Flourished Circa 2485-2472 B.C.E.
King, Dynasty 5

Trade Promoter. Sahure, the second king of Dynasty 5 (2500-2350 B.C.E.), commissioned the earliest known oceangoing ships. Sahure's reign is credited with the earliest detailed representations of the types of seagoing vessels that were in use on the Mediterranean during the years of the Egyptian Old Kingdom. Early Egyptian annals mention that Sahure promoted trade all over the Egyptian world. He sent expeditions to the Sinai Peninsula and to the fabled East African land of Punt (probably in the vicinity of modern Somalia). Inscriptions also show that he sent miners for special hard stone far to the south of ancient Egypt, to the vicinity of the modern Egyptian-Sudanese border.

"Byblos" ships? What was the Egyptian name for the ships seen on Sahure's relief sculptures? It is often assumed that these vessels are the type called "Byblos" ships, named...