Tell Dafana Reconsidered: The Archaeology of an Egyptian Frontier Town

Abstract

• This publication arises from a British Museum research project to consider the relationship between Egypt and Archaic Greece from the seventh century BC down to the fifth, through a re-assessment of the site of ancient Daphnae (now known as Tell Dafana) in the Nile Delta of Egypt. A great quantity of antiquities was discovered at the site in excavations directed by Flinders Petrie for the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1886 and the majority are in the British Museum’s collection, while others are widely distributed in other institutions. The presence of not only Egyptian products but also of fine Greek painted pottery generated much interest in the nature of this town close to the eastern frontier of Egypt. In this book, study of the finds has been combined with a reconsideration of the architecture of the monuments excavated at the site to determine the extent of any Archaic Greek influence and whether Petrie’s interpretation of the ancient town as a camp for Greek troops is supported by the evidence.