ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 04343 2951 the History of Weapons and Warfare ^jTwmTI EGYPT the History of Weapons and warfare n>^ HN1 Z) (§v c Z] ...
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 04343 2951
the History of
Weapons and Warfare
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the History of
Weapons and warfare
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Weapons and Warfare
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Ancient Greece Ancient
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The Civil War The Middle Ages The Native Americans
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£\KI(gE Don Nardo
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Cover image: A painting from the front panel of a chest found depicting the massacre of the Nubians.
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBUCATION DATA Nardo, Don, 1947-
Ancient Egypt p.
cm.
/
Don Nardo.
— (History of weapons and warfare)
Summary: Discusses the weapons used by the ancient Egyptians and means of warfare. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-59018-066-6 (hardback 1.
Military art
and science
Juvenile literature.
3.
:
alk.
their different
paper)
— Egypt —Juvenile literature.
2.
Egypt— History, Military— Juvenile
Ancient— Juvenile literature. [1. Military Military. 3. Egypt— History— To 332 B.C.]
art I.
and science
Title.
II.
Military
weapons
literature.
— Egypt.
2.
4.
— Egypt
Military history,
Egypt— History,
Series.
U31 .N37 2003
355'.00932—dc21
2002000447
Printed
in
the United States of America
1
Contents Foreword
8
Introduction Fighting to Keep
10 the
Dark Forces
at
Bay
Chapter One Early Egyptian
15
Weapons and Warfare
Chapter Two The New Kingdom and
26 Chariot Warfare
Chapter Three
42
Military Service and Organization
Chapter Four
53
Borders, Fortifications, and Sieges
Chapter Five
65
Egypt's Military Zenith: The Battle of Kadesh
Chapter Six
76
Warships and the Defeat of the Sea Peoples
Epilogue
86
Decline of the Egyptian Military
Notes Glossary For Further Reading Major Works Consulted Additional Works Consulted Index Picture Credits About the Author
93 97 99 100 103 105 1
1
1
12
Foreword The
earliest battle
when Egyptian and Hittite em-
place in 1274 B.C. at Kadesh, in Syria, the armies of the
For
pires clashed.
torians devote a
war of which
the
this reason,
good deal of
know
Kadesh. Yet they
it
Even
about which any de-
information has survived took
tailed
modern
attention to
that this battle
was a
part
his-
and
were not the
with
Many
neighbors.
mentioned
religion,
the necessity of
war was widely accepted.
Most people saw
it
of defending
as the
most natural means
maintaining security,
territory,
or settling disputes.
A character in a dialogue
by the fourth-century B.C. Greek thinker Plato declares:
All
other earlier conflicts are
ancient inscriptions found
in
from the dawn of recorded history
states
ity,
.
.
For what is
every city
war with one
men in general
only a name; in reala natural state of
is in
war with every other, not indeed proclaimed by heralds, but everlast-
economic dominance. it is
are always at .
term peace
city-
fought one another for political or
Moreover,
men
another.
throughout the Near East and other regions,
likely that warfare long
ing.
.
.
.
No
possessions or institu-
predated city-states and written records.
tions are of any value to
Some
defeated in battle; for
scholars go so far as to suggest that
Cro-Magnons, the direct ancestors of modern humans, wiped out another early
human group
—
the
Neanderthals
—
in
the hands of the conquerors.
a
prolonged and fateful conflict in the dim
Even
past.
likely that
gaged
if this
did not happen,
it
is
even the earliest humans en-
in conflicts
and other
man
and battles over
factors.
"Warfare
is
terri-
stinct is king."
himself," writes
Considering the thousands of conflicts
have raged across the world since
that
Plato's time,
it
would seem
inevitable part of the
War not
almost
renowned military historian John Keegan, "and reaches into the most secret places of the human heart, places where self dissolves rational purpose, where pride reigns, where emotion is paramount, where inas old as
him who is the good
all
things of the conquered pass into
the
tory
"civilized,"
and organized
fought by the Egyptians and their
first
as
humans became
after
cities, writing,
ality, it
that
human
war
is
an
condition.
only remains an ever-present re-
has also had undeniably crucial and
human society and As Keegan puts it, "History lessons remind us that the states in which we live have come to us through conflict, of-
far-reaching effects on its
development.
.
.
.
ten of the the
most bloodthirsty
world's
first
and oldest
sort."
Indeed,
nation-state,
— Foreword Egypt, was born out of a war between the
An
two kingdoms
gence of two tendencies, fear of war
that originally
modern
area; the
occupied the
nations of Europe rose
and
from the wreckage of the sweeping barbar-
more information about the making of war in earlier times, not
and the United States was established
only in terms of tools, techniques,
by a bloody revolution between colonists
and
their
thirst for
and methods used
British
mother country.
from varying the
factors.
Sometimes
whom
wars are
and have been fought and how men
have
the side
possessed overwhelming numbers or
about
set
business
the
of
preparing for and fighting them.
most persistence won; other times supeand strategy played key
rior generalship roles. In
many
cases, the side with the
advanced and deadly weapons was
most
victori-
ous. In fact, the invention of increasingly
and devastating tools of war has
lethal
largely
Among
books
societies
—
it
has affected vari-
lie at
in Lucent's History
Warfare
series.
the core of the
of Weapons and
Each book examines
the
of
war
at the time, as
well as specifics
about weapons, strategies, battle forma-
were the composite bow, the war
tions, infantry, cavalry, sieges, naval tac-
and the stone
astating all before
made
his horse,
for
the major advances in an-
castle.
Another was
spearman marching forward as a
it
unit,
dev-
In medieval times, the
it.
on
easier for a rider to stay
increasing the effectiveness of
cavalry charges.
And
cannons, handguns, planes, missiles,
tics,
and the
Where
lives
leaders
military
and experiences of both
and ordinary descriptions
possible,
campaigns and lustrate
how
battles are
soldiers.
of actual
provided to
il-
came
to-
these various factors
gether and decided the fate of city, a nation,
a progression of late
or a people. Frequent quotations by con-
—
temporary participants or observers, as
medieval and modern weapons
made
human
ous
exploring the beliefs about and motivations
development
the
Greek phalanx, a mass of close-packed
stirrup
the evolution of warfare
new
cient times chariot,
—
warfare of a pivotal people or era in detail,
stimulating
tactics.
These themes
and weapons and how
driven the evolution of warfare,
counter-weapons, strategies, and battlefield
the
warfare, but
in
by
also of the people
Victory in these and other wars resulted
that
interest in the past, has seen a
Roman Em-
ian invasions that destroyed the pire;
inevitable result of the conver-
rifles,
including
submarines,
air-
and the atomic bomb
warfare deadlier than ever.
well as by noted ans,
modern
add depth and
ume
features
an
military histori-
authenticity.
extensive
Each
vol-
annotated
Each such technical advance made war more devastating and therefore more feared. And to some degree, people are drawn to and fascinated by what they fear, which accounts for the high level of interest in studies of warfare and the weapons used to wage it. Military historian John
bibliography to guide those readers inter-
Hackett writes:
man
ested in further research to the most important
and comprehensive works on warfare
in the
period in question.
The
series pro-
vides students and general readers with a useful
means of understanding what
grettably
is re-
one of the driving forces of hu-
history
—
violent
human
conflict.
Introduction
Keep the Dark Forces at Bay
Fighting to
Weapons
and warfare played an
role in the history
—
cient Egypt. Indeed, the Egyptian realm
world's
first
doms, making
integral
—was
true nation-state
the
B.C.,
two
distinct
kingdoms. And,
tle,
as the
doms evolved along the Nile River, one in the
Even
south (called Upper Egypt because
fare
lay
closer to the Nile's source), the other in the
north (Lower Egypt). These states
came
he also adopted
significantly,
the mace, a club used to
Egyptian king-
it
his capital;
crowns worn by the leaders of those
the
literally
forged on the anvil of war. During the fourth
millennium
it
a crown that combined the main features of
and culture of an-
tent
to-
symbol of the pharaoh 's
after the
and
in bat-
authority.
mace became obsolete in war-
many centuries
in official
he established
smash heads
later, its
image remained
artistic representations,
a po-
reminder that the Egyptian king was
gether into a single country by force, specifi-
ever ready to bludgeon his enemies into sub-
cally through the military efforts of a ruler of
mission.
southern kingdom. About 3100 B.C.
the
Menes (sometimes
called
quered the north and
made himself
first
pharaoh. (The term "pharaoh"
cient
Maintaining the Natural Cosmic Order
Narmer) conEgypt's
an an-
is
Surprisingly, considering this threatening,
Greek version of the even more ancient
Egyptian per-aa, meaning "great house." originally referred to the royal palace
was not used by
warlike
pharaohs, these rulers and their people did
and
not conceive of themselves as waging war in
the Egyptians themselves to
describe their kings until the era of the
Kingdom, which began around 1550
the
New
boundary between the former
the word. In fact, as
Sheikh 'Ibada al-Nubi, "Despite an
B.C.)
rival
modern sense of
pointed out by Middle Eastern scholar
To emphasize the importance of unity, Menes established a new city, Memphis, at the
image projected by the early
It
number of ways
to define the
infinite
'enemy' and a
multitude of terms for battle and fighting, the Egyptian language did not possess a sin-
king-
10
a
Fighting to Keep the Dark Forces at Bay gle precise term to define that particular le-
and economic
gal, political, social,
known
as 'war.'"
In this peculiar worldview,
operation
situation
any military
an Egyptian pharaoh deemed
necessary was a sort of police action
1
This odd state of affairs grew in large degree out of Egypt's unique geographical uation. Its population
punishment of
tion of foreign pests buzzing
sit-
was concentrated
borders
in
the narrow, fertile ribbon of land running
—
in either case the
around the
primary aim be-
ing to restore the natural order of things.
along the Nile's banks and for a long time
remained more or lated
and
less insulated
iso-
from the outside world by vast ex-
Among
other things,
this fostered a rather distorted
sense of self-
panses of arid desert.
importance.
From
the beginning of the era
ushered in by Menes, the Early Dynastic Period (ca. 3100-ca. 2686 B.C.) and likely dating well back into the Predynastic Period
5500-ca. 3100
(ca.
B.C.), the
Egyptians per-
ceived themselves as occupying the center
of creation. All had been chaos, they believed, until their
god Amun had sprung
existence and created the world's
into
first in-
habitable land in their midst. Thus, the natural
cosmic order revolved around them and
their
culture.
And
outsiders
—
those
who
on the "fringes" beyond Egypt's borwere hostile, backward, evil, cowders lived
—
ardly,
cosmic
and/or a perpetual threat to the order. This air of superiority is evi-
dent in a twenty-second-century B.C. kernel
of advice from an Egyptian ruler to his son:
[Behold] the miserable Asiatic; he
wretched because of the place he ter,
is
bare of wood,
its
is
UPPER EGYPT
[inferior]
paths are
/-\
wa-
[inhabiting]. Short of
not dwell in one place, [but
instead] food propels his legs
^Karnak
J' Thebes
many
and painful because of mountains.
He does
—
local rebels or an extermina-
Desert
(ZH
[i.e.,
Fertile
Land
he lives a nomadic existence, seen as
The Nile
inferior to the settled agricultural life 2 along the Nile].
11
It
Ancient Egypt But these expeditions were not part of
was not a full-fledged war, since that could be waged only against an opponent as
eas.
strong and worthy as Egypt; and to the early
were usually intended as punitive measures
an
Egyptians, this was an alien concept.
effort to create
an empire. Rather, they
against rebels or as justifiable restoring order
and safety
means of
to the country's
National Survival in a Hostile World
border regions. To the Egyptians, the very
As
safety of the borders because these barriers
integrity
a result, for a long time Egyptian rulers
of their nation depended on the
did not seriously consider the idea of con-
were
quering peoples and lands located beyond
from the dark, chaotic forces perceived as
Egypt's immediate vicinity.
Some
pharaohs
all that
separated their civilized bastion
lurking outside.
of the eras that modern scholars call the Old
With
the advent of the
New Kingdom (ca.
Kingdom (ca. 2686-ca. 2181 B.C.) and Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055-ca. 1650 B.C.) did
scale attacks
send troops into Nubia (the region lying
di-
nally
Egypt) and other nearby
ar-
borders and acquired an empire. Yet the
rectly south of
An
elegant relief dating from the
soldiers
1550-ca. 1069
New Kingdom shows
march carrying axes and throwing
sticks.
12
B.C.), in
response to large-
by foreign peoples, Egypt
expanded
its
interests
a religious procession
in
beyond
which Egyptian
fi-
its
Fighting to Keep the Dark Forces at Bay pharaohs did not impose direct rule on or send legions of territories in
settlers into the
an effort to
part of
Egypt proper. Instead, they exercised ence over these areas through
The main
treaties
influ-
and
object of battles and
conquest remained, as always, security
keep enemies from threatening the
—
to
tradi-
Egyptian heartland. Such enemies
tional
were, as al-Nubi puts
ment
al-
and vigorous trade
liances with local rulers relations.
The Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt
conquered
make them
it,
"a disturbing ele-
in the stable progress
of the Egyptian
world, and the king, as representative and official personification
of that world, was
obliged to keep them in check."' Inscriptions
commissioned by one
New Kingdom
pharaoh boast: His majesty has gone forth
whirlwind against them
like a
[his
ene-
mies], fighting on the battlefield like Sahara
The dread of him and the terror of him have entered into their bodies. They are capsized and overwhelmed where they are. Their heart a runner.
is
taken away, their soul
is
flown
away. Their weapons are scattered
upon
the sea.
an enraged
.
.
.
lion,
His majesty
is like
attacking his as-
sailant with his arms, plundering
his right left
hand.
hand and powerful on
on his
Old Kingdom
4
(ca.
2686-ca. 2181
B.C.)
Middle Kingdom
1650BC
(ca 2055-ca.
This and other similar rulers
tracts
by Egyptian
a
were intended as propaganda, of
New Kingdom (ca.
1550-ca 1069 BC)
course, and as such were often highly exag-
gerated. Yet they reflect an underlying truth,
great
namely, that during the roughly five-hundred-
their
New Kingdom, the Egyptian army was one of the most formidable in the world. To be sure, the Egyptians were not
chariot
year span of the
military
most
Egypt lacked
it,
they
borrowed
weapons, including the
and the special
sociated with
13
innovators;
effective
from
battlefield tactics astheir
in creativity,
enemies.
however,
it
What amply
Ancient Egypt made up
for in the large size
organization of
its
and
manpower. In
vival in a hostile world.
efficient
spite
By
the time the
first
of a long series of foreign armies managed
of
overwhelm Egypt in the first millennium it had lasted as an independent nation
lacking a
word for war, therefore, the Egypwaged it with great skill and success. And the quality of their military was a ma-
to
tians
B.C.,
jor factor in their extraordinarily long sur-
States has.
more than
14
ten times longer than the United
Chapter One
Early Egyptian
Weapons and Warfare Preparedness
As
for war, including the large-
weapons and the of troops, was an ever-
scale manufacture of
drafting
and training
a result, war was not a major theme
in sculptures, paintings,
royal and upper-class
and inscriptions
in
tombs and elsewhere.
present reality in Egypt even in the earliest
These records instead emphasized "other
Dynastic Pe-
important aspects of political and social
historical eras. Yet in the Early riod,
Old Kingdom, and Middle Kingdom,
together comprising the
first
life,"
the nation's existence, warfare
was not
scholar Andrea
M. Gnirs
points out,
"such as social and moral obligations, the
1,450 years of
exploration and exploitation of natural re-
the
Ma-
sources and trade contacts, the construction
jor military expeditions were not launched
of monumental tombs [among them the
top priority of the Egyptian government.
very often.
And when
two basic aims: The
they were, they had
first
was
to
great pyramids
guard and
maintain the country's borders against possible threats: the second
was
local
manpower, on or
slightly
Giza], or official
ca-
Middle Kingdom
?
and
an even greater degree in the age that
to
Only
later, in
the
it, would military expeditions and become the glorious centerpiece of
followed
to exploit natural
and
battles
beyond those
kingly
resources, including building materials
at
reers."
art
and propaganda
in
Egypt.
borders.
The main reason
for the relatively
Exploiting the "Wretched"
minor
Nubians
role of warfare, especially in the centuries be-
fore the
the
Middle Kingdom (which began near
end of the
third
millennium
B.C.),
In fact, military affairs
was
seem
to
have been
perceived as anything but glorious in the
Egypt's peculiar geographic situation. For a
Old Kingdom. Some evidence suggests
long time, the country remained largely iso-
both aristocratic
lated
from the outside world.
rial integrity
was not
And
manded
its territo-
individuals,
that
who com-
the national armies in battle,
and
ordinary Egyptians looked on soldiering as
seriously threatened.
15
.
Ancient Egypt
How Do
great Egyptologist
was endowed and maintained is recorded on the wall. Such wills and conveyances are, of
some of the major
course, invaluable cultural documents. Gradu-
In this excerpt from volume
Records of Egypt, the
late,
Breasted summarizes
3.H.
modem
sources that
1
of his Ancient
historians consult for in-
formation about political,
military,
and
ally
the nobles were inclined to add a few bi-
ographical details to the series of bare
cultural
Old Kingdom.
affairs during Egypt's
Know?
Historians
... In the Sixth Dynasty b.c] these biographies
That we
possess any documents at
from
all
the Old Kingdom
is chiefly due to the masmasonry tombs of that age, in which they were recorded. The exceptions are inscriptions on foreign soil and a few scanty
least of his
letters.
sist
almost exclusively of the name and many
.
.
.
The chief inscriptions
.
.
a
ice
was not a
native Egyptians
only
when
who joined
the
drafted into service
.
.
.
where they
[Many royal inscriptions and paint-
ings also adorned temple walls, but almost
all
examples from the Old Kingdom have] totally perished.
On the one hand, military servfull-time profession.
number of distant regions
still exist.
of the
"dirty work."
the
in
the aggres-
eign enterprises found record on the rocks in
owner of the tomb. Now and again the legal enactment by which the tomb
titles
... As
siveness of the pharaohs increased, their for-
con-
.
real narratives
most notable achievements
service of the Pharaoh.
accounts
and
became
of the career of the departed noble, or at
sive
fragments of papyrus containing
titles.
2345-ca. 2181
[ca.
ument, a high
army did so
in
of the court of an Old
official
Kingdom pharaoh,
Those few
Pepi
I,
tells
about his role
an expedition against some marauding no-
mads, the "Sand-Dwellers." The Egyptian
by the govern-
ment; they underwent some brief training,
army, he says, was largely
marched and fought
as ordered, then dis-
bians, for
banded and returned
to their
homes. More
whom
was
"I
made up of Nuone who made
the
the [military] plan." Later, the official claims:
importantly, the vast majority of soldiers
were mercenaries
—
His Majesty sent
foreign troops, mostly
from areas near Egypt's borders, who were
.
.
that
most
rebelled.
were exempted from
mili-
desert?]
It is
their places in the
... .
.
.
I
crossed over [the
with these troops.
I
made
a landing at the rear of the heights of
tary service in this era.
Taking
to lead this
the Sand-Dwellers, each time they
though not yet proven,
native Egyptians
me
five times, in order to repel
even
either hired or forced into service.
possible,
army
army ranks were
the
mountain range. ...
mainly Nubians, black Africans inhabiting
them
Nubia, the land lying along Egypt's southern
among them was
border. (The native Egyptians
all
I
and every backslider slain.
caught [rebel]
6
were them-
brown- or olive-skinned Semites,
like
Nubia was a prime source not only of
today's Arabs and Jews.) In a surviving doc-
soldiers for the early Egyptian army, but
selves
16
Early Egyptian Weapons and Warfare
Smashing and Chopping
also of valuable material products such as
Weapons
herds of cattle, ivory, and ostrich feathers.
Thus,
many
military
expeditions
Whether they were
were
native Egyptians,
Nu-
launched into the area during the Early Dy-
bians,
Old Kingdom, and Middle Kingdom. Numerous inscriptions describe the Nubians as vile, wretched, and easily
Egyptian armies used the same weapons.
nastic Period,
defeated. In fact, the
eventually feated
became
enemy
in
Egyptian
art
gen-
the
eras, the
primary weapons remained
main
and bow and arrow were
types.
Swords were sometimes used, but those
conscripted into the Egyptian military were
who
uncertain date far back in the Pre-
(club), ax, spear,
contempt by the Egyptians and often
the Libyans,
of early
few and almost unchanged. The mace
and royal in
soldiers
Dynastic, Old Kingdom, and Middle King-
dom
symbol of a de-
propaganda. Other foreigners held eral
From an
the
dynastic Period and on through the Early
image of the Nubian
the chief
or Libyans,
of the fourth and third millennia
inhabited the parched
B.C.
had a
desert lands lying along Egypt's western
serious limitation. "[They] could be fash-
border.
ioned only after [the attainment of] a mastery
These miniature soldiers represent Nubians, black Africans military service, especially in the
whom
Old and Middle Kingdoms.
17
the Egyptians often pressed into
Ancient Egypt iron oxide. Gradually,
began
copper mace-heads
to supplant the stone ones. Their
heads were most often either pear shaped or round, and the handle had a concave
(inwardly curved or tapered) gripping area
weapon from flying when he swung it. Clearly, the mace was an effective tool for crushing enemy skulls, hands, legs, and even spears and swords if swung with sufto help prevent the
out of the user's hand
ficient force.
For cutting and chopping, on the other hand, the battle-ax was
more
effective.
Ac-
cording to Ian Shaw, a noted archaeologist
and expert on Egyptian warfare: In the
Old and Middle Kingdoms
the
The image of the Egyptian pharaoh striking Nubian with a mace was
conventional ax usually consisted of
common
wooden handle by
in
Egyptian
head
a semicircular copper
the "wretched"
art.
tied to a
cords, threaded
through perforations [small holes] in
of the
art
the copper
of producing hard metals," explains
and wrapped around lugs
former Hebrew University scholar Yigael
[pegs].
"A long and tough blade which would not break or bend on impact could be made from hard metal alone." The problem was
difference between the battleax and
Yadin.
that copper, the only metal
weapons
Egypt
in
was
tively soft; so a long blade
swung
enough
the
the mace,
symbol of the king's sions had a head
made
earliest
which became
curved edge. 8
The
Such
cutting axes
ways.
A relief sculpture from the tomb of an
these
out of heavy stone, of-
hand
first
were used
in
various
wielding axes with shorter, deeper blades;
the ver-
authority.
to a
in
battlefield.
primary weapons, the
known was
down
official
backup weapon em-
ployed only occasionally on the
Middle
of the Old Kingdom at Deshasheh, Upper Egypt, shows soldiers using axes in battle. The ax heads are long and shallow, and the men swing the weapons with two hands. By contrast, a tomb painting dating from a century or so later shows soldiers
and used mainly for
an opponent. The sword was
to
therefore a secondary
Of
As
and when a soldier got close
if
ax. In the
little
in a slash-
swords were usually short and
straight, like daggers,
stabbing
narrowing
rela-
ing or hacking motion could easily break.
a result,
was
Kingdom, however, some battleaxes had longer blades with concave sides
used widely for
in this period,
this stage there
woodworker's
the
7
At
ten hematite, a blood-colored rock containing
weapons in
gate of an
18
are being
an effort to chop
enemy
swung with one the wooden
down
fortress.
