1. Fundamental is Claire Préaux, Le Monde hellénistique, 2 vols. (Paris, 1978); see esp. 2: 545–65.

2. F. Lasserre, “Pythagoras,” Der kleine Pauly (Munich, 1972) 4:1269.

3. Cf. Truesdell S. Brown, The Greek Historians (Lexington, 1973), 182–94, for a brief account of Agatharchides and his works. An annotated translation of On the Erythraean Sea is now available: Agatharchides of Cnidus, On the Erythraean Sea, ed. Stanley M. Burstein, Hakluyt Society Publications, 2d ser., vol. 172 (London, 1989). For a survey of the Hellenistic historiographic tradition concerning Nubia see Stanley M. Burstein, “The Nubian Campaigns of C. Petronius and George Reisner's Second Meroitic Kingdom of Napata,” Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 106 (1979): 97–101. The principal literary and epigraphical sources concerning ancient Nubia are collected and translated in László Török, Der meroitische Staat 1, Meroitica 9 (Berlin, 1986).

4. Fragments of an inscription commemorating the visit of the early-third-century-B.C. king Sabrakamani to the temple of Amon at Kawa are extant. Török, Staat, no. 28.

5. For brief surveys of archaeological activity at Meroë see P. L. Shinnie, Meroë: A Civilization of the Sudan (London, 1967), 24–28, and William Y. Adams, Nubia: Corridor to Africa (Princeton, 1977), 71–90, 295–96.

6. Cf. Claire Préaux, “Sur les communications de l'Ethiopie avec l'Egypte hellénistique,” Chron. d'Ég. 27 (1952): 257–81, and Claude Vandersleyen, “Des obstacles que constituent les cataractes du Nil,” BIFAO 69 (1969): 253–66.

7. Good recent accounts are Inge Hofmann, Der Sudan als ägyptische Kolonie im Altertum (Vienna, 1979), and William Y. Adams, “The First Colonial Empire: Egypt in Nubia, 3200–1200 B.C.,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 26 (1984): 36–71.

8. Meiggs-Lewis, GHI no. 7.

9. ARE 4:994; cf. Hdt. 2.30–31.

10. Harsiotef campaigned as far as the first cataract in the mid–fourth century; cf. E. A. Wallis Budge, Annals of Nubian Kings (London, 1912), 130–31, line 94.

11. Stanley M. Burstein, “Alexander, Callisthenes and the Sources of the Nile,” GRBS 17 (1976): 135–46.

12. The rhyton was found in situ set against the core of the tomb superstructure immediately behind the tomb chapel: RCK 5:383–84.

13. On the Erythraean Sea, F 20 (Burstein) = GGM 1:119. For the connection of this fragment with Ptolemy II see Stanley M. Burstein, “The Ethiopian War of Ptolemy V: An Historical Myth?” Beiträge zur Sudanforschung 1 (1966): 20.

14. Cf. Kurt Sethe, “Dodekaschoinos: Das Zwölfmeilenland an der Grenze von Ägypten und Nubien,” in Untersuchung zur Geschichte und Altertumskunde Ägypten (Leipzig, 1905) 3:59–92. For the temple and its history see P-M 6:206–10 and Gerhard Haeny, “A Short Architectural History of Philae,” BIFAO 85 (1985): 207.

15. E.g., SEHHW 1:383, Adams, Nubia, 334, and Jehan Desanges, Recherches sur l'activité des Méditerrané s aux confins de l'Afrique (Rome, 1978), 257–58.

16. For Greek graffiti at Buhen see Olivier Masson, “Nouveaux graffites grecs,” Chron. d'Ég. 51 (1976): 310–13.

17. Cf. Georges Le Rider, “Monnaies trouvées à Mirgissa,” RN 6th ser. 11 (1969): 28–35, who publishes a hoard of 28 bronze coins of Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II buried c. 266/5 B.C. and a second hoard including 43 unminted flans and seventeen poorly struck bronzes with types first attested under Ptolemy II, suggesting minting activity at Mirgissa—more likely to be explained by the need to pay soldiers stationed there than as the result of forgery (as suggested by Le Rider's use of the term “imitation” to describe them). The date of the mint's activity is less clear; Le Rider favors a date not earlier than the reign of Ptolemy VI, although admitting that a date in the third century is possible.

