herihor followed Piankh (their relative order is normally reversed), it has not found wide acceptance among Egyptologist s. In the first part of the narrative, Wenamun (also called '''Wen-Amun''' or '''Wen-Amon''') dates his departure from Thebes as "Year 5, fourth month of the third season, day 16." Year 5 most likely refers to the fifth year of the Renaissance era, which began in the nineteenth year of the reign of Ramesses XI (1099-1069 B.C.E.). We are thus fairly certain that '''Wenamun's''' journey is set in the years 1075-1073 B.C.E., if we use the low chronology, or 1095-1093 if the high chronology is used. The middle of the fourth month in the third season corresponds to approximately 20 April, which is a reasonable time of year to begin an expedition. As the story begins, the principle character, Wenamun, a priest of Amun at Karnak , is sent by the High Priest of Amun Herihor to the Phoenicia n city of Byblos to acquire lumber (probably Cedar wood) to build a new ship to transport the Cult Image of Amun. After visiting Smendes ('''Nesbanebded''' in Egyptian) at Tanis , Wenamun stopped at the port of Dor ruled by the Tjeker prince Beder , where he was robbed. Upon reaching Byblos, he was shocked by the hostile reception he received there. When he finally gained an audience with Zakar-Baal , the local king, the latter refused to give the requested goods for free, as had been the traditional custom, instead demanding payment. Wenamun had to send to Smendes for payment, a humiliating move which demonstrates the waning of Egypt ian power over the Eastern Mediterranean . After a wait of almost a year at Byblos, Wenamun attempted to leave for Egypt, only to be blown off course to Alashiya ( Cyprus ), where he was almost killed by an angry mob before placing himself under the protection of the local queen, who he called Hatbi . At this point the story breaks off, though presumably Wenamun did eventually return to Egypt after his various adventures. ANALYSIS It was once widely believed that the ''Story of Wenamun'' was an actual historical account, written by Wenamun as a report regarding his travels. However, s more reflective of a post-20th or 21st dynasty time frame (Sass 2002; Sass specifically states it was written during the reign of Shoshenq I ). The text also ends abruptly, possibly showing that the person writing the text down was only interested in the first part of the narrative, and stopped when he realized that he had continued too far into the return journey. Finally, at the end of the text, in a slightly larger hand, the syllable (copy) is written, showing that it is not the original. It is quite possible that the copy which we have may date as much as one-hundred and fifty years later than the original. The reasons for this assumption are as follows. The first reason is that the post-script is used. This is otherwise only used in the twenty-second dynasty (945-715 B.C.E.). The other reason is the locale in which the document was discovered--the Upper Egypt ian town of El Hibeh . This town only gained any degree of importance under the reigns of Shoshenk I and Osorkon I . There was also apparently a renewed interest in the affairs of the Levant during the twenty-second dynasty. The author of Wenamun possibly wrote the original manuscript as an administrative document, a report of his journeys. However, the man who had the document copied over a century later most likely had a different reason. When theorizing about the purposes of the copyist, it seems to be all-too-common to forget about the reverse side of the papyrus. This concerns, as near as we can tell, the "sending of commodities by Ni-ki.. through the agency of Ne-pz-K-r-t for unspecified payment." It could be that this is a summarization of an attempt to perform a mission similar to that of Wenamun in this later time. "The Journey of Wenamun to Phoenicia ", then, may have been copied as a preparation for this later trip. Importance of the document The Story of Wenamun is an unparallelable source for learning of conditions in Egypt , as well as in Canaan . One can also see from this document, as from no other of the period, common attitudes toward religion (especially the cult of Amon ), the state of Mediterranean shipping practises, and even the attitudes of foreign princes to Egypt ian claims of supremacy in the region. Even the supremacy of the Pharaoh in Egypt is placed under our scrutiny. The current pharaoh, Ramesses XI , is never even mentioned during Wenamun's journey! Thebes , Wenamun's hometown, is under the control of Herihor --the High Priest of Amon . The authority '''Wenamun''' goes to see in the delta is Smendes , who resides at Tanis , and bears the never-before-seen title "organizer-of-the-country". It is worthy of note that neither Smendes nor Herihor bear any royal title whatsoever. Overall, the Story of Wenamun presents to us what could possibly be the most vivid and descriptive narrative of pre-classical times. Surprisingly, it is also remarkably accurate. Quite probably, the accuracy of this document is based on the fact that it was never intended to be more than a description of his trip, which was to be read through and filed away, then forgotten about. Perhaps this is the most outstanding difference between "The Journey of Wen-Amon to Phoenicia" as opposed to "The War Against the Peoples of the Sea" (c.1177 B.C.E.), or the information found on the "Harris Papyrus" (c.1153 B.C.E.), both of which were written during the time of Ramesses III . Whereas there could be no valid reason for this author to exaggerate the grandeur of Egypt , or the loyalty (or disloyalty) of a particular prince to Herihor , Smendes , or even to Ramesses XI , the purpose for the last two documents was to summarize (and gloat over) the reign of a pharaoh, as well as to list his wealth and achievements for all of Egypt , as well as the entire world, to see, for all eternity. While there are many differences, the similarities (to be discussed later) should not be surprising, seeing that they date only fifty-four years apart, and were found in the same region of Egypt . Because the text is based on a historical framework, it remains particularly useful to historians for the study of the late New Kingdom and early Third Intermediate Period . They often treat the text as a Primary Source of the late 20th Dynasty. The ''Story of Wenamun'' was discovered with another historical fiction, the so-called ''Tale of Woe'' Pushkin 127'' , which takes the form of an imaginative letter as a vehicle to convey a narrative; see Caminos 1977 for discussion of both works. REFERENCES
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