Naucratis or Naukratis (Greek: Ναύκρατις, "Naval Command" ) was a city of ancient Egypt, on the Canopic branch of the Nile river, and 72 km (45 mi) southeast of the open sea and Alexandria. It was the first and, for much of its early history, the only permanent Greek colony in Egypt; it was a symbiotic nexus for the interchange of Greek and Egyptian art and culture.
The modern villages of Kom Gi’eif, el-Nibeira and el-Niqrash cover the archaeological site, which has become a find of the highest significance and the source of not only many beautiful objects of art now gracing the museums of the world but also an important source of some of the earliest Greek writing in existence, from the inscriptions on its pottery.The sister port of Naucratis was the harbour town of Thonis/Heracleion, which was undiscovered until 2000.
Archaeological evidence suggests that the history of the ancient Greeks in Egypt dates back at least to Mycenaean times (1600–1100 BCE) and more likely even further back into the proto-Greek Minoan age. This history is strictly one of commerce as no permanent Greek settlements have been found of these cultures to date.
The first report of Greeks in 7th century BCE Egypt is a story in the Histories of Herodotus of Ionian and Carian pirates forced by storm to land on or near the Nile Delta. It relates the plight of the Saite Pharaoh Psammetichus I (Psamtik) of the 26th dynasty of Egypt, who was overthrown and sought the advice of the Oracle of Leto at Buto. The oracle cryptically advises him to enlist the aid of the "bronze men" who would "come from the sea." Inspired upon seeing the bronze armor of the shipwrecked pirates, he offers them rewards in return for their aid in his campaign of return to power. Upon the success of this endeavor, he makes good on his word and bestows on the mercenaries two parcels of land (or "camps," στρατόπεδα) on either side of the Pelusian branch of the Nile.At present these sites remain uncertain but this may be a reference to the city of Daphnae.
Naukratis was the site of an Egyptian town before the Greeks arrived, later becoming established as a military settlement occupied by mercenaries. Naukratis was located on the Canopic branch of the Nile in the western Delta some 16 km from Sais. The Canopic tributary was one of the major waterways linking the Nile valley with the Mediterranean, and the most accessible of the Nile’s tributaries during the Saite Period. The early settlement then developed into a busy trading port. They exchanged goods with the Greeks and with other Mediterranean states. Greek traders settled in Naukratis and a large Greek community began to develop.
In 570 BCE, the Pharaoh Apries (Wahibre, reigned 589–570 BCE) led the descendants of this mercenary army made up of 30,000 Carians and Ionians against a former general turned rebel by the name of Amasis. Although fighting valiantly they suffered defeat and Amasis II became Pharaoh (reigned 570–526 BC). Amasis shut down the "camps" and moved the Greek soldiers to Memphis where they were employed "to guard him against the native Egyptians."
Herodotus: "Amasis was partial to the Greeks, and among other favors which he granted them, gave to such as liked to settle in Egypt the city of Naucratis for their residence."
It's worth noting that Herodotus says "gave the city (πόλῐν)", which seems to indicate the existence (now borne out by archaeological evidence) of a "city" already there. This older city, settlement more likely, was no doubt small and inhabited by a mix of native Egyptians, Greeks and possibly even Phoenicians. Thus it seems the city was turned over to the Greeks, "chartered," in the years immediately following 570 BCE. The earlier date of c. 625 BC put forward by archaeologists may be the actual establishment of a settlement at the site.
Amasis indeed converted Naucratis into a major treaty-port and commercial link with the west. This was done most likely as a means to contain the Greeks and concentrate their activities in one place under his control. It became not the colony of any particular city-state but an emporion (trading post) similar to Al Mina, the largest market port of north Syria.
According to Herodotus, the walled shrine known as the Hellenion was a co-operative enterprise financed by 9 eastern Greek cities:
4 Ionian: Chios, Klazomenai, Teos and Phocaea
4 Dorian: Rhodes, Halicarnassus, Knidos and Phaselis
1 Aeolian: Mytilene
Miletus, Samos and Aegina had their own separate sanctuaries. Thus the natives of at least 12 Greek city-states worked in a collaboration which, not only was it rare, but also proved to be lasting.
Naucratis later became an important center of Greek culture under the Roman Empire, producing several celebrated orators of the Second Sophistic in the 2nd and early 3rd centuries CE. The 3rd century writer Athenaeus came from Naucratis.
The site of Naucratis was discovered by Flinders Petrie who dug there in 1884–1885. He was followed by Ernest Arthur Gardner and finally David George Hogarth, in 1899 and 1903.
The archaeological focus fell into two areas of northern and southern quarters. Found farthest south was a large Egyptian storehouse or treasury and just north of that a Greek mud-brick Temple of Aphrodite roughly 14 m × 8 m (curiously not mentioned in Herodotus' list.) Directly east of this temple a small factory for faience scarab seals has been found.
In the northern section several temple ruins have been found- Temple of Hera, Temple of Apollo and Temple of Dioscuri, including what may be Herodotus' Hellenion discovered by Hogarth in 1899 . "None of the votive pottery found here need have arrived earlier than the reign of Amasis, so it may well be that the Hellenion was founded as the result of his reorganization of the status of Naucratis, while the independent sanctuaries ... are of the earlier years of the town."
More recently, American archaeologists W. Coulson and A. Leonard founded "The Naucratis Project" in 1977 carrying out surveys in 1977–1978 and further surveys and excavations to the south of the site from 1980–1982 (under the auspices of the American Research Center in Egypt). Unfortunately, they found the original northern sanctuary section submerged under a lake formed by the risen water table and roughly 15 m deep.
This part of the site remains under water today, making further work there difficult if not impossible. Their assessment of the approach taken and methods used by their predecessors was less than complimentary. According to Leonard and Coulson, the first excavations focused on the religious building,neglecting the trading and domestic sites. Moreover, little to no research has been done on the later Hellenistic and Roman aspects of the site.To make matters more challenging, a significant part of Naucratis had been dug in Patrie's time by the local farmers, in order to use the soil as fertilizer.
The barrier of the high water table made it impossible for them to find anything older than the Ptolemaic era. They agreed with Hogarth that the "great temenos" of Petrie was actually an Egyptian building and that indeed the entire south section of the town appeared to be non-Greek. Overall most of the finds were vases (some whole, most fragmentary) used as votives in the temples, but also stone statuettes and scarab seals. These are scattered to museums and collections around the world, the earlier material largely brought to Britain (mostly in the British Museum) and the latter to the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria.
The Egyptians supplied the Greeks with mostly grain but also linen and papyrus while the Greeks bartered mostly silver but also timber, olive oil and wine. Naukratis, and the associated Greek "forts" in the general delta area, as demonstrated by accounts given above, became a ready source of mercenary fighting men for the Saite pharaohs, men with superior hoplite armor and tactics, also possessing invaluable naval expertise.
Naucratis soon became a profound source of inspiration to the Greeks by re-exposing them to the wonders of Egyptian architecture and sculpture lost to them since the Bronze Age. Egyptian artifacts soon began their flow along the Greek trade routes finding their way into the homes and workshops of the Ionian Greek world and, via Aegina, the city-states of mainland Greece.
Naucratis was not only the first Greek settlement in Egypt but also Egypt's most important harbor in antiquity until the rise of Alexandria and the shifting of the Nile led to its decline. Nevertheless, the ancient city of Heracleion/Thonis also rivalled Naucratis as an important port city of Egypt, especially from the 6th to the 4th century BCE.
Edited from: Wikipedia
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