Home Region:  Northeast Africa (Africa)

Egypt - Inter-Occupation Period

D G SC WF HS EQ 2020  eg_inter_occupation / EgIntOc

Preceding:
550 BCE 331 BCE Achaemenid Empire (ir_achaemenid_emp)    [secession]
Add one more here.

Succeeding:
No Polity found. Add one here.

The Inter-Occupation Dynasties (Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Dynasties, 404‒343/2 BCE) [1] [2] refers to the last period during which Egypt was governed by indigenous rulers, at a time when Egypt’s external relationships with Greeks and Persians overshadowed attempts to maintain internal political stability. Forming part of the the ’Late Period’ of Egyptian history, it spanned only about six decades in between phases of Persian domination. [3]
The Twenty-eighth Dynasty was established after a number of revolts against Persian rule in 404 BCE, and Amyrtaeus II, who ruled from Memphis, may have adopted the regnal name of Psamtik (after the first Saite king) to lend his rule legitimacy. [4] Although Amyrtaeus succeeded in extending his control as far south as Aswan in 400 BCE, where his rule was accepted by the Jewish community at Elephantine, [5] his reign was challenged and overthrown by one of his generals. An Aramaic papyrus at the Brooklyn museum describes a violent coup that unseated Amyrtaeus; according to the document, Nepherites I captured Amyrtaeus and executed him at Memphis. [6]
Nepherites I is considered the founder of a new dynasty (the Twenty-ninth). His new capital was probably at Mendes, where he carried out building projects, as revealed by excavations in the 1980s by the Brooklyn Museum and the University of New York. [6] Nectanebo I, founder of the Thirtieth and final native Egyptian pharaonic Dynasty, seems to have overthrown the last ruler of the Twenty-ninth Dynasty with the assistance of a Greek general called Chabrias, whose mercenaries are known to have subsequently helped prevent a Persian invasion of Egypt. [1]
Population and political organization
The most powerful elements in Egyptian society in this period were members of the the warrior class and priesthood. [2] The men who established the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Dynasties ‒ Nepherites I and Nectanebo I respectively ‒ were both generals, while Amyrtaeus II was most likely the grandson of another Amyrtaeus from Sais, who had rebelled against the Achaemenid occupation. [7] One of the first priorities of Nectanebo II when he came to power was to control the Egyptian army; to achieve this end he promoted his oldest son to the position of ’First Generalissimo of His Majesty’. [8] The 340s BCE were a time of insurrection, when Egyptians were fomenting rebellions against Persian authority across the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean. [9]
There are few sources to tell us of the workings of the Egyptian administration of this time, but historians agree that when the Persian Achaemenids conquered territories - including Egypt - they were generally happy to leave indigenous governance structures intact and did not seek to make wholesale changes to them. Egypt was made a satrapy, and the main task of the satrap in Memphis was to keep up the regular shipment of tribute to Persia. [10] It therefore seems likely that the Inter-Occupation Dynasties retained the administrative structures of the preceding Saite Period: a centralized court government with a warrior pharaoh and a vizier who ran his civil administration. This was the last period in which regional rulers called nomarchs formed part of the provincial administration.
The Late Period of Egypt saw an elaboration of debt and credit structures, to the extent that merchants could issue loans to individuals. [11] Though Persian coins were used under the Achaemenids, an innovation of the post-Achaemenid period of rule was the state minting of silver coins, [12] perhaps from the reign of Teos onwards. Priests were required to pay a tax in silver in order to secure donations to their temples; temples were forced to drastically reduce their expenses and use the savings to make loans to the king, who used it to mint coins to pay his armies. [13] Pharaoh Teos evidently had enough resources to launch an attack on the Persians in the late 360s BCE. [14]
Egypt at this time was a diverse, cosmopolitan state. Foreign mercenary forces recruited to defend the Egyptian homeland, a practice popular since the Third Intermediate Period, brought great ethnic and cultural diversity. The presence of garrisoned Greeks, Carians, Phoenicians, Cypriots, Aramaeans and Jews had been an important influence on Egypt since the Saite Dynasty and these groups had retained the languages and culture of their home communities. [15]
A significant innovation of the period was the widespread adoption of the qanat water supply technology, brought in by the occupying Persians in the 5th century BCE. [16] Qanats were sloping subterranean tunnels that conducted groundwater over long distances, creating a reliable supply of water for drinking, bathing and irrigation. [16] In about 400 BCE, the Egyptian population is likely to have risen to slightly over three million. [17]