18. For recent surveys of Ptolemaic elephant-hunting activity in the Sudan see Jehan Desanges, “Les Chasseurs d'éléphants d'Abou-Simbel,” in 92e congrès national des sociétés savants, Strasbourg et Colmar, 1967, section d'archéologie (Paris, 1970), 31–50; H. H. Scullard, The Elephant in the Greek and Roman World (London, 1974) 123–45; and Inge Hofmann, Wege und Möglichkeiten eines indischen Einflusses auf die meroitische Kultur (Vienna, 1975), 46–111.

19. An expedition of 231 men is mentioned in a papyrus of 224 B.C., W. Chr. no. 451.

20. A summary of the state of geographical knowledge of the Sudan in the third century B.C. is contained in Strabo 17.1.2, C 786. Cf. Burstein, “Nubian Campaigns,” 997–98.

21. For Meroitic activity in the Dodekaschoinos at this time see Adel Farid, “The Stela of Adikhalamani Found at Philae,” MDAIK 34 (1976): 532–56, and Erich Winter, “Ergamenes II., seine Datierung und seine Bautätigkeit in Nubien,” MDAIK 37 (1981): 509–13. The presence of Meroitic troops on the Egyptian side during the decisive battle ending the rebellion in 186 B.C. is attested in the Second Philae Decree. M. Alliot, “La Thébaïde en lutte contre les rois d'Alexandrie sous Philopator et Epiphane, 216–184,” Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire 29 (1951): 435.

22. OGIS 111.

23. L. Török, “Meroe, North and South,” in Nubian Culture Past and Present, ed. Thomas Hägg (Stockholm, 1987), 153.

24. UPZ II 27. The claim of sovereignty is explicit in the similar inscription of Ptolemy VI, in which Ptolemy is portrayed as bringing the offerings of Nubia to Isis. Hermann Junker, Der grosse Pylon des Tempels der Isis in Phila (Vienna, 1958), 263, XXV. On these texts see Hofmann, Wege, 71–73, L. Török, “Die meroitischen Nomoi,” Mitteilungen des archäologischen Instituts der ungarischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 8/9 (1978/79): 47–56, and L. V. Zabkar, Apedemak Lion God of Meroë (Warminster, 1975), 31–32.

25. Cf. E. E. Rice, The Grand Procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus (Oxford, 1983), 19, 95–98. A strong case for dating the pomp to winter 275 B.C. has been made by Victoria Foertmeyer, “The Dating of the Pompe of Ptolemy II Philadelphus,” Historia 37 (1988): 90–104.

26. A favorite theme of Agatharchides; cf. his remarks on the Jewish Sabbath in FGrH 86 F20.

27. Sir James George Frazer, The New Golden Bough, ed. Theodore H. Gaster (New York, 1959), 228.

28. Török, Staat, 13–15.

29. Cf. the reservations concerning reports of similar practices in the modern Sudan in E. E. Evans-Pritchard, “The Divine Kingship of the Shilluk of the Nilotic Sudan,” in Social Anthropology and Other Essays (New York, 1962), 208–9.

30. A similar confrontation between the priesthood of Amon of Napata and the sixth-century-B.C. Napatan king Aspelta is suggested by the so-called Excommunication Stela (Budge, Annals, 113–16), as was pointed out to me by Dr. T. Kendall.

31. This is implied by DS 3.5.1–2. The suggestion that Diodorus, or rather his source, Agatharchides, confused Meroë with Napata (cf. Shinnie, Meroë, 41) is unlikely in view of the silence concerning Napata in Hellenistic geographical sources prior to the first century B.C. Burstein, “Nubian Campaigns,” 101–2.

