Hecataeus of Miletus and the Greek Encounter with Egypt

Interaction between Greece and Egypt began in the 2nd millennium BC and extended until the late 4th century BC when Alexander Macedonian rule in Egypt. Relations were particularly close during the 7th and 6th centuries BC when trade between Egypt and the Aegean revived and significant numbers of Greeks not only visited but also settled in Egypt for the first time. Scholarship has mostly focused on possible Egyptian influence on Archaic Greek culture rather Greek reactions to Egypt. This paper will examine the views of Hecataeus of Miletus, the author of the first Greek account of Egypt, concerning Egypt and its relation