Aigyptiaka : A catalogue of Egyptian and Egyptianizing objects excavated from Greek archaeological sites, ca. 1100-525 B.C., with historical commentary

To write the history of relations between the Early Iron Age Greek world and Egypt, it is necessary to supplement the meager written sources by study of all aspects of the archaeological record. While J. D. S. Pendlebury\u27s Aegyptiaca (1930) remains invaluable in this regard as a catalogue of genuine Egyptian and Egyptian-style objects from Greek archaeological sites, much has been uncovered since Pendlebury wrote, and he did not in any case include the abundant material from the three major sites on the island of Rhodes. This dissertation updates Pendlebury\u27s Aegyptiaca, providing a comprehensive descriptive catalogue, with historical commentary, of Egyptian and Egyptianizing objects excavated from archaeological sites in Greece of the period ca. 1100-525 B.C., based on personal study of the objects wherever possible. The 5000 objects termed Aigyptiaka catalogued here--imports which reached Greece from Egypt, from the Greek colony at Naukratis in Egypt, and from the Levant, as well as the Egyptianizing pieces made in the Aegean itself--provide vivid evidence of the active trade and travel in this period, although in most cases the carriers and the routes followed cannot be precisely identified. A large class of Egyptianizing scarabs is here defined and identified as the output of a production within the Aegean, most probably on Rhodes, in operation by the last quarter of the Eighth Century B.C. Over 500 previously unpublished objects from the votive deposit at the Temple of Athena at Ialysos on Rhodes are here presented for the first time. Unique among the Aigyptiaka from Greece is a group of faience inlays naming Pharaoh Necho II (ruled 610-595 B.C.), which are identified as part of a royal gift to the Sanctuary of Athena at Ialysos from that ruler. The inlays likely adorned a wooden shrine housing a statuette of the goddess Neith/Athena, which was presumably presented in connection with valuable service rendered by Ialysian mercenaries in Necho\u27s army