Naukratis: the Greeks in Egypt

Project leader: Alexandra Villing

Department: Greece and Rome

Project start: 2004
End date: 2009

Other British Museum staff: Valerie Smallwood, Susan Woodford

External partners:

Dr Udo Schlotzhauer, German Archaeological Institute, Eurasia Department, Berlin, Germany http://www.dainst.org/mitarbeiter_3426_en.html

Prof Hans Mommsen, Helmholtz-Institut für Strahlen- und Kernphysik, Universität Bonn
http://www.iskp.uni-bonn.de/gruppen/mommsen/top.html

Dr Alan Johnston, University College London http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/profiles/johnston.htm

Project funded by:

The Gerda Henkel Stiftung, Germany

The British Museum's Caryatid Group of Supporters of the Greek and Roman Department generously supported the Colloquium Naukratis: Greek Diversity in Egypt, which took place in December 2004.

Description:

The seventh century BC saw the revival of contacts between the two great civilizations of Greece and Egypt. Egyptian pharaohs of the Saite dynasty began to employ Greek mercenaries in their army, while Greek goods appeared in Egypt and Egyptian goods in Greece. Greek culture showed a marked Egyptian influence, which can only be explained by first-hand knowledge of Egyptian monuments and ideas.

The precise nature of this interaction and contact is still little understood, but it is clear that the site of Naukratis, mentioned already by the Greek historian Herodotus, played a major role as a pivotal point of contact and exchange. Established in the late seventh century BC as a Greek trading post (emporion) on Egyptian soil, it included Greek traders from twelve cities – many of them located in East Greece – who lived in close contact with Egyptians for centuries.

The site of ancient Naukratis was rediscovered in 1884 by Sir William Flinders Petrie, pioneer of Egyptian archaeology, and subsequent excavations by Petrie and others produced thousands of finds, much of it pottery. These were soon distributed to dozens of collections and museums all over the world, with the largest collection, however, being held by the British Museum. As they have never been fully studied and catalogued, much of the history of the site and of what it can reveal about interactions between Greeks, Egyptians and other peoples remains undiscovered. Continuing the work of a project originally begun at the University of Mainz, Germany (http://www.uni-mainz.de/Organisationen/sfb/295/Teilprojekte_frueherer_Bewilligungsphasen.html), the Naukratis project aims to fill this gap in our knowledge.

Objectives:

The Naukratis project aims to catalogue and study the rich pottery finds from Naukratis in their entirety, with the resulting database being made accessible to the public. In a second phase it is hoped to also extend the project to include other kinds of material, and to complete the full study of material from the related site of Tell Defenneh (Dafana). The results of this research will shed light on the site of Naukratis, its history from the Archaic period to Roman times, its inhabitants, and its role within the relationship between Greece and Egypt. They will also add to our understanding of processes of trade and cultural interaction in the Mediterranean world.

Publications:

A. Villing and U. Schlotzhauer (eds), Naukratis: Greek Diversity in Egypt. Studies on East Greek Pottery and Exchange in the Eastern Mediterranean (London: British Museum, 2006)

News:

Revised display in Room 13 (Archaic Greece) on Greece and Egypt.

Images (from top):

• The Naukratis conference at the British Museum, December 2004
• Sherd from an Archaic East Greek amphora found at Naukratis (GR 1886.4-1.1282 (Vase B 102.33))
• David Hogarth’s excavations at Naukratis