Aegeans in the Theban Tombs

The wall paintings of several Theban tombs represent foreigners who present gifts that are sometimes typically Cretan or Aegean. Other foreigners, although labeled Princes of Keftiu (Crete), are represented as Asiatics. The aim of the present volume is to analyze these wall paintings in order to distinguish the Aegeans and their gifts. The author manages to establish their characteristics in nine Theban tombs, divides chronologically in two groups, and shows that the related figures reflect actual Aegeo-Egyptian relations in the time of the XVIIIth dynasty, down to c. 1470/1450 BC. This result is obtained by a careful comparison of represented gifts with undoubtedly Minoan objects and documents from the Aegean, especially Crete.