Page 250 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

[1510-144° B-c-] The Amber Route 111
in the north it was well known that Knossos was the market
place of the world, the home of the greatest merchant fleet on

earth, the city where fortunes could be made and lost—and a
holy city to boot. The Swedish sailors looked with awe at the
white stone-built city rising tier on tier between the blue of the
sea and the blue of the sky, and at the multitude of lateen-
rigged ships crowding the fairway and beached along the shore.
But they caused some sensation themselves, for Swedish
ships were not common at that time in the eastern Mediterra­

nean. Swedish sailors were much more common, though, and
there was a tavern near the shore kept by a retired Swedish bo­
sun whose fame had reached the north. He was their first calling
place on arrival, and he gave them much useful information

about the land to which they had come.
There would be customs dues to pay on their cargo, he said.
For the king in the palace three miles up country (he called
him Minos) kept a sharp watch on the arrival of foreign ships,
and his officers were probably already picketing the beached ves­
sel. But once the tithes were paid, marketing was free, and the

merchants would give good prices for luxury items from the
north. Though if they would take his advice, he said, they would
go easy on their sales, and reserve a good portion of their cargo
for Egypt. For Egypt had grown wealthy under its present dy­
nasty, and now under its female pharaoh was importing luxuries

as never before.
Yes, it was true, he said, Egypt had a female pharaoh now,
believe it or not. Of course, women had always had a lot to
say in Egypt, and particularly the queens of the present dynasty
had been a fine bunch of administrators (and good-lookers as

well). But Hatshepsut was the most determined of them all.
Ever since she was made joint ruler with her father thirty years
ago (that was in 1518 b.c.) she had been the real ruler of the
country. When the first Thothmes died, Hatshepsut’s husband,
also called Thothmes, had been the official successor, but he had

been a weakling, plagued by ill health, and had not even been
able to lead his troops in person when they conquered Nubia.
He had died in his early thirties, some fourteen years ago, and
had left no royal son to succeed him. He had a daughter, though,