Bawerdjed

Bawerdjed was an ancient Egyptian civil servant, traveling salesman and explorer during the 5th Dynasty ( Old Kingdom ). He carried the title of “ keeper of the seal of God” ( ḫtmw-nṯr ) and led an expedition to Punt during the reign of King Djedkare (approx. 2410-2380 BC) . From there he brought a "dwarf of god dances", perhaps a pygmy , to Egypt. No contemporary evidence is known about Bawerdjed and his journey. He is only mentioned in a copy of a letter from King Pepi II ( 6th Dynasty ) to the expedition leader Harchuf , which the latter had attached to the facade of his tomb on the Qubbet el-Hawa .

literature

James Henry Breasted : Ancient records of Egypt. Historical documents from the earliest times to the Persian conquest. Volume I: The first to seventeenth dynasties. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1906, § 351, ( PDF; 12.0 MB ).
Elmar Edel : Inscriptions of the Old Kingdom VI. The travel reports of the Hrw-hwjf (Herchuf). In: Otto Firchow (Ed.): Egyptological studies. Festschrift for H. Grapow on his 70th birthday (= publications by the Institute for Orient Research. Volume 29). Berlin 1955, pp. 51-75.
Miriam Lichtheim : Ancient Egyptian Literature. Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. University of California Press, Berkeley / Los Angeles / London 1973 (new edition 2006), pp. 23-27, ( limited online version ).
Ernesto Schiaparelli : Una tomba egiziana inedita della VIa dinastia: con inscrizioni storiche e geografiche. Reale Accademia Dei Lincei, Rome 1892, p. 20 ( online version ).
Kurt Sethe (ed.): Documents of the Egyptian antiquity. Volume 1: Documents of the old empire. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1933, pp. 128-129.

Literary processing

Ivan Antonovich Jefremow : The journey of Bawardjed. (1946–1953) (historical narrative, prehistory to The Land from the Sea Foam, 1949), German 2004

Notes and individual references

↑ Inscriptions by ḫwj = f-ḥr.w on his grave across from Elephantine. In: Kurt Sethe (Hrsg.): Documents of the old empire. Volume 1: Documents of Ancient Egypt; Department 1. second, greatly increased edition, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1932-33, p. 128, online .

personal data
SURNAME	Bawerdjed
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Egyptian explorer
DATE OF BIRTH	25th century BC BC or 24th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	25th century BC BC or 24th century BC Chr.

[1] Inscriptions by ḫwj = f-ḥr.w on his grave across from Elephantine. In: Kurt Sethe (Hrsg.): Documents of the old empire. Volume 1: Documents of Ancient Egypt; Department 1. second, greatly increased edition, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1932-33, p. 128, online .