DBA Armies

This list covers the Egyptian armies of the Early Dynastic Period, the Old and Middle Kingdoms and the First and Second Intermediate Periods, before chariots had come into military use. Ancient Egypt was a long narrow country dominated by the Nile, with dense population and cultivation concentrated only along its flood plain and communications almost entirely on its waters. There are several sets of chronologies suggested for Egyptian History but there is general agreement on which Dynasties belong to the different periods. Thus we have the “Early Dynastic” (Dynasties 1-2), the “Old Kingdom” (Dynasties 3-6) which built the great pyramids, the “First Intermediate Period” (Dynasties 7-10), then the Middle Kingdom (Dynasties 11-12) and finally the “Second Intermediate Period” (Dynasties 13-17), which includes the Hyksos kings of Dynasty 15. The highest and the lowest chronologies differ by about 30 years and those used here are those of Grimal, Baines & Malik. From about 1645 BC, the northern half of Egypt was occupied by the Hyksos (list I/17) but the military system of the southern half probably remained unchanged until Kamose reformed the army and started driving the Hyksos out. Archers and close- combat troops usually formed up in separate bodies in the centre of the battle line with the lighter troops on the flanks. The army consisted of a core of hereditary archers, menfat and specialist skirmishers pairing a javelin thrower and a quiver carrier, supported by provincial conscripts under their local nobles and by foreign mercenaries. Menfat (often translated as “shock troops”) were close fighters with axe and shield, sometimes including “spearmen of the residence” or specialist marines. Large boats were used for transport on the great waterway of the Nile. There were many civil wars, but the major external enemy were aggressive Nubian armies from beyond the cataracts to the south that made the Nile largely impassable to large boats at that point. Temples were often surrounded by strong fortifications, and during the Middle Kingdom, two large fortresses were built by the Egyptians just below the cataracts to hinder Nubian attacks. References: Armies of the Ancient Near East N. Stillman & N. Tallis, Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600BC W. J. Hamblin, Cambridge Ancient History Vol 1 Part 2, Warfare in Ancient Egypt B. McDermott, Soldiers of the Pharaoh N. Fields.