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ancient egypt is usually known for its exquisite architecture and mysterious religion. because a considerable part of the research on ancient egypt comes from archaeological data, and due to the climate and human changes in the nile river basin (such as a large number of tomb robbers and destruction by foreign invaders), the military data left behind is not sufficient, so we don’t know much about egypt’s military power today. in general, because the focus of the development and survival of ancient egyptian civilization is on religion, and it is restricted by semi-closed geographical conditions, the border of upper egypt (today’s southern egypt) is blocked by the jungles and waterfalls of nubia (today’s northern sudan), and lower egypt (today’s northern egypt) is blocked by the hot deserts of libya and the sinai peninsula, so the desire of ancient egyptian civilization to expand outward is not strong. in general, egypt established a unified dynasty around 3100 bc. from this time to 332 bc, there were 31 dynasties, which can be roughly divided into the following five periods: the early dynastic period, the old kingdom period, the middle kingdom period (when it was invaded by the sea people hyksos (hekakhasewet)), the new kingdom period, and the late egypt. since the establishment of the unified empire, the egyptian army has continued to develop, from the early army of the old kingdom that only used wooden sticks and stone hammers to the mobile army of the new kingdom that used chariots and composite bows and arrows. the ancient egyptian army has always played the most reliable sword of the egyptian rulers.

the old kingdom army: nobility and militia

in mesopotamia around 3300 bc, when ancient cities like eridu emerged, egyptians were still tribal, living in primitive villages along the banks of the nile. under the leadership of a powerful ruler (the legendary catfish king narmer, named after the hieroglyphs on the narmer palette, in which nar means catfish, and the egyptians called him menes), around 3000 bc, upper and lower egypt went from a series of villages scattered along the banks of the nile to being unified under the leadership of memphis (the "white city", the new capital the ruler established for his empire, located south of modern cairo). the earliest centralized state in the world was born. the state form and ruling methods of this period were very fragmented and vague: the fertile areas along the nile river, including the delta, which runs from the southern waterfall to the sea (no more than 50 kilometers wide, and even the soft fan-shaped delta is no more than 200 kilometers wide) were all included in the royal rule (the title of "pharaoh" had not yet appeared at this time, and it was not appropriate to call him "pharaoh", but for the sake of reading habits we still use "pharaoh" to refer to the rulers of early egypt). egypt during this period was a narrow strip of land distributed along the river, about 1,200 kilometers long and less than 100 kilometers wide, with a total area of ​​about 20,000 square kilometers, consisting of some large main villages, forming the world's earliest centralized country-state. the rulers of this period were absolute dictators, usually representatives of gods on earth, who had simple administrative departments and civil bureaucratic systems. at this time, the ruler himself was the high priest and main god of the city temple, the priests stationed in other temples were his religious clergy, and the administrative representatives located in various large city-state settlements, namely "gnomes" (greek nomos, meaning livestock land, and extended to mean provinces or states), were called nome chiefs or nome primes. they were the main local government leaders. there were 26 provinces such as nomes throughout egypt. the social structure of egypt at this time included a very small number of royal elites (avoid using the word "nobles" before the late old kingdom. the early egyptian elites may not have independent economic resources, but only rely on the king to provide food and work for him), scribes and priests, accounting for about 5% of the total population, and the rest were illiterate farmers. this strict pyramid-shaped structure was based on the religious system at the time: the monarch was the god himself, he could be the main messenger of the gods, he was the chief priest of all gods and temples in upper and lower egypt, and the priest class of all sizes was the embodiment of his will, integrating individuals and society into a natural sacred universe. the hierarchical characteristics of a minority ruling the majority become a reflection of heaven's order on earth.