Early Egyptian Weapons and Warfare
Bows
Shields, Spears, and
were sometimes attached
These early axes were not intended for
dier to carry
piercing armor, since the Egyptians did not
hands
employ body armor during
able
and
the fourth
Stone reliefs and tomb Old and Middle Kingdoms
third millennia B.C.
paintings of the
show
typically
longer linen
kilts.
on
to allow the sol-
his shoulder, leaving both
free. The latter situation was preferwhen on the march or when climbing a
scaling ladder during a siege.
The
soldiers wearing only belts
and small triangular loincloths or
it
shield provided a
measure of protec-
tion not only against close-up attacks
by
slightly
maces, axes, and swords, but also from bar-
Their only effective pro-
rages of missile weapons either thrown or
was the shield. The most common type was a rectangular wooden frame covered by layers of dried cowhide.
a type of javelin (throwing spear) that
Often such shields tapered to a curved or
the
pointed edge
so-called Hunters' Slate Palette, dating from
shot from a distance. First
tection, therefore,
at the top. In the
in
middle of the
common use
among
these
was was
throughout the Near East by
end of the fourth millennium
back of the framework was a wooden handle
this
to hold the shield, although leather straps
use against animals.
period in Egypt, shows the
B.C.
The
weapon
in
consisted of a long
It
Mesopotamia's Influence on Egypt In the era of the Old Kingdom, when Egypt rarely
engaged
wars and
in
its
precursor of the war chariot] in the van [forefront] of a troop of light infantry.
soldiers were
unseasoned nonprofessionals, far away on the plains of Mesopotamia (what is now Iraq) several aggressive city-states
had already
developed more advanced military methods.
centuries later adopted
from an
article in
Ancient World,
Mesopotamian
some of them.
John Hackett's Warfare
Dr.
B.C.
The heavy
a battle-ax in the right.
depicted
is
.
.
.
massed ranks of
[as]
men bearing
shields.
.
.
.
What
is
significant is
the number of spears projecting between the
the
Trevor Watkins describes a
shields.
The
artist
emphasizes the solidity of
mid-
the formation, protected from chin to ankle
carved on a marker stone.
by almost interlocking shields. The implied
battle formation of the
third millennium
in the left
hand and
helmeted spearmen behind a front rank of
Here, in
light
no shields; each holds a long spear infantry
who
These eventually influenced the Egyptians,
The
infantry wear no protective armor and carry
largely
battle tactics anticipate those of the [Greek]
The
Macedonian phalanx and the Roman legion.
battle-scene shows the army at the mo-
ment of
victory,
...
marching over the bodies
upper register
[band
himself;
shown
in
the
is
led
suggests that the armies of those
a
core of trained professional soldiery. No sea-
by the king
sonal levy of [local farmers] could have man-
of carved
troop of heavy infantry
It also
[Mesopotamian] city-states contained a hard
of their defeated and slain enemies. In the figures]
lower register the king
aged such precision and solidarity and these
is
soldiers
riding in his battle-wagon [a clumsy,
were
trained,
equipped to fight as
solid-wheeled cart pulled by four donkeys; a
19
uniformed
a corps.
and
Ancient Egypt wooden
staff
of
or copper secured to the shaft
flint
carvings, sculptures, and wall paintings, pro-
topped by a leaf-shaped blade
vide a fairly clear picture of the weapons that
by
cords tied around a long tang (narrow projection) protruding
from the blade's bottom.
In battle an attacking soldier likely
his javelin at the
enemy formation
however,
threw
tween the opposing
off the battlefield.
and engaged
dence.
effective for softening
up an enemy
cers.
weapon used by Egyptian hunters and
sol-
important in warfare in later eras. Early they
consisted of a pair of antelope horns con-
made of By the Early Dynas-
nected to either end of a central shaft strong but pliable wood. period, the stronger
"self" or "simple" ally
and more
bow was
in
wide
flexible
use.
Usu-
between three-and-a-half and seven
long,
it
was made of a wooden
feet
shaft that ta-
pered toward the ends and was strung with a cord
made of tightly twisted animal gut. Some
of the longer bows were "recurved," meaning that their shafts
curved inward, then outward,
and then inward again; these weapons, which
employed
tight
cord bindings to reinforce the
shaft at various points,
had greater power and
range than shorter, single-curved versions.
Little Evidence for Military Organization Surviving remnants of bows, spears, maces,
and so
forth,
realistic,
tomb dating
and remained
named because
And those that did serve as
These
The bow, another weapon shown was a common
diers in the Predynastic Period
tic
it
appears to tal-
become officommanders
miniature Egyptian soldiers
carrying spears and shields were found in a
in the Hunters' Slate Palette,
"horn" bows were so
existing evi-
for-
mation before the troops made physical conit.
on or
was a secondary
ented Egyptians would want to
farther
than javelins could be thrown, of course, and
with
or noth-
have been, few highborn, ambitious, and
Arrows could be shot a great deal
tact
from the
First, if soldiering
and unglamorous endeavor, as
in
hand-to-hand fighting.
were
little
But certain general conclu-
sions can be inferred
remaining gap be-
lines,
evidence reveals
command structure and organi-
zation of the early Egyptian army, either
at a dis-
he must have removed a mace or battle-ax his belt, closed the
this
ing about the
tance of about fifty to a hundred feet; then
from
Egyptians used. Unfortunately,
the early
along with depictions of them in
20
to the
Middle Kingdom.
Early Egyptian Weapons and Warfare
Egyptian soldiers of the Middle Kingdom period wore loincloths rather than armor.
probably did so on a temporary basis rather
tion in the
than pursuing military careers. Moreover, the
title
Old Kingdom, although
the
"overseer of soldiers" was occa-
and the
on
ordinary soldiers were also nonprofessionals
sionally used,
who served short hitches: so there would have
Egypt's borders were controlled by
been
the "overseer of desert blockhouses
little
time for extensive training or effec-
tive organization into
many and complex
and royal
spe-
likely, therefore, that the early
was
Egypt-
army was organized along relatively simple lines, with a few commanders lead-
the only
term
word used to describe Old Kingdom.''
The importance of
ing large troop contingents of no fixed size. to
(a
units of soldiers in the
ian
According
Tst
roughly corresponding to "battalion")
cialized units. It is
fortresses."
fortresses
Shaw:
tary affairs increased to
soldiering and mili-
some degree during
the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2181-ca.
There does not appear any overall
military'
to
2055
have been
B.C.).
During the short interlude be-
tween the Old and Middle Kingdoms,
hierarchy [ladder
of positions of authority] or organiza-
royal authority in
21
Memphis
the
declined and the
Ancient Egypt
Single Combat in the
Middle Kingdom During the
Intermediate Period and
First
During the night
arrows
one-on-one duels reminiscent of the single combats between Greek and Trojan war-
fought
riors in
ished
in
poem
Homer's epic
from the famous story of the Egyptian James Pritchard's Ancient Near Eastern Texts,) , dating from the courtier Sinuhe (quoted in
.
describes such a
duel.
mighty man of Retenu he might challenge
[Syria]
me
He was a hero without [beaten all opponents in
in
came, that
my own camp.
peer,
He
said
more than a
who
still
retained
some
.
was
Military
watch the
.
I
.
I
.
began
to
army were be-
still
a few centuries away.
Developments
the First Intermediate Period
ranks
.
.
.
a
case the warlords
"'
tect the territories
Out of
was
—
the
—
man-
in
this
portrayed (or allowed
subordinates to portray) their battlefield ex-
operating in and
ploits.
on the behalf of Egypt, but without losing their character."
in military affairs during
ner in which individual leaders
and, in Sheikh 'Ibada al-Nubi's words, "a
genuine ethnic nucleus
in the
Middle Kingdom Another change
in the military
.
be praised in various
evidence shows
dominating presence
.
under arms for
were under arms still
.
.
did to him.
First,
than in prior centuries; Nubians were
.
.
.
native Egyptians
changes.
.
ginning to take shape, although that turn of events
more
as
for a full-time professional
warlords were probably not significantly
stitutional
pol-
men
.
writings. Clearly, the elements necessary
more organized than the state-controlled army of the Old Kingdom. However, the new climate of violence did cause some inthat
I
broke, [the
alike often served
their exploits
allegiance
wars, the armies of the
civil
.
extended periods. Furthermore, soldiers and
in the north.
During these
and
.
.
Nubians
century, powerful local
warlords fought one another, as well as the pharaoh.
.
[to
me
had planned to do to me,
country became unstable and disunited. For little
Retenu came
.
that he would fight me, he intended to despoil
a
[in a practice session]
.
.
and he had
his land].
strung
my weapons. When day
he came to
cerpt
A
I
fight]. Then was waiting. Every heart burned for me; women and men groaned. Then he took his shield and his battleax and his armful of javelins. Now after I had let his weapons issue forth [without doing me any damage] ... he charged me and I shot him, my arrow sticking in his neck. He cried out and fell on his nose. I [finished him off] with his own battleax and raised my cry of victory while every Asiatic roared. Then I carried off his goods and plundered his cattle. What he of]
the Iliad. This ex-
dawn of the Middle Kingdom,
my cattle. my bow and shot my
me, and he planned to plunder
Middle Kingdom, a number of standard pitched battles apparently took place. But soldiers also
They proudly celebrated
ries in inscriptions,
necessity, to pro-
others.
on
of their masters (whether
warlords or the pharaoh), Egyptians and
The pharaohs subsequently when they regained
this practice
of the country
22
their victo-
each trying to outdo the
at the
carried
control
beginning of the Mid-
"
.
Early Egyptian Weapons and Warfare Kingdom, each king attempting to projimage of an invincible hero.
die
depictions of soldiers fighting battles be-
came more common
ect the public
Kingdom
Describing the second Middle
pharaoh cial
—Senusret
named Sinuhe
(or Sesotris)
I
—an
in
artwork commis-
sioned by the pharaohs.
The weapons wielded by these soldiers in Middle Kingdom were largely the same
offi-
wrote:
the
as those of the Early Dynastic Period and
He is
champion who
a
Kingdom. The most common and
He own
a god indeed, without peer.
is
acts with his
long-range
still
the simple bow.
arms, a fighter without anyone like
(The more advanced and deadly composite
else] when he bowmen. ... He
bow was already in use in Mesopotamia, what is now Iraq, at this time: but it was diffi-
him
no one
like
[i.e.,
is
seen attacking the
is
one
less,
who so
muster
.
.
.
renders hands power-
that
their ranks.
He
when he annihilates the He is stalwart of heart
steps
.
.
third
.
strike a
A
.
second blow], for there his
arrow
nor one who can draw
his bow. The
bowmen
him
retreat before
as
if
be-
fore the might of a great goddess.
In
addition to the pharaoh's enhanced
image as a military
leader, the military es-
tablishment as a whole took on increased
importance
in
Middle Kingdom. For
the
one thing, the army, when called into serv-
was bigger than
clearly,
it
had been
in the past;
maintaining the allegiance of more
men. both native Egyptians and Nubians.
was a
logical
way
to
overshadow and
courage any local princes or warlords
make and
short
B.C.
did not gain
until after the
Mid-
sword with a curved,
appeared
millennium
It
in
Egypt
in the late
was designed
sculpted likeness of the Middle
pharaoh Senusret
not repeat the act of killing
no one who can deflect
A
to
Egypt
in
for
.
and does
.
not allow cowardice around him.
[i.e.,
.
Kingdom.)
sicklelike blade
wide
fugitive.
.
is
dle
and no one
He
and expensive
widespread use
vengeful
is
skulls,
stands up near him.
He need
cult
enemies cannot
his
when he cracks
ice,
weapon was
Old
effective
dis-
who
might consider challenging the central au-
The government also increased the number of forts along the borders, still seen
thority.
as all-important harriers against the forces
of chaos and barbarism beyond. Moreover,
23
I,
whom
Kingdom
Sinhue described.
Ancient Egypt slashing rather than stabbing; but
breakable blade
easily
straight stabbing
swords
made still
its
in use,
were already organized
small,
like
it,
which marched
the
in
weaponry
in the
—
Middle Kingdom
was a new
battle-ax
duced
Egypt from Palestine and
into
the tangs
the units taking part in battle,
Syria.
which
was open combat Thus we find several documents from the
indicate that there
the "epsilon ax," intro-
had a short blade with three tangs
units
The written records also contain much detail on the size of armies and
a sec-
ondary weapon. The only significant devel-
opment
in
in disciplined order.
on a
It
large scale.
references in
in the back;
had holes through which cords
.
.
.
18th century [B.C.] to militia units of
passed to fasten the ax head to the long han-
10,000 warriors. Mostly, of course,
dle.
the units referred to are smaller, con-
Thanks
to increased depictions of war-
fare in written records
Kingdom,
somewhat
ages.
art in the
the military units
of the soldiers are
and
who wielded
taining 3,000, 2,000, 1,000, 600,
Middle
100 men. Also mentioned
man
unit,
weapons
unit,
comprising three companies of
100
men
these
clearer than those in prior
The Middle Kingdom soldiers depicted
and
and
the 300-
and formations
Middle Kingdom armies, says Yadin,
battle-axes,
is
in this
used mainly as an assault
each.
documents
It
appears from the
that the basic
unit,
the
drawing are armed with traditional spears, maces,
shields.
24
Early Egyptian Weapons and Warfare modwas probably
about 1650 B.C. they rose up and
section [perhaps equivalent to a
that in
ern army platoon],
took over the northern section of Egypt by
composed of ten men.
|:
force
(while
power base
the
pharaohs maintained a
in the south,
with their capital
at
Thebes). This marked the end of the Middle
Nightmare Becomes Reality
Kingdom and beginning of
The
termediate Period (ca. 1650-ca. 1550
soldiers in these units
were
still
largely
Nubians, Libyans, and other foreigners either hailed
allowed to
who
Modern
settle inside
Egypt proper. One
writers, the
of these groups was composed of "Asiatics," that is,
lands lying northeast of Egypt. in the region last
two centuries of
fighters
recruited
for
—
—
Middle Kingdom
and military
name
"rulers of foreign lands."
attack of "barbarians"
to play a pivotal role in
the country's political
ethnic
the
given to them by Greek
The Egyptians' worst nightmare the from beyond the borders had become a terrifying and hu-
settled
of the eastern Nile Delta in the
and were destined
As
They
later
Hyksos, or "shepherd kings,"
although the ancient Egyptian
them meant
people from Palestine and other
In-
B.C.).
scholars refer to these interlopers
by the name
from border areas or had been
Second
the
miliating reality.
Eventually,
affairs.
would
into
but in the process they would
the
rally
and take back
the
natives
their lost lands,
become even
Egyptian army, these Asiatic immigrants
more warlike than
must have gained considerable numbers
great age of empire and military glory
and military strength over time. The proof is
about to begin.
25
the
Hyksos. Egypt's
was
—
Chapter Two
The New Kingdom and Chariot Warfare The
Egyptians managed to drive the hated
Hyksos out of Egypt by
scarred and their outlook on
world forever changed.
the mid-sixteenth
and the
life
was a
First, there
and patriotism
century B.C. But the humiliating century-long
major upsurge
occupation of the country had
during and immediately following the expul-
left its
people
in nationalism
sion of the Hyksos.
pharaoh of the New Kingdom, liberated Egypt from the Hyksos.
Ahmose,
first
Kamose,
the Seventeenth Dynasty,
Amosis),
which
first
—waged
New Kingdom
numerous campaigns
as part of a
tional liberation; they
and
rected
pharaoh of
of the Eighteenth
ruler
initiated the
last
and Ahmose (or
war of na-
their followers di-
wrath not only against the
their
Hyksos, but also against those Egyptians
who had
collaborated with the occupiers.
Thus, by eliminating competing local factions, the conflict
fect
had a strong unifying
on the nation and
its
ef-
inhabitants.
There was also a new and disturbing perception that the country's borders were not
and may never be
totally secure.
So
the
Egyptians had to do more than simply guard the borders; they cial barriers
must go past these
artifi-
and confront any enemies
posed a potential
threat,
that
thereby expanding
Egypt's sphere of influence into neighboring lands.
26
As
a result, Egypt
became a ma-
The New Kingdom and Chariot Warfare jor military state, and imperialism, one na-
attempted military
tion's
stronghold of Avaris, in the eastern section of
and/or political
A
the Nile Delta.
paign has survived
feature of the government of the New Kingdom. Another defining feature was a new kind of warfare employed by Egypt's rulers,
that of his king,
around the
one largely
built
ironically a
weapon introduced
their
to
them by series of
new army made Egypt both
Near
showed valor on foot before his I was appointed [to be
I
majesty; then
of the
captain
re-
Memphis.
East.
in
the
Then
I
...
canal:
[I]
Shining-in-
ship]
fought on the water
Pezedku of Avaris.
fought hand to hand, [and]
Expanding Egypt's Sphere
brought away a hand. [Egyptian
of Influence
diers often cut off the
This
new
gression began with
Ahmose, who
the country. After driving north
the
hands of
I
sol-
slain
was reported to the royal herald. [The commander] gave to me the Gold of Valor [a medal for bravery] Then
and policy of military ag-
spirit
like
sieged the city of Avaris," the lesser Ahmose
spected and feared across large portions of the
name,
was Ahmose. "[We] be-
bragged.
aggressive warrior kings, an invigorated and
powerful
in the
the captain of a Nile vessel. His
battle chariot,
enemy, the Hyksos. Led by a
camtomb biography of
brief record of this
domination of others, became a defining
enemies as
liberated
from Thebes,
pharaoh besieged the main Hyksos
battle trophies.]
It
Hyksos' Contributions to Egypt In this excerpt from his acclaimed History of
in
Ancient Egypt, scholar Nicolas Grimal identifies the Hyksos and
comments on
Egypt was evidently less damaging than
later
Egyptian
military contributions to the Egyptians.
were the Hyksos? Their name
is
the
name
applied to
all
.
.
The Hyksos
It
mark on Egypt-
was
far
rulers created a
New Kingdom pharaohs
logical innovations of the
gives no indication of race
or any clearly defined homeland. It
its
would eventually draw inspiration. The techno-
hekaw-khasut ("the chiefs of foreign
lands"). This
.
legacy from which the
debased Greek version of the Egyptian term:
tend to suggest.
ian civilization, which from then on less insular.
Who
sources
must, however, have made
their significant
Hyksos period were
innumerable, particularly in the
was a term
fare,
foreigners in Nubia and Syria-
field of
war-
which was revolutionized by the intro-
duction of the harnessed horse [especially as
Palestine during the Old and Middle Kingdoms.
used to draw the chariot].
The Hyksos seem to have approximated the
were also introduced to innovative items of
"Asiatic" peoples
[i.e.,
some
ples of Syria-Palestine]
.
.
The Egyptians
armor created with new techniques of bronze-
of the local peo-
whom
.
the Egyptians
working,
which would eventually allow the
New Kingdom pharaohs
had previously fought. ... The Hyksos presence
27
to expand eastwards.
Ancient Egypt there
was again
place;
I
there;
fighting
in
I
brought away
hand. [And
I
captured Avaris;
I
.
.
gave them
to
[persons];
me
.
[Egypt]," says scholar
Ahmose He was
enemy might
well try
knowledged
in a
called Sharuhen
it
laid siege to
Healy,
later
his ejection of the
Ahmose was
as overlord
by
ac-
the states
of Palestine and Syria, no doubt en-
the Sinai Penin-
and into Palestine. There, he trapped
most of the remaining Hyksos
By
of the Hyksos,
tle
and launch a counteroffensive.
and
in
Hyksos from Egypt he had elevated the kingdom to become the greatest in the Near East. Inheriting the man-
doubtful that this would ensure the coun-
sula
was
generations in having established the
drove the Hyksos out of Egypt.
So he pursued them across
Mark
Ahmose was honored by
that
18th Dynasty.
try's safety, since the
at-
old whipping horse, Nubia, and
of
I3
After taking Avaris, the pharaoh
to regroup
re-
recognition of his achievement in reuniting
majesty
his
for slaves.
total
its
finished reuniting the nation. "It
[We]
took captive there
one man and three women, a four heads
tack on
Gold of
received] the
Ahmose
victorious,
turned to Egypt, launched a successful
[another]
Valor in the second place.
Emerging
years.
this
again fought hand to hand
couraged in
town
their declarations
by a
military demonstration later in his
reign that took
for three
him
as far north as
Djahy [Phoenicia, on the coast of Egyptians of the New Kingdom continued to exploit Nubians, depicted in this relief.
what
is
now
that there all
Asia as
now
Israel]. It is
was a
tacit
far as the
very likely
acceptance that
Euphrates [River]
constituted
rightly
Egypt's
sphere of influence. The projection of military
power
beyond Egypt's
far
eastern frontier as the best and most effective
method
for
her defense
now became a keystone of her policy in dealing
Palestine].
Indeed, his reign
with the [region of Syria14
Ahmose set a precedent, and after new pharaoh was ready and ea-
each
ger to prove himself in war. This not only
made
the country safer, but also greatly en-
hanced the king's
official
image as portrayed
in royal decrees, building inscriptions, paintings,
and other modes of propaganda. In
Egypt's earliest years, the pharaoh had been
viewed
28
literally as a
god
in earthly form.
But
"
The New Kingdom and Chariot Warfare by the advent of the
him
as a
New Kingdom, most saw
mere man, very powerful and
per-
haps divinely inspired, but mortal nonetheless.
Waging and winning wars was a way of
elevating the pharaoh's image; as an invinci-
war hero and
ble
national savior, he could be
confident of maintaining the allegiance of his people.
Each new pharaoh therefore strove to more military expeditions into
lead one or
exam-
Syria-Palestine. Nubia, or both. For
an inscription found
ple,
Tombos
at
(near
NuThutmo-
the Nile's Third Cataract) describes a
bian campaign by Thutmose sis
I,
reigned 1504-1492
He
(or
I
B.C.):
has overthrown the chief of the
Nubians; the black
man
defenseless in his grasp.
bian
troglodytes
than
.
The Nu-
insult
description]
literal
.
[primitive
standard
a
dwellers,
helpless,
is .
fall
Pharaoh Thutmose
cave
I,
seen here, invaded both
Nubia and Syria-Palestine.
rather
by the
sword, and are thrust aside in their
A New Weapon and Status
lands; their foulness u valleys.
Perhaps the most significant reference
.
.
.
Symbol
floods their
—the Chariot
preceding account
same ruler invaded Syria-Palestine, by one of his officers:
on the
is
in the
that to the capture
The
of a
Later the
chariot
as told
Egyptians could not have ejected the Hyksos
battlefield.
fact is that the
and successfully invaded Syria-Palestine
made
His majesty
among them. Numberless were living prisoners,
which
his
brought off from his
Meanwhile
I
was
I
the
chariot
victories.
its
new weapon. The
in battle in
Mesopo-
introduction into Egypt. Chariot technol-
ogy eventually made
head of our
at the
had been used
tamia for more than a thousand years before
majesty
troops, and his majesty beheld
bravery.
without this formidable
a great slaughter
my
Palestine,
its
way
into Syria-
where the Hyksos acquired
it.