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17) Christelle Fischer-Bovet. 2014. Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[2]: (Lloyd 2000, 377) Alan B. Lloyd. 2000. ’The Late Period (664-332 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 364-87. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[3]: (Lichtheim [1980] 2006, ix-x) Miriam Lichtheim. [1980] 2006. Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume III: The Late Period. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

[4]: (Perdu 2010, 152-53) Olivier Perdu. 2010. ’Saites and Persians (664‒332)’, in A Companion to Ancient Egypt, Volume 1, edited by Alan B. Lloyd, 140-58. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

[5]: (Grimal 1994, 371) N. Grimal. 1994. A History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

[6]: (Grimal 1994, 372) N. Grimal. 1994. A History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

[7]: (Perdu 2010, 152) Olivier Perdu. 2010. ’Saites and Persians (664‒332)’, in A Companion to Ancient Egypt, Volume 1, edited by Alan B. Lloyd, 140-58. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

[8]: (Perdu 2010, 156) Olivier Perdu. 2010. ’Saites and Persians (664‒332)’, in A Companion to Ancient Egypt, Volume 1, edited by Alan B. Lloyd, 140-58. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

[9]: (Ruzicka 2012) Stephen Ruzicka. 2012. Trouble in the West: Egypt and the Persian Empire, 525-332 BCE. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[10]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 16-17) Christelle Fischer-Bovet. 2014. Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[11]: (Allam 1990, 2) S. Allam. 1990. ’Women as Holders of Rights in Ancient Egypt (During the Late Period)’. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 33 (1): 1-34.

[12]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 25) Christelle Fischer-Bovet. 2014. Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[13]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 25) Christelle Fischer-Bovet. 2014. Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. New York: Cambridge University Press.

[14]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 24) Christelle Fischer-Bovet. 2014. Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[15]: (Kaplan 2003) Philip Kaplan. 2003. ’Cross-Cultural Contacts among Mercenary Communities in Saite and Persian Egypt’. Mediterranean Historical Review 18 (1): 1-31.

[16]: (Van de Mieroop 2011, 307) Marc Van De Mieroop. 2011. A History of Ancient Egypt. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

[17]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 227) Colin McEvedy and Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. London: Allen Lane.