due to the lack of information, we know very little about the egyptian army during the old kingdom, and it is not even certain whether egypt had a standing army during that period. the king must have had his palace guard or royal army, which came from a variety of sources and was led by the king's absolute confidants rather than professional generals. pepy i (the pharaoh of the sixth dynasty of the old kingdom, about 2200 bc) once appointed his confidant weni to command a large army to punish the bedouins in the desert. weni described his army in his work "the autobiography of weni" (a valuable document left over from the old kingdom): "they came from all over the country and were composed of combat teams led by local leaders. they were marquises, royal seal holders, court nobles, provincial governors and mayors, and high priests. each of them was the leader of "a certain team" in upper and lower egypt, either the villages and towns they ruled, or various leaders from "foreign countries." weni was obviously victorious, and he boasted in his autobiography that his army "did not harm anyone." it can be seen that the military organization of the egyptians during the old kingdom was very loose and primitive. the provinces had their own militias, which were recruited from the villages by soldier scribes. they were trained, led by the governors themselves in wartime, and then joined by senior dignitaries such as uni to temporarily assemble an army. at this time, the province had few troops, about a few hundred people. a governor during the reign of amenemhet i (the pharaoh of the 12th dynasty in the early middle kingdom, about 1900 bc) used small boats to transport troops on the nile. he transported 400 people the first time and 600 people the second time. it is worth mentioning that amenemhet i died of murder, most likely killed by his guards, which also shows that there were royal guards in the early egyptian regime.

according to the figures mentioned above, if each province can mobilize hundreds of militiamen, it is estimated that in the old kingdom and the early middle kingdom, the largest size of the egyptian army was about 10,000 people, consisting of a small number of royal elites and most of the provincial militia. according to archaeological data from the fifth dynasty (about 2500 bc), during this period, pharaoh sahure went on an expedition to palestine or lebanon in asia and began to use maritime fleets, so he was also called the father of the egyptian navy. since warships were used in this expedition to asia, the egyptians opened up and mastered the sea route from the nile delta to syria. however, the warships of this period may have been simple transport ships. according to the records of the palermo stone, during the reign of snofru (pharaoh of the fourth dynasty, about 2600 bc), 40 ships were sent to find cedar trees and returned fully loaded. it is speculated that sahure was likely to use such transport ships to carry soldiers to the expedition. according to the excavations of the egyptian supreme antiquities council at the temple of shahura and the records of the palermo stone, this expedition may have taken place in about 2443 bc. the egyptians seized agarwood trees and 80,000 kilograms of agarwood, and naturally won the victory. according to the drawings on the tomb wall of a gnome (i.e., governor or provincial governor) found south of fayoum, in this war to siege the asian fortress, the egyptians used ladders and bows and arrows, and some egyptian soldiers used battle axes to fight with asian soldiers, which shows that the egyptian army at that time had basic weapon differences: archers, close combat infantry and early engineers all appeared.

the mural of the egyptian expedition to asia found in the tomb of the governor of heracliopolis clearly shows that the egyptians are using ladders to climb the city walls, and some soldiers have entered the city and started to slaughter the defenders. the egyptian soldiers digging tunnels with hammers and chisels in the lower part of the picture may be the earliest siege engineers.

the armies of the old kingdom were poorly equipped, with stone hammers and wooden clubs as their main melee weapons, as well as battle axes. there were both stone and copper axes, with sharp edges, but the egyptians used a very primitive method of fixing the axes: they only used leather straps to tie them, which made the axes very unstable. the straight bow was the most basic ranged weapon in egypt during the old kingdom, with reeds as the shaft and arrows made of stone or bronze. the egyptian army during the old kingdom had no armor or helmets, and the soldiers were almost naked, with wooden shields as their only protective equipment. according to the murals found in hierakonpolis (the greek form of the ancient egyptian city of nekhen (eagle city), where a series of important artifacts such as the narmer palette and the scepter head were discovered), this wooden shield may have been covered with fur to increase its defensive toughness, but the defensive effect was poor.

the famous narmer palette shows the catfish king narmer striking his enemies with his warhammer, a weapon commonly used during the old kingdom.

like the government system, the military system of the old kingdom was also quite primitive. at that time, senior military positions were held by nobles and were very simple and easy to understand. for example, the "fleet commander" who was responsible for driving the fleet to transport soldiers, or the "commander to prevent nomadic tribes", "regional commander", "nubian commander" and so on deployed at the border gates, these positions were hereditary. however, there were also a few people who were able to be promoted to senior positions by working hard to please the pharaoh and having brilliant military achievements. the unni we mentioned earlier is an example.

