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In this chapter (as in c. 154) there is a contradiction as to the policy of Amasis; he gains the throne at the head of a native reaction, and yet is a ‘philhellene’. Probably both aspects of his policy are true, and their fundamental and inevitable inconsistency ruined at once his reputation (cc. 172-4 nn.) and his country; the Saites depended on foreign arms to defend Egypt (iii. 11), and yet these very defenders were hated by the Egyptians. It may be added that H. probably derived much information from the Greeks of Naucratis; to them at any rate Amasis was an undoubted benefactor. Among the Hellenic friends of Amasis were Solon (cf. 177), Polycrates (iii. 39), and Pythagoras (introduced to him by Polycrates), Diog. Laert. viii. 1. 3.
ἔδωκε Ναύκρατιν. This passage raises two distinct questions: (1) Did the Greeks settle at Naucratis before the time of Amasis? (2) When did H. think they settled there? To take (2) first. This passage by itself might mean that the colony at Naucratis dated from Amasis; many, e. g. Hogarth (B. S. A. v. 46), think this the ‘natural interpretation’. But H. (135. 1, 5) implies the earlier presence of a Greek community at Naucratis, and his whole story of the Saites implies that the Greeks had free access to Egypt before the limitations of Amasis. H.'s authority then is at least doubtful as to the date of Naucratis. As to (1) Strabo (801) says πλεύσαντες ἐπὶ ψαμμητίχου τριάκοντα ναυσὶ Μιλήσιοι (κατὰ Κυαξάρην δ᾽ οὗτος ἦν τὸν Μῆδον) κατέσχον ἐς τὸ στόμα τὸ Βολβίτινον εἶτ᾽ ἐκβάντες ἐτείχισαν τὸ λεχθὲν κτίσμα (i. e. τὸ Μιλησίων τεῖχος just mentioned) χρόνῳ δ᾽ ἀναπλεύσαντες ἐς τὸν Σαϊτικὸν νομὸν καταναυμαχήσαντες Ἰνάρων πόλιν ἔκτισαν Ναύκρατιν. This may well be a piece of genuine tradition, that Miletus took a prominent part in assisting Psammetichus; Inarus would be one of his rivals, possibly one of ‘the dodecarchy’. For further evidence that Miletus founded Naucratis cf. Athen. vii. 283; for the Greeks in Egypt before Amasis cf. c. 154 nn. and Steph. Byz. s. v. Ἑλληνικόν. The archaeological evidence is variously interpreted. Petrie and E. A. Gardner, who explored the site in 1884-6, held that the early date was proved, E. E. F. 1886-8, Naucratis; cf. P. Gardner, N. C. G. H. pp. 187 seq.; on the other hand, Hogarth, who resumed the digging in 1899, maintains that nothing had been found inconsistent with the later date, of about 570 B. C., which Hirschfeld and others had always maintained on epigraphical evidence (for this cf. Roberts, Greek Epigraphy, pp. 159 seq., 323 seq.). The site of Naucratis was conclusively identified by Petrie at Nebîreh on a canal from the Canopic Nile, outside the Delta.
The Hellenion was identified by Petrie with an enclosure capable of holding 50,000 men, to the south of Naucratis (cf. P. Gardner, u.s., pp. 209-10 for a description); this, however, was in the Egyptian quarter of the town, and was probably a native fort to overawe the strangers. The real site was discovered in 1899 on the north of the town (B. S. A. v. 42 seq.). In this were found a number of dedications to θεοῖς τοίς Ἑλλήνων or Ἑλληνίοις; this unusual form marks the composite character of the colony, which was forced into unity in face of their barbarian neighbours; cf. v. 49. 3, 92. η 5 for the only other uses of Ἑλλήνιος in plur., both in impassioned appeals to Greek sentiment. The lists here are interesting as indicating the comparative commercial importance of Greek towns in the seventh century; it is to be noted that Aegina is the only representative of old Greece. Ῥόδος: the towns of Lindus, Ialysus, and Camirus, not synoecized till 408 B. C.
προστάτας: these were the ‘consuls’ or trade representatives of the towns; the magistrates of the city were perhaps called τιμοῦχοι (Hermias, F. H. G. ii. 80-1, an interesting passage as to the feast to the Grynean Apollo in the prytaneum at Naucratis). The officers of the towns probably stood to the magistrates as the heads of the trade-guilds to the authorities of a mediaeval town. ὅσαι δὲ ἄλλαι: religious and trade privileges were closely connected.
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