Military of ancient Egypt

The arid plains and deserts surrounding Egypt were inhabited by nomadic tribes who occasionally tried to raid or settle in the fertile Nile River valley.

Nevertheless, the great expanses of the desert formed a barrier that protected the river valley and was almost impossible for massive armies to cross.

The Egyptians built fortresses and outposts along the borders east and west of the Nile Delta, in the Eastern Desert, and in Nubia to the south.

Small garrisons could prevent minor incursions, but if a large force was detected a message was sent for the main army corps.

Djoser was the first to make a professional army by getting volunteers every year to join, most of them were lower-class men, who could not afford to train in other jobs.

[7] Old Kingdom soldiers were equipped with many types of weapons, including shields, spears, cudgels, maces, daggers, and bows and arrows.

[8] The pharaoh Mentuhotep II commanded military campaigns south as far as the Second Cataract in Nubia, which had gained its independence during the First Intermediate Period.

[9] From the Twelfth Dynasty onwards, pharaohs often kept well-trained standing armies, which formed the basis of larger forces raised for defense against invasion.

[10] After Merneferre Ay of the mid-13th dynasty fled his palace, a west Asian tribe called the Hyksos sacked Memphis (the Egyptians' capital city) and claimed dominion over Upper and Lower Egypt.

)[12][13][14] The composite bow, which allowed for more accuracy and greater kill distance with arrows, along with horses and chariots eventually assisted the Egyptian military in ousting the Hyksos from Egypt, beginning when Seqenenre Tao became ruler of Thebes and opened a struggle that claimed his own life in battle.

The Sea Peoples caused many problems, but ultimately the military was strong enough at this time to prevent a collapse of the government.

The Egyptian soldiers carried a simple armament consisting of a spear with a copper spearhead and a large wooden shield covered by leather hides.

A stone mace was also carried in the Archaic period, though later this weapon was probably only in ceremonial use, and was replaced with the bronze battle axe.

The spearmen were supported by archers carrying a simple curved bow and arrows with arrowheads made of flint or copper.

[8] The major advance in weapons technology and warfare began around 1600 BC when the Egyptians fought and finally defeated the Hyksos people who had made themselves lords of Lower Egypt.

[citation needed] Other new technologies included the khopesh,[citation needed] which temple scenes show being presented to the king by the gods with a promise of victory, body armour and improved bronze casting; in the 18th Dynasty soldiers began wearing helmets and leather or cloth tunics with metal scale coverings].

The encounter with other powerful Near Eastern kingdoms like the Mitanni, the Hittites, and later the Assyrians and Babylonians, made it necessary for the Egyptians to conduct campaigns far from home.

After the conquest by Alexander the Great, Egypt was heavily hellenised and the main military force became the infantry phalanx.

Later, after receiving the official position, the divided armies would ally themselves with mercenaries who would be trained with them as one of their own but never a part of the native Egyptian military.

The most common symbol in Egyptian military history would be the semi-circular fan sitting on top of a large, long staff as shown by the sunshade hieroglyph 𓋺.

Its offensive power was in its capacity to rapidly turn, wheel and repeatedly charge, penetrating the enemy line and functioning as a mobile firing platform that afforded the fighting crewmen the opportunity to shoot many arrows from the composite bow.

[32] Chariots are best defined as horsedrawn vehicles with two spoked wheels that require their drivers and passengers to stand whilst in motion’ (Archer 1).

The role of an archer was one of value when place on the back of a chariot, literally making this a target almost unable to hit due to the amount of movement.

[35] By the later intermediate period, the navy was highly sophisticated and used complicated naval maneuvers, such as Kamose's campaign against the Hyksos in the harbor of Avaris (c.1555–1550 BC)[36] There were two different types of ship in Ancient Egypt: the reed boat and the vessel made from large wooden planks.

Slings, throw sticks, spears, and javelins were used, but the bow and arrow was the primary projectile weapon for most of Egypt's history.

During the Old and Middle Kingdom of Egypt's Dynastic period, it typically consisted of a pointed blade made of copper or flint that was attached to a long wooden shaft by a tang.

Because of its greater weight, the spear was better at penetration than the arrow, but in a region where armour consisted mostly of shields, this was only a slight advantage.

[39] The bow and arrow is one of ancient Egypt's most crucial weapons, used from Predynastic times through the Dynastic age and into the Christian and Islamic periods.

The handmade arrows we created using mature branches or twigs and in some rare cases some immature pieces of wood that would have its bark scraped off.

Each arrow was built with consisted of a reed main shaft, with a wooden fore shift attached to the distal end.