middle kingdom armies: sword and shield

after the fall of the old kingdom, ancient egypt entered the chaotic first intermediate period. around 2040 bc, mentuhotep ii (pharaoh of the 11th dynasty, one of the most influential pharaohs in ancient egypt) reunified egypt, and the middle kingdom began. egypt's military and economic strength during the middle kingdom was significantly enhanced compared to the old kingdom. according to calculations by soviet scholars, the territory of the middle kingdom doubled compared to the old kingdom, reaching about 35,000 square kilometers, and ruled a population of about 4.5 to 7 million, which laid a solid material foundation for the improvement of military capabilities during the middle kingdom.

an egyptian soldier statue found in the tomb of mesihti, governor of assiut during the 10th dynasty. this dark brown-skinned soldier is an egyptian, holding a spear and a wooden shield.

also found in the tomb are statues of egyptian soldiers. these black-skinned warriors were mercenaries from nubia. during the 12th dynasty, the pharaohs brought the entire territory of nubia under their rule, and more and more nubian soldiers joined the egyptian army, usually serving as lightly armed archers.

the military organization of the middle kingdom was roughly the same as that of the old kingdom, and a professional officer class emerged at this time. in the "autobiographical inscription of husaybek known as zaa" during the reign of senusret iii (a pharaoh of the 12th dynasty who conquered the nubian region), the subject zaa (an honorary title for husaybek himself) traced his promotion process: he began serving in the royal army at the age of 24 as a bodyguard of the pharaoh, and because he "showed keenness", he was appointed to the grassroots position of "ruler's guard", with six soldiers to command. then, he followed senusret iii to conquer nubia, and because he killed a nubian with his own hands, he was appointed "commander of the guard" after the war and received "a hundred men as a reward." later, he followed senusret iii to conquer asia (this is the only record of the invasion of asia in the middle kingdom), and he killed another asian and received "a golden stick, a dagger and a scabbard", and finally he ended his promotion with the high position of "commander of the capital". these military leaders would also do some chores for the pharaoh in peacetime, such as managing the hatnub quarry, which was rich in alabaster. some expeditions were purely economic, and the army played the role of a long-distance caravan. for example, according to the amenemhat inscription carved on the rock (it is generally believed that this amenemhat was a prince or a vizier equivalent to a prime minister, but there are also claims that he and amenemhat i, the founder of the 12th dynasty, are the same person, and his princely status can prove this), amenemhat once led an army of 600 people (soviet scholars believe it was 10,000 people, suspected to be wrong) to transport ore back for the pharaoh, boasting that he "brought shiny precious stones for his majesty" and that his army was "unscathed", which shows that the ancient egyptian army at that time had strong discipline, and its marching and long-distance mobility levels were relatively advanced, and it had a certain art of command.

a statue of senusret iii in the fifth avenue museum. the conqueror pharaoh has a recognizable, intimidating face and a sinister gaze.

during the middle kingdom, the military became more and more organized, and fixed combat units replaced the militias previously recruited from various provinces. according to the two soldier model pictures above, 4 people in each row and 10 people in each column should be a common organization during the middle kingdom of ancient egypt. the author speculates that this organization is a four-six array similar to a square formation. if the number of soldiers is increased, it can be changed into a column (or horizontal column) with four horizontal and ten vertical, which is consistent with the soldier model in the tomb. various sizes of squads and legions appeared. according to the "autobiographical inscription of husaybek known as zaa", 6 people may be the smallest military organization unit. 6 people, 40 people, 60 people, 100 people, 400 people, 600 people (exactly equal to the number of people transported by the governor of the province who transported troops on the river during the old kingdom), and 2,000 people are the numbers of troops that often appear in inscriptions, sometimes even more than 2,000 people. for example, an expedition of the 11th dynasty used an army of 3,000 people, and real professional armies began to appear. as nubia was incorporated into the empire, some nubian police units called medjay (the same name as the pharaoh's guards in the famous movie "the mummy" series, "yipwei chenci": "medjay is lucky to be with egypt", the egyptians used them as desert border guards, cemetery guards and police, and every large town had such hired police) also entered the egyptian army and provided intensive archer firepower for their egyptian masters. libyan mercenaries were also incorporated into the sequence of the egyptian army. these cunning desert nomads used boomerangs and slings. the maximum range of this weapon could reach 150 meters, which was about the same as the bow and arrow at the time, but the accuracy was not guaranteed beyond 30 meters. therefore, the main form of combat was still hand-to-hand combat. egyptian infantry armed with spears and battle axes were the main force of combat, while nubian and libyan mercenaries who were not of our race could only serve as skirmishers.

