Asiatics in Middle Kingdom Egypt

by Phyllis Saretta

The ancient Egyptians had very definite views about their neighbours, some positive, some negative. As one would expect, Egyptian perceptions of 'the other' were subject to change over time, especially in response to changing political, social and economic conditions. Thus, as Asiatics became a more familiar part of everyday life in Egypt, and their skills and goods became increasingly important, depictions of them took on more favourable aspects. The investigation by necessity involves a multi-disciplined approach which seeks to combine and synthesize data from a wider variety of sources...