Where the Gods Sent Ships
The Mystery of Punt
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Voyages & Ventures is a series for readers who believe history should be thrilling, intelligent, and occasionally laugh-out-loud astonishing. These are tales of real explorers in real places doing often ridiculous, sometimes noble, always fascinating things – journeys where geography is a protagonist, ambition is a recurring theme, and the thin line between bravery and folly is joyfully crossed.
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Where the Gods Sent Ships: The Mystery of Punt sails straight into one of history’s most haunting enigmas: the ancient Egyptian voyages to a land so rich in incense, gold, and sacred animals that it was known simply as “God’s Land.” But where was it? Why did the Egyptians revere it? And how did they even get there with ships that looked like floating furniture?
This is not your standard ancient history. Here, reed ropes and cedar planks matter as much as royal decrees. With the wit of a seasoned storyteller and the rigor of a scholar who double-checks his footnotes, this book traces the Egyptian expeditions to Punt from their earliest stirrings in the Old Kingdom to the high spectacle of Hatshepsut’s maritime masterpiece. Along the way, readers will meet baboons with diplomatic immunity, shipwrights who lash hulls with intuition and palm fiber, and scribes who write history as it should have happened – preferably with more incense and fewer failures.
And yet, this is more than a story of ancient logistics. Where the Gods Sent Ships is about how civilizations imagine the edges of their world – and what they project onto them. Punt was not just a place to reach; it was a mirror Egypt held up to itself, a land that affirmed its gods, rituals, and sense of cosmic centrality. That the Egyptians never told us exactly where it was only deepens the intrigue.
Whether you're a history buff, an archaeology nerd, or just someone who enjoys a well-earned metaphor about divine horticulture, this book offers a voyage into deep history that is as informed as it is irreverent. Punt may never be found on a map, but after reading this, you’ll understand why the Egyptians kept sending ships – and why we still haven’t stopped wondering.