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ML 7: Greek Mercenaries in Egyptian Service (591 BC)
ML 7: Greek Mercenaries in Egyptian Service (591 BC)
ML 7: Greek Mercenaries in Egyptian Service (591 BC)
(Meiggs
and
Lewis
no.
7)
When
King
Psamtik
came
to
Elephantine,
those
who
sailed
with
Psamtik
son
of
Theokles
wrote
these
lines;
and
they
came
above
Kerkis,
as
far
as
the
river
allowed;
and
those
of
foreign
tongue
Potasimto
commanded,
and
Amasis
the
Egyptions.
Archon
son
of
Amoibichos
and
Pelekos
son
of
Oudamos
wrote
us.
Among
the
earliest
Greek
inscriptions,
and
possible
the
earliest
Greek
inscriptions
in
the
Nile
region,
the
graffiti
of
Greek
soldiers
on
the
leg
of
the
colossal
statue
of
Rameses
II
at
Abu
Simbel
in
Nubia
attests
to
Greek
tourism,
mercenary
activities
and
cultural
contact
and
integration
in
Egypt
as
early
as
the
beginning
of
the
sixth
century
CE.
The
expedition
of
Psamtik
II
(595589)
into
Ethiopia
is
mentioned
briefly
in
Herodotus
II.161,
without
reference
to
the
participation
of
Greek
soldiers,
although
Herodotus
does
describe
the
recruitment
of
Ionian
and
Carian
pirates
by
the
kings
grandfather
Psamtik
I
in
his
rise
to
power
earlier
in
Book
II,
and
their
subsequent
establishment
in
the
Nile
Delta,
where
they
taught
Egyptian
boys
Greek.
At
roughly
the
same
period,
the
Greek
trading
settlement
of
Naukratis
was
becoming
established
in
the
Nile
Delta:
the
earliest
Greek
pottery
(Corinthian)
suggests
a
foundation
in
the
final
quarter
of
the
seventh
century,
with
the
construction
of
the
Panhellenic
shrine
mention
by
Herodotus
(the
Hellenaion)
in
the
570s.
Thus,
while
Greek
contact
with
Egypt
may
have
been
still
in
its
early
stages,
there
is
ample
evidence
of
interactions
and
exchange
of
goods,
knowledge,
labour,
and
skills.
One
of
the
interesting
sociolinguistic
aspects
of
this
graffiti
is
the
implied
mixture
and
blurring
of
ethnic
backgrounds.
The
inscription
translated
above,
the
most
extensive
in
the
collection,
is
in
the
Doric
dialect
(hence
huis
as
far
as,
and
the
spelling
of
the
masculine
genitive
singular
as
o
(Ionic
ou).
The
lettering,
meanwhile,
is
Ionic,
as
is
that
of
a
second
inscription
Helesibios
the
Teian
(ML
7b).
Three
further
inscriptions
similarly
indicate
the
authors
background:
ML
7c
(Tlephos
the
Ialyssian
wrote
me)
and
ML
7g
(Anaxanor
the
Ialyssian
)
indicate
Rhodian
origins,
while
ML
7f
(Pabis
the
Colophonian
with
Psammat)
refers
to
the
East
Greek
city
of
Colophon.