ABSTRACT
Encounters with foreigners, either as successful or unsuccessful invaders or as peaceful immigrants, were frequent experiences of the Ancient Egyptians and represent a crucially important force in the shaping of the history and culture of Egypt throughout the millennia. As a result, from the earliest times Egyptian outlook fundamentally divided the world into kmt and dšrt, that is, the nurturing and familiar black earth of Egypt and the hostile red earth of the desert, symbolizing the outside world. In this Weltanschauung, Egyptians (rmhttps://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315434933/d327dc3a-00b1-4e9a-8678-43e1193e202a/content/common01_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>. ri) kmt stood opposed to foreigners, usually referred to as https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315434933/d327dc3a-00b1-4e9a-8678-43e1193e202a/content/common07_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315434933/d327dc3a-00b1-4e9a-8678-43e1193e202a/content/common03_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>sty.w ‘foreigners’ or ‘desert dwellers’ 1 or, alternatively, by a large number of different ethnic designations (e.g. La’da 1996; Zibelius 1972).