General Variables
Identity and Location
Utm Zone:
36 R  
Original Name:
Egypt - Inter-Occupation Period  
Capital:
Memphis  
Mendes  
Alternative Name:
Inter-Occupation Dynasties  
28th  
29th and 30th Dynasties  
Temporal Bounds
Duration:
[404 BCE ➜ 342 BCE]  
Political and Cultural Relations
Suprapolity Relations:
alliance with [---]  
Supracultural Entity:
Egypt  
Succeeding Entity:
Achaemenid Empire  
Scale of Supracultural Interaction:
[250,000 to 500,000] km2  
Relationship to Preceding Entity:
secession  
Preceding Entity:
Preceding:   Achaemenid Empire (ir_achaemenid_emp)    [secession]  
Degree of Centralization:
unitary state  
Language
Linguistic Family:
Afro-Asiatic  
Language:
Demotic  
Religion
Religion Genus:
Egyptian Religions  
Alternate Religion:
NO_VALUE_ON_WIKI  
Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Population of the Largest Settlement:
[50,000 to 100,000] people  
Polity Territory:
[500,000 to 600,000] km2  
Polity Population:
[2,500,000 to 3,000,000] people  
Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
4  
Religious Level:
[2 to 3]  
Military Level:
[5 to 9]  
Administrative Level:
5  
Professions
Professional Soldier:
present  
Professional Priesthood:
present  
Professional Military Officer:
inferred present  
Bureaucracy Characteristics
Specialized Government Building:
present  
Merit Promotion:
inferred absent  
Full Time Bureaucrat:
inferred present  
Examination System:
inferred absent  
Law
Professional Lawyer:
inferred absent  
Judge:
inferred absent  
Formal Legal Code:
inferred present  
Court:
present  
absent  
Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Market:
inferred present  
Irrigation System:
inferred present  
Food Storage Site:
inferred present  
Drinking Water Supply System:
present  
Transport Infrastructure
Road:
inferred present  
Port:
present  
Canal:
inferred present  
Bridge:
inferred present  
Special-purpose Sites
Mines or Quarry:
inferred present  
Information / Writing System
Written Record:
present  
Script:
present  
Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
present  
Nonwritten Record:
present  
Non Phonetic Writing:
present  
Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
inferred present  
Sacred Text:
inferred present  
Religious Literature:
inferred present  
Practical Literature:
inferred present  
Philosophy:
inferred present  
Lists Tables and Classification:
present  
History:
present  
Fiction:
inferred present  
Calendar:
present  
Information / Money
Token:
unknown  
Precious Metal:
inferred present  
Paper Currency:
inferred absent  
Indigenous Coin:
present  
Foreign Coin:
inferred present  
Article:
present  
Information / Postal System
Postal Station:
inferred present  
General Postal Service:
inferred absent  
Courier:
present  
Information / Measurement System
Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
  Wooden Palisade:
unknown  
  Stone Walls Non Mortared:
inferred present  
  Stone Walls Mortared:
inferred present  
  Settlements in a Defensive Position:
inferred present  
  Modern Fortification:
absent  
  Moat:
unknown  
  Fortified Camp:
inferred present  
  Earth Rampart:
unknown  
  Ditch:
unknown  
  Complex Fortification:
unknown  
  Long Wall:
absent  
Military use of Metals
  Steel:
inferred absent  
  Iron:
present  
  Copper:
present  
  Bronze:
present  
Projectiles
  Tension Siege Engine:
absent  
  Sling Siege Engine:
absent  
  Sling:
present  
  Self Bow:
inferred present  
  Javelin:
inferred present  
  Handheld Firearm:
absent  
  Gunpowder Siege Artillery:
absent  
  Crossbow:
absent  
  Composite Bow:
inferred present  
  Atlatl:
absent  
Handheld weapons
  War Club:
inferred absent  
  Sword:
inferred present  
  Spear:
inferred present  
  Polearm:
absent  
  Dagger:
inferred present  
  Battle Axe:
inferred absent  
Animals used in warfare
  Horse:
inferred present  
  Elephant:
inferred present  
  Donkey:
inferred present  
  Dog:
unknown  
  Camel:
inferred present  
Armor
  Shield:
inferred present  
  Scaled Armor:
present  
  Plate Armor:
inferred present  
  Limb Protection:
inferred present  
  Laminar Armor:
unknown  
  Helmet:
inferred present  
  Chainmail:
inferred absent  
  Breastplate:
inferred present  
Naval technology
  Specialized Military Vessel:
unknown  
  Small Vessels Canoes Etc:
inferred present  
  Merchant Ships Pressed Into Service:
unknown  
Religion Tolerance Nothing coded yet.
Human Sacrifice Nothing coded yet.
Crisis Consequences Nothing coded yet.
Power Transitions Nothing coded yet.

NGA Settlements:

Year Range Egypt - Inter-Occupation Period (eg_inter_occupation) was in:
 (404 BCE 343 BCE)   Upper Egypt
Home NGA: Upper Egypt

General Variables
Identity and Location
Utm Zone:
36 R

Original Name:
Egypt - Inter-Occupation Period

Capital:
Memphis

Memphis? and then Mendes (29th Dynasty). "Only one surviving document - an Aramaic papyrus at the Brooklyn museum - gives any indication that the transferral of power was accompanied by violence anywhere in the country. The text describes an open battle between the founder of the Twenty-ninth Dynasty and his predecessor: Nepherites is supposed to have taken Amyrtaeus prisoner and then to have executed him at Memphis before establishing his native city as the new capital. [Mendes]" [1] "During the 1980s, the excavations of the Brooklyn Museum and the University of New York at Mendes provide evidence of Nepherites I’s building activity there, thus backing up the claim that it was the Twenty-ninth Dynasty capital." [1] "However, Memphis reverted to its former administrative role for most of the Late Period (Twenty-sixth to Thirty-first Dynasties) (Jeffreys 1999: 488-90; Jones 1999: 491-3). A fortified Saite palace surmounted a 20 m high mound at Memphis, with colossal columns bearing the cartouches of King Apries. The city held a garrison, several temples, an Apis Bull embalming installation, workshops, housing for diverse ethnic groups (e.g., Egyptians, Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks), water channels, docks, and an outer fortification." [2]

[1]: (Grimal 1994, 372)

[2]: (Mumford 2010, 332)

