Editing Djedkare Isesi (section)

====Trade relations====
Egypt entertained continuing trade relations with the Levant during Djedkare's reign, possibly as far north as [[Anatolia]]. A gold [[cylinder seal]] bearing the [[serekh]] of Djedkare together with the cartouche of Menkauhor Kaiu is now on display at the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]].{{efn|group=note|The golden seal has the catalog number 68.115.{{sfn|Seal of office 68.115, BMFA|2015}}}}{{sfn|Seal of office 68.115, BMFA|2015}} The seal, whose gold may originate from the [[Pactolus|Pactolus river]] valley in western Anatolia,{{sfn|Young|1972|pp=11–13}} could attest to wide-ranging trade-contacts during the later Fifth Dynasty,{{sfn|Altenmüller|2001|p=600}}{{sfn|Vermeule|Stone|Vermeule|1970|p=34}} but its provenance remains unverifiable.{{efn|group=note|The provenance of the seal is usually believed to be a tomb in a yet undiscovered site along the Eastern Mediterranean coast.{{sfn|Vermeule|Stone|Vermeule|1970|p=37}} The archaeologist [[Karin Sowada]] doubts the authenticity of the seal.{{sfn|Sowada|Grave|2009|p=146, footnote 89}}}}{{sfn|Schulman|1979|p=86}}

Trade contacts with [[Byblos]], on the coast of modern-day [[Lebanon]], are suggested by a fragmentary [[Stone vessels in Ancient Egypt|stone vessel]] unearthed in the city and bearing the inscription "King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Djedkare [living] forever".{{sfn|Nelson|1934|loc=pl. III no. 1, see [http://almashriq.hiof.no/ddc/projects/archaeology/berytus-back/berytus01/plateiii.html here] and [http://almashriq.hiof.no/ddc/projects/archaeology/berytus-back/berytus01/20.html there]}}{{sfn|Porter|Moss|Burney|1951|p=390}} A biographical inscription discovered in the tomb of Iny, a Sixth Dynasty official, provides further evidence for an Egyptian expedition to Byblos during Djedkare's reign.{{sfn|Verner|2001b|p=590}} Iny's inscription relates his travels to procure [[lapis lazuli]] and [[lead]] or [[tin]]{{sfn|Marcolin|2006|p=297–298|loc=footnote f}} for king Merenre, but starts by recounting what must have been similar events taking place under Djedkare.{{sfn|Marcolin|2006|p=293}}

To the south of Egypt, Djedkare also sent an expedition to the fabled [[Land of Punt]]{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=79}} to procure the myrrh used as incense in the Egyptian temples.{{sfn|Hayes|1978|p=67}} The expedition to Punt is referred to in the letter from [[Pepi II Neferkare]] to Harkuf some 100 years later. Harkuf had reported that he would bring back a "dwarf of the god's dancers from the land of the horizon dwellers". Pepi mentions that the god's sealbearer Werdjededkhnum had returned from Punt with a dwarf during the reign of Djedkare and had been richly rewarded. The decree mentions that "My Majesty will do for you something greater than what was done for the god's sealbearer Werdjededkhnum in the reign of Isesi, reflecting my majesty's yearning to see this dwarf".{{sfn|Wente|1990|pp=20–21}}
[[File:Petrie Relief of Inti from Dishasha.png|thumb|Relief from the tomb of Inti showing a scene of battle or siege{{sfn|Petrie|1898|loc=plate IV}}]]
Djedkare's expedition to Punt is also mentioned in a contemporaneous [[Graffiti|graffito]] found in Tumas, a locality of Lower Nubia some {{convert|150|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of [[Aswan]],{{sfn|Baker|2008|p=84}} where Isesi's cartouche was discovered.{{sfn|Weigall|1907|p=108|loc=Pl. LVIII}}