This thesis compiles and assesses orientalising artefacts from EIA Crete, which by definition are those that emulate Near Eastern models in design, style or technique. While oriental imports discovered on Crete have been the subject of several recent publications, there are currently no studies that deal with orientalising finds from the island in a similarly comprehensive manner. The aim of the present work is to fill this gap in scholarship and to provide a solid basis for interpretation. Following a multifaceted approach, the thesis offers an in-depth investigation of relevant pottery, terracottas, sculpture and metal finds. These classes of objects are investigated in terms of types, contexts and iconographies; they are then compared to potential Near Eastern models, which are examined in equal detail where appropriate. Based on this evidence, presumed connections to the Near East are challenged or substantiated while novel links are added, offering fresh insights into the meaning of the Cretan material. A critical revaluation of Cretan contacts with the Near East puts gained findings into a larger perspective of socio-political relations. The final part of the thesis suggests a new interpretation of the material, stressing the importance of Cretan agency, cultural self-definition and the multivalent nature of the orientalising phenomenon on the island.

This thesis focuses mainly on the subject of the so-called process of orientalisation, how this process shows on selected pre-Roman archaeological sites, and how it is presented in Italian archaeology. Analysis of funeral contexts is used as a base for chronological timeline, the nature of the orientalising process as well as the degree of its uniformity. With the help of the collected data will be proposed a hypothesis regarding the character of social changes and whether it is appropriate to use the term "orientalisation" when describing these changes.

This thesis proposes that we can better understand Greek society in the Archaic Period by evaluating the purposes of their interactions with Egyptian material culture and through a greater appreciation of Egyptian political and cultural history in the Third Intermediate and Late Period. The thesis combines an examination of the Egyptian and Egyptianising objects from Greek graves and sanctuaries with a study of Egyptianising motifs in Greek painted pottery and sculpture. With this evidence, the thesis primarily addresses questions of agency and of consumption. It aims to demonstrate that Greek interactions with Egypt are not defined by Phoenician intermediaries or by the foundation of Naucratis late in the seventh century. Instead, it is argues that the development of personal connections between the elite of certain Greek states and the rulers of Egyptian kingdoms in the eighth century could explain the escalation of Greek interactions with Egyptian material culture during the Archaic Period and the regional variability of these interactions. The thesis also highlights the stark differences between Greek interactions with Egyptian and Egyptianising material in different media and in different consumption areas. In their sanctuaries, the Greeks used Egyptian faience, stone, and bronze objects alongside Greek-produced imitations of these objects in order to define aspire to the status of being a member of the elite while accessing a magical potency associated with Egyptian material culture. In other media, however, the Greeks reject imitation of Egyptian subjects and iconography, and instead we find processes of interaction which use Egyptian material culture but do not refer to it explicitly. Therefore it is concluded that Greek interactions with Egyptian material culture not only draws attention to Greek connectivity with surrounding cultures, and the Greek association of Egypt and magical potency, but can also help us to reflect upon different forms of elite-elite and elite-non-elite interaction and self-identification in the Archaic Period.