Capital:
Mendes

Memphis? and then Mendes (29th Dynasty). "Only one surviving document - an Aramaic papyrus at the Brooklyn museum - gives any indication that the transferral of power was accompanied by violence anywhere in the country. The text describes an open battle between the founder of the Twenty-ninth Dynasty and his predecessor: Nepherites is supposed to have taken Amyrtaeus prisoner and then to have executed him at Memphis before establishing his native city as the new capital. [Mendes]" [1] "During the 1980s, the excavations of the Brooklyn Museum and the University of New York at Mendes provide evidence of Nepherites I’s building activity there, thus backing up the claim that it was the Twenty-ninth Dynasty capital." [1] "However, Memphis reverted to its former administrative role for most of the Late Period (Twenty-sixth to Thirty-first Dynasties) (Jeffreys 1999: 488-90; Jones 1999: 491-3). A fortified Saite palace surmounted a 20 m high mound at Memphis, with colossal columns bearing the cartouches of King Apries. The city held a garrison, several temples, an Apis Bull embalming installation, workshops, housing for diverse ethnic groups (e.g., Egyptians, Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks), water channels, docks, and an outer fortification." [2]

[1]: (Grimal 1994, 372)

[2]: (Mumford 2010, 332)


Alternative Name:
Inter-Occupation Dynasties
Alternative Name:
28th
Alternative Name:
29th and 30th Dynasties

Temporal Bounds
Duration:
[404 BCE ➜ 342 BCE]

[1]
"After conquering Egypt in 525, the Persians faced repeated Egyptian revolts over the next century and a quarter, the first almost immediately after the initial conquest. Persian recovery efforts succeeded until the end of the fifth century, when Egypt finally broke away entirely." [2]
Preceded by Persians. Number of revolts against Persian rule. "Finally, in 404 BC Amyrtaios succeeded and took the name Psamtek, after the first king of the Saite dynasty, as a way of legitimizing his power." [3]

[1]: (Lloyd 2000, 377)

[2]: (Ruzicka 2012) Ruzicka, Stephen. 2012. Trouble in the West: Egypt and the Persian Empire, 525-332 BCE. Oxford University Press. Oxford.

[3]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17)


Political and Cultural Relations
Suprapolity Relations:
alliance with [---]

"native Egyptian kings repulsed Persian attacks decade after decade through the 340s and constantly instigated or supported challenges to Persian authority elsewhere in the eastern and Mediterranean and Aegean worlds." [1]
Presumably, in addition to using their mercenaries, were allied with Greeks in wars against the Persians?

[1]: (Ruzicka 2012) Ruzicka, Stephen. 2012. Trouble in the West: Egypt and the Persian Empire, 525-332 BCE. Oxford University Press. Oxford.


Supracultural Entity:
Egypt

Succeeding Entity:
Achaemenid Empire

Scale of Supracultural Interaction:
[250,000 to 500,000] km2

km squared.


Relationship to Preceding Entity:
secession

Preceding Entity:
Achaemenid Empire [ir_achaemenid_emp] ---> Egypt - Inter-Occupation Period [eg_inter_occupation]

Preceded by Persians. Number of revolts against Persian rule. "Finally, in 404 BC Amyrtaios succeeded and took the name Psamtek, after the first king of the Saite dynasty, as a way of legitimizing his power." [1]

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17)


Degree of Centralization:
unitary state

Language
Linguistic Family:
Afro-Asiatic

Language:
Demotic

Religion
Religion Genus:
Egyptian Religions

Alternate Religion:
NO_VALUE_ON_WIKI


Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Population of the Largest Settlement:
[50,000 to 100,000] people

Inhabitants. Memphis.
Modelski has Memphis at 100,000 for 500 BCE, 400 BCE and 300 BCE.
However, we need to check evidence for these figures. [1]
Demographic estimates for Ancient Egypt [2] :
Late Period to Ptolemaic-Roman: 1069 BC-AD 400
1. Largest towns. 85-170 ha. 25,000-50,000 inhabitants. 294 inhabitants per hectare.2. Medium towns. 25-65 ha. 7,500-25,000 inhabitants. 300-385 per hectare3. Small towns. 8-15 ha. 2,500-5,000 inhabitants. 312-333 per hectare.
AD: added 50,000 to the range to reflect a possibly lower figure.

