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ANCIENT WARFARE
The oldest remaining documentation of military campaigns come from the Middle East where the Egyptians, Assyrians, Hittites, and Persians were the main combatants. Read about the rise of standing armies and how battles were fought 4000 years ago.
The oldest remaining documentation of military campaigns come from the Middle East where the |
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Continuation of Part I: Ancient Egyptian Military
Weapons
| The Old Kingdom had soldiers equipped with a great variety of weapons: shields, spears, cudgels, maces, daggers, bows and arrows. Quivers and battle axes came into use before the second Intermediary Period, which was a time of revolution in the Egyptian martial arts. The earliest metal arrowheads date from the 11th dynasty (ca.2000 BCE), made of copper hardened by hammering. The principal weapon of the Egyptian army was the bow and arrow. Nubian mercenaries formed the best archery units. It was transformed into a formidable weapon with the introduction by the Hyksos of the composite bow made of horn, sinews and wood, combined with body armour - which was often little more than broad leather straps - and the war-chariot, enabling fast attacks at long range . |
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The infantry of the New Kingdom carried spears, battle axes, scimitars and daggers. The scimitar (xpS - khepesh) came to Egypt from Syria, where Thutmose III used it first. There are many depictions of the gods handing the pharaoh this weapon of victory. It quickly became part of the infantryman's basic equipment. |
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| The military accepted new technologies , such as the use of bronze in the Middle Kingdom or of iron in the New Kingdom and above all during the Late Dynastic Period, faster than the general population, where stone tools were still used when bronze would have been available, but was too expensive. |
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| Even so, the bronze Middle Kingdom arrowheads may have been imported from the Middle East and their production in Egypt became common only in the time of the 18th dynasty. |
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After the bowmen, either on foot or on chariots, had softened up the enemy forces with a shower of arrows, the infantry would rush in, breaking their ranks with hand weapons, maces with wooden handles and stone - later metal - heads, battle axes, hatchets, clubs, swords, scimitars and daggers. |
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| While Egypt produced at least part of the copper it needed, it had to import all the tin required to make bronze and was also wholly dependent on import for iron, which put it at a disadvantage vis à vis the rising empires of the east during the first millennium BCE. The techniques for working copper and bronze, i.e. casting and subsequent hammering may have been developed by the Egyptians themselves; forging, the only way iron could be worked in the ancient world was imported from Europe. |
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The spear was used for stabbing, giving greater reach to the soldier. Charioteers carried with them, apart from their bows and arrows, a number of spears and were thus not left weaponless after shooting their arrows. Many of the new arms that came into use during the New Kingdom had their origin in Asia. The helmets Ramses III ordered distributed looked like Syrian helmets, the main difference being that the Syrian helmet was decorated with a horsetail while the Egyptian had cords ending in pendants. The body armour was of Asiatic origin too. It consisted of a leather jacket covered with little metal scales, not completely protecting the soldier from arrows, as the Egyptians could conclude from their own successes, or the Syrians when a lucky shot killed the disguised Ahab. 34 And a certain man drew a bow at a venture , and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness. Kings 1, 22 |
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| Despite such deficiencies, the charioteers of Thutmose III wore occasionally scale armour centuries before Ahab's mishap, but many preferred broad bands (of leather possibly) crossed over the chest or carried a shield. Their torso was thus more or less protected, while the lower body was shielded by the chariot itself. The pharaohs often wore armour with inlaid semi-precious stones, which offered better protection, the stones being harder than the metal used for arrow tips. It is difficult to estimate, how widespread the use of armour or helmets really was, as the reliefs depict Egyptians very rarely carrying protection other than shields. |
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Despite such deficiencies, the charioteers of Thutmose III wore occasionally scale armour centuries before Ahab's mishap, but many preferred broad bands (of leather possibly) crossed over the chest or carried a shield. Their torso was thus more or less protected, while the lower body was shielded by the chariot itself. The pharaohs often wore armour with inlaid semi-precious stones, which offered better protection, the stones being harder than the metal used for arrow tips. It is difficult to estimate, how widespread the use of armour or helmets really was, as the reliefs depict Egyptians very rarely carrying protection other than shields. In peace time the weapons were stored in royal armouries. Their distribution to the soldiers before a campaign was an occasion for a splendid ceremony attended by the pharaoh. Ramses III declared at such an event speaking to the assembled soldiers from a balcony
Wake your arms, draw your weapons in order to destroy the rebelling lands who do not know Egypt, the strength of Amen my father.
