Naucrătis
（
Ναύκρατις). A city in the Delta of Egypt, on the eastern
bank of the Canopic branch of the Nile. It was a colony of the Milesians, flourishing in the
reign of Amasis, about B.C. 550, and remained a purely Greek city. It was the only place in
Egypt where Greeks were permitted to settle and trade. Its importance was lessened after
Alexandria was founded. It was the birthplace of Athenaeus and Iulius Pollux. Important
excavations were made here by Mr. Flinders Petrie in 1885 and 1886, with the result of adding
greatly to our knowledge of the Graeco-Egyptian period. Naucratis possessed a temple to
Aphrodité, one to Heré, and a smaller one to Castor and Pollux, besides
a very great one, the Panhellenion, the central religious meeting-place of all the Greeks in
Egypt. In the heart of the city stood the oldest temple of all, dedicated to the Milesian
Apollo.
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Plan of Naucratis.
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The recent discoveries have added to our knowledge of the relations of Greece with earlier
Egypt, and the writing found here is of great value in the study of the Greek alphabet. An
ancient factory for making Greek imitations of the Egyptian scarabs is one of the curious
things revealed by Mr. Petrie's researches. For an account of Petrie's archaeological
discussions and of the temple-ruins, see his monograph
Naukratis
(1886); and his
Ten Years' Digging in Egypt (1895).
