Report of Wenamun

1Year five, third month of the third season, day 16, day of the departure of the “eldest of the hall” of the house of Amon, [the lord of the] lands, Wenamon, to bring the timber for the great and august barge of Amon-Re, king of gods, which is on [the river] ... (called): “Userhet” of Amon. On the day of my arrival at Tanis, at the place of abode of Nesubenebded and Tentamon, I gave to them the writings of Amon-Re, king of gods, which they caused to be read in their presence; and they said: “I will do (it), I will do (it) according to that which Amon-Re, king of gods, our lord, says.” I stayed until the fourth month of the third season, being in Tanis. Nesubenebded and Tentamon sent me with the ship-captain, Mengebet, and I descended into the great Syrian sea, in the fourth month of the third season, on the first day. I arrived at Dor, a city of Thekel, and Bedel, its king, caused to be brought for me much bread, a jar of wine, and a joint of beef. Then a man of my ship fled, having stolen: [vessels] of gold, [amounting to] 5 deben; 4 vessels of silver, amounting to 20 deben; a sack of silver, 11 deben. [Total of what] he [stole]: 5 deben of gold, 31 deben of silver. In the morning then I rose and went to the abode of the prince, and I said to him: “I have been robbed in your harbor. Since you are the king of this land, you are therefore its investigator, who should search for my money. For the money belongs to Amon-Re, king of gods, the lord of the lands; it belongs to Nesubenebded, and it belongs to Hrihor, my lord, and the other magnates of Egypt; it belongs also to Weret, and to Mekmel, and to Zakar-Baal, the prince of Byblos.” He said to me: “To your honor and your excellence! But, behold, I know nothing of this complaint which you have lodged with me. If the thief belonged to my land, he who went on board your ship, that he might steal your treasure, I would repay it to you from my treasury till they find your thief by name; but the thief who robbed you belongs to your ship. Wait a few days here with me, and I will seek him.” When I had spent nine days, moored in his harbor, I went to him, and said to him: “Behold, you have not found my money; [therefore let me depart] with the ship-captain, and with those who go ...” ... the sea. He said to me, “Be silent ...” ... the harbor ... [I arrived at] Tyre. I went forth from Tyre at early dawn ... Zakar-Baal, the prince of Byblos ... ... I found 30 deben of silver in it. I seized [it, saying to them: “I will take] your money, and it shall remain with me until you find [my money. Was it not a man of Thekel] who stole it, and no thief [of ours]? I will take it ...” They went away, while I ... [I] arrived ... the harbor of Byblos. [I made a place of concealment, I hid] “Amon-of-the-Way,” and I placed his things in it. The prince of Byblos sent to me, saying: “[Take yourself away] (from) my harbor.” I sent to him, saying: “... if they sail, let them take [me] to Egypt.” I spent nineteen days in his [harbor], and he continually sent to me daily, saying: “Take yourself away from my harbor.” Now, when he sacrificed to his gods ..., the god seized one of his noble youths, making him frenzied, so that he said: “Bring [the god] here! Bring the messenger of Amon who has him. Send him, and let him go.” Now, while the frenzied (youth) continued in frenzy during this night, I found a ship bound for Egypt, and I loaded all my belongings into it. I waited for the darkness, saying: “When it descends I will embark the god also, in order that no other eye may see him.” The harbor-master came to me, saying: “Remain until morning by the prince.” I said to him: “Are you not he who continually came to me daily, saying: ‘Take yourself away from my harbor’? Do you not say, ‘Remain in the [land],’ in order to let depart the ship that I have found? that you may come and say again, ‘Away!’?” He went and told it to the prince, and the prince sent to the captain of the ship, saying: “Remain until morning by the king.” When morning came he sent and had me brought up, when the divine offering occurred in the fortress in which he was, on the shore of the sea. I found him sitting in his upper chamber, leaning his back against a window, while the waves of the great Syrian sea beat against the ... behind him. I said to him: “Kindness of Amon!” He said to me: “How long is it until this day since you came (away) from the abode of Amon?” I said: “Five months and one day until now.” He said to me: “Behold, if you are true, where is the writing of Amon, which is in your hand? Where is the letter of the High Priest of Amon, which is in your hand?” I said to him: “I gave them to Nesubenebded and Tentamon.” Then he was very angry, and he said to me: “Now, behold, the writing and the letter are not in your hand! Where is the ship of cedar, which Nesubenebded gave to you? Where