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Herodotus 2.96. 1–2 Again

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Cheryl W. Haldane  and
Cynthia W. Shelmerdine
Cheryl W. Haldane
Affiliation:
Texas A&M University
Cynthia W. Shelmerdine
Affiliation:
The University of Texas at Austin
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Extract

As A. B. Lloyd points out, the passage from Herodotus which includes this sentence is the most important non-Egyptian commentary on Ancient Egyptian shipbuilding. In the years following the discovery of the Dynasty IV ships buried beside Khufu's pyramid at Giza (c. 2500 B.C.), J. S. Morrison suggested a change in the translation of the word (⋯ν)επ⋯κτωσαν. Traditionally, and in Lloyd's commentary, the verb ⋯μπακτ⋯ω has been interpreted as meaning ‘to caulk’. Morrison, however, believes that (⋯ν)επ⋯κτωσαν ought to refer to reinforcement of a ship's fastenings with papyrus ropes. He bases this interpretation on the evidence of the Khufu boats, which are sewn through v-shaped mortises across the hull's width (Fig. 1), and on the argument that caulking is better done from the outside. Lloyd has challenged this translation, but we would like to support it with some further evidence, in particular evidence of Egyptian shipbuilding practice.

Type
Shorter Notes
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , December 1990 , pp. 535 - 539
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1990

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References

1 Lloyd, A. B., ‘Herodotus 2.96.1–2’, CQ 29 (1979), 45–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Lipke, P., The Royal Ship of Cheops, BAR International Series 225 (Oxford, 1984)Google Scholar.

3 Review of Casson, L., Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World, in International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 1 (1972), 230ff.Google Scholar, and in Greenhill, B., Archaeology of the Boat (London, 1976), pp. 161 ffGoogle Scholar. Lloyd rightly argues against changing the translation of ζυγ⋯ from, ‘thwart’, or ‘crossbeam’, to ‘ribs’. Egyptian watercraft depended upon crossbeams, which seem to be consistently placed about one metre apart, to tie the hull together. Although frames of substantial dimension are known from Egyptian hulls, the smaller boats described by Herodotus would not have required their support.

4 LSJ, s.v., ‘close by stuffing in or caulking’, Lloyd, A. B., Herodotus, Book II, Commentary 1–98 (Leiden, 1976), p. 387Google Scholar.

5 SirWilkinson, G., The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, ii (London, 1879), p. 207Google Scholar.

6 Clarke, S., ‘Nile Boats and Other Matters’, Ancient Egypt (1920), 44Google Scholar.

7 Boreux, C., Études de nautique égyptienne, MIFAO 50 (Cairo, 1925), p. 239Google Scholar.

8 Edgerton, W. F., ‘Ancient Egyptian Ships and Shipping’, American Journal of Semitic Languages 39 (1923), 109ff., esp. 120CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Op. cit., p. 14 n. 15.

10 Op. cit., p. 135. But note that Wachsmann, S. (Seagoing Ships and Seamanship in the Late Bronze Age Levant [unpublished Ph.D. dissertation: Hebrew University, 12 1989], p. 199)Google Scholar has pointed out that this is probably a rope used to guide a plank into place and that the tomb of Nefer (illustrated in Landstrom, B., Ships of the Pharaohs [Garden City, NJ, 1970], p. 38, fig. 103Google Scholar) shows true lashing within a hull. Wachsmann also comments on Herodotus 2.96.1–2 (op. cit., pp. 188–9).

11 Op. cit., pp. 47–8.

12 Lloyd, , op. cit., p. 47Google Scholar.

13 Anthologia Palatina 10.23, λα⋯φεα; Archilochus 279 West, φακτ⋯σαι, glossed by as συγκλεῖσαι; Aristophanes, , Lysistrata 265Google Scholar, μοχλοῖς δ⋯ κα⋯ κλῄθροισιτ⋯ προπ⋯λαια πακτο⋯ν Sophocles, , Ajax 579Google Scholar, σ⋯μα π⋯κτου.

14 Cf. Eustathius, , Iliad 2.683Google Scholar (ad 9.144), where the same definition is given, and Eustathius, , Odyssey 2.294Google Scholar (ad 23.41), where πακτ⋯σαν is defined as τ⋯ συγκλεῖσαι The other passages are Aristophanes, fragment 721, ⋯πιπακτο⋯ν τ⋯ς θ⋯ρας; Hipponax, frag. 104 line 19, τ⋯ν] θ⋯ρην⋯π⋯κτωσα. It should be noted, though, that Photius glosses πακτ⋯σαν as σφην⋯σαν θ⋯ραν, using a verb which can refer to plugging up holes.

15 For example a plough (Homer, , Iliad 10.353Google Scholar, Odyssey 13.32) as opposed to a one-piece, αὐτ⋯γυος plough (Hesiod, , Works and Days 433)Google Scholar; a stool (Homeric Hymn to Demeter 196).

16 C. W. H. is grateful to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History for permitting her to record timbers from the Dahshur boat, ace. no. 1842, in their care.

17 Haldane, C. W., ‘New Evidence for Ancient Egyptian Hull Construction’, Mariner's Mirror 74 (1988), 141–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar.