Naukratis

A town in the north-west of the Delta, in the fifth nome of Lower Egypt, not far from Saïs, about 45 miles due north of the modern Kom el Hisn. Strabo says it was founded by Miles i ans in the fifth century B.C., but this must be an error, because in the sixth century B.C. Amasis granted privileges to it. Hero dot us, speaking of Amasis' favour to the Greeks, says that he gave the city of Naukratis for such as arrived in Egypt to dwell in. During his reign it enjoyed a monopoly of Greek trade and flourished. Its prosperity declined under the Persian invasion, but revived under Alexander. It suffered, however, by the growth of its new rival, Alexandria, and was probably extinct as a city about the beginning of the third century. During its period of prosperity it had attained a position of literary as well as commercial eminence. The site has been excavated by Petrie, who discovered remains of the archaic temples of Apollo and Aphrodite, of which Hero dot us and A then a ios speak.