is its Syrian crew? He would not deliver your business to this ship-captain ... to have you killed, that they might cast you into the sea. From whom would they have sought the god then? And you, from whom would they have sought you then?” So he spoke to me. I said to him: “There are indeed Egyptian ships and Egyptian crews who sail under Nesubenebded, (but) he has no Syrian crews.” He said to me: “There are surely twenty ships here in my harbor, which are in connection with Nesubenebded; and at this Sidon, where you also would go, there are indeed 10,000 ships also which are in connection with Berket-el and sail to his house.” Then I was silent in this great hour. He answered and said to me: “On what business have you come here?” I said to him: “I have come after the timber for the great and august barge of Amon-Re, king of gods. Your father did it, your grandfather did it, and you will also do it.” So I spoke to him. He said to me: “They did it, truly. If you give me (something) for doing it, I will do it. Indeed, my agents transacted the business; the Pharaoh, L. P. H., sent six ships, laden with the products of Egypt, and they were unloaded into their storehouses. And you also shall bring something for me.” He had the journal of his fathers brought in, and he had them read it before me. They found 1,000 deben of every (kind of) silver, which was in his book. He said to me: “If the ruler of Egypt were the owner of my property, and I were also his servant, he would not send silver and gold, saying: ‘Do the command of Amon.’ It was not the payment of tribute which they exacted of my father. As for me, I am myself neither your servant nor am I the servant of him that sent you. If I cry out to the Lebanon, the heavens open, and the logs lie here on the shore of the sea. “Give me the sails which you have brought to propel your ships which bear your logs to [Egypt]. Give me the cordage [which you have brought to bind] the trees which I fell, in order to make them [fast] for you ... I make them for you into the sails of your ships, and the tops are (too) heavy and they break, and you die in the midst of the sea when Amon thunders in heaven, and puts Sutekh in his time. “For Amon equips all lands; he equips them, having first equipped the land of Egypt, from where you come. For artisanship came forth from it, to reach my place of abode; and teaching came forth from it, to reach my place of abode. What (then) are these miserable journeys which they have had you make?” I said to him: “O guilty one! They are no miserable journeys on which I am. There is no ship upon the river which Amon does not own. For his is the sea, and his is Lebanon of which you say, ‘It is mine.’ It grows for ‘Userhet’ (the barge) of Amon, the lord of every ship. Yes, so spoke Amon-Re, king of gods, saying to Hrihor, my lord: ‘Send me,’ and he made me go, bearing this great god. But, behold, you have let this great god wait twenty-nine days, when he had landed [in] your harbor, although you certainly knew he was here. He is indeed (still) what he (once) was, while you stand and bargain for the Lebanon with Amon, its lord. As for what you say, that the former kings sent silver and gold, if they had given life and health, they would not have sent the valuables; (but) they sent the valuables [to] your fathers instead of life and health. Now, as for Amon-Re, king of gods, he is the lord of life and health, and he was the lord of your fathers, who spent their lifetime offering to Amon. And you also, you are the servant of Amon. If you say to Amon, ‘I will do (it), I will do (it),’ and you execute his command, you shall live, and you shall be prosperous, and you shall be healthy, and you shall be pleasant to your whole land and your people. Do not wish for yourself a thing belonging to Amon-Re, [king of] gods. Yes, the lion loves his own.” “Let my scribe be brought to me, that I may send him to Nesubenebded and Tentamon, the rulers whom Amon has given to the North of his land, and they will send all that of which I shall write to them, saying: ‘Let it be brought;’ until I return to the South and send you all, all your trifles again.” So I spoke to him. He gave my letter into the hand of his messenger. He loaded in the keel, the head of the bow and the head of the stern, with four other hewn timbers, together seven; and he had them taken to Egypt. His messenger went to Egypt, and returned to me, to Syria in the first month of the second season. Nesubenebded and Tentamon sent: Gold: 4 Tb-vessels, 1 K’k-mn-vessel; Silver: 5 Tb-vessels; Royal linen: 10 garments, 10 hm-brd; Papyrus: 500 rolls; Ox-hides: 500; Rope: 500 (coils); Lentils: 20 measures; Fish: 30 measures. She sent me: Linen: 5 ..., 5 hm-brd; Lentils: 1 measure; Fish: 5 measures. The prince rejoiced, and detailed 300 men and 300 oxen, placing overseers over them, to have the trees felled. They