[1]: (Manning 2015, Personal Communication)

[2]: (Mumford 2010, 331)


Polity Territory:
[500,000 to 600,000] km2

in squared kilometers
According to geacron map, Egypt in 400 BCE extended into Libya. [1]
Amyrtaeus’s control reached as far South as Aswan in 400 BCE, and his rule was accepted by the Jewish community at Elephantine. [2]

[1]: geacron.com

[2]: (Grimal 1994, 371)


Polity Population:
[2,500,000 to 3,000,000] people

People.
McEvedy and Jones have Egypt at just under 3 million in 400 BCE. [1]

[1]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 227) McEvedy, Colin. Jones, Richard. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books Ltd.


Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
4

levels.
This is the code for the Saite Period:
1. Capital
2. City3. Town4. Village
Demographic estimates for Ancient Egypt [1] :
Late Period to Ptolemaic-Roman: 1069 BC-AD 400
1. Largest towns. 85-170 ha. 25,000-50,000 inhabitants. 294 inhabitants per hectare.2. Medium towns. 25-65 ha. 7,500-25,000 inhabitants. 300-385 per hectare3. Small towns. 8-15 ha. 2,500-5,000 inhabitants. 312-333 per hectare.
"During the Late Period, provincial centers display much diversity and prosperity. Mendes, a city sacred to the ram god Banebdjed, contains a series of massive temple enclosures, a ram hypogeum, an elaborate shrine dedicated to Shu, Geb, Osiris, and Re, shrines built by Nectanebo I-II, private and royal burials (e.g., Nepherites), and other structures (Hansen 1999: 497; Redford and Redford 2005: 170-94)." [2]

[1]: (Mumford 2010, 331)

[2]: (Mumford 2010, 334)


Religious Level:
[2 to 3]

levels.
Three coded for Saite Period. Any reason why the temples of this time should be less than three?
1. Priest in temple.
"During the next six decades, indigenous kings ruled Egypt; this period is traditionally divided into three dynasties (Twenty-eighth to Thirtieth, 404-343 BC). A major characteristic of the period, and within it of the kings of the Thirtieth dynasty, is the amount in temple-building, which stands in contrast to the Persian period." [1]
Example from Saite Period:
1. Chief Priest of Amun
2. Protector of the Priests of Amun of Teudjoi3. Priests
Differentiation between priests:"Sizeable salary differentials existed amongst the priesthood in many temples. This is clear from papyri such as those from the Twelfth Dynasty royal mortuary temple at Lahun. Over a millennium later the Demotic papyri relating to Teudjoi again allow us a glimpse of the financial rewards available for priests at a regional temple of the Late Period. Revenue from temple lands was divided at 20 percent for each of the four phyles (of 20 priests), and the remaining 20 percent was assigned to the ‘‘Priest of Amun’’ and ‘‘Priest of the Ennead,’’ positions held by the same person in this instance (Vittmann 1998: 159, 490)." [2]

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17)

[2]: (Spencer 2010, 268)


Military Level:
[5 to 9]

levels.
1. King
2. General (Greek)
"Another development is the extensive use of Greek mercenaries to prevent another Persian invasion, notably with the help of the Athenian general Chabrias..." [1] 3. "high commander" [2]
This is the hierarchy below "General" or strategoi during the Ptolemaic period from about 294 BCE. The mercenary forces at time numbered 10,000-20,000 [3] and if they had their own general we could suggest it is likely they had their own command structure below him.
3. Chiliarchies 1024 men commanded by chillarchoi [4] 4. Pentakosiarchos c.512 men [4] 5. Syntagma c. 256 men commmanded by Syntagmatarches [4] 6. Taxeis commanded by taxiarchoi c.128 men [4] 7. hekatontarchiai c.50 men [5] 8. "16 units of 50 men, that is 2 per hekatontarchia" [4] 9. Individual soldier
Another possible code:
3. Mercenary captain4. Individual mercenary
3. Captain of the machimoi (militia)4. Militia men
3. Foreign general (ally) Spartan, Phoenician or Libyan.4. Cavalry or infantry captains5. Cavalry or infantry: individual soldiers.
Moved additional text to general description
There were also Egyptian, and Libyan forces in addition to those of the Greeks.
"We therefore find Hakor putting together a large force of such troops in the 385 BC and Teos employing 10,000 picked mercenaries in 361/0 BC, while Nectanebo II is said to have had 20,000 when Artaxerxes III invaded the country in 343/2 BC." [3]
343 BCE 20,000 Greek mercenaries, 20,000 Libyans, 60,000 Egyptians under Nectanebo II fought Persians [6]

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17)

[2]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 26)

