NAUKRATTS
47
the bronze tools of the Egyptians which preceded
them.
The cemetery has not yet been entirely found; a
portion of it, mainly of the Alexandrine age, was
cleared by Mr. Gardner, on a low mound to the north
of the town, alongside of the canal; but it was not
rich, and the principal objects were the Medusa heads,
moulded in terra cotta, which were affixed to the
wooden coffins. Probably the greater part of it is
beneath the modern village.
The potteries of Naukratis were famous in the time
of Athcnaios, and long before that also, as we see by
the great heaps of burnt earth and potters' waste, and
by the distinctive style of much of the early pottery.
On comparing the characteristic styles of this place
with those of Defenneh, also inhabited by Greeks of
the same period, it is plain that most of the vases
found were made here by a local school of potters.
And though the clay is apparently of Greek origin,
yet it would be immeasurably easier to import a ton
of clay as ballast in a boat, than to move about a
thousand brittle and bulky vases.
We will now sum up the results of this discovery, in
its general connection with other antiquities. The
site now found fills a gap in Egyptian geography:
and it shows us how the Greeks were posted near the
capital of that age,—Sais, but toward the Libyan
frontier, where defence was needed ; moreover they
dwelt on a canal, which could be used by Greek
traders at all seasons of the year, and which kept
them apart from the Egyptians on the Nile. The
plan of the town shows the fort, which became the
47
the bronze tools of the Egyptians which preceded
them.
The cemetery has not yet been entirely found; a
portion of it, mainly of the Alexandrine age, was
cleared by Mr. Gardner, on a low mound to the north
of the town, alongside of the canal; but it was not
rich, and the principal objects were the Medusa heads,
moulded in terra cotta, which were affixed to the
wooden coffins. Probably the greater part of it is
beneath the modern village.
The potteries of Naukratis were famous in the time
of Athcnaios, and long before that also, as we see by
the great heaps of burnt earth and potters' waste, and
by the distinctive style of much of the early pottery.
On comparing the characteristic styles of this place
with those of Defenneh, also inhabited by Greeks of
the same period, it is plain that most of the vases
found were made here by a local school of potters.
And though the clay is apparently of Greek origin,
yet it would be immeasurably easier to import a ton
of clay as ballast in a boat, than to move about a
thousand brittle and bulky vases.
We will now sum up the results of this discovery, in
its general connection with other antiquities. The
site now found fills a gap in Egyptian geography:
and it shows us how the Greeks were posted near the
capital of that age,—Sais, but toward the Libyan
frontier, where defence was needed ; moreover they
dwelt on a canal, which could be used by Greek
traders at all seasons of the year, and which kept
them apart from the Egyptians on the Nile. The
plan of the town shows the fort, which became the