Editing Sahure (section)

==== Trade and tribute ====

[[File:Sahure Wadi Maghara.jpg|thumb|right|200px|alt=Relief showing two profiles of the king wearing the crown of upper and lower Egypt, surrounded by hieroglyphs|Relief of Sahure from the [[Wadi Maghareh]]{{sfn|Gardiner|Peet|Černý|1955|p=15}}{{sfn|Sethe|1903|p=32}}]]

Historical records and surviving artifacts suggest that contacts with foreign lands were numerous during Sahure's reign. Furthermore, these contacts seem to have been mostly economic rather than military in nature. Reliefs from his pyramid complex show the return of a naval expedition to Lebanon, the boats laden with the trunks of precious [[Cedrus libani|cedar]] trees.{{sfn|Lehner|2008|pp=142–144}} Other ships are represented loaded with "Asiatics",{{efn|group=note|In the context of Egyptology, the term "Asiatics" is used to refer to people from the Levant, including [[Canaan]], modern-day [[Lebanon]] and the southern coast of modern-day [[Turkey]].}} both adults and children who were either slaves,{{sfn|Clayton|1994|pp=60–63}}{{sfn|Baker|2008|pp=343–345}}{{sfn|Hayes|1978|pp= 66–67}} or merchants,{{sfn|Bresciani|1997|p=228}} greeting Sahure:
{{cquote|text=Hail to thee, O Sahure! God of the living, we behold thy beauty!.{{sfn|Redford|1986|p=137}}}}
The same relief strongly suggests that interpreters were on board the ships, tasked with translations to facilitate trade with foreign lands.{{sfn|Bresciani|1997|p=229}}
A relief, unique to Egyptian art, depicts several [[Syrian brown bear]]s, presumably brought back from the [[Levant]]ine coast by seagoing ships as well. These bears appear in association with 12 red-painted one-handled jars from Syria. The Egyptologists Karin Sowada and William Stevenson Smith have proposed that, taken together, the bears and jars are likely to constitute a tribute.{{sfn|Sowada|2009|p=160 and Fig. 39}}{{sfn|Smith|1971|p=233}}

Trade contacts with [[Byblos]] took place during Sahure's reign. Excavations of the temple of [[Ba'alat Gebal|Baalat-Gebal]] yielded an [[alabaster]] bowl inscribed with Sahure's name.{{sfn|Baker|2008|pp=343–345}} The layout of the fourth phase of this temple might even have been influenced by the architecture of Sahure's valley temple,{{efn|group=note|It is possible that the Egyptians wielded sufficient influence over Byblos at the time to have the temple built to satisfy their cultic needs, as they could have sought the protection of Baalat as a form of [[Hathor]]. As this remains conjectural, alternative explanations have been brought forth to explain the presence of Egyptian artifacts and Egyptian influence on the temple layout. The architects of the temple may have been Egyptians working for the Byblite king while the alabaster bowl found in the temple could come from Egyptian payments to the Byblite king for wood,{{sfn|Wright|Pardee|1988|p=150}} or it may have been donated by pious individuals.{{sfn|Wright|Pardee|1988|p=151}} While the Egyptian influence over Byblos cannot be denied, there is far from enough evidence to conclude that Byblos functioned as an Egyptian colony at the time of Sahure.{{sfn|Wright|Pardee|1988|p=151}}}}{{sfn|Saghieh|1983|p=121}} although this remains debated.{{sfn|Espinel|2002|pp=105–106}}
There is further corroborating evidence for trade with the wider Levant during the Fifth Dynasty, several [[Stone vessels in Ancient Egypt|stone vessels]] being inscribed with cartouches of pharaohs of this dynasty discovered in Lebanon.{{efn|group=note|Finally, a piece of thin gold stamped to a wooden throne and bearing Sahure's cartouches has been purportedly found during illegal excavations in [[Turkey]] among a wider assemblage known as the "Dorak Treasure".{{sfn|Clayton|1994|pp=60–63}}{{sfn|Smith|1965|p=110}}{{sfn|Altenmüller|2001|p=598}} The existence of the treasure is now widely doubted.{{sfn|Mazur|2005}}}}{{sfn|Mumford|2006|p=54}} So much so that the archeologist Gregory Mumford points to the fact that "Sahure is [the] best attested [king] for international relations" and has the highest number of texts inscribed in Sinai proportionally to his reign length.{{sfn|Mumford|2006|p=55}}

In his last year, Sahure sent the first documented{{sfn|Sowada|2009|p=198}} expedition to the fabled [[land of Punt]],{{sfn|Hawass|2003|pp=260–263}} probably along the Somalian coast.{{sfn|Verner|2001b|p=589}} The expedition, which is conjectured to have departed Egypt from the harbor of [[Mersa Gawasis]],{{sfn|Bard|Fattovich|2011|p=116}} is reported on the Palermo Stone{{sfn|Altenmüller|2001|p=598}} where it is said to have come back with 80,000 of an unspecified measure of myrrh, along with [[malachite]], 6,000 measures of [[electrum]] and 2,600 or 23,020 staves,{{sfn|Baker|2008|pp=343–345}}{{sfn|Wicker|1998|p=155}} possibly made of [[ebony]].{{sfn|Phillips|1997|p=426}}
In his last year Sahure sent another expedition abroad, this time to the [[copper]] and [[turquoise]] mines of [[Wadi Maghareh]]{{sfn|Verner|2001b|p=588}}{{sfn|Gardiner|Peet|Černý|1955|p=15}}{{sfn|Strudwick|2005|p=135, text number 57}} and Wadi Kharit in [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]],{{efn|group=note|The expedition to the copper mine of Wadi Kharit left an inscription reading: "Horus Lord-of-Risings, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Sahure, granted life eternally. Thot lord-of-terror who smashes Asia".{{sfn|Giveon|1977|p=61}}}}{{sfn|Giveon|1977|pp=61–63}}{{sfn|Giveon|1978|p=76}} which had been active since at least the beginning of the [[Third Dynasty of Egypt|Third Dynasty]].{{sfn|Mumford|1999|pp=875–876}} This expedition, also mentioned by the Palermo stone,{{sfn|Altenmüller|2001|p=598}} brought back over 6000 units of turquoise to Egypt{{sfn|Redford|1986|p=137}} and produced two reliefs in Sinai, one of which shows Sahure in the traditional act of smiting Asiatics{{sfn|Baker|2008|pp=343–345}} and boasting "The Great God smites the Asiatics of all countries".{{sfn|Breasted|1906|pp=108–110}} In parallel with these activities, [[diorite]] quarries near Abu Simbel were exploited throughout Sahure's reign.{{sfn|Verner|2001b|p=589}}
[[File:A procession of Libyan, Nubian, and West Asiatic prisoners before Pharaoh Sahure. From the Pyramid Complex of Sahure at Abusir, Egypt. 2496-2483 BCE. Neues Museum.jpg|thumb|A procession of Libyan, Nubian, and West Asiatic prisoners before Pharaoh Sahure. From the Pyramid Complex of Sahure at Abusir, Egypt. 2496-2483 BCE. Neues Museum]]