They then brought it into northern Egypt, and eventually the pharaohs at Thebes adopted it out of necessity. Used in conjunc-
brought off captured] a |
its horses, and him who was upon it as a living prisoner, and took them to his majesty. (As a reward I received] gold in double
chariot,
tion
with another advanced
composite bow. as well as
measure.
elements, the chariot
29
weapon, the
traditional niililaiy
became a devastating
Ancient Egypt
A
Soldier in the Pharaoh's Service Much of the sparse contemporary informaabout Egypt's war to
tion that has survived
had
tomb biography of a naval officer named Ahmose, the namesake of the pharaoh who led the campaign against
pel the Hyksos comes from the
the intruders. Here, lation (in Texts,),
James
from John
Ahmose
describes his
dier in a
now
distant
and
were very expensive
still
woman
.
like
Thus
Ahmose
I]
.
.
when
.
had set up a household, then
I
I
was
was
I
af-
was taken
I
valiant.
used to accompany the Pharaoh ... on
and
in the
Egypt. (Chari-
meters
[4.1
long,
its
is
is
... The
feet].
wheels had four spokes. chariot pole
.
.
.
The
2.5 meters [8.2 feet]
hind end attached to the rear
Egyptian char-
bar of the body frame and running
used in
under the body, giving additional
virtually identical to those
They were very lightweight yet sturdy. Describing a surviving example from the era of Thutmose I and his immedi-
strength to an otherwise frail struc-
Syria-Palestine.
ture.
.
The yoke
.
.
double-convex
Yadin writes:
ate successors, Yigael
length between the wheels
its
1.23
produce and main-
to
surprisingly, the first
is
shaped
bow and
is
like a
attached
forward end of the pole by
to the
Everything was planned to
nails.
.
This chariot has three main ele-
make
the vehicle light, flexible, and
ments: the body, the wheels, and the
strong.
pole and yoke. The body
wooden frame ter [3.3 feet]
deep.
.
Ro-
had taken a wife. ... But
I
on the ship Northern, because
to a sol-
largely forgotten
so only large, wealthy states could afford
were
[i.e.,
a boy, before
ter I
chariot corps with thousands of vehicles.)
iots
of the
[in .
served as [a] soldier in his place in
I
the Two lands
own background,
and national policy
hands of major kingdoms
Not
father being a soldier
foot, following his excursions in his chariot.
tool of warfare
tain,
my
name being Bebe, the son
onet. Then
conflict.
ots
upbringing in the town of el-Kab
the ship The Wild Bull in the time of the Lord of
A. Wilson's trans-
human face
giving a recognizable
his
Ancient Near Eastern
Pritchard's
my
I Upper Egypt],
ex-
It is
.
17
has a
one me-
In the century that followed, Egyptian char-
wide and half a meter
iots underwent a few modifications. To accommodate more weapons and equipment, their frames became slightly heavier; and the number of wheel spokes increased to
Its
base
is
75 centimeters [29 inches]
high in the front
— which
would
cover about half way up to the thighs of the charioteer.
.
.
.
The whole of
six,
the front and the bottom part of the
allowing the wheels to better support
The vehicles also became more maneuverable, for their ability to turn as sharply as possible was key to their sucthe extra weight.
body were [covered by The axel-rod is 6 centime-
sides of the leather].
.
ters [2.4 inches] thick at the center
cess in battle.
30
The New Kingdom and Chariot Warfare Because such chariots were very expensive
charioteer
an overall
became highly coveted. Part of transformation of the army into a
prestigious profession, this
had a
Andrea Gnirs puts
prestige
and
into upper-class symbols. ...
As
military
[social]
founded on a new
it:
Purely military careers were possi-
and became increasingly
quent, especially
in
the chariotry;
The so-called Stele ofAni, a charioteer
and
identity.
relief dating
spect.
from around 1550
his driver.
31
.
.
.
Now
sufficed
dier
fre-
to
1
to
class set
A new
emerged,
of social val-
new model of common
ues and a
ble
[equivalent]
status; as a result, origi-
military attributes developed
nally
signifi-
cant effect on Egyptian society as well.
war and possession
participation in
of a chariot were
and specialized weapons, the rank of
to
[just]
elicit
being a solpublic
re-
"
1086
B.C.,
shows an Egyptian
Ancient Egypt Some ries
successful charioteers
of their adventures.
such a pyrus
tale,
now
left
An
behind
on a fourteenth-century
in the British
your ensign [personal emblem or
sto-
excerpt from
Museum,
symbol], engraved with a chisel, and they put a handle on your whip and
B.C. pa-
attach a lash to
describes
it.
[Then] you sally
a warrior taking his vehicle to a special
forth quickly to fight
workshop
plish glorious deeds.
They
for repairs:
wheels
Your pole
is
are]
freshly
attachments are
no longer
.
and accom-
fitted on.
they fix up your yoke. relief dating
The Deadly Composite Bow
loose.
trimmed and
The
its
They put
bindings on your collar piece
chariot.
.
9
take care of your chariot so
that [the
A
.
'
.
.
.
The role the chariot played in warfare in this age was that of a mobile platform from
and
They apply
from around 1403
The long object attached
to
1365
charioteer did not "sally forth" on his
vehicle into battle emptyhanded, of course.
B.C.
to the side
shows
the
pharaoh Amenophis
of the vehicle
32
is
his
bow
case.
111 driving his
The New Kingdom and Chariot Warfare
A pharaoh fires
his composite
bow
while attacking an
combination of chariot and composite
bow
enemy
in this idealized
drawing. The
revolutionized warfare.
which a warrior could use various weapons
of wood, each having a certain desired
damage on enemy lines. Chief among these chariot-borne weapons was the composite bow, which entered gen-
bility
to inflict serious
eral use in
Egypt along with the chariot
the start of the
fashion.
ate a
bow
The harder animal hom was used in more rigidity; and the
to increase
The
its
result
arrow up
the bright idea of
combining various separate materials
plia-
planned
sinews were applied to the back of the
at
New Kingdom.
someone had gotten
in a carefully
spots that needed
Centuries before, probably in Mesopotamia,
and combined
bow
propulsive (springing) power.
was a bow
to six or
that
could
fire
seven hundred yards
an
(i.e.,
six or seven times the length of a football
to cre-
of greater elasticity and power
field!),
though any
sort
of accuracy could be
than the age-old simple version.
maintained only up to about three hundred
main materials
The four such a weapon were
yards.
wood, animal hom, animal tendons (sinew),
formance of an ordinary bow. Composite
and glue. Even the wooden portions might
bows
be composed of two, three, or four varieties
expense
in
33
Still, this
was
far superior to the per-
required considerable expertise and to
make and much
practice to use
Ancient Egypt
Rebuilding in the Wake of the Hyksos One of the highlights of the immediate post-Hyksos era of the New Kingdom was the of a strong, ambitious woman, HatshepDaughter of Pharaoh Thutmose I and wife of her half-brother, Thutmose II, from 1473 to 1458 B.C., she was regent and cornier of Egypt rule sut.
with her stepson, Thutmose III.
Among
Hat-
shepsut's achievements was the rebuilding of
temples and other structures ruined by the Hyksos, as she boasts in this temple inscrip-
(quoted
tion
volume 2 of J.H. Breasted's
in
Ancient Records of Egypt,).
Hear you, as
you
all
are!
the design of
persons! You people as I
my
many
have done this according to heart.
that which was ruins,
I
...
I have restored have raised up that
which was unfinished since the Asiatics [the Hyksos] were in the midst of Avaris of the Northland, and the barbarians were in the
midst of them, overthrowing that which was
made, while they ruled not recognize]
did
Ra
in
ignorance of [the
Egyptian
[i.e.,
A bust of Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt alongside Thutmose III.
sun
god].
effectively;
so
it
is
not likely that every
chariot,
which already had an archer and
army had one. Prob-
a driver, increased the weight and de-
ably charioteers and selected foot archers
creased the agility of the vehicle. The so-
archer in the Egyptian
The widespread use of composite bows by warriors either on chariots or on foot inevitably created a need for some
lution, therefore, was the adoption of body armor. Sculptures and paintings from Egypt, Palestine, the island of Cyprus, and elsewhere in the Near East from this period show armored outfits made of copper or bronze scales sewn or
way
glued to leather or linen jerkins. Often
wielded
this special
weapon while
the rest
of the archers carried traditional simple
bows.
fired
to protect the archers
and other
ing a
bow
awkward shield;
sol-
at-
fir-
tached to the top of such a "mail" suit was
was too
a metal tube that protected the neck, chin,
for the archer to hold a large
and mouth; a metal helmet protected the
diers against these missiles.
Because
required both hands,
it
and adding a shield-bearer
head.
tc the
34
The New Kingdom and Chariot Warfare
Weaponry Old and New The
the pyramids] translated themselves
charioteers with their composite
did not ride into battle alone.
bows
They were
naturally to the army.
:"
of-
a large-
As
scale attack, but they always acted in concert
units,
with traditional infantry (foot soldiers),
and prestige of the military many native
ten the centeipiece of an
army and
in-
for the
cluding foot archers and soldiers wielding
Egyptians
axes, swords, and so forth. This gave
fighters
Egypt
somewhat of an advantage over many of enemies
it
lied
more on
of these states
were smaller; whereas,
ative to her opponents, as
still
the
skilled
re-
and forced
Healy explains,
Foreign-born
units.
man-
These
in-
units, including
who had been captured
to fight for
Egypt; and the Sher-
dan, another captured enemy,
originated in Asia
who may
Minor (what
who began
is
have
now
Egypt's large population allowed the
Turkey) ana
deployment of a large infantry
force;
armies in the thirteenth century B.C.
and the experience of centuries
in the
The weapons these troops used were a mix of traditional and new. The mace was abandoned because it was not very effective against the mail armor and metal helmets
organization and discipline of large
bodies of
men
[in
both military cam-
paigns and large building projects like
A
ranks.
Nubian scouts known as Medjay;
Libyans; Palestinians
rel-
infantry
important, though,
cluded the traditional Nubian
chariotry than infantry because
their populations
filled
were
ning large ethnic auxiliary
the
faced in Syria-Palestine during
New Kingdom. Most
the
makeup of Egyptian
thanks to the increased professionalism
surviving specimen of a khopesh, or "sickle sword." The outer edge
user could slash outward in a circular stroke.
35
fighting in Egyptian
was sharpened so
that the
Ancient Egypt
In a relieffound at Karnak, the
pharaoh
of Libyan foot soldiers, many of whom
now worn by many
common
troops.
Seti
lie
I,
holding a sickle sword, charges through ranks
mortally wounded.
Chariots and Infantry Work Together
But battle-axes
were
still
pierce
most helmets; and spears and javelins
because they could
remained mainstay infantry weapons. Besides the composite bow, the
most
in-
because les
its
named
was sharpened, in the case
two
rather than
its
its
early
combined
to
make
was so
effective, in fact, that the it
as the
specific tac-
New Kingdom.
But Vanderbilt Uni-
Drews provides
this
of the period: [The] opposing chariot forces would hurtle towards each other
the
khopesh a very effective slashing weapon. adopted
no descriptions of
was
a harder metal than copper;
factors
often, at least
commanders used units of chariots. Un-
plausible reconstruction of a chariot battle
inner one (as it
and sometimes
such battles have survived from the
versity scholar Robert
outer edge
of a normal sickle), and
made of bronze, these
smaller. Also,
to support offensive
tics in
curved blade resembled the sick-
much
its
fortunately,
used to cut wheat, except that the sword
blade was
own. But more
it
troduced into Egypt from Palestine. The khopesh, or "sickle sword," was so
infantry could
did act on
in larger pitched battles,
effective
newer weapon was the khopesh, a sword
The Egyptian
...
the
It
squadrons maintaining an assigned
pharaohs
order and the archers beginning to
symbol of their authority
discharge their arrows as soon as the
in
enemy came
place of the mace.
36
within range (perhaps
The New Kingdom and Chariot Warfare
Keeping Nubia in Line In addition to the considerable attention
paid to Syria-Palestine by early
this
New Kingdom
army of
majesty overthrew those bar-
his
anyone among
barians; they did not let live
wake of the expulsion of the Hyksos, several of these rulers launched cam-
their males, according to all the
paigns into Nubia. This account (quoted
the chief of wretched Nubia,
pharaohs
ume 2
in the
his majesty,
in vol-
away
of Breasted's Ancient Records of Egypt,)
alive as
a
living
from an
people to his majesty.
scribes
a subject of his
inscription found at Aswan, Egypt, deThutmose II (reigned 1492-1479 B.C.) quelling a Nubian rebellion.
command
of
except one of those children of
.
.
who was taken
prisoner with their .
This land
was made
majesty as formerly, [and]
the people rejoiced [and] the chiefs were joyful.
his majesty dispatched a numerous army into Nubia on his first occasion of a campaign, in order to overthrow all those who were rebellious against his majesty or hostile to the Lord of the Two Lands. Then
Then
A pharaoh Nubians in
37
rides into battle against the
in this
painting found on a chest
King Tutankhamen's tomb.
Ancient Egypt most important, was the attack on Megiddo
of two hundred meters
at a distance
who
The must have shot ever more rapidly and vigorously as the opposing
by Thutmose
forces closed the distance between
famous ancient Greek conqueror,
[660
feet]
Of
them.
killed or
possible.
or more).
many
course,
from 1479
horses were
.
.
.
was
to bring
Thutmose,
III.
1425
to
B.C., is
reigned
sometimes called
Alexander the Great,
the Egyptian
after the
for ex-
panding Egypt's sphere of influence to
wounded. The whole point
of the battle
many of
archers
down as
its
400,000 square miles,
largest extent (about
almost twice the size of the
state
of Texas).
the opponent's chariots as
Most of Thutmose's immediate predeces-
After the surviving
sors had maintained their influence and dominance over the petty kingdoms of
.
.
.
teams had made
way
their
other, the archers
past each
may have faced the
But shortly before he
Syria-Palestine.
as-
once
cended the throne, the powerful kingdom of
or twice at their opponents as they
Mitanni, situated northeast of Syria, had
rear of their vehicles
receded.
Then
the
and
two
fired
managed states. To
forces, if they
must have wheeled around and begun their second charge, this time from the oppowere
still
cohesive,
site direction.
to
impose
put
down
Upon
or
city
"runners," followed the chariots into the
as
Their tasks were to clear the field of
capsized chariots, capture or
kill fallen
en-
enemy
chariots.
host
was using
base.
The daring Thutmose decided
own
troops through a narrow, dangerous
This gamble paid
Whenever
ited the pass in
The Egyptians
off.
away, near the city's walls. According to
Thutmose's
protection in a chaotic sea of flying arrows.
dawn
official
annals, just before
Victory at Megiddo
[the]
Despite the absence of detailed contempo-
whole army, saying: "Equip your-
numbers of
command was
selves! Prepare
we
paigns in which chariot charges, infantry en-
wretched foe
counters, and sieges took place. In several of
The watchfmen] of
these forays, Egyptian armies entered Syria-
about,
if
shall
advance
to fight with that
in the
saying,
given to the
your weapons! for
Egyptian inscriptions describe military cam-
Perhaps the most vivid,
ex-
darkness to find the army of
Mitanni encamped less than half a mile
selves behind the chariots, tiny islands of
Palestine.
to
plain near the city.
must have placed them-
rary battle descriptions, large
the
mountain pass leading directly onto the
possible, especially in the opening stages of
a battle, the runners
enemy
of Megiddo (the biblical Armageddon)
its
his
tacked or chased after any infantrymen supthe
the
B.C.
attempt to surprise his opponents by taking
emy archers, and rescue their own fallen bowmen and charioteers. They also atporting
on these
reaching northern Palestine, he
learned that the
fray.
will
pharaoh marched northeast with a large army.
soldiers,
own
Egyptian authority, around 1457
21
Meanwhile, groups of foot
its
this "rebellion" against
morning!" the
.
.
.
army went
"Steady of heart!
Steady of heart! Watchful! Watchful!
not the
38
The New Kingdom and Chariot Warfare
Thutmose
III,
imperialist
the famous
who expanded
Egypt's borders to their
1457
greatest extent. In
he captured the
Megiddo,
Watch
One
for life at the tent of the king."
[officer]
majesty,
came
"The land
to is
[i.e., it
we
lord of power.
.
.
.
The southern wing
majesty was
are in a
in their center.
before the surprised
light,
:
.
.
Then
them
at
'
enemy The charge of
could prepare properly, the pharaoh led a
the Egyptian chariots
and
other forces must have been devastating, for
frontal assault.
the
comarmy to
opposing troops
Early in the morning, behold,
Megiddo
mand was
their chariots
given to the entire
move. His majesty went
silver],
arrayed
in his
in fear,
"fled
abandoning
of gold and
headlong to
their horses
silver."
The
rout
and
was
so complete that the fleeing soldiers acciden-
forth in a
chariot of electrum [an alloy of gold
and
.
his majesty prevailed against
the head of his army. first
at the
northwest of Megiddo while his
favorable position for battle]." 22
At
in Palestine.
of this army of his majesty was
well and the
appears that
B.C.,
of
war. like [the god] Horus, the Smiter,
say to his
infantry of the north and south like-
wise
city
tally
weapons of
locked out both the king of Megiddo and
the ruler of Kadesh, another local city that
39
Ancient Egypt had sided with Mitanni. In an embarrassing display,
"the people [of
them up ... by
their clothing into the city."
Thutmose then
laid siege to
seven months,
"The
at
which point
fear of his majesty
hearts],"
Megiddo] hauled
Megiddo it
I
Sphere
his serpent
[crown] was victorious
among
gold and silver
of Influence
The Empire of
Thutmose III (mid-1400s B.C.)
40
diadem
them. Then
their horses, their chariots .
.
.
[and] their
stretched out like fishes
[their
U Egypt I
annals conclude, "their arms
were captured
for
surrendered.
had entered
his
were powerless, [and]
of
champions lay
on the ground." 24
The New Kingdom and Chariot Warfare
One Threat Recedes,
Eventually,
Another Appears Thutmose followed up
rectly into
his victory
thirty-six
hostage;
local rulers this
was
by car-
rying back to Egypt the sons of
some
home
and holding them
become puppet
carried the
But
this
war
di-
campaign
and a generation
later,
that,
Mitanni was never again a serious threat to
ensured that their fathers
cities to
inconclusive;
itself.
Egypt and Mitanni made peace. After
would remain loyal to Egypt rather than Mitanni. Over the course of years, these young men were indoctrinated with Egyptian ideas and customs and sent back to their
Thutmose
Mitanni
Egypt. But the
latter's
power were
far
from
in the heart
of Asia Minor, a new, very for-
troubles as an imperial
over, for far to the north,
midable empire was rising ominously;
in the
fullness of time, Hatti, land of the Hittites,
would
rulers
test the
Egyptian military's strength
and resolve more severely than
friendly to Egypt.
41
ever.
Chapter Three
Military Service and
Organization numerous
Of
the
of the
New Kingdom,
scriptions
military reliefs
and
mighty personification of the sun god,
in-
commissioned by the pharaohs
familiar formula.
Re), or else the
a good many follow a The king is portrayed as the
leads his
army
into battle
and vanquishes
his
enemies, glorifying both himself and Egypt. In examining such artifacts,
Warrior pharaohs often associated themselves in art with the
Ra (or
war god, Montu; he fearlessly
sun god, Ra.
good
as
B
as the officers
is
it
easy to forget that a war leader
is
sometimes
usually only
and troops he com-
mands. Beneath the supreme, almost godlike position of pharaoh ranged a hierarchy of generals, scribes, unit teers,
scouts,
commanders, chario-
weapons and armor makers,
and ordinary foot
soldiers, all
working
to-
gether in a complex, smoothly running military organization.
A Society Transformed by Soldiering The army full
these
men
served in was largely
time and professional, so they often
stayed on for long hitches; and their lives, needs, and deeds
became a major
facet of
Egyptian society. The effects of military preparedness and warfare on the country
can be seen on both an individual level and a
42
more general one. For
the individual sol-
Military Service and Organization
A poor farmer pious
New Kingdom,
the fields in this surviving painting. In the
a new class of
farmers arose, consisting of ex-soldiers. dier. military service
Once
in the
lists that
army, his
in action, his all
and when he
retired, or
the benefits earned
by
who worked on the property. did not actually own such land
slaves
until the thirteenth
On
owned
all
the land
diers
re-
contrast, in areas
and ex-soldiers
emerged or
all
selves,
(Sol-
settled,
land but did not
the
actual
whole
work
labor being
slaves or hired labor.
plots
New
King-
where many
sol-
villages
which ordinary men supervised
in
owned
priests; the
and there was no
substantial middle class. In the
dom, by
his father,
including the use of a plot of land and
diers
latter
died
son took his place. The son
group of rich nobles and
elite
were maintained from one genera-
tion to the next;
ceived
was often hereditary. name was recorded on
it
them-
done by
These farmers, small
but not poor, Sheikh 'Ibada al-Nubi ex-
century B.C.)
a wider, societal level, the institution
plains,
of a standing army altered the traditional
breakdown of
social classes
and created the
represent the birth of an intermediate
opportunity for upward mobility. In ages past,
social
the vast majority of Egyptians had
class
or
Most of
government building their labor
between the ruling
who
did not
possess the means of production.
been dirt-poor peasants working on small farms
group,
and those workers
The
'middle class" tone ol the Eighteenth
projects.
Dynasty
had benefited a tiny
43
1
1550-1295
B.C.],
which
Ancient Egypt
Increasing social mobility allowed Horemheb, depicted in this tomb painting, to rise from the position of scribe to occupy Egypt's throne as pharaoh.
was proud of well-made
Significantly, the
objects dis-
playing a simple good taste and a certain
gaiety,
partly
is
due
to
emergence of this small
made it possible some ordinary Egyptians to better
but important middle class for at least
this
nucleus of people exempt from daily
their lives, as well as those of their children
work and with a modest, but sufficient income. The existence of a regular army thus profoundly modified the economic structure of the country by encouraging the longterm creation of small and medium-
and grandchildren.
sized property owners, alongside the
reigning from 1323 to 1295 B.C. Other
.
owned by
land
and
.
.
.
.
A
middle-class soldier
who had not been born of a noble family could now aspire to higher social position, as illustrated by the case of Horemheb. He be-
.
gan as a military scribe and eventually rose through the ranks to become pharaoh, pharaohs
the sovereign, princes,
temples. 2S
who began
their careers in the
military ranks included
44
Horemheb's prede-
Military Service and Organization cessor.
Ay (1327-1323
Rameses
(1295-1294
I
B.C.),
and successor,
the pharaoh
assumed
The Top Military Commanders
Not only did
The
the strategy
which Horemheb
position of pharaoh,
total control
on a campaign," Mark Healy
B.C.).
this entail
of the army
writes,
him defining
and plan of a campaign
and a few others attained by hard work rather
but also his personal involvement on
than aristocratic privilege, represented the
the field of battle. [The New Kingdom pharaohs] Thutmose III, Amen-
pinnacle of Egypt's military organization and administration.
A large portion of the youth of
a pharaoh-to-be
tactics.
