Machimoi

[3] During the 30th Dynasty, Egyptian máchimoi were widely used against the Achaemenid Empire: according to Diodorus, pharaoh Teos sent 80,000 of them in his expedition in the Near East in c.360/358 BCE and his nephew Nakhthorheb (the future Nectanebo II) was their commander.

Máchimoi were still present during the Ptolemaic period, and most scholars considers them as the direct successors of their Late Period counterparts; Ptolemaic máchimoi are mostly still seen as a caste of native-Egyptian, land-granted, low-ranked warriors whom, with the passing of time, takes on increasingly important roles alongside the Greek army likely since the battle of Raphia in 217 BCE, and exerted increasing social pressure on the Ptolemies and was responsible for various rebellions and uprisings.

[8] However, the most famous document mentioning them is the Rosetta Stone (Greek text, row 19) made under Ptolemy V Epiphanes (196 BCE), which refers to an amnesty for some deserted máchimoi.

She challenged most of Herodotus' description, pointing out that ancient Egyptians never used similar caste systems, and both the total numbers of máchimoi and of the lands given to them are almost certainly unsustainable, suggesting that Herodotus unintentionally merged professional military officers with a militia composed by commoners who were called to arms if necessary, and attributed to the whole group an elite status not much different from that of Greek Spartiates.

[7] In this regard, she accepts the idea that the máchimoi were the lowest level of the military hierarchy, but their socio-economic status was still higher than that of the average peasant.