#naucratis

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Sphinx by the Naucratis Painter

Tondo from a black-figure Laconian cup, ca. 570

Dimensions H. 12.7 cm (5 in.), Diam. 20.6 cm, W. 25 cm (9 ¾ in.) Collection Louvre Museum

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July 12, 2021 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Lately I have been (re)watching Indian Jones movies starring Harrison Ford, and today I watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). In this movie we get a look into Indiana’s youth—and his relationship with his father, Henry Jones, Sr. For example, initially he was not scared of snakes, flicking one away; however, he ends up SUBMERGED in them. (They look to be ribbon snakes, which are not venomous? Still, scary stuff, though.)

One scene that is pretty standard in most (if not all) of the movies is Indiana in the university classroom, teaching some archaeology course. “Next week,” the class will be learning “Egyptology, starting with the excavation of Naukratis by Flinders Petrie in 1885.”

As I did not take Dr. Jones’s course (or any other course) on Egyptology, we are going to Britannica for more information. According to Britannica, “Naukratis, also spelled Naucratis, [is an] ancient Greek settlement in the Nile River delta, on the Canopic (western) branch of the river. An emporion (‘trading station’) with exclusive trading rights in Egypt, Naukratis was the centre of cultural relations between Greece and Egypt in the pre-Hellenistic period. The station was established by Milesians in the 7th century BC, but Greeks from other cities also settled there. It flourished throughout the classical period but declined after Alexander’s conquest of Egypt and the foundation of Alexandria (332). The site of Naukratis was discovered in 1884 by W. M. Flinders Petrie and excavated by Petrie and Ernest Gardner (1884–86) and by D. G. Hogarth (1899, 1903). They uncovered dedications to deities and Greek pottery that threw light on the early history of the Greek alphabet and the commercial activity of various Greek states, especially in the 6th century BC.”

The map below shows where Naukratis is relative to other ancient Egyptian cities (source).

The story in the movie took place elsewhere, that is, not in Egypt. Egypt already got its own Indian Jones movie in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

On a very unrelated note, near the end of the movie there is a scene (which I will provide no context to) that caught my eye because of four words: “Elsa” and “Let it go.” Elsa does not say “let it go.” Still ... “Let it go, let it go / Can’t hold it back anymore / Let it go, let it go / Turn away ...” More like, let him go.

And later:

[Screenshots of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade]

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Black-figure cup from the Naucratis Painter. Louvre Museum.

Source: https://art.rmngp.fr/fr/library/artworks/peintre-de-naucratis_coupe-a-figures-noires_ceramique-materiau

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A Chian bowl discovered during the original excavations at Naukratis by Petrie and Gardner. Just one of the many Greek finds from Naukratis, it was uncovered at the Aphrodite sanctuary. Dated to the late 7th century BC, it is decorated with an animal frieze, and carries a votive inscription to Aphrodite by Sostratos.

Source: https://www.world-archaeology.com/issues/the-mystery-of-naukratis/, with a very interesting article on the excavations at Naucratis.

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Plate with Sphinx from the Greek colony and emporion of Naucratis in Egypt. 6th century BCE. Herodotus was the first author who described in his Histories the creation and development of Naucratis under the Pharaohs of the Saite dynasty.

Source: https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/naucratis-cite-antique-redecouverte-dans-le-delta-du-nil_1717439.html

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Naukratis, Late Period Egypt and ancient Greek economy- VII

Naukratis as ‘Port of Trade’

Astrid Moller

DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198152842.003.0010

This chapter is devoted to an interpretation of the written sources alongside the archaeological material discussed above. It will proceed by way of an investigative account (untersuchende Darstellung), one kind of historiography distinguished from other historical narratives by Johann Gustav Droysen, the German historian. Droysen regarded this way of writing history as especially suitable for those historical periods in which the evidence at hand is scarce and garbled. An investigative account proceeds on the premise that the result still has to be found; it is not a record of the steps actually followed by the historian in his investigation, but a reconstruction of this investigation in terms of the principles underlying it. My account will therefore reproduce the process of scrutiny as guided by the Eport of trade model which I have adopted. Naukratis is mentioned in a multitude of written sources; however, few of these are of significance for our purposes. The earliest account of any considerable length is to be found in Herodotus’ Histories, 2. 178–9. His Egyptian logos represents the most detailed and most important classical outline of Egypt’s political and cultural conditions, particularly those at the time of the Saite dynasty. His ethnographic achievement influenced every successive description, whether Greek or Latin. Unfortunately, there are aspects in which his account of Naukratis is lacking in clarity; furthermore, the archaeological evidence has served to qualify his information. Nonetheless, this does not have the effect of rendering Herodotus’ account as such unreliable, because it is not in the nature of archaeological material to do so, as Snodgrass quite rightly observes. Herodotus reports: 178: Amasis, being a Philhellene, granted some Greeks certain rights, and in particular he gave those who came to Egypt the polis Naukratis to dwell in. And, what is more, to those among them who were going to sea and did not want to live there [in Naukratis] permanently he gave lands to erect altars and temenea for the gods. Of these latter the largest which is also the best known and most visited temenos is the so-called Hellenion; it was set up by the joint efforts of these poleis: of the Ionians Chios, Teos, Phocaea, and Clazomenae, of the Dorians Rhodes, Cnidus, Halicarnassus, and Phaselis, and of the Aeolians Mytilene alone.

Source: https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780198152842.001.0001/isbn-9780198152842