So
that the Keftians with whom the merchants and courtiers of Egypt
grew familiar in the times of Hatshepsut and Tahutmes III. Were to
them the men 'from the back of beyond'--the farthest distant people
with whom they had any dealings. But what race could correspond to
these 'back of beyond' men? In Ptolemaic times the word 'Keftiu'
was unquestionably applied to the Phoenicians, who had for long
been the great seafarers and carriers of the Mediterranean; and
till recent years it was generally believed that the Keftiu of the
Eighteenth Dynasty were Phoenicians also, though their faces, as
depicted on the Egyptian wall-paintings, did not bear the slightest
trace of Semitic cast. But the discoveries of the last few years
have demolished that idea for ever, along with many other beliefs
as to the influence of the overrated Phoenicians upon the culture of
the Mediterranean area, and the pictures of the Minoans of Knossos
have made it certain that the Keftiu of the Eighteenth Dynasty
were none others than the ambassadors, sailors, and merchants of
the Sea-Kings of Crete. Fortunately, the tomb-painting which has
preserved so many interesting details of Egyptian life, was never
more assiduously practised or more happily inspired than at this
period. In all the chief tombs there are pictured processions of
Northerners, Westerners, Easterners, and Southerners, the North
being represented by Semites, the East by the men of Punt, the
South by negroes, and the West by the Keftiu; and we can compare
the men of the Knossos frescoes with their fellow-countrymen as
depicted on the tomb-walls of the Theban grandees, and be certain
that, allowing for the differences in the style of art, they are
essentially the same people.
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