This was necessary because as
in his capital
and
let his
modem
have been
large
I
of
and
their
seems never
to
2h
in question.
measure on the personal
This is part of a hymn volume 2 of Breasted's Ancient Records of Egyptj inscribed on a marker stone
on which the pharaoh Thutmose III
is
have put the roaring of your majesty
The chiefs of
in
all
countries are gathered in
your grasp, I
accom-
myself have stretched out
my two
hands,
panied by a goddess who has supposedly helped I
have bound them for you.
Such words and imI
ages were effective propaganda designed not
image of the army and military
have bounded together the Nubian troglodytes by tens of thousands and
only to glorify the king, but also to enhance the
thousands, service.
[And] the Northerners by hundreds of thouI I
have worked
sands as captives.
marvel for you; I
have given to you might and victory against
I
a
all
You have smitten the hordes of rebels
have set your fame, even the fear of you
as
in all lands.
Your terror lars of I
[is
have felled your enemies beneath your sandals,
countries,
known] as
far as
the four
.
.
.
commanded you.
The [peoples of the] earth
pil-
in its length
and
breadth, Westerners and Easterners [alike],
heaven;
have magnified the dread of you
I
are subject to you,
in all
You trample
bodies,
45
all
in
and
abilities
among the Nine Bows.
their military deeds.
victory.
all
II
Pharaoh's Propaganda
As the supreme leaders of the Egyptian army, regularly bragged of
ensure his recent
were
leadership
Thus, the fortunes of the country rested
war
New Kingdom pharaohs (quoted
their
generals
national leaders. "In
A
for
bravery
personal
re-
run a war, as in the case of the U.S. president
and other
and Rameses
II,
their chariot corps in battle,
to strategy
supreme commander the pharaoh did not
main behind
hotep
renowned
to learning the
from weapons use
military arts,
and
was devoted
countries, your heart glad.
Ancient Egypt
An
officer addresses a
A complex
New Kingdom painting.
group of military recruits in the top panel of this in the Egyptian army.
chain of command existed
judgment of a
single individual. Luckily for
Corps, based
New
Corps, based
Egypt, a majority of the rulers of the
Kingdom were extremely ble leaders;
Horemheb,
responsible, capa-
and a few, most notable among
sions,
at
Memphis, and
at
there
the Southern
Thebes. After the reign of
were four main army
each composed of roughly
men and commanded by
divi-
five thou-
A
them Thutmose HI, can be described as gifted.
sand
Ranked directly beneath the pharaoh were a number of major field commanders. If the
general maintained his local military base,
pharaoh had a son old enough, the son held
an upcoming campaign, and led that corps
the rank of
commander
swered only
to his father.
in chief
trained
new
—
Each of these small armies
P-Re
two sections
in
was named
in the early
New Kingdom—the
the
prepared his corps for
on the march.
and an-
Next came two
chief deputies, each in charge of one of the
which
recruits,
army was divided Northern
(or Re), Ptah,
and Seth
for an important
with the region where
46
a general.
it
called Amun,
(or
Sutekh)—
god associated
was based. When on
Military Service and Organization campaign, each was a self-contained unit featuring infantry, chariots,
and a supply
They could be combined
into
quickly to help the infantry
der attack.
train.
now
un-
:7
one large army
for a battle if necessary: or they could
work
separately to accomplish
tasks,
individual
giving the overall strike force great
Army Scribes and Their Duties
flexibility.
For safety's sake, the four armies did not
Under
march through enemy
cluding standard-bearers, in charge of main-
rather
moved along
territory together, but
separated from one an-
were other
the generals
officers, in-
and carrying the army's standards
taining
other by a distance of about six miles, while
(plaques, flags, carvings, and other official
messengers on horses or chariots sped among
symbols), and various deputies.
them
most important ranking positions was
to
maintain communications.
logic of this organization
is
"The
apparent," Healy
scribe.
points out.
One of
the
that
of
There was one main scribe for the en-
tire military,
who
reported either directly to
the pharaoh or to his vizier, a high-ranking
given that the principal tactic of the opposition
was
the
nonmilitary official
ran the
country for the king. In addition, numerous
an
lower-ranking scribes worked in each of the
skirmishing chariotry to strike
at
advancing army on the march. The short distance
who more or less
employment of
four
between each corps en-
army
divisions.
The
essential duties without
scribes
had several
which the army, or
sured that in the event of the protect-
any army for that matter, simply could not
ing chariots of one being swept away,
operate.
support could be
moved forward
lists
of
These included keeping up-to-date all recruits, retirees,
A
deceased, and
military scribe's duties
included keeping recruits
died
47
and
in battle.
of new who had
lists
soldiers
.
Ancient Egypt wounded; ordering, maintaining, and
to carry their supplies], [and] their
cata-
with
loging stocks of supplies; assessing labor
chariots
needs and assigning workers to address such
weapons of war. 28
.
.
.
filled
all
manner of
needs; and dividing rations and equipment
among
the officers
and
soldiers.
An
inkling
of the nature of such rations and equipment
Army Units and
comes from a surviving scribal order to make preparations for a campaign in Syria:
Finally,
Foreign Auxiliaries
And
further:
may you
tention to have
horse-team which
is
the
.
.
destined for
men
Kharu, together with their stable-
sion of 5,000
masters, and likewise their grooms,
follows: a host,
appear to have been as
made up of 500 men;
their
"bags of hairy fabric" being
company, having 250 men (so
filled
with fodder and straw
haversacks [packs] being
.
their
were two companies
filled
with
with 50
.
.
loaves of bread, the asses being indi-
toons);
every two
men
(a
a
that there
to a host); a platoon,
company having
and a squad, with 10 men
five pla-
(a platoon
down into five squads). Each unit commander had his own designation; for
two men men had one donkey
breaking
vidually in the charge of [i.e.,
who
officers
individual units of soldiers.
The exact breakdown and sizes of army units are not precisely known, but roughly speaking those smaller than an army divi-
give your at-
someone equip
were junior
there
commanded
A Hardworking Army Scribe This
ter tle,
is
[by the supply depot back in Egypt]
part of the often-quoted Satirical Let-
(quoted
in
Alan Shulman's Military Rank,
and Organization
Kingdom,), in which an
in
army
the
Eyptian
scribe
named
tion which
Ti-
is
is
the
ra-
before you, namely loaves of
New
bread, small animals, and jars of wine, but
Hori
the number of people [you have to feed with
who is skeptical that somewhat overdramatic some of the problems he
responds to a colleague
these supplies]
Hori works very hard. In
supply
terms, Hori describes
[these supplies] and they are placed in the
has faced on the job.
is
keen scribe, skilled of heart, there
soldiers!
.
.
head of the You [the scribe] are sent on a
has
come and the camp
start
mission to Djahi at the head of the victori-
[troop
ous soldiers in order to trample down those
feet].
rebels.
.
.
.
What had been brought
.
.
.
You receive
rations in portions,
each man
[in] his
hands. ... Oh sapient [wise] scribe, midday
in the darkness at the .
[Diwy up] the
quickly, [placing] that of
is
nothing about which he does not know.
Oh torch
too large for you, [and] the
camp. The soldiers are ready and prepared [to eat].
The
is
too small for them!
to you
day's
hot. It is time to
march].
Our night quarters are
48
is
Don't make the commander] angry [by dragging your Many are the marches before us.
[the
.
far off.
.
.
Military Service and Organization example, a platoon leader was a "chief of
the real chance for
fifty-
the ranks (a privilege probably not granted
There were also Egyptian officers who commanded the groups of foreign auxiliaries who fought in the army. Appropriately, these
to foreign troops)
capturing an
commanders were
called "leaders of foreign
pharaoh usually gained large caches of
who seem
gold, jewels, fine fabrics, horses, slaves, and
have been non-Egyptians drawn directly
so forth; and he shared a certain amount of
troops," to
and
their junior officers,
advancement through
and government grants of
land on retirement, there was booty. After
enemy camp
or town, the
was
from the foreign ranks, were the "leaders of
this treasure
tribesmen." In ancient sculptures and paint-
common custom for commanders to allow a
ings, scholar
Alan R. Shulman points
soldier to
out,
with his troops.
It
keep as slaves any prisoners he
had personally captured. Marching
these foreign soldiers
also
in the
pharaoh's victory parade in front of thou-
shown
usually
are
dress,
characteristic of their nations.
occasionally
been always
.
.
perk.
infantry.
.
.
.
When
relief
Pharaoh Seti
in
They seem to have
.
A
found
temple complex
Only
shown
they
are
Egyptian dress.
on
sands of cheering countrymen was another
native
their
in
equipped with the weapons
on
The
not
I
and
their return
Thebes, shows the
his
army being greeted
from an Asiatic campaign.
inscription reads:
active duty, the auxiliaries, like the
Egyptian troops, were quartered their
own
settlements
.
.
.
Prophets, nobles, and officials of the
in
South and North, coming to acclaim
with their
weapons stored in government arsenals. This would mean that they were not
continuously
standing
to the at
his
Good God
Retenu [Syria] with very numerous
under
captivity [prisoners].
were not always on
the like of
active
service
[and therefore could not pose a threat
might:
Hyksoshad]. 29
it.
.
majesty,
his
Egyptian society as the armed
.
Never was seen
.They say,
"Welcome
who
you have subdued;
are triumphant,
as
has
and your ene.
.
.Your sword
midst of every land, and M their chiefs fell by your blade. in the
fought in these various
units, military service
drawbacks,
was
his
from the
are you,
mies are beneath you.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Military Service
in praising
magnifying
in
countries which
you
For the soldiers
the pharaoh],
[i.e.,
from the country of
return
arms; and consequently that they
to
Karnak, the great
at
at
had
its
benefits
been true
in
On
and
armies
the other hand, everyday
soldiers
—
especially
life
for
most
on campaigns, which
—was
Typical were
throughout the ages. Egyptian troops (and
were frequent
perhaps on occasion some foreign troops)
long marches through barren regions; ex-
could look forward to various incentives lor
tended periods living
enlistment and rewards for service. Besides
far
49
difficult.
in squalid
conditions
from home and family; numerous camp
Ancient Egypt
Generous Rations for the Troops When
government supplied the and other neces-
the
sary
goods,
nished to the army in ointment, ox-flesh,
morale
their
was
naturally
In this inscription, from the sixth
higher.
year of the reign of Seti I (ca. 1288 B.C.), the pharaoh is generous to a thousand soldiers sent to procure large blocks of sandstone for a temple he is building (as quoted in volume 3 of J.H. Breasted's Ancient
and plentiful vegetables without
Every
man among them had 20 deben
etables, a roast of flesh;
for his majesty.
but they
have survived, warning young
.
.
[The king's messenger and
.
.
.
men
commanders]
[the
for yourself!".
weak and [He
this one:
speak to you of the
will
I
He dawn] when
of the infantryman. ...
.
ened [before an hour
still
left
there
for sleeping.
He
.
[But] his knee
who
cast
away and
others seize
it.
.
.
.
wife and children are in their village,
is
but he
is [either]
dead and does not
sun sets beneath
[too]
exhausted from marching
enjoy
it].
dark-
He hungers and his He is dead while he
ness of night.
When
lives.
ration [he riod] but
for
it
is
it
ous],
in the hills
.
.
of
It is
is
and troops
any officer
is
his nose shall text describes
The enemy comes and surrounds him with arrows. with dysentery.
.
is
[to
number of
alike.
was a
Under Horemheb, rule stating that "if
guilty of extortions or thefts,
the law shall be executed against him, in that
pierced
.
a survivor, he
31
for instance, there
foul-tasting, like the
and his belly
is
fragments thereof have survived that
officers
[where
narrow, steep, and danger-
salt,
he
describe harsh and exacting punishments for
His
and he drinks only water for
three days. taste
.
[or] if
for military discipline, a
texts or
[the grain] is not pleasant,
marches are high trails are
As
he receives the graingranted a short rest pe-
has been ground.
is
His
is
it,
belly aches.
.
.
worn
are too
reach
its
is
.
forced to carry on his back
is
driven like a jackass and he works until the
in-
name
out to walk any farther]. His pack
ills
awak-
is
say,
his face is miserable.
foreign captives
Come,
oil,
every day.
.
fantryman! Bring back a good
including
life,
and linen garments
Forward, oh mighty
"Hurry!
vari-
ous diseases; and harsh discipline. Quite a
about the rigors of military
un-
standard-bearers also received] wine, sweet
doses of backbreaking
work; the increased chance of catching
limit.
[just
monthly. Thus they worked with a loving heart
honey, and figs
duties, including large
texts
fish,
der four pounds] of bread daily, bundles of veg-
Records of Egypt,).
few
majesty increased that which was fur-
His
troops with sufficient food
diers
50
off."
32
The following
an offense committed by
—
the theft of cattle and other
longing to the
.
be cut
state:
sol-
goods be-
Military Service and Organization The two
divisions of troops
one
which are
detailed images
on the outside walls
in the southern region.
and forecourts of temples depicted
the other in the northern region, stole
each stage of the military exploits of
hides in the whole land
the king.
in the field,
.
.
.without ap-
cattle
which were not due
to them,
.
.
These representations
at different
battle's
which was stamped from
times and
in
They show the dramatic moments, the de-
different places.
thereby increasing their number, and stealing that
.
were copied
plying the brand of the royal house to
.
.
.
ployment of soldiers
.
.
.
and the geo-
them. They went out from house to
graphical features of the battlefield.
house, beating and plundering withn out leaving a hide for the people.
used to stimulate the imagination [of
.
.
.
The
actual facts of the
war
are
the viewers]."
Those caught received scribed
this penalty, also pre-
Egyptian foot soldiers march daring a military
by Horemheb:
campaign
As
any citizen of the army,
for
[about]
whom one shall hear,
"He goes about ginning with
saying:
stealing hides," be-
this day, the
law
shall
be executed against him by beating
him a hundred blows [with a whip?], opening
five
wounds, and taking
from him by force the hides which he took.
14
Buying into the Glories of War One would
think that, reading about the
privations,
tough discipline, and harsh
punishments of military would ever want to join army. However, the fact is
life,
no one
the pharaoh's that
most ordi-
nary Egyptians could not read and only
heard such dire accounts third- or fourth-
hand by word of mouth. More importantly,
the
government compensated
for
these warnings by issuing extremely ef-
propaganda about the glories of war and serving in the military. "Visible to fective
everyone," al-Nubi points out. 51
in this
carved
relief.
Ancient Egypt As
in
many
idealistic
lands in
all
was
ages, inexperienced,
young men often became
with the image of the soldier running
roughshod over a ing
home
fearful
in a blaze
less glory
and much more
dirty
danger involved. But most of those
infatuated
vived and
enemy and march-
made
it
home
in
who
sur-
one piece reaped
sufficient material benefits to
of glory. Once con-
work and
make
rience worthwhile and to pass
on
the expe-
their
proud
military mantle to the next eager generation.
scripted or enlisted, they learned that there
52
Chapter Four
Borders, Fortifications,
and Sieges The earliest Egyptian fortresses were fortified cities
within the country
itself.
First Intermediate Period,
A
surviving fragment of a pottery model of a city wall dating
riod
seems
to
back
soldiers
which were discovered
manning a
Deir el-Bahari
and open spaces,
Apart from
and medieval times; archers and
the frontiers
notches and fired their weapons through the
ritories.
for cities across the
and
Near East
third millennia B.C.,
common
an era when neigh-
in the
In Egypt's case, episodes of warfare be-
doms probably united those
cities.
reflected in the
name he gave
it
the
manned
by following
that
Later,
while some Egyptian
these forts in a defensive
assumed an offensive posture their
pharaohs across the bor-
enemy
towns.
These defensive and offensive opera-
new
tions
fortified, as
—
view
and well-being of the nation.
ders to lay siege to
B.C., ini-
Dynastic Period, his
Memphis, was heavily
ter-
Old and Middle Kingdoms
New Kingdom,
role, others
When Menes
kingdoms about 3100
tiating the Early capital.
troops
two predynastic king-
necessitated fortifying the
walls of important
between Egypt and foreign
maintaining the borders was integral to the safety
original
on the
mainly along
partly because of the long-held
other.
its
forts,
These outposts were deemed nec-
essary in the
in the fourth
boring city-states often attacked one an-
tween
fortified towns, early
Egyptians built military
other soldiers hid behind the protective
open spaces.) Such defenses were
mass grave at Nile from
the
trying to scale such walls.
a familiar feature of battlements and castles in ancient
in a
(across
Thebes), are likely the remains of soldiers
crenellated wall. (Crenellation consists of alternating stone notches
Numer-
ous skulls riddled with cracks and dents,
to the Predynastic Pe-
show two
many towns had
walls with crenellated battlements.
that
depended on technology and methods
played off of and stimulated each other.
When someone
White
Wall. Later, during the civil wars ot the
that
53
new
siege device
could breach one part of a
fortress, the
invented a
Ancient Egypt
The characteristic notches and spaces of crenellation, seen
in forts
and fortifications through
the ages, grace the battlements of an ancient Egyptian fortress.
defenders soon contrived a
new
Delta, the Libyan frontier west of the delta,
strategy or
and the Nubian
device to counteract the threat; then, the besiegers
came up with another
frontier in the south, at
beyond the region of the
innovation,
and
First Cataract.
followed by a countermeasure by the de-
(The cataracts are points where the
fenders; and so forth. Thus, as noted classi-
passes through rocky areas with heavy
cal
scholar Peter Connolly points out,
"Fortifications tricably
rapids; these areas
and siege warfare are inex-
[inescapably] combined.
goods had
The de-
in the other,"
1
two must be considered
ships in
the
next passable stretch.)
The
walls and forts in the Nubian frontier are the
and therefore the
''
were not navigable, so
be downloaded from ships,
carried overland, then reloaded onto other
velopment of one inevitably stimulates changes
to
river
best preserved in Egypt, and their physical
together.
layout
is
likely representative of
examples
Protecting the Flow of Trade Goods
elsewhere.
The
outpost in the Nubian frontier was erected
three
main areas
in
tians erected fortification walls
were the Palestinian
The
which the Egypand
forts
at
frontier east of the Nile
first
permanently occupied Egyptian
Buhen, near the Second Cataract,
mid-third millennium
54
in the
B.C. at the height
of
Borders, Fortifications, and Sieges the
Old Kingdom. The outpost consisted of
ond
a small settlement protected by a huge stone wall.
Evidence shows
was
the
which
main
activity
in
These served as both military
tians
wanted
to
make
The Egypmoved same time they
along smoothly, but
the settlement,
primary
sure that goods at the
sought to limit the free flow of "wretched"
Nubia was the exploitation of
Nubians
into Egypt, as revealed
materials. Military expansion into the
scription
on a marker stone
interest in
raw
that copper-smelting
reflects the fact that Egypt's
Cataract.
outposts and customs stations.
which began in earnest in the Middle Kingdom, was designed to protect and
pharaoh Senusret
area,
III
set
about 1866
by an
B.C.:
maintain the northward flow of valuable
[The southern boundary of the realm
goods. Between about 1970 to 1840
is
B.C.,
a
long chain of forts grew up between Aswan, at the First
A
Cataract, and Buhen, at the Sec-
heavily weathered and eroded wall
in the
hereby marked]
that it,
in
order to prevent
any black Nubian should cross
by water or by land, with a ship or
Buhen fortress, near
the
Second Cataract,
pierced by several holes through which defenders fired missiles at attackers.
55
in-
up by the
is
"
Ancient Egypt any herds [of livestock belonging
gests that the second in
to]
was an
the black Nubians, except a black
Nubian
.
.
.
with a commission
written contract
officer with the
command
of a fort
of "scribe of the
title
fort."
[i.e.,
from the Egyptian
Physical Layout of Forts forts these men oversaw all had
government]. Every good thing shall
be done with them, but without
The
al-
rather
Each was
lowing a ship of black Nubians to
similar basic ground plans.
pass by Semna, going downstream
around a convenient grid of narrow
forever.
lined
built
streets
by storerooms, workshops, barracks and larger quarters for the
for the soldiers, Clearly, the military forts erected in this
officers.
A
wider
street encircled the
com-
period ensured that Egypt would maintain
plex on the inside of the defensive wall,
monopoly on gold and other metals, ivory, animals, and slaves derived from Nubia and other African kingdoms lying far-
lowing the residents easy access to the
its
ther south. That they installations is
battlements in an emergency.
were seen as important
protected
parently on a par with the
fresh water in case of siege.
host; in addition,
he seems also
The
was ap-
commander of
a
that
have been
to
fortification walls
and battlements
surrounded such military camps were
large,
a high-ranking administrator reporting directly to the pharaoh's vizier.
walkways or tunnels leading to ample supply of
the river so as to ensure an
rank of the officer in charge of each. Called a "fort officer," his military position
the
were erected near the Nile and had
forts
demonstrated by the high
Most of
al-
impressive, and designed to repel
large-scale attack (although
how
Evidence sug-
it
is
unclear
often the Nubians were able to
mount
Some Oddly Shaped Forts Although the bask inner layout of most Middle Kingdom forts was the same a grid of narrow streets lined by build-
Mirgissa, were simply rectangular structures
Egyptian ings
— — the shapes of the outer defensive
were all five of the surviving forts north Second Cataract group), the rest had idiosyncratic [individual] shapes dictated by the terrain. The fort at Semna, for instance, was built in an L shape in order to conform with the rocky hill on which it stood. At Uronarti, an island near Semna, the fort was triangular in shape and the northern side was more heavily fortified with huge towers, since the flatter terrain to the north made attacks from that direction more dangerous. (as
of the
walls
of these structures sometimes varied, as explained by Ian Shaw in his Egyptian Warfare and Weapons.
The
Middle Kingdom forts
.
.
.
were prob-
ably designed by only one or two architects, [yet] they
show fascinating
variations
response to the local topography. Whereas the two largest sites, Buhen and in
56
Borders, Fortifications, and Sieges
This view of the northwest battlements of the Buhen fortress shows a row of square bastions and protruding below them, two semicircular bastions with firing holes.
such assaults). Yigael Yadin provides
more
thick.
this
the largest
and best preserved
Middle Kingdom,
at
It is
considered [by experts] to
have been 10 meters [32
detailed description of the defenses at fortress of the
Buhen (which had
was
The
gate
em
side of the wall.
in the center
been much expanded since the Old King-
entire length, the wall
dom):
at intervals
feet] high.
of the west-
Throughout
was
its
"blistered"
of 5 meters with protrud-
ing square bastions [large stone barri-
The
fortress
is
almost square, measur-
ing 170 by 180 meters [558 feet].
The
fortifications
basic elements: the
ers],
comprise four
main
each two meters [6.5
wide.
feet]
Each corner of the fortress was marked by a large tower, which pro-
by 590
truded from the face of the wall even
(inner) wall,
the outer or advance wall, the moat,
more conspicuously than
and the very
An
well-fortified gate struc-
The main wall was built of bricks and was about five meters [16 feet]
fortifications
ture.
the
57
the bastions.
Buhen
impressive feature of the is
the [positioning]
form of the low outer
wall.
.
.
.
and This
.
