 Egyptian records mention a T (D) -n-j or Danaya (Tanaju) land for the first time in circa 1437 BC, during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmoses III (r. 1479 – 1425 BC). This land is geographically defined in an inscription from the reign of Amenhotep III (r. circa 1391 / 1388 – 1353 / 1351 BC), where a number of Danaya cities are mentioned, which cover the largest part of southern mainland Greece. Among them, cities such as Mycenae, Nauplion and Thebes, have been identified with certainty. Danaya has been equated with the ethnonym Danaoi (Greek: Δαναοί), the name of the mythical dynasty that ruled in the region of Argos, also used as an ethnonym for the Greek people by Homer.
