Abstract
Focusing on the results of the archaeological investigations at Akoris and the nearby quarry at Zawiet Sultan, the author explores the political position of Middle Egypt between Thebes and Alexandria under the Ptolemaic rule. The discovery of the huge amount of Mediterranean amphorae of the second century BC suggests that the export of local limestone to Alexandria and the import of Greek commodities to Akoris played an important role to foster the close economic relationship between this rural community in Middle Egypt and the Ptolemaic capital. Moreover, the Greek and demotic graffiti recently found at Zawiet Sultan also demonstrate that such relationship had already been established well in the mid-third century BC. These circumstances, on the other hand, must have caused the deterioration of the relationship between Middle Egypt and the traditional religious centre of Thebes, which is reflected in the decision of a local elite to maintain a firm alliance with the Ptolemaic court during the great uprising in the South.
