NAUCRATIS. 435 



commands at once the shore, Lake Mariut, and the port of Alexandria. From the 

 limestone rocks of this coast have heen obtained the materials for the construction 

 of the great city, the piers, and breakwaters of its harbour. Beyond Meks nothing 

 occurs except groups of huts, fishing hamlets, and the remains of ancient cities. 

 In this direction the wilderness begins where the din from the busy seaport is no 

 longer heard. 



"West of the swamps and coast-line of Meks, the ancient city of Taposiris is still 

 recalled by the modern village of Abusir. Beyond this point ranges of hills, 

 detached sections of the plateau which stretches southwards in the direction of the 

 Siwah oasis, follow at intervals along the sea-coast. Here the two headlands 

 known to the ancients by the name of Katabathmus are less than 830 feet high. 

 The village of Mudar is the only collection of houses on this now almost unin- 

 habited coast, which was formerly strewn with many towns, and which extends 

 westwards as far as Cyrenaica. Mudar is the halting- place for caravans journeying 

 between Alexandria and the Siwah oasis. 



Naucratis. 



On the Canopic branch of the Nile stood the ancient city of Naucrafis, the first 

 Greek settlement in Egypt, originally founded by a colony from Miletus, during 

 the reign of Amasis. Being the only place in the country where the Greeks were 

 permitted to carry on a regular trade with the natives, Naucratis soon acquired 

 great importance, and for a time became a chief centre of Hellenic culture in the 

 delta. But after the foimdation of Alexandria, its fame was eclipsed by the 

 metropolis of the Ptolemies ; it lapsed into obscurity, and for many ages its very 

 site was unknown. Recently, however, Mr. Pétrie has discovered some ruins and 

 archaeological remains at a spot which has been identified by Egyptologists as the 

 site of the famous Hellenic emporium. A selection of pottery and other antiquities 

 has already been forwarded to England by the Egypt Exploration Fund, and 

 deposited in the Bronze Room of the British Museum. "The fragments of vases," 

 writes Mr. Reginald Stuart Poole, " range through at least three hundred years, and 

 from the geographical position of the settlement form a most valuable commentary 

 on the vases of Rhodes, especially Kamiros, and on the early art of Ionia. 



" These specimens, fragmentary though they are, give us most interesting 

 examples of each class. On the oldest the design is painted on a pale yellow 

 ground. Similar fragments were found by Mr. Wood in the earliest stratum of 

 remains under the temple of Diana at Ephesus. The specimens with figures and 

 animals in crimson and other colours on a pale ground are very similar to early 

 vases of Kamiros and lalysos in Rhodes, of which there is a fine séries in the First 

 Vase Room. The subjects are very varied, animals and the lotus-pattern pre- 

 dominating, with occasionally the human figure. These are followed by the 

 successive archaic styles and the work of the best period. 



" Taken in connexion with the archaic fictile ware, a most interesting find is a 

 large fragment of the shell called Tridachna squamosa, on which are incised patterns 



