How do you make a ancient egyptian boat?

Answer 1

It would have been the wooden boats that undertook the long sea journeys and which carried the heaviest cargos on the river Nile, including stone for building from Aswan.

To give additional strength, the hulls of larger vessels from the end of the Old Kingdom onwards were equipped with thick ropes running around the hull, just below deck level. These rope strengtheners are known as 'truss-girdles'. Yet more rigidity was provided by a 'hogging-truss', a thick rope that ran above the deck, from the bow to the stern. The hogging-trusses could be tightened as necessary and helped to prevent the bows and sterns of the ships from sagging.

We know that the ancient boats were capable of carrying large cargoes. Queen Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty organised a large trading expedition to the land of Punt (which is presumed to be on the Red Sea coast). Detailed scenes from her funerary temple at Deir el Bahri show the boats and their cargoes. Probably built of cedar, her boats were around twenty-five metres long, with room on either side for fifteen oarsmen. The shape of the hull is semi-papyriform and the sternpost of the boats ends in a large, decorative papyrus flower. A small platform is provided at the bow and the stern, but there is no central cabin. A large, thick hogging-truss runs the length of the hull to both strengthen it and keep its shape. The ends of the large deck beams can be seen projecting through the hull above the water level. We know that Egyptian wooden boats must have also sailed on the open sea, trading with the countries around the eastern Mediterranean.

It is also from the reign of Hatshepsut that we have records of the building of some of the largest wooden vessels in Ancient Egypt, or indeed in the Ancient or Modern world. Huge barges were built to transport her obelisks from Aswan, where they were quarried, to Thebes, where they were set up in the Temple of Amun at Karnak.

The surviving standing obelisk of Hatshepsut at Karnak is 29.6 metres high and, with an estimated weight of 323 tons, is amongst the largest obelisk ever erected.

It is estimated that the obelisk barge may have been over ninety-five metres in length and thirty-two metres wide. Too large to be equipped with a sail and not very manoeuvrable, the barge would have been towed downstream by smaller vessels, also using the current, from Aswan to Thebes.

Hatshepsut's relief showing the barge is very detailed, but it is still unclear if it was built to carry one or two obelisks. A new discovery of a docking area in the granite quarries at Aswan may, when fully studied, give some indication as to the size of the barge it could hold.

Naval battles

In the reign of Ramesses III (1182 - 1151 B.C.), boats were used in a naval battle as is known from scenes recorded on the walls of the King's funerary temple at Medinet Habu. Constructed along traditional lines, these boats nevertheless show several new developments, specifically for their use in battle. A small platform was built at the top of the mast for the use of lookouts and also for archers. This is the first recorded example of a 'crow's-nest' in the history of boats. The boats were fitted with high sides or gunwales, to protect the rowers from enemy attack, in particular from enemy arrows and spears. In the contemporary illustrations, the rowers are hardly visible.

A raised gangway appears to run the length of the vessel to provide a fighting platform for the soldiers, whose main weapon was the bow and arrow. The sails of boats from this period onwards are smaller and a lower yard is no longer used. To furl the sail, it was pulled upwards to be tied to the upper yard. This has the effect of leaving the deck area clear for fighting. It is considered that this innovation may have been introduced from a neighbouring country, such as Greece.

Boats for the remainder of Egypt's history appear to have continued to be built along the traditional times, certainly up to the time of the Ptolemaic Period (332 - 30 B.C) although, with trading links around the Eastern Mediterranean, it is likely that any new developments in ship building techniques in one country were soon adopted by others.

The boats constructed by the Ancient Egyptians were both functional and elegant.

The boat builders never lost their sense of style and proportion and even the most practical of vessels, such as the obelisk barges, have fine lines and decorated bow and sternposts. This decoration serves no practical purpose and the ships would have functioned just as well without them, but their builders added just that little bit extra, turning the boats, on which the prosperity of Egypt depended, into things of beauty.

The author is chairman of the Manchester ancient Egypt Society and lectures on various aspects of Egyptology all around the country. He is a regular contributor to Ancient Egypt Magazine and has written several books, including Transport in Ancient Egypt and Fighting Pharaohs: Weapons and Warfare in Ancient Egypt.