ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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Transport in Old Egypt used mainly the river road: the Nile. The river was the nexus of the different cities from the second cataract in the Lower Nubia to the Mediterranean; and it cost several cities (such as Biblos). They were also communicated with the countries of the Middle East through the Via Maris, while the inland land roads were used to access the various oases, mines and quarries, as well as to save the Nile Falls.
The river stone is a jewel of antiquity and it is very little to find it now in the new era.

This eminently river transport system made it difficult for foreign invaders to enter, as it was a territory that had barely any land-based communication routes and was defended by the desert and the Delta swamp.

Transport was paramount for trade, and this for the Egyptian economy, since one of the early characteristics of Old Egypt was the taste of its citizens for exotic luxury objects, from gold and precious stones from the East to the animals, ivory and ebony of black Africa, which paid with their exports of wheat, goldsmith, perfumes, papyrus and even wine.

Like all other economic activities, the transport was controlled by Pharaoh, who delegated his management to an effective administration whose officials were the scribes. Foreign caravans or ships were to pay tariffs,

Ground transportation

The land traffic was organized by caravans that crossed Nubia parallel to the Nile, and by cages that linked the oasis with the river. When canals were built, the material extracted was used to make a longitudinal dike, which once beamed was a parallel road, both for the movement of men and animals, and for the siren of the boats.

The routes that communicated the mines and quarries with the cities of destination and the ports of the Red Sea followed the course of the different Uadis that linked the mountains with the Nile Valley, easy to travel through the wide and flat background.

There were bodies of road guards, dependent on the governors, although total security was never achieved and the assaults were daily. One of the most watched and cared for routes was the so-called Horus road, which was linking Egypt with Asia, from the barussian arm to the city of Rafah in Gaza. It was equipped with a system of warehouses and wells located a day away from each other, allowing the caravans and the army to cross the Sinai desert. Between 1560 and 1081 a. C. Military fortresses were built to protect both the road and the wells. A branch of this route led to the copper and turquoise mines of southern Sinai. The extension was called the Via Maris.

Of the shooting animals, the donkey was the most used since it was domesticated in the 4th millennium a. C. Until the invasion of