Naukratis: a Greek trading settlement in the Delta

The explanations distinguish finds, interpretations and open questions. Sources appear at the end of the page.

What the source says

In the section "Saite Period, or Dynasty 26 (664-525 B.C.)" of the essay "Egypt in the Late Period" by Marsha Hill and James P. Allen on the website of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the text says that "the Greek city-states were also allowed to establish a trading settlement at Naukratis in the western Delta". According to the same sentence, Naukratis, with the mixed Greek-Egyptian settlement at Thonis/Heraklion, served as a "direct conduit" for cultural influences traveling from Egypt to Greece. Source 1.

In context: mercenaries and quarters at Memphis

The sentence on Naukratis follows the essay's account of the Saite pharaohs' army. According to the essay, they had to rely on foreign mercenaries, Carian (from southwestern Asia Minor, modern Turkey), Phoenician and Greek, as well as Egyptian soldiers, and "these different ethnic groups lived in their own quarters at Memphis, the capital city". Immediately after the Naukratis sentence it says that "Greeks also settled many other areas in the Delta". In this source, then, Naukratis is one case within a wider Greek presence. Source 1.

How did Greek trade work inside Egypt?

The source answers the question only in part. It says that the settlement was established with permission ("allowed"), that those who established it were the Greek city-states, and that it was a trading settlement. It does not say, in the text read, who gave permission or when, which cities took part, what was traded, or how the settlement was run. The direction the sentence stresses also deserves attention: the cultural influences are described as traveling from Egypt to Greece, not the other way round. A full answer needs the excavation reports from Naukratis and the research literature, which were not read here. Source 1.

Dating

The essay gives no year for the founding of Naukratis and does not name the pharaoh who allowed it. The only date attached to the sentence is the range of the section in which it stands, the Saite Period, 664-525 BCE. That range lies entirely within the site's Late Period, whether the period is started in 664, as in the essay, or earlier, as in the site's navigation, so the article is placed there without claiming a particular year. Source 1.

Scope of reading: the essay "Egypt in the Late Period (ca. 664-332 B.C.)" on the Met's website (published October 2004, revised January 2018) was read on 24 October 2026. The excavation reports from Naukratis and Thonis/Heraklion were not read, so this page gives no settlement plan, finds or dates from the sites themselves.