Des Minoens en Egypte? (Publications De L'institut Orientaliste De Louvain)

Several Theban tombs of the fifteenth century BC show Minoans paying homage to the court of the Pharaoh. In two of them, these Minoans are said to be coming from the "islands in the middle of the Great Green Sea." It is generally considered that these "islands" are in the Aegean and that the "Great Green Sea" refers to the Mediterranean. This book re-examines this question. The careful examination of the Egyptian material shows that the "Great Green Sea" refers incontestably to the Mediterranean only in one late text (196 AD). Previously, the "Great Green Sea" always indicated the Nile, its valley and its Delta, or the Red Sea. However, the Egyptian texts explicitly locate the "islands in the middle of the Great Green Sea" in the heart of the Delta. Minoans were therefore probably living in Egypt. Is this conclusion compatible with Minoan and Egyptian archaeological or historical evidence? How can Minoan inhabitation of Egypt be explained? When did it occur? Why did it end? Because of Mycenaeans? These are some of the questions tackled in this work which throws new light on relations between the peoples of the archaic Aegean and Egypt. French text.