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257 Fig. 84 Inanna, did.... A Mesopotamian royal chronicle attests that not only did Naram-Sin enter the peninsula, but he had gone on to invade the land of Magan (Egypt): Naram-Sin, offspring of Sargon, marched against the town of Apishal and made a breach in its wall, conquering it. He person- ally caught Rish-Adad, king of Apishal, and the vizier of Apishal. He then marched against the country of Magan and personally caught Mannu-Dannu, king of Magan. The accuracy of the above-mentioned Babylonian royal chroni- cle has been independently confirmed in its other details, so there is no reason to doubt this part of it, too—incredible as it sounds, for it entailed the passage of a human king and a human army through the Sinai peninsula, the gods' own Fourth Region. Since time im- memorial, a trade route between Asia and Africa had wound its way along the peninsula's Mediterranean coast—a route later on enhanced by the Egyptians with watering stations and by the Ro- mans as their vital Via Maris. Ancient users of this route thus kept well away from the central plain where the Spaceport was located. But whether Naram-Sin, at the head of an army, just marched through along the coastal route is questionable. Alabaster vases of Egyptian design, which have been found by archaeologists in Mes- Prelude to Disaster not dared cross the forbidden line. But Naram-Sin, encouraged by