Mediterranean encounters: Greeks, Carians and Egyptians in the first millennium BC

Abstract

• The first millennium BC was a crucial period in the history of contact between Egypt and Greece. Three case studies examine the processes and people behind and the impact of this contact. They will take us from sixth century BC cosmopolitan Memphis, with its international population including Greeks and Carians, down the Nile to the Egyptian-Greek trading port of Naukratis, and further to Alexandria, on the Mediterranean shore, newly founded at the beginning of the Hellenistic period, discussing the splendid polychrome decoration of a Carian grave marker, grave goods related to the cult of Adonis, and votive statues of cats offered to the goddess Bubastis. Drawing on new insights from recently uncovered or reevaluated archaeological evidence, all three case studies focus on the agents and contexts of cultural contact—that is, people, their actions, and their motivations