Ancient Egypt
The Water Supply at Megiddo and constructing
planning Intified cities, the
Egyptians
forts
and
and
opponents,
their
tured. The town's water supply
for-
including
ancient builders,
in
dred feet outside the defensive walls. In a
in-
Herculean effort, the builders dug a shaft
evitably had to consider the problem of the
water supply. At
when under
a
siege,
about
but especially
times,
all
fortified
was located
an underground cave more than two hun-
a
hundred feet deep, the same depth
of the well, within the city walls; then they
settlement
excavated a horizontal tunnel from the bot-
needed a ready supply of fresh water, else it its inhabitants for more than a few days. Digging deep wells beneath the settlement or excavating underground tunnels to distant water sources were among the approaches to solving this problem. One of the more formidable examples in the Near East was that of Megiddo, in Palestine, which the pharaoh Thutmose III besieged and cap-
tom of the shaft to the well. Cleverly, they made the tunnel's floor slope slightly down-
could not support
ward toward the gravity would
city so that the force of
move the water from one end
to the other. Finally, they firmly sealed the
cave entrance to the well to make sure that
an enemy could not find and destroy the precious water supply.
low wall was also of brick, and along
teen meters (forty-nine feet), well past the
face a series of semicircular bas-
low wall on the outer bank of the moat. De-
wide had been
fenders could stand on a crenellated walk-
its
tions 3 meters [10 feet]
wall and the bastion were firing [holes].
.
.
way
of 10 meters. In the
built at intervals
.
two rows of
Each enabled
moat
in three directions.
.
fire
weapons down
(The need for such elaborate and formidable gate defenses strongly suggests that po-
.
At the foot of the outer wall there was
moat
of these towers, so that they
onto the area directly in front of the gate.
fire to
be applied downward onto the attackers in the
at the top
overlooked and could
tential
wide
attackers
in
this
era
possessed
rams designed
to crash through
and more than 6 meters [20 feet] deep.
gates; the regular walls
and moat would
To make
have been more than sufficient to fend off
a dry
cross, built
The interest
8.5 meters [28 feet]
it
even more
difficult
battering
to
an additional low wall had been
on
gate
its
farther bank.
complex
and shows
at
Buhen
that the
On
handheld weapons.)
is
of special
Sieges: Erecting an
Egyptians were
considerably advanced in the sive fortification.
an assault by arrows, spears, and other
38
art
Enclosure Wall
of defen-
each side of the
The Egyptians were adept not only
large,
at
de-
fending their forts against attack, but also
double-doored gate was a tower similar to
at
those occupying the corners of the fortress.
towns. This
These gate towers extended outward for
ing inscriptions. For example, the siege of
fif-
58
attacking is
enemy
and fortified numerous surviv-
forts
attested in
Borders, Fortifications, and Sieges Megiddo. directed by Thutmose
III
after
"Thutmose
army of Mitanni in the 1400s B.C., was recorded in that
his defeat of the
early
III-is-the-Surrounder-of-
the-Asiatics." People to
pharaoh's annals:
to
watch over the
whom
was
it
tent
were stationed of his majesty,
said:
"Steady of
commanded [his men], saying "Let not one among them [the confined enemy] come heart!" His majesty
commanded
His majesty
the officers
of the troops to go [forth and besiege the citadel], assigning to each his place.
They measured
rounding
it
with
forth outside,
cept to
this city, sur-
an
pleasant trees.
beyond
this wall, ex-
out in order to knock
the door of their fortification
enclosure,
walled about with green timber of all their
come
[i.e.,
at
to
signal that they are ready to surren1
His majesty
der the
'
city]."
himself was upon the fortification east
of
this
work]. ... thick wall.
city,
inspecting
The account mentions an enclosure wall city, which was obviously
[the
was walled about with a ... Its name was made:
erected around the
It
intended to prevent any of the defenders
relief sculpture of Thutmose III, victor at Megiddo. According was only one of several cities he besieged in Syria-Palestine.
,4
59
to
Egyptian annals,
this
Ancient Egypt from escaping and also
to
reinforcements from getting
forests
The wall was
in.
"all" the
Except for the enclosure wall, the royal
Leveling the surrounding
account of the Megiddo siege does not
constructed with the trees in the area.
Sieges: Saps and Scaling Ladders
keep food and/or
wood from
was probably designed
mention any specific siege methods or
to eliminate
hiding places for any escapees as well as to
devices the Egyptians employed.
provide the material needed for the enclosure
ever, several surviving
wall. in
It
Kingdom. The
of the era,
left
relief
emy
fortress.
Some
of the soldiers are in
the proviso that fruit
the process of digging a tunnel (or sap)
might feed the attackers should be
under the walls. Meant either to weaken
When you it
.
.
.
it
destroy and cut
down
you may
until
it falls.
ladders
that lean against the fortress walls. Sig-
have wheels
nificantly, the ladders
at the
bottom, indicating that they have been
build siegeworks against the city that
makes war with you,
was a common
other Egyptians climb scaling
you may
that
to give access to
medieval times. While the sappers work,
in order
only the trees which you
are not trees for food
and collapse the walls or the citadel, or both, this
siege technique throughout ancient and
besiege a city for a long
making war against
to take
know
A
details.
in a
Egyptians methodically assaulting an en-
besiegers to use the
undisturbed:
time,
such
Howreliefs
tomb in Saqqara, a burnear Memphis, shows an army of
found
ial site
in Palestine in the lat-
tells
same approach, with trees that
New
book of Deuteron-
biblical
omy, which originated ter part
illustrating sieges provide
was apparently a common technique
Near Eastern sieges in the era of the
Egyptian
40
rolled rather than carried into place.
The
A
Captured Town Yields Rich Booty Using scaling ladders, axes, and other weapons and devices, Egyptian armies captured numerous towns in Syria-Palestine over the centuries; but perhaps no pharaoh breached as many defensive walls as Thutmose III. In this
filled
excerpt from his official annals (quoted in vol-
their [individual]
ume 2 of
J.H.
their fruit,
tiful
captured the Syrian town of
.
.
wines were water
.
.
.
was more plen-
than the sands of the shore. The
diers of the]
.
their
in their presses as
flows, [and] their grain
Breasted's Ancient Records of
Egypt,), his forces
with
found remaining
portions [of the booty]
[which included] 51 slaves male and
female; 30 horses; 10 flat dishes of silver
Arvad and collected much booty.
.
.
.
470
jars of honey; 6,428 jars of wine;
[large quantities of] copper [and] lead
majesty overthrew the city of Arvad, with its grain, cutting down all
616 large
pleasant trees.
fruit of this country.
Behold, its
.
.
.
.
.
3,636 small cattle; [many] loaves [of bread] [and] all the good
his
.
[sol-
army were overwhelmed with
cattle;
.
Their gardens were
60
.
.
Borders, Fortifications, and Sieges
In this
carved
drawing based on a relief,
an Egyptian
army led by pharaoh Rameses II lays siege
to
a
The defenders use
fortress.
long poles to push
away
the
scaling ladders. reliefs
show
that in
such situations, Egyp-
tian archers fired barrages of
arrows
may have
at
the battlements to provide cover for the
climbers as they
made
their
way up
grounds
in [Syria-Palestine],
which no
doubt proved a tough administrative reliefs
show
and technical obstacle for the move-
attacking Egyptians
down wooden fortress gates. Most of these scenes come from the New Kingdom, when the Egypusing battle-axes to chop
tians
the
bases in Egypt and the battle-
itary
the
ladders.
Other
explanations:
several
considerable distance between the mil-
no longer, or
at least rarely,
ment of this heavy instrument
more
fortifications at the
common feature of Old and Middle Kingdom sieges. 'The absence of the battering ram in the Egyptian armies of the New Kingdom,"
These
Yadin suggests,
fect
battering ram.
which had been a
fairly
.
.
and
of the
end of the previous
and the beginning of
used the
.
particularly, the firmness
fortifications
this
were
period.
built espe-
cially to withstand the battering ram.
And
they succeeded in blunting
fectiveness, for
61
it
instrument/
1
was
its
ef-
not as yet a per-
Ancient Egypt
Greek soldiers climb from their hiding place inside the Trojan Horse scene.
A number
of Egyptian accounts
a famous mythological
in
of similar penetration of city defenses by
tell
stealth.
Sieges: The Use of Stealth
night the Greeks crept out, opened the gates
Another approach
for their comrades,
tified
to taking a fortress or for-
town was somehow
Although
sieged into lowering their defensives long
enough
The
for the besiegers to gain entry.
than
most famous version from ancient times was the incident in the Trojan
War
Greeks pretended to give up of Troy. They
left
front of the city
a
which
in
their
they thought
Greek
soldiers
in
was hiding
stealth
which
city.
legend rather
some
that
version,
two
to
most renowned Egyptian
which predates the Trojan War by
centuries, tells
mose
III
That
Jaffa,
in
62
to
such stratagems of
were actually attempted from time
squad of
in its belly.
is
resembles a number of other
time. Perhaps the
offering to the gods,
into the city, not realizing that a
it
them suggests
and then sailed away. The
was an
fact,
account
this
from Egypt. The frequency of references
long siege
jubilant Trojans dragged the horse,
sneaked back
similar ancient accounts, including
the
huge wooden horse
who had
under cover of darkness, and sacked the
to trick the be-
how
the pharaoh Thut-
supposedly captured the city of Palestine.
The Egyptian com-
Borders, Fortifications, and Sieges mander Thot Jaffa,
sent a
message
to the prince
you enter
of
saying that Thot had decided to sur-
the city,
you
your companions and
who
are to
on
render and would signify his submission by
the people
sending
put them in bonds immediately."
And
gifts in baskets.
he [Thot] had the 200 baskets
brought get
.
down
were
.
Thinking
and he had 200 soldiers
.
into them.
filled
with
And
their
arms
[weapons
and
[i.e..
the baskets
shut with the
men
.
.
.
.
.
.
And they
lowed
told.
him
to enter the city
Once
their orders
men
inside, the
fol-
and unsealed the baskets,
allowing the armed Egyptians to burst forth
And
and capture the
How much
who "When
much
[the carriers,
were unarmed] were
Thot was surrendering, the
the gift baskets.
they had every good soldier carrying
them.
42
accompanied by the unarmed men carrying
were sealed
inside].
all
and
are in the city
prince of Jaffa allowed
ropes] and they were sealed up with seals
that
out
let
lay hold
fable
that the
63
II.
is
the
and how
true
unknown. What
Egyptians of the
In a scene found on a wall of the mortuary temple of Rameses
are attacking the fortress at Dapur. held by the Hittites.
is
city.
of this story
is
certain
is
New Kingdom
pharaoh and
his
army
Ancient Egypt successfully besieged cities
many
and
fortresses
carved out and maintained a large sphere of influence in the Near East; and for a pe-
using a wide variety of devices and
methods. At the same time, they built
many
fortresses of their
own
and
way
more
than twice as long as the United States has
to control
trade routes, guard border areas,
timidate their enemies. In this
riod of about five hundred years,
existed,
in-
Egypt was unarguably one of the
world's great powers.
they
64
Chapter Five
Egypt's Military
The Battle of Kadesh
Zenith:
The Egyptians fought hundreds of battles in
turning point in the saga of ancient Egypt;
dozens of campaigns stretching over
the long years of the Old. Middle,
Kingdoms. Yet only one greatest
and most
recorded
in
The
tions.
fought
in
any
battle in
Kadesh
world
and
battle,
and
surprisingly, given
modern
On
the
was
The Hittites Threaten Syria That sphere had been carved out by the early pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty, the first of the three dynasties comprising
specific
employed
tians
through
the
enemy
1482
how
how
chariots
about
were used
formations, and
how
a
to
syria,
hand,
the
battle
partic-
As Mark Healy
explains:
forces,
break up troop
war leader dealt with
counteroffensives. represents
On a
the
in
to ensure
and others coveted the region,
ularly the area of Syria.
During
this
crossroads
reverses on the battlefield and attempted to initiate
Megiddo
had been designed
Palestine.
they utilized
enemy
B.C.,
permanent control of SyriaIt was no accident that great Near Eastern powers like Egypt, Mitanni, As-
Egyp-
scouts and other military intelligence to
gather information
triumphant cam-
highlighted by his
Egypt's
vital infor-
—how they moved armies territory,
III,
great victory over Mitanni at
one hand, close
tactics the
New Kingdom. The
paigns of Thutmose
importance,
its
examination of the battle reveals
mation about the military
and the country's imperial sphere of in-
also the earliest
B.C.,
scholars have devoted considerable
attention to Kadesh.
last
mili-
inscrip-
play-by-play account can be reconstructed.
Not
witnessed the
fluence.
(or Qadesh),
which a
history, for
tary
was
all,
moment
major high point of both the Egyptian
the
Syria circa 1274
only Egyptian
of
detail in reliefs
battle of
this historical
New
perhaps the
battle,
strategic
and
period. Syria
of
(ioods from the
other
was
the
commerce. Aegean [Sea. bor-
world
dering Greece's eastern coast] and
significant
65
Ancient Egypt routes.
From
the
east
and south,
same land routes were used by merchants who brought raw materithese
such as precious metals
als
.
.
and
.
other merchandise from as far afield as Iran .
.
and Afghanistan
Syria.
.
With
and richness
in
its
to trade in
inherent fertility
natural resources,
much
Syria therefore offered
to
predatory powers seeking to use
such wealth for their
By conquering
benefit.
41
large portions of Syria,
Thutmose ensured into
own
that his nation
would tap
and exploit the area's wealth and
sources.
But he faced the same problem
re-
that
pharaohs both before and after him did, namely, that Syria lay some six hundred miles from Egypt's heartland. This was
much too far to facilitate firm Egyptian control for
very long without committing thou-
sands of troops and
settlers to the
region on
a permanent basis, a price the Egyptians
were unwilling and indeed unable Luckily
for
to pay.
them, the once formidable
threat
enacted in the reign of Thutmose IV ush-
in
ancient Syria.
posed by Mitanni receded.
A
These bronze spear and ax heads were
made
treaty
ered in three generations of peace with that
beyond entered
the
kingdom. But other powers would soon
Near East via
make
whose
[Syrian] ports such as Ugarit,
ships dominated maritime trade in the eastern Mediterranean.
Under-
water excavations of
Bronze
Age
ships
.
.
.
show
late
.
.
.
The
—cop-
at
first
major
culprit,
from Egypt's
Hattusas, in the uplands of north-central
Asia Minor. The
power
jewelry, luxury goods,
timber, textiles,
bids for Syrian treasure,
viewpoint, was the Hittite empire, centered
per, tin, chemicals, tools, glass in-
gots, ivory
own
had.
the remarkable
range of goods they carried
their
creating even bigger threats than Mitanni
and foodstuffs. This
merchandise was then distributed
Hittites
had
first
risen to
in the sixteenth century B.C., at
about
the time of the founding of Egypt's
New
Kingdom, and had launched attacks into Mesopotamia and other parts of the Near East. After a brief flurry of activity, they had
throughout the Near East and be-
yond by a network of extensive trade
66
Egypt's Military Zenith: The Battle of Kadesh faded back into obscurity in their homeland.
Asiatics, beating
About 1380
their chiefs
however, the accession of
B.C.,
King Suppiluliumas
new
naled a
burst of Hittite expansion.
moved
This time the Hittites
other,
ital
and sacked
much
like a
found
it
difficult
of Syria; and the scene was
Rameses
Seti's son,
and
II,
set for the
Kadesh between
new
Hatti's
king,
Muwatallis.
cap-
its
Seti
climactic confrontation at
Suppiluliumas drove
buckled.
among them
away. The Hittites soon regained control over
lat-
pressed by the Mesopotamian kingdom
into Mitanni 's heartland
the Hittites, slaying
to maintain Egypt's influence in a land so far
of Assyria on one side and the Hittites on the
down
charging
.
and others had before,
south into
Syria and southeast into Mitanni. That ter,
.
tongue of fire!" 44 However, just as Thutmose
to Haiti's throne sig-
I
.
of Washukkanni. The small states and
walled
cities
—
of Syria
Ugarit. Carchemish. to the Hittites
one
The response
The Opposing Forces
including Aleppo,
and Kadesh
—now
When Rameses
fell
pharaoh
after another.
by the
to these events
in his twenties
last
few Eighteenth Dynasty pharaohs was tepid or nonexistent. Only
when
Seti
ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty,
I,
came
campaign and
Seti led
an army north
region.
Hittites near
Kadesh. "His
mer of
About 1 290 B.C.
and defeated the majesty
made
scription
on a
1275
a great slaughter." reads an inrelief at
and
filled
with vigor and
up on
to follow
restore
all
father as
his
young man was Seti's
of Syria to the
huge sphere of influence the early New Kingdom pharaohs had maintained in the
to the
throne did Egypt attempt to reassert itself in Syria.
B.C., the
He wished
ambition.
second
succeeded
1279
in
Karnak, "smiting the
his
With
this
goal in mind, in the sum-
the fourth year of his reign (ca.
he
B.C.),
set out
with an army, forged
way northward through
Palestine,
and
Rameses Gathers Military Intelligence They were conducted into the presence
Various surviving Egyptian documents, especially
[of the
pharaoh], and his majesty said to them,
those dealing with the battle at Kadesh,
"Who
the use of military intelligence by
are you?" They said, "The [Hittite king] has
Egyptian armies. In this excerpt from Rameses'
caused that we should come to spy out where
of the Kadesh expedition (quoted in volume 3 of Breasted's Ancient Records of Egypt,), the pharaoh himself ques-
to them, "He!
describe
official
tions
account
two
Hittite spies in
the position of the
an attempt
his
...
to confirm
majesty [the pharaoh]
I
have heard he
Asthere
enemy army.
army, which
[an
Egyptian]
scout
.
.
is."
Said his majesty
he, the [Hittite king]?
is in
the land of Aleppo."
.
.
is] .
.
.
.
[and his
equipped with infantry and
more numerous than the sands of
the shore ... are standing, drawn up for bat-
majesty sat upon a throne of gold, arrived
is
Said they, "See, the [Hittite king]
chariotry his
Where
tle,
.
behind Kadesh the deceitful
[i.e.,
out of
your view on the far side of the town]."
[who] brought two scouts of [the Hittite king].
67
Ancient Egypt captured the Syrian region of Amurru, ly-
ble fighters
He did not And when he re-
ing to the southwest of Kadesh.
encounter a Hittite army.
and
his
army
easily a
match for
that of Egypt.
The
differences in style and tactics be-
turned to Egypt, he was apparently confi-
tween these opposing forces had a major
dent that a second campaign the following
bearing on the events of the impending bat-
year would bring the rest of Syria back
tle
into the Egyptian fold.
Hittites placed a greater
King Muwatallis was not so idated, however.
He
tion
ently.
war declaraforces to meet
his
outcome.
tured Hittite warriors as effeminate (un-
chariot warrior,
army
reality Muwatallis's soldiers
A
Hittite king
his
enemies
relief.
The
centered
inferior,
what
is
and a shield-bearer
tect the fighter. In contrast to
were
to pro-
an Egyptian
who wielded a composite bow and some javelins, his Hittite counter-
in
were formida-
part brandished a thrusting spear.
ancient
Empire,
Turkey, challenged
differ-
it
chariots
three-man crew. This crew consisted of a
mows down
in this
Hittite
in
as
and used
versions were wider, heavier, and carried a
driver, a fighter,
Hatti's
and foremost, the
emphasis on chari-
Whereas Egyptian
Rameses had to be genuinely concerned. Though Egyptian propaganda from this period typically picthe Egyptians near Kadesh.
manly) and
First
lightweight and carried two men, Hittite
Hittite
and began preparing
its
otry than the Egyptians
easily intim-
delivered a message to
Rameses announcing a
and
now Egypt for
control of Syria-Palestine.
68
— Egypt's Military Zenith: The Battle of Kadesh
A
Relief Sculpture of the Battle
In this tract from his Collapse of the Bronze
by their hairstyle
Age, Manuel Robbins describes one of the primary sources of evidence for the battle fought
ties
at Kadesh
ter
is
He
is
—a
relief sculpture at
Luxor (a
reli-
gious complex at Thebes).
Kadesh sculpture at Luxor is a masterpiece of composition and clarity. ... It
Rameses in superhuman
participated in the battle in such a
Syrians by their long
.
.
.
.
Hittite infantry is
way
bottom at the left, the drawn up, rank upon rank.
.
.
.
Forward of them
is
the Hittite chariotry,
charging toward the right and surging around
that the onlooker would instantly recognize
...
each. While hieroglyphic text accompanied
Rameses.
the panorama and explained
larger than ordinary size, yet
much
than Rameses.
is
it,
the designers
knew that many onlookers would be .
.
.
The
illustration
had to
tell
illiterate.
the story.
.
.
At the far
.
.
if
of Kadesh, with battlements and towers. Around Kadesh, the streams of the Orontes
the composition ...
flow.
.
.
.
armed
.
.
tle.
Hittite
is
chariots
turned. Bodies,
with
.
faced away
a quick escape
is
con-
Muwatallis, the Hittite king. In the center of
Just outside the fortress
are assembled,
[warriors]
of
smaller
how the Egyptians present
templated. This
is
left is a figure
His chariot
.
from the action, as
.
In the left center the viewer sees the fortress
[River]
bow
appearance perfect and
his
.
towering over ordi-
in size,
His draw of [his] huge
.
.
... In the right cen-
hair.
his chariot, facing Kadesh.
god-like. Across the
was necessary to show each of the groups
who
effortless
is
.
by long braided
nary mortals.
The
.
beards, and robes, and other nationali-
hair,
of
all
a scene of chaotic bat-
and
them
horses
are
over-
Hittite or Hittite
tumbling through the
...
bows, spears, short swords. These warriors are
allies, are
part of the Hittite forces. Distinct nationali-
a massive slaughter. ... It is the story in pic-
ties are evident.
Hittites can be recognized
The Egyptians used
their missile
if
a shock force designed to crash infantry.
Once
fray, the Hittite chariot warriors
ranks;
To meet
diers
—
battle-axes,
spears,
swords, by
now
According
all
to
Muwatallis assembled
from some of
this threat, the
Egyptians had about
army was
divided into four large field units
P-Re, Ptah. and Seth act
on
its
own
or
—each
—Amun,
of which could
combine with
the others.
and sickle
The Ruse
fashioned of bronze.)
Egyptian
in that era.
chariots. Per usual, the Egyptian
at-
weapons employed by Hittite foot solwere much the same as for Egyptian
infantry
army
are indeed accurate, they
18,000 foot soldiers and perhaps 2,000
tacked and finished off the enemy. (The chief
numbers
likely included contingents
used their
then the Hittite infantry
told.
the local vassal states under Hittite control.)
in the
spears to stab at foot soldiers and break up their
it
true an unusually large
(If these
at a distance; but the Hittite chari-
headlong into enemy
Rameses wanted
It is
fantrymen and as many as 2,500 chariots
their chariots as plat-
forms from which to launch
weapons ots were
tures as
air.
sources.
