97.Torso of female figure, nearly similar to preceding, but with surface much mutilated.—Xanthos.
Marble; height, 2 feet 4½ inches. Prachov, pl. 2, fig. 6.
98.Torso of female figure treated like No. 96, but holding the fold of drapery with the left hand.—Xanthos.
Marble; height, 3 feet 10½ inches. Prachov, pl. 2, fig. 4.
SCULPTURES FROM NAUCRATIS.
The remains here described were obtained for the most part from the site of the temple of Apollo at Naucratis, in the Nile Delta. The site of Naucratis was discovered by Mr. W. M. Flinders Petrie, and the remains of the temple were found in the course of excavations which he carried on, in 1884-5. A few sculptures also were found by Mr. E. A. Gardner in the excavations of 1885-6. The whole of the collections from Naucratis in the British Museum were presented by the Egypt Exploration Fund, which conducted the excavations.
Naucratis was a colony of Greeks, settled in Egypt for purposes of trade. It is situated to the west of the most westerly or Canopic mouth of the Nile, and is nearly midway between Cairo and Alexandria. The date of the foundation of Naucratis has been a subject of controversy. It is known that the colony owed much to Amasis, King of Egypt (564-526 b.c.). According to the statement of Herodotus (ii. 178), Amasis showed his friendship to the Greeks by giving, to those who came to Egypt, the city of Naucratis to live in (Φιλέλλην δὲ γενόμενος ὁ Ἄμασις ἄλλα τε ἐς Ἑλλήνων μετεξετέρους ἀπεδείξατο, καὶ δὴ καὶ τοῖσι ἀπικνευμένοισι ἐς Αἴγυπτον ἔδωκε Ναύκρατιν πόλιν ἐνοικῆσαι, κ. τ. λ.). The question has been discussed whether the words of Herodotus prove that Amasis was the first to allow the Greeks to live at Naucratis, or whether the account of Strabo (xvii., 1, 18) can be accepted, according to which Naucratis was already occupied by Greeks, especially by Greeks of Miletus. If Amasis introduced the Greeks to Naucratis, no Hellenic remains on the site can be older than 504 b.c. If an earlier settlement is assumed, it may have dated from the middle of the seventh century.
In either case the temple of the Milesian Apollo would have been among the earliest buildings erected. Herodotus states that by permission of Amasis, the Milesians independently founded a temenos of Apollo (χωρὶς δὲ ... ἐπ' ἑωυτῶν ἱδρύσαντο τέμενος ... Μιλήσιοι Ἀπόλλωνος). Messrs. Petrie and Gardner, arguing for the older date, put the foundation shortly after the middle of the seventh century.