with the development of productivity, the level of weapon manufacturing in the middle kingdom has also improved a lot compared to the old kingdom. in addition to the light spearmen mentioned above, heavy spearmen with large shields that can cover the whole body (also without armor) appeared. the royal army was better equipped. in some tomb murals from the middle kingdom, the weapons of a provincial governor had to be carried by 6 people. the governor himself obviously could not use so many weapons. these six people were more like his elite guards (6 people were the smallest organizational unit). they held huge shields covering the whole body, large bows, quivers, spears and axes, short spears and short axes. the combat effectiveness of the egyptian army in the middle kingdom was greatly enhanced compared to the old kingdom.

the sea peoples attack: destruction and reconstruction

the seemingly invincible middle kingdom encountered a real crisis three hundred years after its establishment: the hyksos who came from the sea. according to ancient greek manuscripts, hyksos was written as hyksos, hyk means "king", sos means shepherd, so hyksos means "shepherd king". later, there was another explanation that hyksos means "foreign rulers", and it is believed that they may be phoenicians, akkadians, hittites, arabs or hurrians. in the inscriptions, the hyksos were called "asians", and according to archaeological excavations, the culture of the hyksos was surprisingly similar to the canaanites in palestine in the middle bronze age, especially the production technology, shape and color patterns of their pottery, which all reflected the style of canaan. therefore, these mysterious sea peoples did not "come from the sea", but were more likely nomads from canaan and inland asia.

the hyksos knew how to use chariots and horses, and were equipped with powerful composite bows. these highly aggressive and well-equipped shepherds were irresistible to the backward egyptian army. in the egyptian inscriptions of the time, the egyptians exclaimed, "the winds of god hit us," and "after defeating the rulers of the land, they (the hyksos) brutally burned our cities, completely destroyed the temples, and treated all the locals with cruel means, killing some and turning the wives and children of others into slaves." after a long battle, around 1700 bc, the hyksos occupied memphis, the capital of egypt, controlled the fertile lower egypt, and drove the pharaoh to a corner of thebes in upper egypt. during this period, the hyksos established the 15th and 16th dynasties, and maintained peaceful coexistence with the 17th dynasty in thebes in the south. however, the hyksos began to provoke the egyptian rulers in the south without reason. according to the papyrus "the story of apophis and sekenera" from the new kingdom period, the hyksos ruler claimed that the hippos in the egyptian ruler's "hippo pond" were too noisy (this hippo pond in thebes is about 600 kilometers away from his capital), "disturbing his sleep", and a fierce war broke out between the two sides. after years of fierce fighting (besieging a hyksos fortress in the sinai peninsula for six years), the egyptian ruler ahmose i (the pharaoh who founded the 18th dynasty) finally expelled the hyksos from egypt.

we know very little about how ahmose i drove out the hyksos. according to the analysis of the "ahmose tomb inscription of el-kapo in upper egypt" (the owner of the inscription, ahmose, was an egyptian commander with the same name as ahmose i, and there was always a group of sailors or marines following him to fight, proving that ahmose might be a captain), ahmose i might have sailed upstream and fought around the nile river, first defeating the hyksos on the water, and then projecting infantry forces through the river to gradually occupy the fertile areas on both sides of the river, and gradually driving the hyksos out of egypt from south to north. ahmose i might have had chariots captured from the hyksos (or learned to make them), and captain ahmose "brought back a chariot" from his opponents. it can be inferred that ahmose i defeated the hyksos by learning their advantages. from then on, the prosperous and powerful new kingdom of ancient egypt was established, chariot troops appeared, and the heyday of the egyptian empire arrived.