At the end of April 1274
King
some 37.000
B.C.,
Rameses
these units into Palestine and stopped
in-
69
in
led
the
Ancient Egypt
Libyan Desert
The Battle of Kadesh
area
now known
as Gaza. There, he divided
continued northward on the usual route
detachment due
taken by Egyptian campaigners in the re-
his forces, sending a small
north with orders to
move along
gion
the coast,
show of force to intimidate the local towns, and meet up with him later at Kadesh. The identity of these troops is unclear and often debated by scholars. Ancient sources call them Ne'arin, which translates as "young men" or "recruits." They may have been an elite force drawn from one or more of the four main Egyptian units. 45
Whoever they were,
—
east
of the Sea of Galilee and
through the Bekaa Valley. Rameses person-
put on a
army of Amun, which was followed by P-Re, Ptah, and Seth, each separated from the others by a few miles, ally led the
per custom.
Meanwhile,
Hatti's ruler
had hatched a
clever and sinister plan designed to deceive
after
and defeat Rameses. As J.H. Breasted
tells
Muwatallis concealed the bulk of his
own
it,
sending them on their way, the pharaoh
army on 70
the northwest side of Kadesh,
Egypt's Military Zenith: The Battle of Kadesh
Our
The Hittite king now used the city to mask his movements, and as Rameses pushed northward on the west side of Kadesh. the Hittite commander shifted his position rapidly
greatest of the families [allied) with
eastward and southward,
from the
city.
keeping the
city
all
brethren,
the
subjects of Pharaoh,
tite
ih
led
men
message
River
a point not far south of Kadesh, he
sits
[with his army] in the
fears [the
[and
southward."
to cross the
armed might] of
refuses]
to
come
47
who
Rameses fell for the ruse. Reasoning that Aleppo was far to the north and the Hittites
Orontes
well out of range, he led
claimed:
detail from a large carved relief of the battle at Kadesh,
at Thebes,
Egyp-
Amun through
and prepared
encountered the two men,
He
Pharaoh,
to
a forest at
the
"We will be and we will flee
[Hittite king]; for the [Hit-
king]
nip.
false
[i.e..
land of Aleppo, on the north of Tu-
Next, Muwatallis ordered two local
him to carry a Rameses. As the pharaoh
majesty
tian pharaoh], to say:
between him and
loyal to
to his
belong to the have made us
king],
[Hittite
come
the time
the advance of the Egyptians.
A
who
hidden from the Egyptians by the
shows Egyptian arrows devastating
across the
found in Rameses' mortuary temple and horses.
Hittite soldiers
71
Amun
Ancient Egypt Orontes,
camped near Kadesh, and
pared to besiege the
—
pre-
the truth
army was
that the Hittite
lying in
wait on the far side of the city and preparing
city.
to attack the rear units of the
Charge of the Hittite Chariots
Egyptian army.
that
unwelcome news surely alarmed Rameses. At that moment P-Re had just
spies
crossed the Orontes and was moving, alone
whom Muwatallis had sent to keep watch on
and exposed, across the open plain south of
It
was sometime
in the next
the Egyptians captured
Rameses. Under
few hours
two
torture, the
Hittite
men
This
Kadesh. Meanwhile, Ptah and Seth were
revealed
v
:
;
;^
J>
"•
;
"-'->
etching,
Rameses, astride his
war chariot, heroically pushes his way through the Hittite ranks, killing some and sending others into flight.
72
-'%
.
mm?
In this nineteenth-century
.'-
,'..;"'
v
r -
iiiii
Egypt's Military Zenith: The Battle of Kadesh
still
some miles behind
far side
of the
Hoping
to
on the
in the forest
river.
warn
his unsuspecting troops,
the pharaoh dispatched runners.
But it was mass of Hittite chariots suddenly emerged from behind the town, too
A
late.
crossed the shallow Orontes, and charged into P-Re's unprotected right flank. Totally
unprepared for in that unit
battle, the
Egyptian chariots
were smashed or swept aside by
the heavier, fast-moving Hittite vehicles; at
same
the
time, the unit's infantrymen pan-
icked and fled northward toward the
camp
of Amun. Seeing their comrades approaching at the run. with the
enemy
hot pursuit, the troops of
chariots in
Amun
:>S:
also fell
into confusion.
At
Rameses
this point,
realized that he
had to act quickly to avoid a major defeat.
According
the
to
official
Egyptian ac-
count of the event: "He seized the adorn-
ments of
battle
coat of mail.
.
and arrayed himself .
.
in his
.Then he [went] to his
horses, and led [them] quickly on, being
alone by himself.
He charged
[forces] of the [Hittite king]."
4"
into the
Likely ac-
Rameses smites
companied only by his personal bodyguard of a few chariots and troops, the
the Hittites in another relief
depicting the battle at Kadesh.
pharaoh boldly attacked the enemy chariot corps from the side or
rear.
The
lighter
to
and in
regroup behind their king, and the tide
of battle began to change.
Egyptian vehicles, which could turn easier faster than the Hittite versions, darted
and
out, firing
Reinforcements on Both Sides Now was Muwatallis's turn
arrows and inflicting
heavy damage on Muwatallis's surprised
men. The general
worked swirling
in
state
of confusion
now
it
Trying
the Egyptians' favor. "In the
melee," Healy suggests,
"it
to regain his
to
be alarmed.
momentum, he
sent an-
other large force of chariots across the
is
very possible that the Hittites were not
In all likelihood these fresh troops
aware of the small size of the force attack4 ing them." Encouraged by Rameses' ef-
have sealed the
''
forts,
many of
greatly
the other Egyptians began
fate
outnumbered
of Rameses and his troops.
the Hittite reinforcements bore
73
river.
would
However, as
down on
the
Ancient Egypt because he learned that fresh troops of
exhausted Egyptians, seemingly out of
in part
nowhere the unit of "young men" the pharaoh had earlier sent up the Palestinian coast appeared on the scene. They hurled themselves at the newly arrived Hittite char-
Ptah and Seth were rapidly approaching to
iots,
and soon Rameses joined
bolster the Egyptian ranks.
near the river south of the
in the attack,
first
which pushed back and decimated most of
aged
the
stage of the battle,
it
city.
was
But
like the
largely indeci-
sive.
So Rameses and Muwatallis
these vehicles.
By
The next morning
a second confrontation apparently took place
reluctantly
end of the day, Rameses had man-
agreed to a temporary peace. Both rulers
remnants of P-Re and
returned to their countries and claimed
to regroup the
Amun. King Muwatallis
still
had forces
victory,
in
This tablet bears part of the treaty signed
about 1259
between Rameses
II
and
Hittite king Hattusilis
though
in truth there
was no
clear
winner. Nearly a generation of uneasy
reserve; but he broke off his assault, perhaps
B.C.
the
III.
74
Egypt's Military Zenith: The Battle of Kadesh
Attack and Counterattack excerpt
77775
from an Egyptian account of
before them, northward to the place where
the encounter at Kadesh (quoted in volume 3
[Hittite king]
came, and the numerous
army
Then the
when Rameses signed Hittite king. Hattusilis
doubt the end of an
1259
a treaty with a III.
era.
It
a century both
new
irreversible decline. After
.
.
in precipitous
and
Kadesh, never
again would Egypt launch a major mili-
was without
it.
would be
B.C.,
and not only be-
kingdom could foresee
.
of the Orontes.
tary
cause peace had replaced war; though neither
.
.
in-
fantry and chariotry of his majesty retreated
standoffs ensued until about
his majesty
by himHe charged into the [forces] of the [Hittite king] and the numerous countries which were with him. His majesty hurled them headlong, one upon another into the water
of his majesty while they were it.
.
self.
on the south of Kadesh and charged
marching and not expecting
.
led [them] quickly on, being alone
him. They crossed over the channel [Orontes River]
.
[the approaching enemy], he
.
countries [vassal states] which were with
into the
majesty was.
them
and Rameses' heroic counterattack.
The
When
saw was enraged against them, like his father, Montu [the war god]. ... He seized the adornments of battle, and arrayed himself in his coat of mail. Then he [went] to his horses and his
of Breasted's Ancient Records of Egypt,) describes the Hittite attack on the army of P-Re
campaign
into Syria or experience the
level of international
within half
it
75
power and influence
had enjoyed for nearly three centuries.
HAPTER Six
Warships and the Defeat of the Sea Peoples Egyptians had a long tradition of
The
the
shipbuilding and sailing stretching well
back
into the Predynastic Period. This is not
surprising considering that the Nile
was
dawn of
what appears
the to
New Kingdom
mention
have been an amphibious
at-
tack in a canal adjoining the town. Probably
some small
the
ships or barges ferried troops
central focus of the country's inhabited re-
across the canal, and the defenders on the
gion; and the river served as the principal
battlements attempted to stop
means of
showers of missile weapons.
transporting people and goods
Not until the reign of Rameses III (ca. 1184-1153 B.C.), near the end of the New
over long distances. Early on the pharaohs
and
their generals realized that they
more
them with
could
than over land. Reliefs from the mortuary
Kingdom, do Egyptian sources describe an actual naval battle in which opposing crews
temple of a Fifth Dynasty king, Sahura,
of sailors and marines (soldiers trained to
show a
fight
also transport troops
fleet
easily over water
of vessels carrying his troops
to the coast of Syria-Palestine.
dle and
Many Mid-
New Kingdom rulers used seagoing
troop transports to ferry armies to the
aboard ships) engage one another.
Even then and
for a long time afterward,
such encounters took place in shallow wa-
same
ters
near the Egyptian coast. The Egyptians
region, including the great imperialist Thut-
did not take part in major naval fights far
mose
from home
III.
These boats were not warships ditional sense.
in the tra-
Most evidence suggests
rule
many
until they
came under Greek
centuries after the close of the
New Kingdom.
that
they did not engage in naval battles with
Traveling Ships and
other ships, although they might have on oc-
casion
come under
fire
from
For example, the accounts of Ahmose's sault
Troop Transports
hostile forces.
For more than two thousand years, therefore,
as-
on the Hyksos stronghold of Avaris
Egyptian warships were basically troop
at
76
Warships and the Defeat of the Sea Peoples transports:
and as such they were designed
and constructed
in essentially the
Evidence for what such ships looked
and how they were
same way
as traditional Egyptian boats. In fact, states
noted scholar-artist
built
surviving reliefs and paintings.
Bjom Landstrom, most
of the time
in a
tomb
B.C.
(in the
at
like
conies partly from
A
painting
Saqqara dating to circa 2450 Fifth Dynasty),
for instance,
shows shipwrights busily constructing a they
were probably ordinary Nile
large vessel.
craft
of various kinds. Everything
count of Egyptian shipbuilding and river
from grand and captains
to simpler transports for
rian
craft
functions.
A
could have
many
.
.
.
who
also Herodotus's ac-
was
a
Greek
histo-
lived in the fifth century B.C.
and
traveled to Egypt to study the country and
ordinary warriors [might be called
same
is
navigation. Herodotus
traveling ships for kings
into service to ferry troops].
There
The
its
people firsthand. Although he visited
more than five centuries after the end of the New Kingdom, the natives still employed
different
50
well-preser\'ed relief shows Egyptians navigating the Nile River in reed boats. The Nile
was
the country's
main highway throughout
antiquity.
11
Ancient Egypt
Models of Egyptian boats were commonly placed in tombs to symbolize deceased to Abydos, center of the cult of Osiris, lord of the dead.
most of the same construction techniques had been
that
in use since before the
them with long spikes
advent
gether,
and
Egypt
on
Nile boats used for carrying freight," he be-
tian
gins,
are caulked [a
.
.
.
feet
They
wood. The acacia
form the
it
from inside with papyrus
tough material made from sedge, a
water plant that grew in abundance in the Nile Delta].
cut short planks, about three
gle steering-oar,
long,
from
this
method of construction
tree, is to
and the lay
is
appears that
lotus of Cyrene.
in
the hull
top.
[although
resembles
set close to-
when
The boats have no ribs some Egypvessels did have wooden ribs] and
across
long before and long after his day. "The
are built of acacia
then,
complete, to lay the deck-beams
of the Old Kingdom. Moreover, the kind of vessel Herodotus describes existed in
the journey of the
They are given a sinwhich is driven down
through the keel; the masts are of aca-
them
cia
together like bricks and through-fasten
wood,
the sails of papyrus.
vessels cannot sail
78
These
up the river without
Warships and the Defeat of the Sea Peoples
Tutankhamen's Ships Much of what modern scholars know about ancient Egyptian ships comes from studying
the
miniature versions found in the tomb of a short-lived but famous king, as explained here
by scholar-artist Bjorn Landstrom of the Pharaohs.
in his
Nile,
the other unrigged. Only the
Tomb
Tutankhamen [popularly known as King Tut, who reigned from ca. 1336-1327 B.C.] has been preserved intact until our time, and this of
Ships
contained such models, together with a large
number
of other
model traveling
vessels, per-
haps intended for the royal court. Unlike the Old Kingdom, at least Inperiods, real ships were
placed around the
tombs of the
kings,
some perhaps
in
the form
of sun boats, others as ships of state or royal ships. ... It
is
probable that the kings of the
New Kingdom had with them their royal ships,
This
model
one rigged
ship, which
only models of for
a hurry.
voyages up
shows minute
details
al-
most everything else in the tomb of Tutankhamen, these models are not particularly well executed and seem to have been made in great haste after the king's death. The hull decoration has clearly been done in
during certain
.
.
.
Even so
.
.
.
these models provide
a wealth of interesting details.
of construction, was found
boy-pharaoh, Tutankhamen ("King Tut").
79
in
the tomb of the
Ancient Egypt became so); army when
a good leading wind, but have to be
military (and probably never
towed from the banks; and for drop-
ships simply supported the land
ping downstream with the current
and where necessary.
they are handled as follows: each ves-
Egyptian government began assembling
equipped with a
sel is
raft
made of
and training crews
tamarisk wood, with a rush mat fas-
tened on top of hole through
it
it,
weighing some four
made and
fore
raft
muster a
by the reign
was able to manned by such
naval force
this
may have
aft respectively,
so that the
measure). The normal complement of such
forward by the
it,
sailor
of the
check and gives her
drifting away].
men
men, each trained as both
bows, javelins, and swords.
The natural question is why, after more than two thousand years with no trained naval arm, the Egyptian military saw fit to create one? The answer can only be that it
and boat
There are a great
carrying
51
suddenly perceived an urgent need for specialized sea fighters.
craft
reliefs in-
operated the oars while the oth-
ers fought with
of these vessels on the Nile,
some of them of enormous
fifty
and marine. Evidence from
dicates that under battle conditions twenty
while the
raft
was
a ship
dragging along the bottom
steerage-way [keeps the
Such
that
been a temporary rather than permanent
astern, acts as a
capacity.
is
with ropes,
boats are called) after
many
specifically for naval
certain
of ships
fleet
the
the country
III,
crews (although
and the stone
current and pulls the "baris" (as these
from
is
when
fast to the vessel
raft is carried rapidly
stone,
What
of Rameses
and a stone with a
hundredweight; the are
warfare.
unclear
It is
were generally adequate for
sistent
And
this is quite
con-
with a dramatic series of events that
navigating the river; but scholars maintain
affected not only Egypt but the entire east-
they were not strong and flexible
ern Mediterranean sphere in the thirteenth
that
enough
to
and twelfth centuries
hold up in the open sea, especially
transports that crossed
from the delta
B.C.
—an unexpected
and catastrophic upheaval of unprece-
carrying heavy loads. Therefore, the troop
dented scope. The trouble seems to have
to the
of Egypt, in Asia Minor or
coast of Syria-Palestine under Sahura, Thut-
begun
mose
HI,
beyond, and steadily spread southward.
most
common means was
and others were reinforced. The
Nearly
adding trusses,
heavy rope bindings wrapped
tightly
far north
all
of the leading towns and
cities in
Asia Minor were sacked, burned, and de-
around
the hull at various points.
stroyed, most never to be rebuilt; among them were Hattusas and the other impor-
The Coming of the Sea Peoples
tant Hittite centers, bringing about Hatti's
It is
sudden and
transported were trained to fight at sea; and
most had
little
Palestinian coastal ports
or no skill in sailing the ves-
sels. In fact, the
was not
navy,
if it
can be called
utter collapse. Farther south,
Ugarit and other prosperous Syrian and
unlikely that the warriors these ships
were also plun-
dered and devastated.
At the same time, Egypt came under
that,
yet a separate, formal branch of the
rect assault
80
from the northwest and
di-
north.
Warships and the Defeat of the Sea Peoples
The Catastrophe Circa Historians have advanced
a
number
ravaged
that
sections
of
eastern Mediterranean about 1200
b.c.
large
b.c.
Mediterranean states themselves, which less
of the-
ories to explain the widespread catastro-
phe
1200 civilized peoples
advantage
the
of.
on the periphery then took
And
another view, ad-
still
and brought about the collapse of the Bronze Age
vanced recently by Robert Drews of Vander-
in the region.
Some think that rapid local population growth among the semibarbarous
among these "periphery" peoples suddenly
tribes inhabiting "Eurasia," the vast steppe
the chariot corps that had for centuries been
lands north of the Black and Caspian Seas,
the mainstay of Near Eastern armies.
caused them to migrate southward
these proposed innovations were the
new
of
bilt University,
is
that military innovations
gave their foot soldiers the
in search
lands, destroying all in their path.
tactic of javelin throwers
ability to defeat
Among new
"swarming" chari-
and their crews, thereby neutralizing
The Mediterranean coastal peoples they
dis-
ots
placed then became the Sea Peoples,
who
them; the adoption of better protective
menaced the Egyptians. Another theory
dis-
mor by foot
counts the idea of mass migrations;
it
was caused by and other
collapse,
The
attacks,
The End of the Bronze Age: Changes
by groups of foreigners the
Memeptah, about 1208 B.C., a force with names like ShekeLukka, Tjeker, and Akawasha allied
of Sea Peoples
came in waves, each apparently larger and more threatening than the one before it. A small foretaste came during the reign of Rameses II in the form of raids on the delta by Sherdan pirates. The pharaoh rather eas-
lesh,
ples,
feated
the
also erected a
row of
their families
would
suffice to
ward
and possessions with them,
indicating that they intended to settle per-
manently
managed
de-
in the country.
claimed
But the pharaoh
to defeat the intruders in a pitched
battle near the
fortresses
along the northern coastline, hoping
—
Egypt from the northwest. They brought
Sherdan into the Egyptian army.
Rameses
—
themselves with the Libyans and invaded
repelled these small-scale attacks and
some of
to
western side of the delta; he
have killed
six
thousand of them
and captured another nine thousand.
this
During the short reigns of the
off any future assaults
who
that region.
pharaohs
Egypt would have been much better off Rameses had constructed a permanent
of devastation wrought elsewhere
if
much
in
the
Near East by new waves of Sea Peoples must have
navy, for the scope of the threat turned out
be
five
followed Memeptah, reports
on
to
War-
in
b.c.
cessor,
Egyptians collectively called the Sea Peo-
ily
detailed dis-
fare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200
crises within the eastern
eventually incorporated
A
cussion of these theories appears in Drews's
economic
civil conflicts,
ar-
and the introduction of
new, deadly slashing swords.
holds
instead that a large portion of the destruction
soldiers;
filtered into
Egypt.
It is
also quite
possible that small-scale raids by foreigners
greater than he imagined at the
continued periodically
time. In the fifth year of the reign of his suc-
81
in the delta region.
Ancient Egypt and become the
These factors may well have inspired an
settle in Palestine
Egyptian pharaoh, perhaps Rameses
emies of the Hebrews).
III
some kind of naval
himself, to invest in
the delta
paid
fort, it certainly
Rameses' reign
(ca.
1
in-
and marched overland; for Rameses
met and defeated them
Whoever was behind
biblical en-
wave of
first
vaders must have landed well to the west of
pre-
paredness.
The Sea Battle
A
in the Delta
in a land battle.
Not
long afterward, however, more Sea Peoples
approached the delta in
the Egyptian naval ef-
off.
In the tenth year of
176
B.C.),
ships.
A
huge naval
battle occurred, captured for posterity in a
stunning stone relief in Rameses' mortuary
the largest in-
Medinat Habu (near Thebes).
vasion of Sea Peoples to date struck northern
temple
Egypt. This time the foreigners had a new ally
Scholar Manuel Robbins describes the scene,
in their
—
midst
the Peleset,
believe were the Philistines
whom
which
historians
(who would
at
reveals
the Egyptians
later
much
about the naval tactics
employed
at the time:
A modern rendering of pharaoh Rameses III, who repulsed the invasion of the so-called Sea Peoples in the twelfth century B.C.
'wi//'v^
in) iuni.iM ^l\rm^iM)/^ w/;i>nu^huM u mv/M/i\\lll .
i
i
i
i
l
82
l
l
Warships and the Defeat of the Sea Peoples
A at
of the complex depiction of the great sea Rameses' mortuary temple at Medinat Habit.
detail
The Sea 55
wide and
feet
on
Battle sculptural relief
the north wall of the temple
augmented with
.
.
was
.
plaster
about
is
originally
and
paint.
Here, represented in a compressed
composition
.
.
.
occurred on the
On
near shore. ... the
pharaoh
the
enemy from
.
.
was a clash which water somewhere the right stands
launching shafts
.
at
his unerring bow.
Stretching across the bottom of the
Egyptian
arc
illustration
soldiers,
marching off with Sea Peoples oners.
On
water.
.
among arranged
.
the .
left is
Here there
is
on the
a clash
the other. In each
on the lower
|
which
|
and one
manned by
Two of these Sea
Sea Peoples
who wear
riors
gear
.
.
.
.
.
feathered head-
and two others by those
.
horned helmets.
.
.
.
in
The Sea Peoples
came armed only with close-combat weapons
—
dirk (daggerlike] swords
and a few lances tal
mistake.
— and
that
The Egyptian
was
forces
a fa.
.
.
had not only close-combat weapons
weapons as well, their The scene shows a tierce
but stand-off
melee
.
left
right are
Peoples ships are manned by war-
three rows, one above
.
there are three
Egyptians, and the rest are those of the
hows.
.
row
a stone relief
in
Three along the
ships.
are
ships in
the battle
pris-
Sea Peoples
battle with the
.
.
oi
.
close
comhat.
Egyptian
— Ancient Egypt
Rameses Vanquishes the Invaders In this inscription from the sea battle relief sculpture at Medinat
Habu (quoted
in
breath,
of J.H. Breasted's Ancient Records of Egypt,), the pharaoh Rameses III is portrayed as an invincible hero beating
when
strand like a warrior.
back the invading Sea
he will
the [peoples of the] northern countries the homelands of the Sea Peoples],
cease
hearts
their
Terror of
a
him pene-
and perishing
weapons
sea. His arrows pierce
are cast out
whomsoever
among them, and he who is like
is
hit falls
an enraged
him that confronts him with
lion, tearing
his
hands; fighting at close quarters on his right,
ways of the [Egyptian
valiant on his
and other Near Eastern] harbor-mouths. Their and
.
into the water. His majesty
in their isles, are restless in their
limbs; they infest the
nostrils
.
souls fly away, and their
which are
like
in their places, their hearts are taken, their
upon the
[i.e.,
.
trates into their limbs. Capsized
Peoples.