spent the second season with it ... In the third month of the second season (seventh month) they dragged them [to] the shore of the sea. The prince came forth and stood by them. He sent to me, saying: “Come.” Now, when I had presented myself before him, the shadow of his sunshade fell upon me. Penamon, a butler, he stepped between me, saying: “The shadow of Pharaoh, L. P. H., your lord, falls upon you.” He was angry with him, saying: “Let him alone!” I presented myself before him, and he answered and said to me: “Behold, the command which my fathers formerly executed, I have executed, although you for your part have not done for me that which your fathers did for me. Behold, there has arrived the last of your timber, and there it lies. Do according to my desire and come to load it, for they will indeed give it to you. “Do not come to contemplate the terror of the sea, (but) if you do contemplate the terror of the sea, you shall (also) contemplate my own. Indeed, I have not done to you that which they did to the messengers of Khamwese, when they spent seventeen years in this land. They died in their place.” He said to his butler: “Take him, and let him see their tomb, in which they sleep.” I said to him: “Let me not see it! As for Khamwese, (mere) people were the messengers whom he sent to you; but people ... there was no [god among] his messengers. And yet you say, ‘Go and see your companions.’ Lo, are you not glad? and do you not have made for yourself a tablet, on which you say: ‘Amon-Re, king of gods, sent to me “Amon-of-the-Way,” his [divine] messenger, and Wenamon, his human messenger, after the timber for the great and august barge of Amon-Re, king of gods. I felled it, I loaded it, I supplied him (with) my ships and my crews, I brought them to Egypt, to beseech for me 10,000 years of life from Amon, more than my ordained (life), and it came to pass.’ Then in future days when a messenger comes from the land of Egypt, who is able to write, and reads your name upon the stela, you shall receive water in the West, like the gods who are there.” He said to me: “It is a great testimony which you tell me.” I said to him: “As for the many things which you have said to me, when I reach the place of abode of the High Priest of Amon, and he shall see your command in your command, [he] will have something delivered to you.” I went to the shore of the sea, to the place where the timbers lay; I spied eleven ships coming from the sea, belonging to the Thekel, saying: “Arrest him! Do not let a ship of his (pass) to Egypt!” I sat down and began to weep. The letter-scribe of the prince came out to me, and said to me: “What is the matter with you?” I said to him: “Surely you see these birds which twice descend upon Egypt. Behold them! They come to the pool, and how long shall I be here, forsaken? For you see surely those who come to arrest me again.” He went and told it to the prince. The prince began to weep at the evil words which they spoke to him. He sent out his letter-scribe to me, he brought me two jars of wine and a ram. He sent to me Tentno, an Egyptian singer (feminine), who was with him, saying: “Sing for him; do not let his heart feel apprehension.” He sent to me, saying: “Eat, drink, and do not let your heart feel apprehension. You shall hear all that I have to say in the morning.” Morning came, he had (the Thekel) called into his ..., he stood in their midst and said to the Thekel: “Why have you come?” They said to him: “We have come after the stove-up ships which you send to Egypt with our ... comrades.” He said to them: “I cannot arrest the messenger of Amon in my land. Let me send him away, and you shall pursue him, to arrest him.” He loaded me on board, he sent me away ... to the harbor of the sea. The wind drove me to the land of Alasa; those of the city came forth to me to slay me. I was brought among them to the abode of Heteb, the queen of the city. I found her as she was going forth from one of her houses and entering into her other. I saluted her, I asked the people who stood about her: “There is surely one among you who understands Egyptian?” One among them said: “I understand (it).” I said to him: “Say to my mistress: ‘I have heard as far as Thebes, the abode of Amon, that in every city injustice is done, but that justice is done in the land of Alasa; (but), lo, injustice is done every day here.’” She said: “Indeed! What is this that you say?” I said to her: “If the sea raged and the wind drove me to the land where I am, you will not let them take advantage of me to slay me; I being a messenger of Amon. I am one for whom they will seek unceasingly. As for the crew of the prince of Byblos whom they sought to kill, their lord will surely find ten crews of yours, and he will slay them, on his part.” She had the people called and stationed (before her); she said to me: “Pass the night ...”