Robert Kerrs General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 18 | Page 9

till the era of the Ptolemies; but this is
undoubtedly a mistake, since traces of their commercial
intercommunication with other nations may be found at a very early
period of history. It is probable, however, that for a long time they
themselves did not engage in commerce, but were merely visited by
traders from foreign countries; for at this era it was a maxim with them,
never to leave their own country. The low opinion they entertained of
commerce may be gathered from Herodotus, who mentions, that the
men disdained to meddle with it, but left it entirely to the women.
The earliest account we possess of traffic with Egypt, is to be found in
the Old Testament, where we are informed, that the Midianites and
Ismaelites traded thither as early as the time of Jacob.
Sesostris, who is generally supposed to have lived about 1650 years
before Christ, is by most writers described as the king who first
overcame the dislike of the Egyptians to the sea. That this monarch
engaged in many enterprises both by sea and land, not only for
conquest, but also for purposes of trade and colonization, there can be

no doubt; though it is impossible either to trace his various routes, or to
estimate the extent of his conquests or discoveries. The concurrent
testimony of Diodorus and Herodotus assign to him a large fleet in the
Red Sea; and according to other historians, he had also a fleet in the
Mediterranean. In order the more effectually to banish the prejudices of
the Egyptians against the sea, he is said to have instituted a marine
class among his subjects. By these measures he seems to have acquired
the sovereignty and the commerce of the greater part of the shores of
the Red Sea; along which his ships continued their route, till, according
to Herodotus, they were prevented from advancing by shoals and places
difficult to navigate; a description which aptly applies to the navigation
of this sea.
His expeditions and conquests in other parts of the globe do not fall
within our object: one however must be noticed; we allude to the
settlement of the Egyptians at Colchos. Herodotus is doubtful whether
this was a colony planted by Sesostris, or whether part of his army
remained behind on the banks of the Phasis, when he invaded this part
of Asia. We allude to this colony, because with it were found, at the
time of the Argonautic expedition, proofs of the attention which
Sesostris had paid to geography, and of the benefits which that science
derived from him. "Tradition," Gibbon observes, "has affirmed, with
some colour of reason, that Egypt planted on the Phasis a learned and
polite colony, which manufactured linen, built navies, and invented
geographical maps." All the information we possess respecting these
maps is derived from Apollonius Rhodius, and his scholiast: the
substance of it is as follows: according to this poet,--Phineas, king of
Colchos, predicted to the Argonauts the events which would
accompany their return. Argus, one of the Argonauts, explained that
prediction to his companions, and told them, that the route which they
must keep was described on tables, or rather on columns, which an
Egyptian conqueror had before left in the city of Oca, the capital of
Colchis; on these columns, the whole extent of the roads, and the limits
of the land and sea were marked out. An ingenious, and by no means an
improbable inference, has been drawn from this circumstance: that if
Sesostris left such columns in a part so remote from Egypt, it is to be
supposed that they were more numerous in Egypt itself. In short,
though on a point like this it is impossible to gain clear and undoubted

testimony, we are, upon the whole, strongly disposed to coincide in
opinion with Gibbon, that tradition has some colour of reason for
affirming that the Egyptian colony at Phasis possessed geographical
maps.
After the death of Sesostris, the Egyptians seem to have relapsed into
their former dislike to the sea: they indeed sent colonies into Greece,
and other parts; but these colonists kept up no relation with the mother
country. Their commerce was carried on, as it had been before the time
of Sesostris, by foreigners. The Old Testament informs us, that in the
time of Solomon many horses were brought from Egypt: and, from the
same authority, as well as from Herodotus and Homer, we learn that the
Phoenicians carried on a regular and lucrative traffic with this country;
and, indeed, for a long time, about this period, they were the only
nation to whom the ports of Egypt were open. Of the navigation and
commerce of the Red Sea they were equally negligent; so that while
none of their ships were seen on it, it