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The Chariot History
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| Chariots seem to have originated in Mesopotamia in the third millenium BCE. The highly mobile two-wheeled war chariot carrying a driver and an archer armed with a short compound bow revolutionized military tactics after 1700 BC. |
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| This expensive weapon spread throughout the Middle East and and is thought to have reached Egypt with the conquering Hyksos, though there is no factual evidence to support this view. It spread into Asia Minor, Greece and was known in Northern Europe by 1500 BCE. With the advent of horseback riding by 1000 BCE it lost most of its military importance. |
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| The Egyptian chariot betrayed its Asiatic origin in a number of ways, by the names of its parts which were Semitic and by its decorations which often took the form of date palm branches or animals opposing each other, both Syrian motifs. |
Design
| The Egyptians improved the design of the chariot by making it lighter, changing the position of the driver so he would stand closer to the chariot's axle and covering the axle with metal to reduce friction. Some wooden parts were strengthened by covering them with metal sleeves. These changes lightened the load on the horses and greatly improved their performance. Saddle-pads were placed on the horses' backs and the yoke was attached to them. |
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| Leather girths around the horses' chests and bellies prevented them from slipping. A single shaft attached to the yoke pulled the chariots. The chariot was built of pieces of wood which had been bent into the required shape possibly by immersing them in boiling hot water for several hours, bending them and then letting them dry. Various kinds of wood were used: elm, ash for the axles and sycamore for the footboard. |
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The spokes of the wheels were made by bending six pieces of wood into a V-shape. These were glued together in such a way that every spoke was composed of two halves of two V-shaped pieces, forming a hexagonal star. The tips of the V's were fastened to the hub by wet cattle intestines, which hardened when they dried. |
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| The tires were made of sections of wood, tied to the wheel with leather lashings which passed through slots in the tire sections. The thongs didn't come in contact with the ground, making the chariot more reliable by reducing the wear and tear. German carpenters who reconstructed such a chariot needed about six hundred hours to complete it. |
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Use
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The lack of springs made the chariots unsuited for use in rocky terrain, where they could easily overturn or break, and even at the best of times shooting arrows let alone taking proper aim from a speeding chariot must have been a difficult task. Chariots fought therefore in closed ranks overwhelming the enemy by the quantity of missiles rather than by their accuracy. If the chariot was about to overturn, the crew would try to jump off the open back before it happened, then, if the chariot was broken, catch the horses and ride on them to safety. What chariots were certainly very much suited for was the pursuit of fleeing enemy on an open plain, when spears could be used for stabbing them in the back. |
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| The Egyptians knew two types of chariots, the war-chariot which had six-spoked wheels while the carriage chariots had only four spokes. The six spoked wheels could be made lighter and were better supported than the heavier four spoked wheels, making the whole chariot more reliable. Serving in the charioteer corps did not come cheap. The recruit was allotted a team of horses from the royal stables and five attendants, whom he had to equip. The chariot itself cost him, according to a possible prejudiced scribe, three deben of silver for the shaft and five for the body, a small fortune, which only noblemen could afford. War chariots were manned by a driver holding a whip and the reigns and a fighter, generally wielding a bow or, after spending all his arrows, a short spear of which he had a few. When hunting, the pharaohs would sometimes dispense with the driver and enjoy chasing after their prey on their own. |
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Seagoing vessels: warships and merchant men
Old Kingdom Vessels
| Keelless seagoing vessels like this one from the time of King Sahure (2500 BCE) traded with the Phoenician cities, importing cedar wood and other merchandise, and were sent as the first Egyptian trade expedition to the Land of Punt. The bipedal mast carried a vertical sail. It was steered by six oars and had sixteen rowing oars. A rock served as anchor. The bow was decorated with an eye. I went down on the sea in a ship of one hundred and fifty cubits long and forty cubits wide, with one hundred and fifty sailors of the best of Egypt who had seen heaven and earth, and whose hearts were stronger than lions. Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, c. 2200 BCE |
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| Crews on Egyptian ships were large, as their sailing capabilities were low and they had to be rowed often. Ancient ships and not just Egyptian vessels, could not sail into the wind so that tacking was impossible. If the wind was unfavorable rowing was the only means to get anywhere. |
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This model of a 15th century merchant ship was made after the wall painting (below) at Deir el Bahri. The ship was about 22 metres long and 5 metres wide. It didn't have a wooden keel but got its stability from a thick rope fastened under tension at either extremity of the ship. There were fifteen rowing oars on either side, two connected oars used as rudder, a single mast and a 15 metre wide horizontal sail. The stern was decorated with a carved lotus flower |
Expansion during the New Kingdom
| A major expedition to the Land of Punt (probably in the Horn of Africa) down the Red Sea and into the Indian Ocean was undertaken under Queen Hatshepsut. |
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| Bigger ships of seventy to eighty tons suited to long voyages became quite common (In size they might be compared to Columbus's Santa Maria with a displacement of 100 tons or his smaller ships with about fifty). |
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This model of a 13th century warship was made after wall paintings at Medinet Habu depicting the victory of Ramses III over the Sea Peoples. The high bulwarks protected sailors and soldiers from enemy missiles. Eighteen oars gave it the manoeuvrability which was a decisive factor in the Egyptian victory. Like all Egyptian ships of this period, it was not laid on a keel, but got its structural strength from a gangway connecting stern to bow. It had a single mast with a horizontal sail. The bow was decorated with a lion's head crushing a human skull. |
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| This model of a Philistine man of war was equally constructed according to the Medinet Habu paintings. Its lack of rowing oars may have been a distinct disadvantage in the confined space of the Nile delta where they must have been incapable of using their ram against the more agile rowed Egyptian vessels. Its design was superior to that of the Egyptian ships, having a proper keel. |
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The Late Period
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King Necho II (609-594 BCE) invested huge sums in the development of an Egyptian war fleet. According to Herodotus he had triremes built in both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Some scholars think that the ships he built were biremes and the development of the trireme took place in the next century and was part of the Egyptian war effort against Persia. The models are at the Haifa Naval Museum, Israel. |
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Next Tuesday, continuation of Part I: Ancient Egyptian Military
Fortresses
Siege Warfare
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