Description : Naucratis or Naukratis (Greek: Ναύκρατις, "Naval Command"; Egyptian: Piemro) was a city of ancient Egypt, on the Canopic branch of the Nile river, and 72 km (45 mi) southeast of the open sea and Alexandria. It was the first and, for much of its early history, the only permanent Greek colony in Egypt; it was a symbiotic nexus for the interchange of Greek and Egyptian art and culture. The modern villages of Kom Gi’eif, el-Nibeira and el-Niqrash cover the archaeological site, which has become a find of the highest significance and the source of not only many beautiful objects of art now gracing the museums of the world but also an important source of some of the earliest Greek writing in existence, from the inscriptions on its pottery. The sister port of Naucratis was the harbour town of Thonis/Heracleion, which was undiscovered until 2000.
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