Diplomacy, Pharaonic Egypt

Abstract Egypt's isolation from the rest of the world – deserts to the east and west, the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Nile cataracts to the south – gave rise to a philosophy of dangerous outsiders who threatened to disrupt the ordered world of the Egyptian state. Consequently, foreigners are typically depicted subjugated; the king symbolically tramples the enemies of Egypt and smites their leaders. Nevertheless, foreign trade was occurring early in Egyptian history with Mesopotamia, while Asiatic goods are known from the 1st Dynasty royal tombs at Abydos.