Ships in Ancient Egypt...Sail and Sea

02 August 2022 - 01 September 2022

Alexandria, Egypt, Egypt

the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Main Building, Antiquities Museum Entrance

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum, affiliated to the Cultural Outreach Sector, in collaboration with the National Maritime Museum in Alexandria, organizes a temporary exhibition entitled " Ships in Ancient Egypt...Sail and Sea" at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Main Building, Antiquities Museum Entrance, on Tuesday, 2 August 2022. The exhibition will be open for one month. The exhibition includes thirteen models of boats that were commonly used in ancient Egypt, noting that the pieces are non-archaeological models, and were previously displayed in several exhibitions abroad.

Two lectures will be held alongside the exhibition, the first of which will be delivered by Dr. Essam Safi El-Din, entitled "Archaeological Boats and their Models", to highlight the methods and materials used in the manufacture of models and reproductions. The second lecture, to be delivered by Dr. Nabila Abdel-Fattah Sakr, Director of the National Maritime Museum, is entitled "The Navy in Ancient Egypt", in which she deals with the development of the manufacture of ships and their different types in ancient Egypt.

Archaeological findings confirmed that the ancient Egyptians were the first to build ships and steer them through canals, rivers, and then seas, going back to the seventh and eighth millennium BC. Egyptian ships have developed since the pre-dynastic era according to what was required at the time, from transportation and trade systems and the requirements of religious buildings from cutting stones to transporting them from one place to another, which led to the progress and development of this important industry until ancient Egyptians established a military fleet and a commercial fleet. Over time, the ship-building industry developed in ancient Egypt, where a rudder was used similar to the rudder used today, and then it developed greatly in the New Kingdom, and shipbuilders mastered their industry, adding decorated or colored cabins and flags, and the shapes of boats and ships varied. Its rear took the form of brightly colored papyrus flowers. Transport ships were among the most important types of ships that required special equipment due to the nature of the goods they were transporting. The lengths and sizes of ships also varied as required, according to the ancient Egyptian texts.