DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9184#0213
Chap. VII.] Naucratis, and the Greeks in Egypt.
191
accession of Psammitichus at B.C. 664, we shall regard the
building of the Milesian fortress as having taken place
before B.C. 670, and the first settlement of Naucratis as
dating from about B.C. 660.
This is the time assigned by Herodotus and Strabo for
the earliest intercourse between Egypt and Hellas. And
that this was the beginning of Greek knowledge of the
Nile country, is fully confirmed by all the archaeological
evidence which bears upon the matter, both the negative
evidence and the positive.
When Egypt became accessible to Greek travellers,
they crowded to behold its wonders, and we can easily
understand how the vast size and venerable antiquity of
the buildings of the Pharaohs would overpower the lively
imaginations of the visitors, and how the fixity and order
of Egyptian society would impress them. We moderns
can see that a Greek in Memphis or Thebes as much
represented a higher race and a nobler order of ideas, as
a Spaniard in Mexico, or an Englishman in Canton.
With him lay the future, with the Egyptians only the
past; while they were sinking into decay, he was just
starting on his great career as master for all time in
science and art. But in the seventh century before our
era this was not so clear as it is now. The Greeks called
the Egyptians barbarians, but that term had not yet
acquired the haughty meaning which filled it at a later
date. So when the Egyptian priests dwelt on the an-
tiquity of their civilisation, and told the Greek travellers
that in its presence they were like children before a
venerable master, we cannot wonder that the strangers
felt abashed. When Hecataeus of Miletus was rash
enough to boast in the temple at Egyptian Thebes that
his sixteenth ancestor was a god, the priests led him into
an inner sanctuary, and showed him three hundred and
forty-one statues of high-priests who had borne sway for
191
accession of Psammitichus at B.C. 664, we shall regard the
building of the Milesian fortress as having taken place
before B.C. 670, and the first settlement of Naucratis as
dating from about B.C. 660.
This is the time assigned by Herodotus and Strabo for
the earliest intercourse between Egypt and Hellas. And
that this was the beginning of Greek knowledge of the
Nile country, is fully confirmed by all the archaeological
evidence which bears upon the matter, both the negative
evidence and the positive.
When Egypt became accessible to Greek travellers,
they crowded to behold its wonders, and we can easily
understand how the vast size and venerable antiquity of
the buildings of the Pharaohs would overpower the lively
imaginations of the visitors, and how the fixity and order
of Egyptian society would impress them. We moderns
can see that a Greek in Memphis or Thebes as much
represented a higher race and a nobler order of ideas, as
a Spaniard in Mexico, or an Englishman in Canton.
With him lay the future, with the Egyptians only the
past; while they were sinking into decay, he was just
starting on his great career as master for all time in
science and art. But in the seventh century before our
era this was not so clear as it is now. The Greeks called
the Egyptians barbarians, but that term had not yet
acquired the haughty meaning which filled it at a later
date. So when the Egyptian priests dwelt on the an-
tiquity of their civilisation, and told the Greek travellers
that in its presence they were like children before a
venerable master, we cannot wonder that the strangers
felt abashed. When Hecataeus of Miletus was rash
enough to boast in the temple at Egyptian Thebes that
his sixteenth ancestor was a god, the priests led him into
an inner sanctuary, and showed him three hundred and
forty-one statues of high-priests who had borne sway for