[3]: (Lloyd 2000, 380)

[4]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 134)

[5]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 144)

[6]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 25)


Administrative Level:
5

levels.
Centralized monarchy during the Saite Period prior to the Persian invasion.
1. King
"During the next six decades, indigenous kings ruled Egypt; this period is traditionally divided into three dynasties (Twenty-eighth to Thirtieth, 404-343 BC)." [1]
_Court government_
2. Chief official of court inferred from Saite
2. High Council inferred from Saite
2. Vizier inferred from Saite3. Head of a particular domain inferred from Saite4. Lesser administrators/scribes inferred5.
_Provincial government_
2. level between nomarchs and the central administration?3. Nomarchs? - presumably this was the last period in which we have local leaders called nomarchsDuring the Saite period king Amasis "modified the role of nomarchs for the entire administration of Egypt." [2] 4. Village head

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17)

[2]: (Agut-Labordere 2013, 1007)


Professions
Professional Soldier:
present

"The enrollment of Greek mercenaries increased again under the last Egyptian pharaohs, who used both Greek mercenaries and Egyptian soldiers for military expeditions, for example when Teo attacked the Persians in the late 360s BC. But they also stationed them together in their garrisons, as during the second Persian invasion." [1]

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 24)


Professional Priesthood:
present

"Egyptian priesthood." [1]

[1]: (Lloyd 2000, 377)


Professional Military Officer:
present

"high commander" [1] (professional officers inferred present)

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 26)


Bureaucracy Characteristics
Specialized Government Building:
present

Mints.


Merit Promotion:
absent

"Classical commentators, writing from quite a different perspective, reveal without compunction the complex interaction of individual ambition untrammelled by loyalty or ideological factors whereby ambitious political figures seize any opportunity for advancement provided by the sectional interests of the native Egyptian warrior class, Greek mercenary captains, and, less obviously, the Egyptian priesthood." [1] This doesn’t seem conducive to a meritocratic environment. About Nectanebo II: "Once established as undisputed ruler, this experienced soldier was well aware that the key to preserving his authority lay in keeping control of the army, particularly through his eldest son who was promoted ‘‘First Generalissimo of His Majesty’’ (imy-r mSa wr tpy n Hm.f)." [2]

[1]: (Lloyd 2000, 377)

[2]: (Perdu 2010, 156)


Full Time Bureaucrat:
present

Individuals at central government/court would have been needed to process the tax receipts. if Egyptian tradition had been followed from the Saite period one of the chief officers of state may have been the vizier. There also would likely have been specialist scribes.


Examination System:
absent

Law
Professional Lawyer:
absent

Judge:
absent

During Saite Period judges were in temples. If priests were judges then this was not a specialised position.


Formal Legal Code:
present

Caroline Arlte Ed: need to check spelling of surname book on Egyptian code. [1] The native Egyptians were keen to overthrow Persian rule so they must have had strong attachment to own culture and the legal code may have been part of this. "After the New Kingdom the kenbet appears to have fallen into disuse. The kenbet a’at (Great Court or Council) is still mentioned in Theban legal proceedings of the Third Intermediate Period, but under the Saite Pharaohs new expressions occur in legal documents. The cursive Hieratic script used for administration and jurisdiction was now replaced by Demotic, and many administrative and legal innovations were introduced. [...] In Demotic the expression awy wepy (lit. ‘‘house of judgement’’) is used for what seems to be a purely judicial institution, a ‘‘court’’ (Allam 1991: 116-17). This is seen as evidence that the formal separation between administration and jurisdiction took place in Egypt as late as the seventh century BC; earlier the kenbet had administrative and judicial functions, but the Demotic ‘‘court’’ was only judicial (Allam 1991: 119). It is difficult to prove that administrative and legal reforms had occurred from what essentially is evidence arising from changes in script and language. Furthermore, it is not at all certain that the kenbet was anything more than judicial, but the Late Period did clearly witness changes in legal practice, such as the growing popularity of written contracts, e.g. the marriage contracts discussed above." [2]

[1]: (Manning 2015, Personal Communication)

[2]: (Haring 2010, 234-235)


Court:
present

During the Saite Period there was a kind of court process but there may not have been a "court building". [1]
In Late Period Egypt "Egyptian women (unlike Greeks) could act in transactions on their own behalf and without any guardian whatsoever; equally, women could come forward in law-courts totally unaided as plaintiffs or defendants. And it is quite evident that women were capable of independent economic activities regardless of marital status." [2]