the new kingdom: chariots, navy, and fortresses

ahmose i poured his anger on the asians. he launched punitive expeditions against asia and nubia many times, and each time he plundered a large amount of materials and wealth. chariots were the main equipment of the egyptian army in this era. at that time, the egyptians had learned to cast bronze and process bent wood, which also had the conditions for large-scale production of chariots. in the early 18th dynasty, bronze became more widely popular and gradually excluded the production of copper and copperware. compared with copper, bronze is strong and durable and can be melted at a lower temperature, which simplifies its production and processing process. copper is mined in the eastern desert between the nile valley and the red sea and the sinai peninsula. in terms of wood processing, egyptians usually use foreign wood, and transport elm, birch and tamarisk from west asia and asia minor to form the body and connecting rods of the chariot, while the wheels rely on bent wood. in the new kingdom, in order to obtain larger pieces of bent wood, people bend the trees in the early growth stage, or artificially bend the felled tree sections. this kind of bent wood is mainly used to make wheels and bows. the chariot and the composite bow, two revolutionary foreign equipment, brought about a qualitative change in the combat effectiveness of the egyptian army during the new kingdom period.

thutmose iii (the most powerful pharaoh in the 18th dynasty and even in the history of ancient egypt, known as the "napoleon of the ancient world") was an expert in chariot warfare during this period. he gave himself the title of "pharaoh" (originally meaning "big house"), led a combined army consisting of chariots, archers, and infantry to expedition everywhere, and launched 17 expeditions to west asia. a series of victories finally established his rule and expanded the country's borders to charchemish on the mediterranean coast. he expanded his expedition to the fourth waterfall of the nile in the south, forming an unprecedented empire in egyptian history. according to the "chronicle of thutmose iii" engraved on the granite wall of the corridor of the karnak temple, in 1482 bc, thutmose iii led an army of more than 10,000 people (equivalent to several times the number of expeditionary forces in the middle kingdom) to expedition to megidon (the origin of armeggedon in the bible, which represents the final battle of the end of the world) in palestine, and the famous battle of megiddo broke out. thutmose iii advanced in a "golden chariot" and his chariot was at the front of the egyptian column. according to the annals, the morale of the egyptian army was very high. "the god amun protected him (referring to thutmose iii) in the battle, and the power of the god set (the god of storms and tricks) filled every one of his soldiers." thutmose iii first defeated his asian opponent in a field battle, seized his "golden and silver chariot" and "silver" tent, and then surrounded megiddo. after a long and fierce siege, megiddo finally fell, and thutmose iii obtained rich spoils: including 340 prisoners of war, 83 "killed enemy hands", 2,041 horses, 1 royal gilded chariot, 924 ordinary chariots (probably exaggerated), 2 "fine bronze armor", 200 leather armor, 502 bows, 1,929 large livestock, 2,000 goats, 20,500 white small livestock (sheep), etc. judging from the special emphasis on the number of chariots in the annals, either the number of chariots of the egyptian army was not as many as their asian opponents, or the number of captured chariots was exaggerated in order to praise the pharaoh's achievements (which is very common in egyptian inscriptions).

the statue of thutmose iii in the luxor museum, he wears a crown with a cobra uraus, which symbolizes royal power, royal family and divine power, a false beard and a gorgeous short skirt, the buckle of which is engraved with his royal name ring. the pharaoh's face is gentle, wise and divine, it is difficult to associate such a face with a great conqueror. in addition, from the perspective of sculpture art, the level of development of handicrafts in the new kingdom period is significantly higher than that in the middle kingdom period.

the military organization during the eighteenth dynasty was more advanced and sophisticated than that during the middle kingdom. due to repeated expeditions and the increasing scale of wars, egypt's standing army increased significantly, possibly reaching tens of thousands of people. the organization and military work of the army became more complicated, and new weapons such as chariots and composite bows and new chariot units appeared. at the same time, egypt also widely adopted the advanced technology and experience of various civilized nations in asia minor. a preliminary and relatively clear strategic and tactical concept was generated (as reflected in thutmose iii discussing the situation with his staff in his military tent before the battle of megiddo). endless wars required the militarization of state management institutions and the elevation of military aristocrats to a prominent position.

during the reign of thutmose iii, after his 17 expeditions into asia, egypt's control had reached asia minor.