Lo,
majesty goes forth
his
storm-wind against them, fighting upon the
volume 4
left,
he has crushed every land
beneath his feet.
breathing
—with
some confidence. The most
boats have their oars out so that they
tory
are able to maneuver, but in the Sea
striking aspect
Peoples boats, oars are shipped
trapped between the Egyptian ships and
[pulled inside the vessels].
They
it
seems.
From
Sea Peoples.
A
down on
were
shore. Archers, both ground-based
and on
the Egyptian ships, poured arrows onto the
a
enemy
crow's nest on an Egyptian ship, a slinger rains missiles
that the invaders
Egyptian archers and other infantry on the
are
unable to maneuver. They have been
caught by surprise
is
boats,
killing
many aboard and
spreading terror and confusion. Then the
the
grappling hook has
Egyptian vessels
moved
in close
and used
been swung out from an Egyptian
grappling hooks to snag the
ship and lands on a Sea Peoples ship.
Egyptian marines boarded and fought hand
The
ship
is
hauled close and a Sea
Peoples fighter lance.
is
to
ships.
they towed the
boats close enough to shore that the infantry
dispatched with a
Another Sea Peoples ship
some cases
hand; or in
enemy
could seize and board them. Those Sea Peo-
is
who were
dismasted, a third capsized. Sea Peo-
ples
ples are in disarray, drowned, dead.
were dragged away as prisoners. One of the
The water
is filled
with them. 52
Medinat Habu inscriptions puts these words in
The
illustrative portions
Rameses' mouth:
of the relief are
Those who reached my boundary, their heart and soul are finished forever and ever. As for those who had assembled before them on the
supplemented by inscriptions. Together, the pictures
not killed in the fighting
and words provide enough
detail to
.
allow historians to reconstruct the event the first well-documented sea battle in his-
84
.
.
Warships and the Defeat of the Sea Peoples flame
sea, the full
the fleet of
[i.e.,
Egyptian warships] was
in
Another
before the harbor-mouths,
front,
and a wall of metal
[the
possibility
that the
is
pretended to surrender without a
their
haps he sent secret envoys
Egyptian
the
Sea Peoples
pharaoh
fight. Per-
to the leaders
of
to say that he feared
them
submit rather than
fight;
infantrymen] upon the shore sur-
and had decided
rounded them. They
they could land and settle in the delta with-
[the invaders]
to
ships'
were dragged, overturned, low upon the beach; [the wretched enemy were] slain and
out interference providing they spared
and
and allowed him
made
their attacks
laid
bow
[into]
of their galleys,
their things
while
was
plea
heaps from stern to
to
keep
likely not without precedent. In
on Near Eastern
coasts, the
Peoples quite probably received
all
were cast upon the wa-
him
Such a
his throne.
many
Sea
offers
of submission from frightened local leaders.
The difference in this case was that Rameses was neither frightened nor actually submit-
ter."
After the invaders had taken the
ting.
bait,
he
Careful Planning Saves Egypt
sprang his dap and annihilated them.
What
It may never be possible to know exactly how the Egyptians trapped their opponents. What is certain is that Rameses' victory,
and inscriptions unfortu-
the reliefs
nately leave out
able to lure the
how the Egyptians were enemy into the trap. The
is
clever and precise positioning and coordi-
though important to Egypt
nation of the Egyptian naval and land forces
was a mere stopgap measure
could not have been a spontaneous develop-
Some
ment or
fortunate accident.
The
trap
and
As
were the
result
battle at
Kadesh, military intelligence must
of careful planning.
tine, the last
long term.
and Tjeker,
settled in Pales-
remnant of Egypt's once large
Asiatic sphere of influence.
in the
in the
of the surviving Sea Peoples, particu-
larly the Peleset
subsequent victory, which saved Egypt,
in the short run,
Soon these
set-
took control of the region, shutting the
tlers
pharaoh's spies, perhaps paid informants
By the reign of the last New Kingdom pharaoh (Rameses XI, 1099-1069
among
B.C.),
have played an important
the
enemy
forces,
Egyptians out.
role. Either the
were able
to pin-
Egyptian ships were no longer able to
wood and
point the area of the delta where the Sea
get regular supplies of cedar
Peoples planned to land: or the spies, or
products from the area. Egypt's military and
other parties working for the pharaoh con-
political
vinced the invaders to land there, luring
and
them
would continue.
into a trap.
85
might had clearly passed
other
their prime,
in the centuries to follow their decline
Epilogue
Decline of the Egyptian Military Egypt's
political strength
New Kingdom,
during most of
most
telling
was an
inability to
keep up
both internally as a
with material and technological changes
country united under a single ruler and ex-
occurring across most of the Near Eastern
the
ternally as a great international power,
been largely based on
its
had
successful mili-
tary ventures in Syria-Palestine.
When
tunes.
its
military
During the two
followed the
and
iron swords
—
for
—
Egypt was
battlefield.
that
it
had no native supplies
mainly from western Asia; but by the
and
and trade contacts
the profession of soldiering lost the presti-
try's influence
area were at a low ebb.
As
relied
on foreign mercenaries
army rate,
ranks;
even a
man
tendency to leave the army and military
the
became a second-
matters in the hands of foreigners rather
power; and eventually
than native Egyptians. Nubians, Libyans,
came to dominate among them Assyrians, Per-
Sherdan, and others had long been recruited
Egypt
steadily
third-rate
a series of foreign rulers the country, sians,
to
Greeks, and Romans.
fight as ethnic
units in the army,
Paid Soldiers
he and the
political decline.
Among
later
Ramesside
Rameses
rulers
III,
allowed
some of the remnants of the Sea Peoples
Several reasons can be cited for Egypt's
and
of
course. Similarly, in the years following the
defeat of the Sea Peoples by
An Emphasis on military
in that
Even more problematic was a growing
a result, local rulers increasingly to
start
of the Third Intermediate Period, the coun-
gious status they had held for several centuries.
distinct
The problem
of iron. That metal had to be imported,
the Third In-
the military
and spearheads had a
advantage on the
political for-
termediate Period (1069-747 B.C.) and Late
Period (747-332 B.C.)
to replace
bronze versions; and armies equipped with
the
historical eras that
New Kingdom
particular,
and weapons began
iron tools
country's influence in that region began to
wane, so did
and Mediterranean spheres. In
the
settle in
86
Egypt and recruited them
to
into the
Decline of the Egyptian Military army. For the most
part,
these groups were
commanded by Egyp-
tians
following custom,
and adequately controlled by the
imported Libyan mercenaries
were led by
became a
fewer and fewer native Egyptians be-
came
interested in military service; conse-
quently, the foreign units within the
became dominant, while
the
foreigners
princes.
who had
.
.
.
They
acquired impor-
tance in the past had done.
thing of the
past,
own
did not adopt Egyptian names, as
state.
But as major military expeditions and glorious conquests
their
wore an teristic
army
They
ostrich feather, the charac-
decoration of their people,
proudly on their heads. Distributed
government
throughout the country
in garrisons
increasingly hired mercenaries to supple-
reserved for them, their generals as-
ment
sumed more power as the [central power of the] monarchy and the administration became increasingly
their ranks. In the early years of the
Third Intermediate Period, as Sheikh 'Ibada al-Nubi explains.
n
r\
King Assurbanipal
was the
m ond Assyr-
ian ruler to control
Egypt He defeated Taharqo, the reigning
pharaoh, who fled
southward
X7
to
Thebes
—
.
Ancient Egypt They became princes and
uncertain.
official priests
of the local gods,
own. In 674
their
an Assyrian king,
B.C.
Esarhaddon, invaded Egypt and managed to
ef-
Memphis, and
fectively taking over the king's pre-
subdue the
rogatives [exclusive powers and privileges]. Finally, one of their num-
most of the countryside surrounding
Sheshonq
ber,
I,
known
is
as
month. "Without cessation
it
I
in
slew
multitudes of his men," Esarhaddon later
ascended the throne,
what
initiating
less than a
capital, then at
said about the Egyptian king, Taharqo.
the
"Libyan" dynasty. 54
Memphis, Even before
the advent of the
Libyan dy-
his royal city, in half a
day, with mines, tunnels, assaults,
...
I
nasty (945-715 B.C.), the country had be-
besieged,
I
come
with
His queen, his harem, his
politically
fragmented. Throughout
two major
the Third Intermediate Period,
power bases claimed
have the legitimate
to
.
.
fire.
captured
I
burned
sons and daughters, his property
.
and
his goods, his horses, his cattle,
pharaoh
—one
in the Nile Delta, the other in
his sheep, in countless numbers,
Thebes.
And
at various times, individual
carried off to Assyria.
asserted local
cities
independence and
power. The military was similarly frag-
Despite this
mented, with local princes commanding
found
their
own
small armies, which sometimes
fought one another.
for the
Esarhaddon
success,
maintain control over
the proud Egyptians.
Two years after the de-
parture of the
main Assyrian army, Taharqo,
fled far to the south, returned, re-
captured Memphis, and staged a full-scale
Assyrian
Army
The
changed somewhat
situation
initial
difficult to
it
who had
No Match
I
55
While on
rebellion. at the start
when
way back
his
to quell this disturbance,
Egypt
to
Esarhaddon died
a dy-
unexpectedly and his son, the crown prince
nasty of Nubian kings pushed their
Assurbanipal, succeeded him. Assurbanipal
north and took control
way of much of Lower
made
Egypt. The country was
still
not completely
entered Egypt, where, according to his an-
of the Late Period (747
B.C.),
reunified, as several local rulers their
own
against the
new
held
still
way through
his
Syria-Palestine and
nals:
pharaohs. But the
Nubian kings gained enough power and
Taharqo, king of Egypt
confidence to attempt something bold
the advance of
to reassert
Egyptian influence in Syria-
Palestine. Unfortunately for them,
by
this
time the Assyrian Empire had grown very strong and begun to intrude into the
same
So the new Egyptian foray into Palestine came to nothing. Worse still, the warlike Assyrians saw that the Egyptian army was no match for region.
my
and mustered
phis,
sur
.
.
.
battle.
.
heard of
Mem-
armed
men
resist-
With the help of As-
[and other Assyrian] gods
who advanced his
.
his fighting
against me, offering
ance and
.
army, in
army
plain. ...
at
my
in a battle
He
forsook
fled to Thebes.
56
.
.
side, I defeated
on the open
Memphis and
a
Decline of the Egyptian Military
Assyrian Military Advances Many
of the
weapons
of the formidable
fire off volleys of
Assyrian army that invaded Egypt were
arrows.
Rows
of hundreds
who in battle made up the
or thousands of these pairs,
similar to those used in the late second mil-
moved forward
lennium b.c, although some of the tactics
mainstay of the Assyrian infantry. Assyrian
had changed. The principal Assyrian weapon was the bow, most often utilized in the
chariots featured a similar arrangement
main tactical
field
unit
— the
unison,
in
—
and archer standing behind a protective screen mounted on the vehicle's front. driver
archer pair.
This consisted of two men, the first a spear-
However, by this time chariots had become
dagger-man bearing a very large shield, the top of which curved up and back to form a kind of canopy to protect against incoming arrows and other missiles. Made of tightly packed bundles of wicker bound with leather, such shields were light but very sturdy. The second man, the archer, who huddled with his companion behind the shield, used a powerful composite bow to
secondary to cavalry, which at
or
When
cient Assyrian
Thebes, he fled again and ers then took
show two horsemen One holds the own and his partner's
together.
his
the
allowing
hands to
fire a
bow.
killed or injured,
partner to If
one
rider's
and
ride to safety.
absorption into the classical
Oth-
both
use
horse was
he could quickly jump on
his partner's horse
the Assyrians pursued Taharqo to
died in exile.
of bo f h
horse,
the
reliefs
along
galloping reins
first, like
operated in two-man units. An-
infantry,
Greco-Roman
world.
up the cause of Egyptian inde-
and Romans
pendence, including his son, Tanuatamun,
Persians, Greeks,
and the leader of a new dynasty, Psamtek
Using these Greek mercenaries, the Egyp-
I.
home,
after
most of
from greater powers
their forces
which Psamtek succeeded
them, but to no
in
ruler,
Psamtek
army
to
A
patriotic,
realized he
needed a strong
its
institution
ticular,
he hired Greeks, mostly from western
in
Egypt
(later called
around
B.C., the
In par-
recruits, the
Greek
that
when Alexander
III
"the Great"), a Macedonian-
Greek king, entered
mainly by native Egyptians, however, he cast
wide for foreign mercenaries.
fell
500s
of Asia Minor. Persian rule was so un-
popular
manned and commanded
his net
avail. In the late
main source of military
cities
in-
vaders at bay. Instead of re-creating a military
and
Assyrian realm, conquered both Egypt and
well-meaning
keep the Assyrians and other
that rose
Persian Empire, which had supplanted the
driving the remaining Assyrian occupiers out
of the country.
independence
tians tried to maintain their
Eventually, a rebellion in Babylonia forced the Assyrians to call
the country in
332
B.C.
as part of his conquest of Persia, he
was wel-
was an
illusion,
comed
as a liberator. This
Asia Minor. This marked the beginning of
however. Alexander soon died and one of his
Egypt's political dealings with and eventual
leading generals. Ptolemy, hx)k control of
89
Ancient Egypt Egypt and established a Greek dynasty Ptolemaic (332-30
Under
—
or grandparents having settled in the country.
the
The
B.C.).
the Ptolemies,
now encom-
of the greater Greek world that
as a whole.
doms,
To defend against other Greek kingthe
military.
it
izens in India in the 1800s
was made up mainly of im-
These military and
wisdom of
supplementing paid soldiers with native-bom troops, thereby reestablishing a
new
militarily
officers at
most
levels
remained Greeks,
A
of
tury B.C.,
who
states
bust of Alexander III (later
called "the Great"), the
young Macedonian Greek king
who
the Persians in the late
liberated Egypt
fourth century
B.C.
90
impotent in the face
dominance over the
And by
the
Rome had conquered all
entire
first
the
cen-
Greek
except for Egypt, which more or less
cowered
virtue of their parents
from
cit-
and early 1900s.)
social distinctions be-
politically
rise to
Mediterranean world.
that the vast majority
were natives merely by
and
of Rome's
presti-
gious military institution.
The problem was
and paternalism
came a moot point in the long run, though. As time went on, Ptolemaic Egypt became
ported Greek mercenaries, as before; but over
time the Ptolemaic kings saw the
inferior to
of British officers over native soldiers and
government maintained a strong
At first
was
(Some modem scholars have used
the analogy of the authority
passed the entire eastern Mediterranean sphere.
status of ethnic Egyptians
Greeks, both in the army ranks and in society
Egypt became part
in its
shadow.
— Decline of the Egyptian Military
A
seventeenth-century engraving of the battle ofActium,
in
which Julius
C
>pted
son, Octavian, defeated Cleopatra, the last independent ruler of Egypt.
Then
Greece; and the following year Cleopatra
the last of the Ptolemies, as well as
and Antony committed suicide. To the
the last independent Egyptian pharaoh
Cleopatra VII
— made
ceeded
bid to reassert her country's former greatness. Allying herself with a
Roman
civil
in
so
to it
make Egypt was
a province of
Rome.
that the military establish-
his rival,
ment of an independent Egypt, whose
war. In 31 B.C.,
proud traditions stretched back with only a
however, she and Antony went feat
And
powerful Ro-
man, Mark Antony, she opposed Octavian, in a
dis-
pleasure of most Egyptians. Octavian pro-
a bold eleventh-hour
down
few brief interruptions
to de-
a large naval battle at Actium, in
millennia,
91
for
more than
now simply ceased
to exisi.
three
Notes Introduction: Fighting to Keep
8.
the Dark Forces at Bay 1.
et al.
9.
Chicago:
University of Chicago Press,
Quoted
Miriam Lichtheim,
in
1990,
A Book
cient Egyptian Literature:
al-Nubi, in Donadoni, Egyptians, p. 158.
Quoted
vol.
Donadoni,
Egyptians,
New 12.
al-Nubi,
4.
Quoted in James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton: Prince-
in
p. 152.
ton University Press,
1
969,
p.
13.
Quoted Eastern
7.
in
Pritchard,
Texts, p.
Lands
ological Study. Hill,
New
Quoted
J.H.
in
Breasted, ed., An-
New
York:
1962, vol. 2,
15.
Mark Healy, Armies of the Pharaohs. Oxford: Osprey, 1992, pp. 9-10. Quoted in Breasted, Ancient Records,
16.
Quoted
in
Breasted, Ancient Records.
vol. 2, p. 34.
78. 17.
Yadin,
Art
of
Warfare,
vol.
1,
pp. 86-87.
228.
in the
p. 73.
vol. 2. p. 30.
Ancient Near
Yigael Yadin, The Art of Warfare Biblical
1,
pp. 6-7. 14.
MA: p.
Yadin, Art of Warfare, vol.
Russell and Russell,
Andrea M. Gnirs, "Ancient Egypt," in Kurt Raaflaub and Nathan Rosenstein, eds.. War and Society in the Ancient and Harvard University Press, 1999,
6.
Lit-
Haven: Yale University Press,
cient Records of Egypt.
262.
Medieval Worlds. Cambridge,
The
Chapter Two: The New Kingdom and Chariot Warfare
Chapter One: Early Egyptian Weapons and Warfare 5.
ed.,
An Anthology
1973, pp. 61-62.
103-104. 3.
W.K. Simpson,
of Stories, Instructions, and Poetry.
pp.
1,
in
erature ofAncient Egypt:
of
1975-1976.
Shaw, Egyptian Warfare and Weapons,
11.
Readings. Berkeley: University of California Press,
UK:
10.
An-
ed.,
and
Warfare
p. 25.
p. 151. 2.
Egyptian
Buckinghamshire,
Shire Publications, 1991, pp. 36-37.
in
Sergio Donadoni, ed., The Egyptians,
Robert Bianchi
Shaw,
Weapons.
Sheikh 'Ibada al-Nubi, "Soldiers," trans.
Ian
18. Gnirs,
in
York:
"Ancient Egypt,"
in
Raaflaub
and Rosenstein. War and Society,
Light ofArchae-
McGraw-
19.
Quoted
in
and Weapons,
1963. vol. l,p. 44.
93
p.
Shaw, Egyptian Warfare pp. 41 -42.
85.
Ancient Egypt Armies
20. Healy,
the
of
Chapter Four: Borders, cations, and Sieges
Pharaohs,
p. 21.
21. Robert
Drews, The End of the Bronze
Age: Changes astrophe ca. Princeton
in
36. Peter Connolly,
B.C.
University
Princeton:
Press,
p.
37.
1993,
Quoted
in Breasted,
Quoted
39.
in Breasted,
Quoted
40.
in Breasted,
in Breasted,
Ancient Records,
Quoted
in Breasted,
42.
1, p.
66.
Ancient Records,
185-86.
Deuteronomy 20:19-20.
41. Yadin, Art of Warfare, vol.
Ancient Records,
184-85.
vol. 2, pp.
at
pp. 293-94.
vol. 2, pp.
Ancient Records,
vol. 2, p. 184.
24.
1,
38. Yadin, Art of Warfare, vol.
Ancient Records,
vol. 2, p. 183.
23.
Rome
274.
Quoted vol.
pp. 127-29. 22.
Greece and
War. London: Greenhill Books, 1998,
Warfare and the Cat-
1200
Fortifi-
Quoted
in Yadin,
1,
p. 97.
Art of Warfare,
vol.
1,
p. 99.
Chapter Three: Military Service
Chapter Five: Egypt's Military Zenith: The Battle of Kadesh 43. Mark Healy, The Warrior Pharaoh:
and Organization 25. al-Nubi,
in
Donadoni,
Egyptians,
pp. 171-72.
Rameses
Armies of the Pharaohs,
26. Healy, p. 17.
44.
Armies of the Pharaohs,
27. Healy,
and
the Battle of Qadesh.
Quoted
in Breasted,
p. 9.
Ancient Records,
vol. 3, p. 72.
p. 24.
28.
II
Oxford: Osprey, 1993,
Quoted
in
45.
Alan R. Shulman, Mili-
Some
scholars speculate variously that
these fighters consisted of part or
and Organization in the Egyptian New Kingdom. Berlin: Verlag Bruno Hessling, 1964, p. 108. tary Rank, Title
the
army
unit of Seth, or that they
all
of
were
a crack force of Palestinian soldiers
who
Shulman, Military Rank, pp. 23-24. 30. Quoted in Breasted, Ancient Records,
fought as an ethnic unit in the
29.
vol. 3, pp.
31.
Quoted
in
Egyptian army. 46. Breasted, Ancient Records, vol. 3,
52-53.
pp. 129-31.
Shulman, Military Rank,
47.
p. 108.
32.
Quoted Quoted
in Breasted,
Quoted
Ancient Records,
Ancient Records,
48.
in Breasted,
Ancient Records,
Ancient Records,
49. Healy, Warrior Pharaoh, p. 53.
27-28.
in Breasted,
Ancient Records,
Chapter Six: Warships and the Defeat of the Sea Peoples
vol. 3, p. 28.
35. al-Nubi,
Quoted
vol. 3, p. 146.
in Breasted,
vol. 3, pp.
34.
in Breasted,
vol. 3, p. 144.
vol. 3, p. 27.
33.
Quoted
in
Donadoni,
Egyptians,
50.
p. 178.
94
Landstrom, Ships of the Pharaohs: 4000 Years of Egyptian Bjorn
.
Notes
5
1
Garden
NY: Dou-
bleday. 1970. p. 108.
Epilogue: Decline of the Egyptian Military
Herodotus. Histories, trans. Aubrey de
54. al-Nubi.
Shipbuilding.
Selincourt.
New
City,
York: Penguin, 1972.
pp. 164-65. 52.
53.
in
Donadoni, Egyptians.
p. 180.
55.
Quoted
in
Daniel D. Luckenbill,
ed..
Manuel Robbins. The Collapse of the Bronze Age: The Story of Greece, Troy, Israel, Egypt, and the Peoples of the Sea. San Jose: Authors Choice Press.
Ancient Records of Assyria and Baby-
2001. pp. 284-86.
p.
Quoted
in Breasted.
Chicago:
lonia.
Chicago York:
Ancient Records,
56.
Press,
Greenwood
95
of
New
Press. 1968, vol. 2,
227.
Quoted
in
Records, vol.
vol. 4. p. 39.
University
1926. Reprint,
Luckenbill, 2, p.
293.
Ancient
Glossary archaeology: The study of past tions
and
An
bronze:
civiliza-
fighters
their artifacts.
alloy (mixture) of the metals
copper and together
inscriptions:
to hand.
Letters and
into stone or
tin.
composite bow:
can board the other ships and
hand
fight
A bow made
pieces
by gluing
of wood,
sinew, and horn; composite
rial.
intelligence: In the military context, infor-
bows had
mation gathered by one side about the size, quality,
nary "simple" bows.
of the other.
