Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Pre-exilic Pottery Fragments from Naukratis


Commenting on the Greek colony in Egypt, Naukratis, there is strong evidence that the colony was formed in the pre-exilic period. As Marjorie Susan Venit noted:

Possibly as early as the ninthv century B.C., pottery from East Greek sites was imported into Egypt since a fragment of Milesian Middle Geometric (dated between 850 and 745) has been identified with Memphis (Philadelphia 29.71.181; Berytus 11 [1955] 100 no. 8, pl. 20.6. The date is that proposed by J.N. Coldstream noted on the museum inventory card, 8 April 1982). This fragment notwithstanding, most East Greek pottery from Egypt—and from Naukratis as well—dates from the mid-seventh century throughout the third-quarter of the sixth. (Marjorie Susan Venit, Greek Painted Pottery from Naukratis in Egyptian Museums [American Research Center in Egypt Catalogs 7; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1988], 1)

Some examples of Greek pottery pre-dating the exilic period would include various bird-bowls which “are subgeometric vessels, probably made throughout the East Greek region. The shape, with its distinctive decoration has a wide distribution, and a reasonable number of fragments have been found at Naukratis” (ibid., 1). Such fragments of bird-bowels and their dates include (cf. ibid., 2-3):

Alexandria 9473 (perhaps ca. 650)
Cairo 26153 (perhaps ca. 650)
Cairo 26155 (perhaps 650-615)
Alexandria 17108 (perhaps 650-615)
Cairo 26154 (probably 650-615)
Cairo Je 38359 (perhaps 7th century)

Other examples include “wild goat” (a style of vessel, not the fabric) which were made in “a number of Greek cities of western Anatolia and the contiguous islands” (ibid., 5). As Venis notes:

A small number of fragments of Cook’s Middle Wild Goat I (640-625 B.C.) have been found at Naukratis (for example, London 91.8-6.73 [Journal of Hellenic Studies 44 [1924] pl. 8.6; Kardara 73 no. 12], Borson 86.621 [Fairbanks pl. 35, 323.7; Kardara 84 no. 5], and London [JHS 44 [1924] pl. 8.3; Kardara 85 no. 3]). (Ibid., 5)

On p. 6, there is a listing of pre-exilic Wild Goat Neck-Amphorae and Oinochaoi:

Dokki, Agricultural Museum 614 (Middle Wild Goat II, 625-600)
Alexandria 9304 (Middle Wild Goat II, 625-600)
Alexandria 9326 (Middle Wild Goat II, 625-600)

Elsewhere, there is a mention of a Wild Goat Plate/Bowl, Alexandria 9330 which is Middle Wild Goat II dating from 625-600 (ibid., 21).

Finally, there is reference made to Alexandria 9379, Corinthian pottery, found at Naukratis, dated to the last quarter of the 7th century (ibid., 61).

If Naukratis was established in the pre-exilic era and not during the exilic period, it would prove that, contemporary with Lehi et al., Greek people and their names would have been known to them and other Israelites, being another nail in the coffin of the common claim that Greek names in the Book of Mormon are anachronistic (notwithstanding, some of the purported Greek names are either “translator’s anachronisms” [such as Alpha and Omega]).

For a further discussion of names and words such as Jonas and Timothy in the Book of Mormon, see: