The Ancient Egyptian Chariotry
The Egyptian soldiers bravely marched across the hot, sandy desert with copper spears and cowhide shields in hand. Their eyes were steely and they were silent. Above them fluttered a banner with the name of the god who would protect them in battle. They were prepared to fight the oncoming troops.
Soldiers’ Clothing
Weapons
The Famous Battle
How Do We Know That?
The rules of battle in Ancient Egypt were very strict
and generally respected by all of the kings.
Battles were fought at specific places and times, usually in daylight.
Ancient Egyptian troops not only protected the country from invasion,
they sometimes defended Egypt’s mining and trading expeditions.
The Egyptian army was
very large. Companies of foot
soldiers were grouped into divisions of 5,000 men.
Each division carried the banner of a god.
Soldiers’ Clothing
Ancient
Egyptian soldiers wore protective clothing in battles. In the infantry,
footsoldiers wore padded skullcaps to protect their heads. Leather tunics were
worn on their chests and triangular pouches, called sporrans, hung around their
waists. For protection, they carried large rawhide shields. Charioteers wore
helmets of bronze or leather, and the drivers wore full body armor.
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Weapons
Egyptian soldiers used many dangerous weapons. Over time, the weapons
changed and became more deadly.
In the Old Kingdom, weapons were very primitive.
Soldiers carried clubs with wooden heads, bows and arrows with stone
arrowheads, and short curved swords called scimitars.
Egyptians became more involved in violent conflicts during the Middle Kingdom. By that time, soldiers carried razor-sharp, copper-headed swords that could be as long as five feet. They used axes, javelins, strong bows made of animal intestines and sharp arrows.
Egyptian military technology was at its best during the
New Kingdom. By this time, the
ancient Egyptians had learned how to make horse-drawn chariots.
Armies of this period had both an infantry and divisions of charioteers
to defend the country. Powerful bows and arrows were some of the weapons used by New
Kingdom soldiers.
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The Famous Battle
One of the most
famous conflicts in ancient Egyptian history is the war between the pharaoh
Ramses II and the Hittites of Syria. It
was during this time that the use of chariots in battle became very common.
Ramses’ army fought hard, but the war stretched on for twenty years.
In the end, neither Egypt nor Syria won.
The two countries signed a peace treaty and agreed to help each other
fight off any other enemies.
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How Do We Know That?
The mummies of ancient Egyptian soldiers often reveal deadly war wounds.
One such mummy is the remains of King Seqenenre II, who led an army
against the Hyksos during the 17th Dynasty.
King Seqenenre’s mummy shows that this pharaoh died in battle, from axe
wounds to the head.
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