Amenemhet II and the sea: Maritime aspects of the Mit Rahina (Memphis) inscription

The inscribed granite blocks found at Mit Rahina (Memphis) are a unique source of information from the early 12th Dynasty of Egypt. This inscription apparently derived from the court records of Amenemhet II and details activities during two years of his reign, including endowments, building activities, and aspects of Egypt's foreign relations. The last involved both military and commercial expeditions to the Levant, by land and by sea, activities that shed new light on this period. This paper considers the inscription from a heretofore unappreciated maritime perspective by analyzing the seaborne expeditions and the detailed descriptions of their cargoes both qualitatively and quantitatively. These descriptions may be characterized as the earliest "bill of lading" or "cargo manifest" known from the ancient Mediterranean world. The results are synthesized with the extant textual and archaeological record, in order to elucidate the nature of these expeditions and the ships involved, the significance of maritime transport and the implications of this capability for developments both in Egypt and the Levant.