Archaeological, historical, and artistic evidence point to limited interactions among Egypt, Minoan Crete, and Mycenean Greece during the Bronze Age. Pottery and other artifacts from the Aegean appear in Egypt during the Middle and New Kingdoms. Egyptian objects also appear in the Aegean during this period. Minoan-style architectural frescoes from the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty at Tell ed-Dab'a in the Nile Delta suggest the presence of artisans from Crete in Egypt. Scenes of Aegean emissaries and traders, like those from the tomb of Rekhmire, vizier under Thutmose III, provide further evidence of interaction in the New Kingdom. A fragmentary list of Aegean place names from the mortuary temple of Amenhotpe III points to an Egyptian embassy for Mycenean Greece. It is not likely, however, that many of these Aegean peoples settled in Egypt.
The "Sea Peoples" is a term used to encompass the movements of Mediterranean peoples by both sea and land at the end of the Late Bronze Age (c.1200-1100 BCE). The disruptions caused by this massive migration through the Anatolian Plateau and down the eastern Mediterranean coast brought down the great Hittite Empire and such coastal Levantine trading centers as Ugarit. Some captive groups were turned into mercenaries in the Egyptian army, most notably the fierce Sherden, who became elite royal bodyguards under Ramesses II. The Harris Papyrus notes that captive Peleset, Shardana, Weshesh, Den-yen, and Shekelesh were used as garrison forces and mercenaries under Ramesses III. The exact origin of each of these groups is a matter of considerable debate; the consensus favors the Aegean and western Anatolia as the origin of most of them. Some soldiers and their families were settled in coastal Palestine, where they are identified archaeologically with the Philistines. Others settled in Egypt. Papyrus Wilbour, a tax roll of farms in the Faiyum area, lists several Shardana as landholders.
Greeks and Carians began to be used as Egyptian mercenaries in the Late period, settling at sites like Naukratis in the Nile Delta. Trade with the Mediterranean expanded during the Saite twenty- sixth dynasty, bringing other peoples from the Mediterranean shores to Egypt. The Persian king Cambyses II conquered Egypt in 525 BCE, but only small numbers of Persians actually came to Egypt, with most of the nation s bureaucracy remaining in Egyptian hands. More Greeks came into Egypt during the struggles of native dynasts against Persian rule, and with the conquest of Egypt by Alexander of Macedon in 332 BCE. These immigrants founded several new cities in the Nile Delta, the most important being the port city of Alexandria. Its population numbered 300,000 Greek citizens and another 200,000 Egyptians, living in crowded man- sions and tenements. The Macedonian elite established cities modeled on the Greek concepts of polis and tribe, with strict citizenship rules to keep out the "barbarian" Egyptian rabble. The royal family, the Ptolemies, remained to the end very Macedonian; Cleopatra VII was the first even to speak Egyptian. Temples with priesthoods of Greek origin were set up syncretizing Egyptian and Greek deities: like Dionysus with God Osiris, Goddess Hathor with Aphrodite, and Amun with Zeus.
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The "Sea Peoples" is a term used to encompass the movements of Mediterranean peoples by both sea and land at the end of the Late Bronze Age (c.1200-1100 BCE). The disruptions caused by this massive migration through the Anatolian Plateau and down the eastern Mediterranean coast brought down the great Hittite Empire and such coastal Levantine trading centers as Ugarit. Some captive groups were turned into mercenaries in the Egyptian army, most notably the fierce Sherden, who became elite royal bodyguards under Ramesses II. The Harris Papyrus notes that captive Peleset, Shardana, Weshesh, Den-yen, and Shekelesh were used as garrison forces and mercenaries under Ramesses III. The exact origin of each of these groups is a matter of considerable debate; the consensus favors the Aegean and western Anatolia as the origin of most of them. Some soldiers and their families were settled in coastal Palestine, where they are identified archaeologically with the Philistines. Others settled in Egypt. Papyrus Wilbour, a tax roll of farms in the Faiyum area, lists several Shardana as landholders.
Greeks and Carians began to be used as Egyptian mercenaries in the Late period, settling at sites like Naukratis in the Nile Delta. Trade with the Mediterranean expanded during the Saite twenty- sixth dynasty, bringing other peoples from the Mediterranean shores to Egypt. The Persian king Cambyses II conquered Egypt in 525 BCE, but only small numbers of Persians actually came to Egypt, with most of the nation s bureaucracy remaining in Egyptian hands. More Greeks came into Egypt during the struggles of native dynasts against Persian rule, and with the conquest of Egypt by Alexander of Macedon in 332 BCE. These immigrants founded several new cities in the Nile Delta, the most important being the port city of Alexandria. Its population numbered 300,000 Greek citizens and another 200,000 Egyptians, living in crowded man- sions and tenements. The Macedonian elite established cities modeled on the Greek concepts of polis and tribe, with strict citizenship rules to keep out the "barbarian" Egyptian rabble. The royal family, the Ptolemies, remained to the end very Macedonian; Cleopatra VII was the first even to speak Egyptian. Temples with priesthoods of Greek origin were set up syncretizing Egyptian and Greek deities: like Dionysus with God Osiris, Goddess Hathor with Aphrodite, and Amun with Zeus.
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