Ancient Egyptian Warfare (3000 BCE–332 BCE)

The culture of Egyptian history spans millennia. Hence, we can see major changes (developments, innovations, borrowings from abroad) as well as the persistence of organizational stability. Add to this the slow growth in corporate identity of the state’s army as well as its technological changes. The latter is most clearly revealed in the use of horses for the elite segment of the pharaonic army in the New Kingdom, the chariotry. It was roughly around the same time that the Egyptians had an independent army, whereas earlier such had not been the case. The war materiel, especially axes and maceheads in fighting, had slowly but effectively been replaced by the use of more effective swords—note the advance through the sickle-shaped types—and shields. Then, too, the introduction of bronze technology in the late third millennium bce had effectively altered the earlier reliance upon stone and copper. During the Middle Kingdom (c. 2008 bce–1775 bce), massive fortress building took place at the Second Cataract in the south in Nubia. Furthermore, permanent military duty was established and some type of cursus honorum for high-ranking soldiers is discernible. Egyptian history is separated into unified periods, called Kingdoms, from those in between when disunity was prevalent and warfare frequent. The latter eras are called Intermediate Periods. This bibliography commences with Dynasties I and II, often called the Early State, and then follows on to the fully developed archaic state of the Old Kingdom, covering Dynasties III–VIII. Subsequent is the First Intermediate Period, which ended with the second unification of the Middle Kingdom (Dynasties XII–XIII). The Second Intermediate Period comes afterward, to be succeeded in turn by the New Kingdom (Dynasties XVIII–XX). That was the era of Egypt’s great empire in Asia (Palestine especially, but also southern Syria) and Nubia in the south up to the Fourth Cataract. A third period of disunity then occurred (Dynasties XXI–XXV). The Saite Period of Dynasty XXVI (664 bce–525 bce) is often recognized as the final epoch of a strong independent Egypt. But due to outside invasions, the Egyptians of the Delta came to rely upon northern Ionian mercenaries. This is particularly evident during the reign of the first Saite ruler, Psammetichus I (664 bce–610 bce), but became stable thereafter. Then came the domination of Persia, which, despite some independent royal houses, effectively concludes the history owing to Alexander the Great’s invasion of Egypt in 332 bce.