Speaker: Dr. Jorrit Kelder, University of OxfordThis presentation aims to provide an overview of the earliest contacts between the Greek (Mycenaean) world and Egypt, between ca. 1600 BC and 1100 BC. By highlighting a number of objects that have been found in Egypt and the Aegean, this paper proposes that the earliest contacts between these two regions may have started in the context of long-distance trade in precious metals (with silver coming from the Aegean, and gold exported from Egypt). From the 14th century BC onwards, these early trading encounters developed into a much closer, ‘special relationship’, which involved the exchange of goods, plants, and possibly mercenaries.