Egypt and Greece before the advent of Alexander the Great in 332 BC
Egypt's relationship with Greece has divided into two parts: a commercial relationship and a political relationship, which represents the conflict with the Persians. The relationship between Egypt and Greece dates back to before Alexander the Great came to the conqueror in 332 BC. AD to many centuries, as the inhabitants of Crete, which lies south of Greece, knew their sea route to Egypt in the year 2000 BC. Mand this relationship is called a business relationship.
There is also a civilizational connection between Egypt and Greece in the last millennium BC. AD, as the Greeks carried out the settlement movement in the Mediterranean basin and the establishment of Greek settlements at this time Egypt had a share in establishing a Greek settlement in the year 650 BC. The inhabitants of the Greek city of Miletus in Asia Minor established the settlement of Naucratis, which is currently located in the village of Kom Ja'if, the center of Damanhur, in the Beheira Governorate.
That settlement was established for the sake of trade between the two sides, which increased during the era of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, specifically during the reign of King Basammaticus I (Pasammaticus I), and this era was known as the Sawy era.
Egypt's relationship with Greece on the military side
Trade and the economic aspect were not the links between Egypt and Greece only, as the Greeks worked as mercenary soldiers in the Egyptian army during the reign of the Sadi dynasty kings in order to support their rule inside Egypt and confront external threats such as the Kingdom of Assyria in the northwest, which occupied Egypt in 671 BC. M as well as the Nubian Kingdom of Napata in the south, which threatened Egypt's southern borders.
Another evidence of the relationship between Egypt and Greece:
This evidence was represented in the internal revolution led by Amasis, known as Ahmose II, against Apries, the king of Egypt. The revolution ended with the participation of Amasis in ruling Egypt, and the role of the Greeks in that revolution was to support Amasis where Cyrene used to rule so when it ended The revolution rewarded them with Baal Naqratis, a center for them, specifically for the mercenary soldiers of the Greeks, and also made the city of (Daphne) a city near Memphis, and it is noticeable that the Greeks in Cornea were very strong in trade.
Egypt's relationship with Greece after the Persian occupation of Egypt:
The bond between Greece and Egypt increased after the Persian conquest of Egypt when King (Cyrus II) came to power in 550 BC. AD expansion outside the borders of his kingdom at the expense of East Asia Minor and the Greek settlements in it, as well as expanding westward at the expense of the Kingdom of Lydia, but its king, Croesus, who allied with the Greeks and Egypt against King Cyrus II and defeated him.
In the year 525 BC. The danger of the Persians on Egypt did not end but rather increased as the Persians, led by King Cambyses, succeeded in occupying Egypt and the fall of the Egyptian family. 26 This occupation had a great impact on the Greeks, so the Persians began to think about the occupation of Greece, and Herodotus explained that to us, where he mentioned that in 490 BC.
The Persians attacked the Greeks led by Darius I (Dara I), but Athens confronted him in the battle of the plain of Marathon, as the Persians decided to launch another campaign in 480 BC against Greece, where this campaign ended with the defeat of the Persians in the Battle of Salamis.
And this relationship began a new era in the development of the relationship between Egypt and Greece, as the Greeks began to assist the Egyptians in confronting the Persian invasion and the revolution against it.
Where during the reign of the Persian king Axir Kisses I 519 - 465 BC, the Egyptian king Inaros II (Inaros II) supported the Greeks by sending 200 ships, then 50 ships from Athens and its ally, Delos, and the victory was an ally of Enaros, but his victory did not last long, as the Persians sent the leader (Megabyzus) ended the 6-year revolution.
In the year 404 BC. The Peloponnese wars between Athens and Sparta ended, which ended with the victory of Sparta, as the end of that war, coincided with a revolution that took place in Egypt in the Sawy era and the founding of the Egyptian 28th family led by King Amir Taius II, whose revolution succeeded in independence from the rule of the Persians until the year 343 BC.
During the era of the Egyptian 29 family, the strength of relations increased between Egypt and Greece, specifically Sparta, as the King of Egypt (Nefertis ) sent ships loaded with wheat estimated at about half a million measures, but those ships did not reach Sparta, where they changed their course and stood in the island of Rhodes and captured them during its struggle with Persians in the year 398 -387 BC.
As for the era of the Egyptian 30th Dynasty, which ends the Sawi era, when three kings ruled Egypt, they are( Nektanebo I ) (387 - 361) BC. M, where during his reign the Persians tried to invade Egypt but prevented it from flooding the Nile.
Then his son Teos (361 -359 BC) took over, who agreed with Sparta and carried him to Syria to notify the Persians of the power of the Egyptians and their country, but his campaign was not completed due to a plot against him that prevented his removal from power and the assumption of his brother in his place.
As for the last king of the Thirtieth Dynasty and the Sawi Era, King (Nektanebo II) (359-341) BC. M, calm has returned to Egypt after a failed attempt by the Persians to occupy it in 351 BC, but this calm has disappeared in 343 BC. After the Persians succeeded in forming an army of 300 thousand fighters in order to invade Egypt, and that campaign resulted in the escape of Niketanebo II to Upper Egypt and led the resistance against the Persians for a period of two years.
And from 343 until 332 BC. The presence of the Persians in Egypt was unstable due to the frequent revolutions against their tyrannical rule, so the Egyptians suffered at the hands of King( Khaba basha), who ruled both Thebes, Manf, and the Delta, and the Persian influence continued until Alexander came to the east in 334 BC. AD and the destruction of the Persian Empire.