Thursday, July 27, 2006

Book: Tracing the history of diplomacy

Exerpt from a non-fiction book called The Ambassadors: From Ancient Greece to Renaissance Europe, the Men Who Introduced the World to Itself by Jonathan Wright: "In the eleventh century B.C., during the reign of Ramesses XI, an Egyptian envoy named Wen Amun travelled to Lebanon to buy timber for the sacred barque of the god Amun¬re. Much like Iosip Nepea, his journey was plagued with bad fortune. At the port of Dor in the Nile delta he was robbed of all his money, although he quickly made good his loss by seizing an equivalent quantity of silver on board a ship bound for the Syrian port of Byblos.
The prince of Byblos was distinctly unimpressed by the arrival of an Egyptian envoy. He lacked written credentials, he had brought no gifts, so there was little incentive to provide him with precious timber."
See the above page for the rest of the account of Wen Amun's activities.

No comments: