Greeks in Egypt
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (3.800 ) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Alexandria | |
| Languages | |
| Greek · Egyptian Arabic · French | |
| Religion | |
|
Greek Orthodox Church minorities of Sunni Islam · Judaism |
There has been a large community of Greeks in Egypt, also known as Egyptiotes (Greek: Αιγυπτιώτες), from the Hellenistic period until the aftermath of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, when most were forced to leave.
Greeks have been present in Egypt since at least the 7th century BC. Herodotus visited Egypt in the 5th century BC and claimed that the Greeks were one of the first groups of foreigners that ever lived in Egypt.Diodorus Siculus claimed that Rhodian Actis, one of the Heliadae, built the city of Heliopolis before the cataclysm; likewise the Athenians built Sais. Siculus reports that all the Greek cities were destroyed during the cataclysm, but the Egyptian cities including Heliopolis and Sais survived.
According to Herodotus (ii. 154), King Psammetichus I (664–610 BC) established a garrison of foreign mercenaries at Daphnae, mostly Carians and Ionian Greeks.
In 7th century BC, after the Greek "dark ages" from 1100-750 BC, the city of Naucratis was founded in Ancient Egypt. It was located on the Canopic branch of the Nile river, 45 mi (72 km) from the open sea. It was the first and, for much of its early history, the only permanent Greek colony in Egypt; acting as a symbiotic nexus for the interchange of Greek and Egyptian art and culture.
At about the same time, the city of Heracleion, the closest to the sea, became an important port for Greek trade. It had a famous temple of Heracles. The city later sank into the sea, only to be rediscovered recently.
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