from the 18th dynasty onwards, among the senior officials, professional military leaders similar to the generals of later generations emerged, who gradually took control of the command structure of the entire country. like the commanders who were responsible for managing the quarries and transporting the ore back for the pharaoh, the generals of the 18th dynasty also held purely non-military economic management positions and even intervened in the management of temples. for example, the "king's charioteer" and "commander of the guards" who were responsible for managing elite infantry and chariot units and undertaking domestic and border military guard tasks also supervised the transportation of stones necessary for statues and construction. for example, imondrehu, a close confidant of thutmose ii (the pharaoh who died on the battlefield), served as the "king's companion", that is, the commander of the royal guard, and was also the "manager of all the pharaoh's works" and the chief of food reserves for upper and lower egypt. another royal companion of thutmose iii served as the "commander of the western branches of the nile" and was also the "chief of engineering" and a famous priest.

with the improvement of the level of warfare, training began to become an important part of military construction. as early as the old kingdom, there were already the most common military physical training programs. for example, soldiers were trained to fight, jump, run freely, walk and run with distance between queues, and train soldiers to use various weapons in battle. in the 18th dynasty and later, the degree of specialization of training increased day by day. egyptian recruits had to receive queue footwork and horizontal running training, and also trained infantry combat methods in intensive and dispersed attacks. on the wall of the chanari tomb, there are scenes of full-time instructors training soldiers: small teams of 4 to 10 people usually fight in horizontal formations, but it is also easy to change to columns that are conducive to breakthroughs. bow and arrow training in the new kingdom was of great significance. specialized archery troops were widely used in field battles at this time. a large archery unit equipped with large asian composite bows appeared. this asian bow was probably a new thing that the egyptians borrowed from asia minor. in the murals of the karnak temple, thutmose iii was painted riding on a chariot and shooting with a large bow and arrow.

thutmose iii shooting with a bow and arrow. egypt's two-horse light chariot usually accommodates two people. thutmose iii was alone in the chariot to highlight his image. you can see that he tied the reins to his waist so that he could shoot arrows with both hands. the pharaoh would usually be equipped with a "second chariot" in case he insisted on fighting.

amenhotep ii, the "god of foreigners and desert countries" (son of thutmose iii, who inherited his father's huge foundation, was muscular and powerful, and especially liked to boast about his achievements and personal martial arts in his inscriptions) proudly said in his inscription that he was an archer who never missed a shot and hit a specific target at a long distance. he went on to say that he arrived at mt. hermon (a biblical landmark) "without a companion and riding alone", and captured "16 prisoners alive", cut off "20 hands" of the enemy, and drove "60 cows" in front of his chariot. obviously, the pharaoh wanted to show the army with his exemplary actions how important his super hit rate of bows and arrows and his personal bravery were in fighting against well-trained asians.

in the subsequent 19th dynasty, egypt's military power continued to expand. by the time of the famous ramses ii (the 19th dynasty pharaoh, who had the aura of "the great"), the egyptians were able to send an expeditionary force of up to 20,000 people across the desert into the eastern mediterranean coast and fight a decisive battle with the hittites at kadesh. the battle of kadesh is almost well known, so we will not go into details. judging from the relevant information about this battle, the military organization of the 19th dynasty was more sophisticated than that of the 18th dynasty (which was developed on its basis). the lowest-level officer was the "paoa", instead of the six or ten commanders hundreds of years ago, followed by the centurion, and his superior was the "caysryt", who had two definitions: he could be the commander of a 200 to 250-man infantry company, or he could be the "fortress commander" or "deputy to the legion commander" used for garrison, because his treatment was quite high, and he could get "20 pieces of linen clothes" and a variety of delicious food every day. if it is a high-level position, the power of the military standard holder is quite great. the next position is equivalent to the commander, who commands a thousand-man army, and the next is the "deputy commander" (idnw) who is in charge of the two war zones of upper and lower egypt, until the "military general" (imy-r mvo) who is second only to the pharaoh. these generals can also get administrative support from "military scribes", "infantry scribes", "assembly scribes", "ration scribes" and other administrative staff.

