Publisher's Synopsis
Egyptian finds from various archaeological sites in the Arabian Peninsula as well as epigraphic sources paint a differentiated picture of the contacts between Egypt and Arabia in pre-Islamic times. For the first time, this study will deal with those in detail, putting them into an overall context. Although the sources are not very dense overall, they show a large variance and a long time extension. Contacts existed at least since the Middle Kingdom, as evidenced by the finds of Sabir ceramics in Mersa Gawasis, and date back to the Roman era. The archaeo- logical excavations in Tayma and Qaryat al-Faw in particular have provided interesting find material in recent years, which sheds new light on relations with Egypt. Not only Egyptian objects in the form of amulets and scarabs have been found in settlement as well as in grave contexts, but also motif adaptations in the religious field. The Egyptian influence on the oases, which were economic centers with multicultural populations along the incense road and maintained contacts with the different neighboring cultures, becomes tangible in many ways. Diachronous development reveals that in the early Iron Age, Egyptian objects in particular arrived in Arabia, whereas in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. increasingly motives and local adaptations of Egyptian elements can be observed.