[1]: (Manning 2015, Personal Communication)

[2]: (Allam 1990, 33) Allam, S. 1990. Women as Holders of Rights in Ancient Egypt (During the Late Period). Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. Vol. 33, No. 1 (1990), pp. 1-34. BRILL

Court:
absent

During the Saite Period there was a kind of court process but there may not have been a "court building". [1]
In Late Period Egypt "Egyptian women (unlike Greeks) could act in transactions on their own behalf and without any guardian whatsoever; equally, women could come forward in law-courts totally unaided as plaintiffs or defendants. And it is quite evident that women were capable of independent economic activities regardless of marital status." [2]

[1]: (Manning 2015, Personal Communication)

[2]: (Allam 1990, 33) Allam, S. 1990. Women as Holders of Rights in Ancient Egypt (During the Late Period). Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. Vol. 33, No. 1 (1990), pp. 1-34. BRILL


Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Market:
present

Irrigation System:
present

Food Storage Site:
present

Drinking Water Supply System:
present

"In the 5th century there appeared in Egypt an entirely new system of water supply, the qanat . It consisted of underground tunnels that channeled groundwater from aquifers over long distances and enabled the irrigation of large areas of land. Qanats as an irrigation technology are typical for central Iran and the likelihood that Persians introduced them into Egypt is great. The Egyptian tunnels remained in use into Roman times." [1]

[1]: (Van de Mieroop 2011, 307)


Transport Infrastructure
Road:
present

Port:
present

Memphis had docks. "However, Memphis reverted to its former administrative role for most of the Late Period (Twenty-sixth to Thirty-first Dynasties) (Jeffreys 1999: 488-90; Jones 1999: 491-3). A fortified Saite palace surmounted a 20 m high mound at Memphis, with colossal columns bearing the cartouches of King Apries. The city held a garrison, several temples, an Apis Bull embalming installation, workshops, housing for diverse ethnic groups (e.g., Egyptians, Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks), water channels, docks, and an outer fortification." [1]

[1]: (Mumford 2010, 332)


Canal:
present

Canal was dug during the Saite period. Was this still maintained?


Bridge:
present

Special-purpose Sites
Mines or Quarry:
present

"The Third Intermediate Period experienced a decline in quarrying and mining expeditions, but such activities are revitalized in the Late Period. For instance, Wadi Hammamat contained only one early Third Intermediate Period royal text, while more ventures are attested in the reigns of Shabaqa, Taharka, Psamtik I-II, Necho II, Amasis, Cambyses, Darius, Xerxes, Artaxerxes, and Nectanebo II (Meyer 1999: 870). Harrel and Brown (1999: 18-20) have surveyed a Late Period quarry and workmen’s huts at Rod el-Gamra in the Eastern Desert." [1]

[1]: (Mumford 2010, 347)


Information / Writing System
Written Record:
present

Script:
present

Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
present

Hieroglyphs.


Nonwritten Record:
present

Non Phonetic Writing:
present

Hieroglyphs.


Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
present

"On the contrary, the assertion of continuity with older tradition is combined with the exercise of considerable invention and originality both in materials and iconography, producing some of the most remarkable sculpture in the entire pharaonic corpus. For other spheres of cultural activity there is sometimes an unnerving lacuna in extant material—there are, for example, no literary texts securely dated to this period. For all that, close analysis of such evidence as we do possess confirms that Egyptian society and civilization as a whole were characterized by the same traits as the visual arts. We routinely encounter features with which the student of earlier periods will be completely familiar." [1]

[1]: (Lloyd 2000, 383)


Sacred Text:
present

"On the contrary, the assertion of continuity with older tradition is combined with the exercise of considerable invention and originality both in materials and iconography, producing some of the most remarkable sculpture in the entire pharaonic corpus. For other spheres of cultural activity there is sometimes an unnerving lacuna in extant material—there are, for example, no literary texts securely dated to this period. For all that, close analysis of such evidence as we do possess confirms that Egyptian society and civilization as a whole were characterized by the same traits as the visual arts. We routinely encounter features with which the student of earlier periods will be completely familiar." [1]

[1]: (Lloyd 2000, 383)


