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NAUCRATIS

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 277 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NAUCRATIS , an See also:

ancient See also:Greek See also:settlement in See also:Egypt. The site was discovered by See also:Professor W. M. See also:Flinders See also:Petrie in 1884, on the eastern See also:bank of a See also:canal, about so m. W. of the See also:present See also:Rosetta See also:branch of the See also:Nile. In ancient times it was'approached by the Canopic mouth, which was farther to the See also:west. The See also:identification of the site is placed beyond doubt by the See also:discovery of See also:inscriptions, with the name of the See also:town, and of See also:great masses of See also:early Greek pottery, such as could not have existed anywhere else. The site was excavated in 1884–1886 by the Egypt Exploration Fund, and a supplementary excavation was made by the See also:British School at See also:Athens in 1899. A See also:list of the temples of Naucratis is given by See also:Herodotus (ii. 178); they were the Hellenion, See also:common to all the colonizing cities, and those dedicated 1 See footnote to See also:CLEISTHENES (1), ad fin. by the Aeginetans to See also:Zeus, by the Samians to See also:Hera, and by the Milesians to See also:Apollo. A See also:temple of See also:Aphrodite is also mentioned by See also:Athenaeus.

Traces of all these temples, except that of Zeus, or at least dedications coming from them, have been found in the excavations, and another has been added to them, the temple of the Dioscuri. The two See also:

chief sites to be cleared were the temples of Apollo and of Aphrodite, in both of which successive buildings of various date were found. Both were remarkable for the great See also:mass of early painted pottery that was found; in the temple of Apollo this had been buried in a See also:trench; in that of Aphrodite it was scattered over the whole See also:surface in two distinct strata. A great See also:deal of it was See also:local See also:ware, but there were also imported vases from various Greek sites. In addition to these temples, there was also found a great fortified enclosure, about 86o ft. by 750, in the See also:south-eastern See also:part of the town; within it was a square See also:tower or fort; a See also:portico of entrance and an See also:avenue of rows of sphinxes was added in Ptolemaic times, as is shown by the See also:foundation deposits found at the corners of the portico; these consisted of See also:models of the tools and materials used iii the buildings, models of See also:instruments for See also:sacrifice or ceremonies, and cartouches of See also:King See also:Ptolemy Philadelphus. Professor Petrie naturally supposed this great enclosure to be the Hellenion or common See also:sanctuary of the Greeks, but Mr. See also:Hogarth subsequently found traces of another great walled enclosure to the See also:north-See also:east of the town, together with pottery dedicated rocs rcov `EXXilvcov Oeois, and he claims with See also:reason that this enclosure is more likely than the other to be the Hellenion, since no early Greek antiquities have been found in the See also:southern part of the town, which seems rather to have been a native settlement. The See also:cemetery of the ancient town was found on two See also:low mounds to the north, but was mostly of Ptolemaic date. Apart from the historic See also:interest of the site, as the only Greek See also:colony in Egypt in early times, the chief importance of the excavations lies in the See also:rich finds of early pottery and in the inscriptions upon them, which throw See also:light on the early See also:history of the See also:alphabet. The most flourishing See also:period of the town was from the See also:accession of See also:Amasis II. in 570 B.e to the See also:Persian invasion of 520 B.C., when the contents of the temples must have been destroyed. The earlier See also:chronology has been much disputed. There are clear traces of a settlement going back to the 7th See also:century, including a See also:scarab factory, which yielded numerous scarabs, not of native See also:Egyptian manufacture, bearing the names of the See also:kings that preceded Amasis.

Among these were fragments of early Greek pottery. It seems a See also:

fair inference that the makers of these were Greeks, and that they probably represent the early Milesian colony, settled here in the See also:time of See also:Psammetichus I., before the See also:official See also:assignment of the site by Amasis to the Greek colonists of various cities. The most important of the antiquities found are now in the British Museum. See W. M. F. Petrie, &c., Naukratis I., third Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund (1886) ; E. A. See also:Gardner, &c., Naukratis II., See also:sixth Memoir of same (1889); D. G. Hogarth, &c., See also:Annual of the British School at Athens (1898—1899). (E.

End of Article: NAUCRATIS

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NAUDE, GABRIEL (1600-1653)

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