On the walls of one of the most elegant temples of ancient Egypt a story is told, in images and words, that directly concerns incense: the expedition sent by Queen Hatshepsut to the distant land of Punt. This is not a myth but a historical event illustrated with extraordinary care, and it allows us to understand how important aromatics were to Egyptian worship.
Hatshepsut, a queen who became pharaoh
Hatshepsut reigned over Egypt during the Eighteenth Dynasty, in the fifteenth century BC. Daughter of one pharaoh and wife of another, she first governed as regent for the young Thutmose III and then fully took on the titles and insignia of the sovereign. Her reign is remembered for intense building activity and relative stability.
Her most famous work is the mortuary temple of Deir el-Bahari, on the west bank of Thebes, built in terraces at the foot of a cliff. The Egyptians called it Djeser-djeseru, an expression translated as "holy of holies".
The land of Punt
For the Egyptians Punt was a distant land, reachable by sea, from which precious goods came: aromatic resins, ebony, ivory, gold and the skins of exotic animals. Its exact location is still debated by scholars; the most common hypotheses place it along the southern coasts of the Red Sea or the Horn of Africa.
In Egyptian texts Punt is often associated with the gods and called "God's Land". It was a real place, but wrapped in a sacred aura precisely because the substances destined for the temples came from there.
The reliefs of Deir el-Bahari
In the colonnade of one of the temple's terraces, the reliefs recount the expedition step by step:
- Departure: ships with sails and oars leave Egypt, loaded with gifts for exchange.
- Arrival: the Egyptians land in Punt, where houses are shown on stilts, among palms and trees.
- The meeting: the chief of Punt and his wife welcome the visitors; the figure of his wife, shown with a very heavy build, is among the best-known images in the temple.
- The cargo: sacks of resin, fine woods, animals and above all whole trees, their roots wrapped in baskets, are loaded onto the ships.
- The return: the goods are offered to the god Amun and measured before the queen.
The detail of the trees carried alive is remarkable. The aim was clearly to transplant them in Egypt, so as to have a direct source of the sacred resins close to the temple.
The words for incense
The Egyptians had several terms for aromatic resins. Two are particularly important:
| Egyptian term | General meaning |
|---|---|
| antyw | Aromatic resin, often understood as myrrh |
| senetjer | Incense, a term scholars link to the idea of making divine |
The second term is often interpreted as "that which makes divine". If this reading is correct, the very name of incense declared its function: to transform space, objects and people, making them fit for the presence of the god.
Why so much effort
A sea expedition to faraway lands was a costly and risky undertaking. That a queen chose to make it one of the main themes of her temple says a great deal about the religious value of aromatics. In daily Egyptian worship the statue of the god was awakened, purified, clothed and fed, and incense accompanied every stage. Without resins the cult could not be celebrated according to the rules.
The expedition to Punt was therefore also an act of piety: providing the god with what he needed, and showing that the sovereign fulfilled the role of mediator between heaven and earth.
A symbolic reading
The story of the trees brought from Punt offers an evocative image. The sacred is not simply bought or imported: it is transplanted, rooted in new soil, grown close to the temple. For those on an inner path, it is an image of the work needed to turn what one receives from afar, from a teacher, a text or a tradition, into something that takes root in one's own life.
In short
- Hatshepsut, a queen-pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, sent an expedition to the land of Punt.
- The reliefs of the Deir el-Bahari temple show its departure, meeting, cargo and return.
- The Egyptians brought back resins and whole trees with their roots, to be transplanted.
- The Egyptian word senetjer for incense is often linked to the idea of making divine.
- The expedition shows how indispensable aromatics were to daily worship.
