336–323 B.C.), more extensive trade routes were opened across Asia, extending as far as Afghanistan and the Indus Valley. After the unprecedented military campaign of Alexander the Great (r. In the seventh century B.C., contacts with itinerant eastern craftsmen, notably on Crete and Cyprus, inspired Greek artists to work in techniques as diverse as gem cutting, ivory carving, jewelry making, and metalworking. Likewise, well-established maritime trade routes around the Mediterranean basin enabled foreigners to travel to Greece. In the Nile Delta, the port town of Naukratis ( 1972.118.142) served as a commercial headquarters for Greek traders in Egypt. The Greeks established trading enclaves within existing local communities in the Levant, such as at Al-Mina. Here, Greek goods, such as pottery ( 2009.529), bronzes, silver and gold vessels, olive oil, wine, and textiles, were exchanged for luxury items and exotic raw materials that were in turn worked by Greek craftsmen. Trading stations played an important role as the furthest outposts of Greek culture. This region, in particular, opened up further trade connections to the north that gave access to valuable raw materials, such as gold. Indeed, by this time, the eastern Greeks controlled much of the Aegean Sea and had established independent cities to the north along the Black Sea. They cultivated relationships with other affluent centers like Sardis in Lydia ( 14.30.9), which was ruled by the legendary King Croesus in the sixth century B.C. The major Ionian cities along the coast of Asia Minor prospered ( 21.169.1). Regional schools of artists exhibited a rich variety of styles and preferences at this time. By the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., Greek colonies and settlements stretched all the way from western Asia Minor to southern Italy, Sicily, North Africa, and even to the coasts of southern France and Spain. The ancient Greeks were active seafarers seeking opportunities for trade and founding new independent cities at coastal sites across the Mediterranean Sea. Greece is a country surrounded by water, and the sea has always played an important role in its history. The Greek alphabet, inspired by the writing of the Phoenician sea traders, was developed and spread at this time. ( 74.51.965), when many seminal elements of ancient Greek society were also established, such as city-states, major sanctuaries, and the Panhellenic festivals. Ancient Greek colonization began at an early date, during the so-called Geometric period of about 900 to 700 B.C.
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