32. Inge Hofmann, Studien zum meroitischen Königtum (Brussels, 1971), 52.

33. On Apedemak see Zabkar, Apedemak. For Arensnuphis and Sebiumeker see Stefen Wenig, “Arensnuphis und Sebiumeker: Bemerkungen zu zwei in Meroë verehrten Göttern,” Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 101 (1974): 130–50.

34. Shinnie, Meroë, 18.

35. E.g., Török, “Meroë,” 153–54.

36. M. Rostovtzeff, The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire, 2d ed. (Oxford, 1957) 1: 302.

37. L. A. Thompson, “Eastern Africa and the Graeco-Roman World (to A.D. 641),” in Africa in Classical Antiquity, ed. L. Thompson and J. Ferguson (Ibadan, 1969), 36; cf. L. A. Thompson, “The Kingdom of Kush and the Classical World,” Nigeria and the Classics 11 (1969): 32.

38. Jehan Desanges, “L'Hellénisme dans le royaume de Meroë,” Graeco-Arabica 2 (1983): 277.

39. For lists of classical imports see George A. Reisner, “The Pyramids of Meroë and the Candaces of Ethiopia,” Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin 21, no. 124 (April 1923): 25–27; Thompson, “Kush,” 33; Thompson, “Eastern Africa,” 36–37; and L. Török, “Kush and the External World,” Meroitica 10 (1989): 117–156.

40. RCK 5: 175 (W. 179); Steffin Wenig, Africa in Antiquity (Brooklyn, 1978), no. 186 (vol. 2, p. 253).

41. John Garstang, “Third Interim Report on the Excavations at Meroë in Ethiopia,” Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 5 (1913): 77–80 with pls. IX–X. Dows Dunham, “Four Kushite Colossi in the Sudan,” JEA 33 (1947): 63–65. Adams, Nubia, 312–13; Wenig, Africa, no. 215 (vol. 2, p. 274).

42. Nicholas B. Bodley, “The Auloi of Meroë: A Study of the Greek-Egyptian Auloi found at Meroe, Egypt [sic],” AJA 2d ser. 50 (1946): 217–40; D. M. Dixon and K. P. Wachsmann, “A Sandstone Statue of an Auletes from Meroë,” Kush 12 (1964): 119–25.

43. The imported classical metal objects are surveyed and the parallel dating evidence is summarized by Inge Hofmann, Beiträge zur meroitischen Chronologie (Vienna, 1978), 213–30.

44. E. Marianne Stern, “Hellenistic Glass from Kush (Modern Sudan),” Annales du 8e congrès de l'association internationale pour l'histoire du verre, Londres-Liverpool, 1979 (Liège, 1981), 35–59.

45. Shinnie, Meroë, 23. The inscription has been published in Alan R. Mallard, “BGD…—Magic Spell or Educational Exercise?” Eretz-Israel 18 (1985): 40* and pl. IV.10.

46. Winter, Ergamenes II., 509–13; Hofmann, Beiträge, 57–60.

47. Hofmann, Beiträge, 168.

48. Such a goose-head strainer was found in Beg. N. 7, the tomb of Arakakamani, the first Meroitic king buried at Meroë (RCK 4:28). For other examples see RCK 4:41 (Beg. S. 3, the tomb of an unidentified queen) and RCK 5: 78 (W. 10). The latter two are single rather than double handled.

49. RCK 4: 70 (Beg. N. 8), 73 (Beg. N. 11), 77 (Beg. N. 13), 82 (Bar. 5).

50. William Y. Adams, “Meroitic North and South,” Meroitica 2 (1976): 18.

51. E.g., cups: RCK 2, pl. XC AB (Nuri); basins: RCK 1, pl. XLI BCD (El-Kurru); buckets: RCK 1, pl. XLI A (El-Kurru).

52. Hoffman, Wege, 144–148; cf. B. G. Haycock, “Landmarks in Cushite History,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 58 (1972): 232.