the military organization has changed greatly from the previous strange four-six organization. in addition to the fifty-man team and the two-hundred-and-fifty-man company, the larger and more synthetic organization is the legion (sa). in the battle of kadesh, the pharaoh led four legions of 5,000 people each. in the expedition during the reign of ramses iv, a stone tablet recorded the organization of a typical legion, including one commander, one deputy (probably equivalent to the "military flag holder"), 5,000 infantry (and 20 company commanders), 2,000 royal troops (and 50 chariot commanders), and a small number of scribes and priests as the general's staff. this organization shows that during the 18th and 19th dynasties, chariots and infantry had been separated. the elite chariots were used as the royal army and were the main force and core of the egyptian army. in order to ensure the operation of sophisticated chariots, full-time "royal stable commanders" appeared. they not only managed the stables, but also managed the barracks for the chariot drivers and charioteers, and looked after and fed the horses. the stable commander occupied a very prominent position among many nobles. a stable commander could serve as a high administrative position such as "nubian plenipotentiary agent". under him, there were a large number of professional breeders and keepers serving the charioteers (snni). each chariot was equipped with 2 people, sometimes 3 people, namely the chariot driver and two commanders, or a driver, a long-range attacker (usually the chariot commander) and an attendant holding a cloud fan (flabel1a). among them, the driver may also hold a shield to protect his master who was shooting with bows and javelins. cooperating with the chariots in combat were some infantrymen called "runners" (phrr). chariots had no seats and provided limited protection. wooden chariots were very light and could reach a maximum speed of more than 30 kilometers per hour. its bottom is a net woven with leather straps or ropes, which acts as a shock absorber to prevent the car from crashing and killing people.

in a typical egyptian chariot during the new kingdom, the driver can be seen holding a shield to protect his master, with quivers (javelin tubes) hanging around the chariot for throwing, and a large number of tanners providing these leather products. except for the highest-level egyptian generals who used bronze armor, everyone else used leather armor or even no armor.

at this time, the egyptian navy was no longer the simple fleet of small boats during the old kingdom, but a real navy. various materials from phoenicia and asia brought prosperous water transportation, which required the construction of more ships. during the reign of thutmose iii, egypt had a huge shipyard in asia. the egyptians used the local high-quality trees suitable for making bowl poles to build ships in nike. in the inscription of derebel-barkar, thutmose iii claimed that his soldiers cut down "trees for making masts" "on the terraces where pine trees grow"... "using bulls to drag the wood for masts to the coast, i (referring to thutmose iii) built my (referring to thutmose iii) big ship on the coast of lebanon with cedar wood (1,500 years before thutmose iii, his ancestors in the old kingdom knew how to build ships with this wood)". as the inscription points out, these ships should be used to transport various items from syria and phoenicia back to egypt. these ships can also be used for military purposes, because thutmose iii often made military expeditions to asia and needed ships to carry back various new things he got from phoenicia. according to modern restoration, this type of ship is 20 meters long, has 30 rowers, a displacement of 30 tons, and a speed of about 6 knots. but we have reason to believe that the large ships of thutmose iii's navy were larger than this ship. in the murals of the deir el-bahri temple, there are some pictures of the fleet of the hatshepsut dynasty (female pharaoh, stepmother of thutmose iii). on the huge sailing oars, there are the captain and the navigator standing on the bridge, as well as two helmsmen and 30 rowers sitting on both sides of the boat and rowing, in addition to 3 supervisors and 4 technicians who operate the sails and cables. during this period, the new kingdom egypt had become the largest military power in the near east.

a typical ship from the time of thutmose iii, restored by contemporary people using ancient techniques and materials, thousands of ships carried precious pine wood, agarwood and minerals from asia back to the pharaoh's court.

the architectural style of the temple of deir el bahri is very modern and looks very majestic in the valley. it faces the nile river and guards the entrance to the valley of the kings. in the game "assassin's creed: origins", you can see the original temple of deir el bahri. in the game, some rooms of the temple are filled with gold up to the ceiling.

