Small Egyptian gods have been found across the Meditterean outside Egypt. The first interaction between Egyptian and Greek traders took place during the Myceanean period. The cosmopolitan architecture in Persepolis (built 518-16 BCE), which merged elements from different cultures, drew in part from Egyptian architectural style with sumptuous cavetto cornices. Egyptian style objects have been excavated in Nimrud, capital of thee Neo-Assyrian empire (911 – 605 BCE). Craftspeople in Mesopotamia may have been influenced by the temple reliefs of Egypt. Ancient EgyptomaniaĮven in antiquity, other cultures prized and borrowed elements of Egyptian art. We should perhaps consider that Egypt was a major source of knowledge for Greek and Arab thinkers, a great influence in art and thought and a touchstone of civilisation. This is perhaps says more about the worldview of modern Western scholars who “rediscovered” Egypt in the early Nineteenth Century. Fascinating, alluring, gorgeous, but a cul-de-sac nonetheless. 345 and not a god amongst them.Įgyptian art is often read as a cultural cul-de-sac. He takes the historian to a room full of wooden statues of earlier Priests. He traced his forebears back to sixteen generations. Hecateus claimed to be the distant descendant of a god. He was discussing lineages with an Aegyptian Priest in Thebes. Herodutus tells a story about Hecateus, a Greek historian.
Egypt is the source of all the world’s culture.