The notched
khopesh:
ancient and medieval structures; the
troduced into Egypt near the beginning of the New Kingdom. mace: A club used in warfare. pharaoh: The king of ancient Egypt.
notches, which the defenders used for are
called
between
openings
which they
merlons; the
through
them,
fired at attackers, are the
one family dealing
with
materials,
distributing
men and
supplies,
and
standard: The symbol of an army or army
An
alloy of gold
and
A
Near Eastern
battle-ax hav-
epsilon ax:
unit, usually carried into battle
silver.
it
tst:
A
high nonmilitary official
administered
ships to hold
them
closer,
them
the
kingdom
for
who the
pharaoh.
grappling hooks: Devices thrown or shot
pull
term describing a large army unit
vizier:
let-
ter epsilon.
enemy
A
during the Old Kingdom.
a shape
roughly resembled the Greek
by a
standard-bearer.
ing three tangs projecting from the
back of the blade, giving
and
surface.
other administrative tasks.
ancient
Egypt.
onto
flat
charge of keeping track of
in
line.
specifically
from a
scribe: In the Egyptian military, an officer
series of rulers belonging to
Egyptology: The branch of archaeology
that
stone sculpture partly raised into
three dimensions
A
electrum:
A
relief:
crenels.
dynasty:
movements, and/or plans
A throwing spear. A short, sickle-shaped sword in-
javelin:
effect in the
battlements of forts, castles, and other
protection,
words carved
other durable mate-
animal
greater elasticity and range than ordi-
crenellation:
some
yoke:
fast
A
device for attaching a horse's har-
ness to a chariot or wagon.
often so that
97
For Further Reading George Hart, Ancient Egypt. Time-Life, 1995.
A
New
lustrated introduction to the
Don Nardo,
York:
very colorfully
wonders
of ancient Egypt for young readers.
Age
of Rome.
to the Fall
A
York: Kingfisher, 1995.
somely mounted book
A
2002.
Press,
overview of Egyptian
general
civilization,
with an emphasis on history, aimed
Hazel M. Martell, The Ancient World: From the Ice
Ancient Egypt. San Diego:
KidHaven
il-
at
basic readers.
New
,
Egyptian Mythology.
Berkeley
Aimed
Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2001.
very hand-
at
intermediate readers, this book retells
that briefly ex-
amines the various important ancient
some of
civilizations, including ancient Egypt.
myths, including the story of Osiris's
Anne
1995.
Aimed
book by
Copper Beach Books,
at
basic
readers,
a noted scholar
is
ancient Egyptian
how, and by
short but
built,
pyramids and
NTC Contemporary
New
Don Nardo,
were
beautiful
target audience
is
grade
level
of
Cleopatra.
San Diego:
Press, 2001.
The reading
ed.,
Greenhaven
Publishing,
this
volume
is
challenging for
grade school students but well worth
impressive double-page
the effort. In a series of short essays,
spreads of specific eras and aspects of
everyday
life.
noted scholars
known about
Highly recommended.
David Murdock. Tutankhamun: The
Life
and
Kindersley,
1998.
A
beautifully
illus-
examination of an Egyptian ruler
who died young and was only to become famous
later forgotten,
in
modem
nearly
tell
all
that
is
famous queen and her
this
exploits.
Kelly Trumble,
Death of a Pharaoh. London: Dorling
when
many
Egypt contains many maps and
also several
trated
the pyramids
school readers.
2000. This excellent book about ancient
whom
The
York:
2002. Tells when,
supported by
pictures.
life.
Neil Morris, Atlas of Ancient Egypt.
York:
New
,
Franklin Watts,
this
brightly illustrated and filled with interesting facts about the
most famous Egyptian
murder by Seth. Pyramids of Egypt.
Millard, Mysteries of the Pyramids.
Brookfield, CT:
the
Cat Mummies.
Mifflin.
and nicely
illustrated
why
were important
cats
Egyptian society
times
99
1999.
volume
and how
were mummified.
scholars unearthed his tomb.
An
Houghton
in
Boston. unusual thai tells
ancient
these animals
Major Works Consulted Modern Sources
This extremely informative and hand-
Sergio Donadoni, ed.,
some volume
The Egyptians.
Trans. Robert Bianchi et
al.
tailed essays
Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1990.
each of
about ancient Egypt has a
and accurate
Egyptian warfare by noted Middle
Tbada
scholar Sheikh
al-
Changes
beautiful
by
in
mous
scholar-artist Peter Connolly.
main
interest for the
purposes of
Drews
The
also
at
best avail-
weapons and
Mark
summarizes the
trated, like other
books
military series, this
Highly rec-
A History ofAncient Egypt.
ration of the
Trans. Ian Shaw. Oxford: Blackwell,
ers the
An outstanding scholarly study of
Ox-
in the
Osprey
one begins with
Hyksos and inaugu-
New Kingdom
and cov-
major aspects of the Egyptian
military in a straightforward, easy-to-
ancient Egyptian history.
read manner.
Warfare Facts
of various
Healy, Armies of the Pharaohs.
the ejection of the
ed.,
tactics
ford: Osprey, 1992. Beautifully illus-
ommended.
New York:
who summa-
Near Eastern peoples.
Age
and Near Eastern kingdoms collapsed
World.
Edinburgh University,
rizes the
why many Greek
in the period in question.
John Hackett,
"The
Watkins, of the archaeology department
various theories for
Nicolas Grimal,
is
Of this
Warfare and the Catastro-
able general overview of Bronze warfare.
the fa-
Beginnings of Warfare" by Dr. Trevor
University Press, 1993.
Sir
The
illustrations are
End of the Bronze Age:
ca. J 200 B.C. Princeton: Princeton
1992.
historians,
tackles the military de-
volume on Egyptian warfare
Nubi.
Robert Drews, The
phe
whom
cient people or empire.
long, detailed, insightful tract about
Eastern
a collection of long, de-
velopment and methods of a single an-
This excellent collection of authoritative essays
is
by world-class
in the Ancient
On
,
File, 1989.
II
100
The Warrior Pharaoh: Rameses
and
the Battle of Qadesh. Oxford:
Major Works Consulted Osprey, 1993. In general terms,
volume covers some of
the
mass population move-
sion of the
this
same
ments and invasions
that
brought vari-
ground as Healy's other book on the
ous peoples of southern Europe and
Egyptian army (see above) but goes into
the northern
voluminous
with the Egyptians near the close of
detail
Qadesh
tion at
about the confronta-
(or Kadesh). This
most detailed nonscholarly look
is
the
the
Works
on
the
(see
and Weapons.
Buckinghamshire, UK: Shire Publications, 1991.
Additional
ative
Consulted).
Bjom Landstrom, 4000
topic
into collision
New Kingdom.
Ian Shaw, Egyptian Warfare
at this
pivotal battle since J.H. Breasted's '903 classic
Near East
in a format
Ships of the Pharaohs:
A
brief but highly inform-
overview of the subject, presented
and language suitable for
Years of Egyptian Shipbuilding.
students and general readers.
A
Alan R. Shulman, Military Rank,
Garden
City,
NY: Doubleday,
1970.
very thorough, extremely well-illustrated
Organization
description of ancient Egyptian ships, in-
dom.
cluding warships. Highly
recommended
in the
Egyptian
Title,
and
New King-
Verlag Bruno Hessling,
Berlin:
1964. Distributed in the United States
A
for those interested in ancient nautical
by Argonaut Publishers, Chicago.
lore.
scholarly examination of ancient Egypt-
Kurt Raaflaub and Nathan Rosenstein, eds.,
War and
ian
Society in the Ancient
and Medieval Worlds. Cambridge,
Lands
is
1963.
utilized
McGraw-Hill,
very large, comprehensive,
weapons and warfare
in Palestine
and
neighboring lands, including a great
Donald B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and in
Ancient Times.
deal on the Egyptian military.
Princeton:
is
Princeton University Press, 1992. This useful
A
New York:
and well-illustrated study of ancient
by Andrea M.
Gnirs.
Israel
soldiers, supple-
Light of Archaeological
in the
Study. 2 vols.
by an ancient people. The selection on Egyptian warfare
and
Yigael Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical
noted historians, each summarizing
methods of warfare
officers
quotations.
MA: Harvard University Press, 1999. An excellent collection of essays by the basic
army
mented by numerous primary source
study covers,
among
text
supported by numerous photos of ar-
chaeological sites and
other
The
artifacts.
Highly
recommended.
things, the Egyptian military expedi-
tions into Palestine
and
Ancient Sources
their political
J.H. Breasted, ed.. Ancient Records of
consequences.
Nancy K. Sanders, The Sea Peoples: War-
Egypt. 5 vols.
riors of the Ancient Mediterranean,
Russell, 1962.
1250-1 150
B.C.
Hudson, 1985.
Herodotus, Histories.
London: Thames and
A
New
Selincourt.
thoughtful discus101
York: Russell and
Trans.
New York:
Aubrc\ dc
Penguin.
( \
)12.
Ancient Egypt Holy
Bible.
Revised Standard Version.
New York: Thomas
1926. Reprint,
Nelson and Sons,
James B.
1952.
Miriam Lichtheim, Literature:
Berkeley:
ed.,
University
York:
Greenwood
Pritchard, ed., Ancient
Near East-
em Texts Relating to the Old Testament.
Ancient Egyptian
A Book of Readings.
New
Press, 1968.
2 vols.
Princeton: Princeton University Press,
of California
1969.
W.K. Simpson, Ancient Records
cient Egypt:
The Literature of AnAn Anthology of Stories,
of Assyria and Babylonia. 2 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
Instructions,
and
Press, 1975-1976.
Daniel D. Luckenbill,
ed.,
ed.,
Poetry.
New
Yale University Press, 1973.
102
Haven:
.
Additional
Works
Consulted William Y. Adams, Nubia: Corridor to Africa.
ranean.
London: Penguin, 1977. Paul G. Bahn, ed.. The Cambridge Illustrated
History of Archaeology.
Cambridge University J.H.
New
Study
Strategy.
London: Thames and Hudson, 1995. Michael A. Hoffman, Egypt Before the
Press, 1996.
Known
Chicago: Oriental
A
Pharaohs: The Prehistoric Founda-
Military
tions
Institute,
John Keegan,
Lionel Casson, Ancient Egypt.
New
York:
York:
Civilization. Austin:
A
History of Warfare.
Random House,
and Rome
cations," Journal
at War.
London: Greenhill Books, 1998.
A. Lucas and J.R. Harris, Ancient Egyptian
cient Egyptians. Turin, Italy: Fratelli
Materials and Industries.
Pozzo, 1971.
NY: Dover Roland A.
R.O. Faulkner. "The Battle of Megiddo,"
New York: Cam-
Graham Philip, Metal Weapons of the Early and Middle Bronze Ages in Syria-
"Egyptian Military Organization," vol.
Palestine. 2 vols. Oxford:
39, 1953.
"Egyptian Seagoing Ships," Jour-
Inter-
Manuel Robbins. The Collapse ofthe Bronze Age: Tfw Story of Greece. 7/m, Israel.
1940.
Charles Freeman, Egypt, Greece,
B.A.R.
national Series, 1989.
nal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 26,
Civilizations
Oliver, Africa in the Iron Age, ca.
bridge University Press, 1975.
Journal of Egyptian Archaeology,
,
Mineola,
Publications, 1999.
500b.c. wa.d. 1400.
vol.
28, 1942. ,
Fortifi-
of Egyptian Archae-
ology, vol.51, 1955.
The Military Art of the An-
Journal of Egyptian Archaeology,
New
1993.
A.W. Lawrence, "Ancient Egyptian
Time-Life. 1965.
Silvio Curto,
of Egyptian
University of Texas Press, 1991.
1903.
Peter Connolly, Greece
York: Oxford University
Roberta L. Harris, The World of the Bible.
York:
Breasted, The Battle of Kadesh: in the Earliest
New
Press, 1996.
and Rome:
Egypt,
and
the Peoples of the Sea. San
Jose: Authors
of the Ancient Mediter103
Choice
Press, 2(X)1
Ancient Egypt Ian
Shaw and
Study of the Ancient Near East.
Paul Nicholson, The Dictio-
nary of Ancient Egypt. Harry N. Abrams, 1995.
David P. Silverman,
ed.,
New
Trans. Donald G. Schley. Grand
York:
Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans,
Ancient Egypt.
New
1994.
Anthony
York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
H.W.F. Saggs, Civilization Before Greece
and Rome.
tary
New Haven: Yale University
tians.
Press, 1989.
Spalinger, Aspects of the Mili-
New
the Hyksos," Journal
of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, vol.
Egyp-
Chester G.
Starr,
A
World.
New
York: Oxford University
Wolfram von Soden, The Ancient Introduction
to
History of the Ancient
Press, 1991.
John Warry, Warfare
10, 1979.
An
the Ancient
Haven: Yale University
Press, 1982.
Alan R. Shulman, "Chariots, Chariotry, and
Orient:
J.
Documents of
Norman:
the
Press, 1995.
104
in the Classical World.
University
of
Oklahoma
1
1
1
Index Actium, 9
Ahmose,
boats,
24, 27-28,
30
76-80
body armor, 34
Alexander the Great, 38, 89-90
booty,
Amenhotep
bow, 19-20, 23, 89
II,
45
Amosis. See Ahmose
Amun Amun
see also composite
(army), 46, 69, 70, 71, 74 (god),
49
Breasted, J.H. Hittite tactics discussed by,
1
Ancient Near Eastern Texts (Pritchard),
Kadesh
Ancient Records of Egypt (Breasted), 37,
tactics
Rameses
75,84
Rameses
archaeology, 66, 79, 82, 84
89
in,
III
recorded
bow
by,
37
and military intelligence
II
discussed
45
recorded by, 75
Nubians described
Antony, Mark, 9
see also arrows; bow; composite
70-71
inscriptions discussed by, 16,
22,30
archers, 61,84,
bow
67
victory over Sea Peoples
in,
84
rations given to soldiers described in,
50
Armageddon, 38
bronze, 27, 34
armor, 34
Bronze Age, 69, 81,86
army. See military arrows, 20,
Buhen, 54, 57, 58
61,84
Asia Minor, 66, 80 Assurbanipal (king), 88-89
cataracts of the Nile,
Assyria, 65
cavalry.
See chariot; harnessed horse
Assyrians, 86, 88-89
chariot,
29-32, 68-69, 72-73, 89
Aswan, 54
Cleopatra VII, 91
Ay
Collapse of the Bronze Age (Robbins),
(pharaoh), 45
54
69 baskets.
64
composite bow, 33-34, 68, 89 Connolly, Peter, 54
battering rams, 61 battle-ax,
18,24,36,61
copper, 105
1
8,
34
1
Ancient Egypt epsilon ax, 24
Drews, Robert, 36, 38, 81
End of the Bronze Age: Changes Early Egypt
wars
Esarhaddon
23
in,
in,
22 in, 19,
discipline of military in, in,
B.C.,
88
(king),
espionage. See military intelligence
clothing of soldiers
Hyksos
War-
The (Drews), 81
border forts civil
in
fare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200
Early Dynastic Period. See Early Egypt
33-34
Eurasia, 81
24
26
food, 50
isolation of, 15
foreign mercenaries. See mercenaries
organization of military of, 20-22,
fortifications
24-25
commanders
pharaoh as god/hero reasons for war
in,
23
in,
combat
warlords
in,
weapons
of,
in,
23
Nile River and, 56
22-23
physical layout of, 56-58
17-20, 23
trade protection and,
archaeological findings of,
54
conquerors
of,
86
fortifications of, of,
water supply and, 58
16
forts.
Gaza, 69-70 Gnirs,
1
and, 89-91
Andrea
M,
15, 31
gods, 11,42,46
grappling hooks, 84
historic eras of, 12
Greco-Roman
86
civilization,
Greeks, 86, 89
Nile River and, 76 political
fortifications
54
43-44
53
Greco-Roman World iron and,
See
frontiers,
structure of,
geography
in,
54-56
58-60
walls of,
economic
58-60
54-56
locations of,
22
Egypt borders
of,
gate defenses of, 58
15
role of military in society of,
single
56
of,
enclosure walls
fragmentation
of,
Grimal, Nicolas, 27
88
population size of, 35 property ownership religion of,
in,
43-44
Hackett, John, 19
harnessed horse, 27
11,42,46
Roman Empire
Hatshepsut (queen), 34
and, 90-91
shipbuilding and, 76
Hatti,
67
Egyptians, 11, 13-14,85
Hattusilis
Egyptian Warfare and Weapons (Shaw),
Healy, Mark, 28, 65-66
III,
helmet, 34
21,56 106
75
89
8
1
Index Herodotus, 77-78, 80
Merneptah, 81
of Ancient Egypt (Grimal), 27 Hittites, 65-75
Mesopotamia,
Horemheb
Middle Kingdom. See Early Egypt
History-
(pharaoh), 43^44,
kings), 25, 26, 27,
66
metals, 18
50
Hunters' Slate Palette, 19-20
Hyksos (shepherd
19,
military
28
47-48
administration of,
benefits of serving
commanders
imperialism, 27 infantry.
See military
intelligence.
discipline in,
in,
49, 50
46 49-5 in,
drawbacks of participation
See military intelligence
in.
Iraq.
See Mesopotamia
foreign soldiers and officers
iron,
86
fragmentation
Iron Age, 86
importance leaders of,
42^44
45-46
organization of, 46-47, 48
68
javelin. 20. 36.
punishments for rule violation
Ramose (pharaoh), 26 Kamak, 49, 66
scribes of,
47^48
upward mobility and, 43
Keegan, John, (sickle sword),
in,
50-51
Kadesh. 65, 69-74, 75
khopesh
49
88
middle class emergence and, 43-44
63-64
Jaffa.
of,
of,
49-51
in,
36
see also short sword; sword
military intelligence,
67
Military Rank,
and Organization
the Egyptian
Titles,
New Kingdom
48,49 ladders,
Mitanni (kingdom), 38, 40, 65, 66
60-61
Landstrom, Bjorn, 77, 79
Montu (war
Libya. 43. 81
Muwatallis (king), 67-75
god), 42
Libyans, 17.35.86 loot,
Narmer. See Menes
49
Lower Egypt,
navy, 82-84, 85, 91
1
Near
Luxor, 69
East.
See Mesopotamia; Palestine;
Syria
mace
New Kingdom,
(club), 17, 18
26, 27
Medinat Habu, 82, 84
Nile Delta, 25, 88
Megiddo, 38^0, 58-60
Nile River. 54-55, 56,
Memphis, 10,21,46,53,88
Northern Corps, 46
Menes
al-Nubi, Sheikh Ibada, 10-1
(pharaoh), 10, 53
43-44,51
mercenaries, 86-88 107
in
(Shulman),
76-80
1.
13, 22,
1
Ancient Egypt Nubia, 16-17
Sea Peoples, 80-85, 86-87
Nubians, 16-17, 34, 55-56, 86, 88
Senusret
I,
Senusret
III,
23 55
See Senusret
Octavian, 91
Sesotris
Old Kingdom. See Early Egypt
Seth (army), 46, 69, 70, 73-74
outposts. See fortifications; frontiers
Seti
63-64
Pepi
I,
ships,
76-80
Ships of the Pharaohs (Landstrom), 79
16
86
Philistines,
23-24
short sword,
pharaoh, 10, 45, 45-46
Shulman, Alan, 48, 49
82
siege warfare, 54,
58-63
Sinuhe, 22, 23
pirates, 81
Plato, 8
slaves,
P-Re (army), 46, 69,
70, 72,
Pritchard, James, 22,
30
Psamtek
56
shield, 19
82
Persians,
Ian, 21,
Sherdan, 35, 81,86
Palestinians, 25, 35 Peleset,
I
49, 66
I,
Shaw, Palestine, 54,
I.
I,
74
49
soldiers.
See military
Southern Corps, 46
89
spear, 36,
68
Ptah (army), 46, 69, 70, 73-74
spies.
Ptolemy, 89-90
Suppiluliumas, 67
See military intelligence
Sutekh. See Seth
Qadesh. See Kadesh
sword, 17-18
Ra
Syria,
see also short sword
42
(god),
Rameses
I,
Rameses II, 45, 67-75, 81 Rameses m, 76, 80, 82, 86 Re. See P-Re;
65-67
see also Mesopotamia
45
Taharqo
Ra
(king),
Tanuatamun
88
(king),
Robbins, Manuel, 69, 82-84
Thebes, 25, 46, 88
Romans, 86 Rome, 90-91
Thutmose
I
Thutmose
II,
Thutmose
III
60-6
scribes,
34
leadership talents of,
Megiddo
scaling ladders, 60-61 scouts,
(Thutmosis), 29, 34
bravery of, 45
Sahura (king), 76, 80 saps,
89
Palestine victory of,
65
47
territorial
108
46
victory led by,
expansion
38-40
62-63 of,
65
Index treaty-making
Thutmose
IV,
of,
Upper Egypt, 10
66
66
Tombos, 29
Warfare
tombs, 15, 79
in the
Ancient World (Hackett),
19
Trojan Horse, 62
warships. See boats; navy; ships
Trojan War, 52
Washukkani, 67
troop transports, 77-78
White Wall, 53
tunnels. See saps
Wilson, John A., 30
Tut (king). See Tutankhamen
Tutankhamen, 79
Yadin, Yigael,
109
1
8,
24, 56, 61,
87-88
7
Picture Credits © Hulton/ Archive by Getty Images, 47 © Charles & Josette Lenars/CORBIS,
© Roger Wood/CORBIS © Paul Almasy/CORBIS, 57 © Archivo Iconografico, S.A./CORBIS,
Cover image:
©
71
© Erich Lessing/Art Resource,
18,23,28,31,32,42,66 Bettmann/CORBIS, 62, 63, 91
12, 35,
51,74,83
Borromeo/Art Resource, NY, 21, 79
North Wind Picture Archives, 36, 82
© Bojan Brecelj/CORBIS, 43
© Gianni Dagli Orti/CORBIS,
Culver Pictures, 61
Werner Forman Archive,
26, 29, 39,
44, 59, 68, 73, 77, 87
© Christine Osborne/CORBIS, 54
Dr. E.
Strouhal/Art Resource, 46
Werner Forman Archive, The
British
Scala/Art Resource
NY,
1
© Stock Montage, Inc., 24, 33, 72 © Sandro Vannini/CORBIS, 34, 90 © Roger Wood/CORBIS, 55
Mu-
seum London/ Art Resource, 78 Giraudon/Art Resource, NY, 20, 37
I
I
About
the Author
Historian and award-winning writer
Don Nardo
has written or edited numerous
books about the ancient world, including Life in Ancient Athens, Greek and Roman Sport, and The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Ancient Rome. His studies of ancient and modern warfare include volumes on Greece, Rome, medieval times, the Revolutionary War, the the Pacific. Mr.
War of
Nardo
1812, the Mexican- American War, and World
lives
with his wife, Christine, in Massachusetts.
112
War II
in
dHi^d
the History of
Weapons and Warfare
changing nature of warfare and how
human
societies. In
it
has affected various
each volume, the warfare of a pivotal
The words of actual participants in ancient, medieval, and modern wars, as well as noted historians of the past and present are used to people or era
is
examined
in detail.
describe beliefs about war, strategies, battle formations, infantry, cavalry, siege,
and naval
tactics,
and the
lives
and
experiences of both military leaders and ordinary soldiers.
Each volume's value as a learning
tool
is
further
enhanced by
informative sidebars, footnotes, an extensive annotated bibliography, and an index.
Titles in the series include:
Ancient Greece Ancient
Rome
The Civil War The Middle Ages The Native Americans
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