Barque

Barque


 * Meaning of Name:**

The word //barque// appears to have come from the Greek word //baris//, a term for the ancient Egyptian boat.

A type of small sailing vessel with three or more masts, the barque was a boat used from Egypt's earliest recorded times, and are depicted in many drawings, paintings, and reliefs. The earliest known planked boats in the world have been found in Egypt. As Egypt's main source of heavy transit was the Nile river, the barque was vitally important. Officials of the pharaoh constantly traveled between the court and provinces using barques, and many of the towns and cities of Egypt were close to the riverbank.

Barques carried farmers and kings, armies and scribes, the annual harvest, and giant loads of stone used to build pyramids and other monuments. Transportation to the afterlife was believed to be accomplished by way of barques as well, and the image is used in many of the religious murals and carvings in temples and tombs. By the Old Kingdom Egypt was a full-fledged nautical power. A stela records that during an invasion of Syria Tuthmosis III used special boats that could be dissembled and carried in pieces by the army, and put together again using very few tools. Trading expeditions were sent out into the Mediterranean and into the Red Sea to bring back exotic goods.

The ancient Egyptian language had more than a hundred different words for "barque," and there were many varieties. There were simple papyrus rafts, small sporting boats, pleasure yachts, //depet// sickle-shaped barques, royal or sacred barques, //nemi// (war ships, sometimes equipped with rams), swift traveling barques, and //satch// or //sekhet// barques, used as enormous cargo ships, capable of moving stone blocks weighing over 700 tons and hauling large quantities of granite and alabaster. A barque under sail became the hieroglyphic for traveling south, while a barque without a sail or mast was the hieroglyphic for traveling north.

Since Egypt had very few large trees, shipwrights had to import cedar wood from Syria or Lebanon if they wanted to construct a //menesh// (sea-worthy) barque laid on a keel. The wealthy owned many large barques for fishing and sailing, made of cypress, acacia, pine, or sycamore, while fishermen owned smaller skiffs that could be controlled with a single paddle like a canoe, made of papyrus. Barques owned by the rich had multiple decks containing cabins, kitchens, dining rooms, and lounges, staffed by their own crew of sailors, cooks, and servants. The pharaoh commanded a royal battle fleet.

1st Dynasty barques found at Abydos were about 82 feet (25 meters) long, 6-10 feet (2 to 3 meters) wide, and about 23 inches (60 cm) deep, seating 30 rowers. They had narrowing sterns and prows, and there is evidence that they were painted in brightly in shades of green, red, blue, and yellow. Thick planks were sewn together by rope fed through slots cut into the timbers and dovetail clamps. The seams between them were caulked with reeds, and the sail, which was often dyed, was made of linen. Both the stern and the bow were often decorated with lotus flower or papyrus designs, or a falcon or hedgehog figurehead. Barques often had the Eye of Horus painted on the prow, for protection against wreaks and crocodiles. Barques were frequently named - some examples are "The Wild Bull," "The Northern," "Arising in Memphis", and "Strong of Prow is Amun." Although barques were popular, not every Egyptian knew how to swim - the remains of papyrus life-preservers and goat-skin flotation devices have been found.

No temple was complete without a sacred barque fit for the temple god. On certain holidays a statue of the god sat in the cabin, and the barque was sailed down the Nile, decked in palm branches. Religious barques were often hidden behind a veil of linen, overlaid with gold leaf, and carved with animal decorations. These barques were also carried on the shoulders of priests during religious processions. Amenhotep III made for Amun the largest sacred barque ever to be built, carved of Lebanese cedar, and named the “Beginning of the River.” The barque was ornamented with silver and covered in gold inside and out. The barque carried its own shrine and two obelisks, both wrought with electrum. The reflection of the glittering barque on the water must have been quite a sight.

The sun-god Ra was thought to travel on a barque around the earth each day, bringing sunlight to the world. The Milky Way was known as the "Nile in the Sky" and was believed to be sailed upon by both the gods and the dead. According to Egyptian beliefs, the souls of the dead accompanied Ra, sailing across the sky. One spell from the Book of the Dead was intended for the deceased to gain entrance onto Ra's sacred barque: "I know that northern gate of the sky, the place where Ra navigates by the winds and by the oar. I am in charge of the rigging of the god's ship. I am a tireless oarsman in the barque of Ra." Two barques, or at least two models of barques, were therefore included in every tomb, one with a mast and sail and one without. Many models of these barques, that range from tiny to life-size, have been found, dating back to the 1st Dynasty.

Model barques were often highly detailed, made of wood, plastered, and brightly painted. They were often equipped with a full complement of tiny sailors. Tutankhamen was buried with 35 models of royal barques. A fleet of twelve full-size barques made of cedar were interred with the Pharaoh Djer. In the ancient Pyramid Texts, the pharaoh Unas is ferried from this world to the next on the "reed floats of heaven." This indicates that the ancient Egyptian's use of barques was very old indeed, and that a papyrus barque was used before the invention of planked boats. In later times, a barque-shaped pit could take the place of an actual barque, but the magical purpose remained the same.

Found in the tomb of Meseti was a wooden model of a barque, the largest found. It was destroyed during the recent riot in Egypt.

Magical Objects