53. Bion, FGrH 668 F1.

54. Arensnuphis: P-M VI 210–11; Haeny, “Philae,” 220. Mandulis: P-M 6:211; Haeny, “Philae,” 227. The existence of a temple in Ptolemaic times is not certain, although Ptolemaic patronage of the cult of Mandulis in the second century B.C. is attested by I. Philae 12 bis.

55. Haycock, “Landmarks,” 231; Hofmann, Beiträge, 53–56.

56. László Török, The Royal Crowns of Kush: A Study in Middle Nile Valley Regalia and Iconography in the First Millennia B.C. and A.D., BAR International Series no. 338 (Oxford, 1987), 15–16, 44.

57. The use of Greek architects is implied by the substitution of Greek for Egyptian measures in the laying out of Meroitic public buildings. Friedrich W. Hinkel, “Ägyptische Elle oder griechischer Modul? Metrologische Studien an historischen Bauwerken im mittlern Niltal,” Das Altertum 33 (1987): 150–62. Dr. Hinkel has informed me by letter that the new metric system was employed in the construction of both the Lion Temple and temple IA-300 in the Great Enclosure at Musawwarat es Sufra.

58. The presence of Greek masons is implied by the use at Musawwarat es Sufra of letters of the Greek alphabet as keys to aid in the assembly of architectural elements. Fritz Hintze, “Musawwarat es Sufra: Vorbericht über die Ausgrabungen des Instituts für Ägyptologie der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 1963 bis 1966 (vierte bis sechste Kampagne),” Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Gesellschafts und sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe no. 17 (1968), 476 Abb. 17, 477 Abb. 18.

59. Fritz Hintze, Die Inschriften des Löwentempels von Musawwarat es Sufra (Berlin, 1962), 21–22.

60. Fritz Hintze, Musawwarat es Sufra, vol. 1, pt. 2, Der Löwentempel (Berlin, 1971), pls. 20–21.

61. Hintze, Löwentempel, pls. 23c, 25, and 37.

62. Robert S. Bianchi, “Ptolemaic Influences on the Arts of the Late Napatan and Early Meroitic Periods,” Meroitica 5 (1979): 68–69.

63. Ibid., 68; For details see Janice Yellin, “The Role and Iconography of Anubis in Meroitic Religion” (Ph.D. diss., Brandeis University, 1978).

64. Adams, Nubia, 312–32. Török, “Meroë,” 166–67.

65. For the office of “Great Envoy of Rome” see L. Török, Economic Offices and Officials in Meroitic Nubia: A Study in Territorial Administration of the Late Meroitic Kingdom (Budapest, 1979), 104. Cf. Dio Chrysostom's reference (32.40) to “Aithiopians” in his audience at Alexandria.

66. Garstang, “Third Interim Report,” 77–81;László Török, “Geschichte Meroes: Ein Beitrag über die Quellenlage und den Forschungstand,” ANRW II.10.1 214–17.

67. For Alexandrian elements in Meroitic architecture see L. Török, “Traces of Alexandrian Architecture in Meroë: A Late Hellenistic Motif in Its History,” Studia Aegyptiaca 2 (1976): 115–36, and “Zu Datierung des sogenannten römischen Kiosks in Naqa/Sudan,” AA (1984): 145–59. On a small scale the same tendency is illustrated by the Doric column used as an offering column support found in RCK 5: 81 (W. 19).

68. E. Seguenny and J. Desanges, “Sarapis dans le royaume de Kouch,” Chron. d'Ég. 61 (1986): 324–329.

69. Cf. Kazimierz Michalowski, “Les Contacts culturels dans le monde méditerrané ,” in Institut française d'archéologie orientale du Caire, livre du centénaire 1880–1980 (Cairo, 1980), 305–6; Tomas Hägg, “Nubien och Bysans,” Svenska Forskningsinstitutet i Istanbul Meddelanden 9 (1984): 5–31 (English summary on p. 31). The most important corpus of Nubian Greek inscriptions published to date is that edited by Jadwiga Kuginska: FARAS IV: Inscriptions grecques chrétiennes (Warsaw, 1974).