Still, pretty close to the coasts except for the sail to Cyprus/Alashiya
The monsoon trade with India antedates Roman expansion into Egypt, apparently dating back to Sumerian times. The Sumerians themselves wrote that they arrived in the region with their oldest presence being in Persian Gulf ports, and their placenames (rivers, cities) are not Sumerian words.
Egyptians themselves had an intermittent but continual interest in expanding beyond the Nile valley, into Sinai and beyond, even in the predynastic or "dynasty zero" era. Egyptian navigation of the Red Sea reaches back at least into Middle Kingdom times.
'The Story of Wenamun' has an uncertain date but records (or dramatizes) a Late Kingdom voyage to get cedars from Lebanon, a practice that began well before the Late Kingdom, as there are Old Kingdom examples, but those could have arrived via merchant ships from what is now Lebanon.
Most of the Punt keyword, sorted:
“The Story of Wenamun” — fascinating, i’ve not heard of that before. Thank you! i’m going to read that!
Still, pretty close to the coasts except for the sail to Cyprus/Alashiya