although their weapons and offensive power were inferior to those of other opponents of the same period, the ancient egyptians' fortresses and fortifications provided them with solid protection thanks to their good architectural level. since the old kingdom, the egyptians have been happy to use tall fortresses as regional headquarters and garrison bases to control the border. this strategy is very suitable for defending egypt's narrow and long land. fortresses are usually built with bricks made of nile silt. in order to avoid collapse, the bottom is much wider than the top, forming a trapezoidal outer wall, which inadvertently increases the defensive strength. the height of the fortress wall is usually 10-15 meters, the thickness is about 4-6 meters, and sometimes lime is applied to make the wall stronger. the upper part of the wall is wide enough to accommodate enough archers, and the crenel is just as high as a person, where archers can calmly shoot a large number of arrows at the besiegers. during the new kingdom, fortresses were larger and were given certain administrative, tax collection and regional ruling center functions. in large border fortresses, there were not only soldiers, but also tax collectors, civil servants and clerks. this also explains the important position of the previously mentioned new kingdom senior military position "fortress commander" and his extensive power across military and political affairs.

epilogue: a brief horizontal comparison of the ancient egyptian army and its opponents

as one of the earliest civilizations to develop an army in the ancient world, the ancient egyptians had a long military history, but to be fair, the combat effectiveness of the ancient egyptian army was not strong in the ancient world. from the old kingdom to the 1,500 years of the hyksos invasion, the ancient egyptian army was only about 10,000 people in size, and was engaged in the task of suppressing the bedouin tribes, desert people or nubian barbarians in the jungle, so the level of warfare was very low. after learning chariots and composite bows from the hyksos, the ancient egyptian army had strong mobility and attack capabilities for the first time. during the new kingdom, the egyptians fought against the mitanni kingdom and the hittite kingdom. these opponents were equipped with chariots, and the hittites may have early iron weapons (the egyptians' early iron tools were imported by the mitanni, and they did not develop into the iron age until the 7th century bc, which was obviously backward). the egyptian army did not gain an advantage in fighting them. by the time assyria, the most powerful military empire in the ancient world, emerged (around 800 bc), egypt's army was dwarfed in both quality and quantity. in terms of quality, the conscription system implemented by the assyrian monarch tiglath pileser iii (the most powerful monarch in the assyrian empire) built the assyrian standing army into a complete war machine, with strictly trained heavy and light infantry, cavalry, horse archers, heavy chariots and formidable siege weapons. moreover, the number of assyrian troops far exceeded that of the egyptian army. according to some obviously exaggerated greek documents and the records of the authors of the bible, the assyrian army could reach hundreds of thousands of troops and tens of thousands of chariots. it must also be mentioned that the ancient egyptian army had no cavalry, and the assyrians were the first ancient people to develop a regular cavalry corps. in 671 bc, the assyrian king esarhaddon led his army to invade egypt and easily defeated the already very weak egyptian army, and memphis fell into the hands of the assyrians. after the destruction of the assyrians, the new babylonian empire and the more powerful persian empire successively became the overlords of the mesopotamian region. their huge military forces and vast territories were beyond the reach of the pharaohs.

the assyrian army was skilled in the art of war and had a strict division of arms. this four-man heavy chariot was their original creation, and some greek writers even believed that the assyrians were the earliest inventors of the sickle chariot. at the same time, egypt was still using light but lacking impact two-man chariots, and the armor of egyptian soldiers was simply incomparable to that of assyrian soldiers.

in 525 bc, cambyses ii (son of cyrus the great), king of persia, went on an expedition to egypt and defeated egypt in just one battle on the border. memphis fell again. after conquering egypt, cambyses ii made egypt a province of the persian empire and gave himself the title of pharaoh (his reign was called the 27th dynasty or the first persian dynasty). after that, the egyptians continued to resist, but artaxerxes iii, king of persia, mobilized a large army to break through egypt again and adopted a brutal policy of massacre to completely suppress the resistance: the persian army destroyed temple buildings, looted sacred objects, and even turned the temple of ptah (a local deity from memphis, regarded as the god of architecture and creation) into a stable. the egyptians never broke free from the state of slavery until they became meat on the chopping board of the alexander empire and the roman empire. from then on, the ancient egyptian army, like the civilization it defended, was tainted with the foreign colors of greece and rome and was gradually forgotten in the long river of history.