Religious Literature:
present

"On the contrary, the assertion of continuity with older tradition is combined with the exercise of considerable invention and originality both in materials and iconography, producing some of the most remarkable sculpture in the entire pharaonic corpus. For other spheres of cultural activity there is sometimes an unnerving lacuna in extant material—there are, for example, no literary texts securely dated to this period. For all that, close analysis of such evidence as we do possess confirms that Egyptian society and civilization as a whole were characterized by the same traits as the visual arts. We routinely encounter features with which the student of earlier periods will be completely familiar." [1]

[1]: (Lloyd 2000, 383)


Practical Literature:
present

"On the contrary, the assertion of continuity with older tradition is combined with the exercise of considerable invention and originality both in materials and iconography, producing some of the most remarkable sculpture in the entire pharaonic corpus. For other spheres of cultural activity there is sometimes an unnerving lacuna in extant material—there are, for example, no literary texts securely dated to this period. For all that, close analysis of such evidence as we do possess confirms that Egyptian society and civilization as a whole were characterized by the same traits as the visual arts. We routinely encounter features with which the student of earlier periods will be completely familiar." [1]

[1]: (Lloyd 2000, 383)


Philosophy:
present

"On the contrary, the assertion of continuity with older tradition is combined with the exercise of considerable invention and originality both in materials and iconography, producing some of the most remarkable sculpture in the entire pharaonic corpus. For other spheres of cultural activity there is sometimes an unnerving lacuna in extant material—there are, for example, no literary texts securely dated to this period. For all that, close analysis of such evidence as we do possess confirms that Egyptian society and civilization as a whole were characterized by the same traits as the visual arts. We routinely encounter features with which the student of earlier periods will be completely familiar." [1]

[1]: (Lloyd 2000, 383)


Lists Tables and Classification:
present

"Demotic ostraca discovered in a temple attest to the villages’ existence from the late 26th to early 30th dynasties. The texts - still unpublished - often record transactions with water. Farmers bought the right to have water flow into their fields for a number of days and promised part of their yields in return. The contracts are dated in the traditional Egyptian way according to the regnal years of kings. They include both Persians and those who ruled when Egypt was independent from the empire. The changes in government did not affect how the records were kept." [1]

[1]: (Van de Mieroop 2011, 307)


History:
present

"Only one surviving document - an Aramaic papyrus at the Brooklyn museum - gives any indication that the transferral of power was accompanied by violence anywhere in the country. The text describes an open battle between the founder of the Twenty-ninth Dynasty and his predecessor: Nepherites is supposed to have taken Amyrtaeus prisoner and then to have executed him at Memphis before establishing his native city as the new capital. [Mendes]" [1] "On the contrary, the assertion of continuity with older tradition is combined with the exercise of considerable invention and originality both in materials and iconography, producing some of the most remarkable sculpture in the entire pharaonic corpus. For other spheres of cultural activity there is sometimes an unnerving lacuna in extant material—there are, for example, no literary texts securely dated to this period. For all that, close analysis of such evidence as we do possess confirms that Egyptian society and civilization as a whole were characterized by the same traits as the visual arts. We routinely encounter features with which the student of earlier periods will be completely familiar." [2] "Agut-Labordere also suggests that hints of similar measures by Teos’ predecessor, Nectanebo I, are visible in Chapter 10 of the Demotic Chronicle." [3]

[1]: (Grimal 1994, 372)

[2]: (Lloyd 2000, 383)

[3]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 25)


Fiction:
present

"On the contrary, the assertion of continuity with older tradition is combined with the exercise of considerable invention and originality both in materials and iconography, producing some of the most remarkable sculpture in the entire pharaonic corpus. For other spheres of cultural activity there is sometimes an unnerving lacuna in extant material—there are, for example, no literary texts securely dated to this period. For all that, close analysis of such evidence as we do possess confirms that Egyptian society and civilization as a whole were characterized by the same traits as the visual arts. We routinely encounter features with which the student of earlier periods will be completely familiar." [1]

[1]: (Lloyd 2000, 383)


Calendar:
present

Information / Money
Token:
unknown

this is the code for the expert-checked Saite Period


Precious Metal:
present

"Yet there is evidence that the empire confiscated temple property, and over time this policy may have become harsher in reaction to Egyptian rebellions. Thus, the report of Greek historians that Artaxerxes III Ochus plundered temples and carried off vast quantities of gold and silver upon recapturing the country after its spell of independence in 343, is likely to be true." [1] The fact that the Persians confiscated gold and silver indicates that they had been hoarded for their economic value when Egypt was independent.

[1]: (Van de Mieroop 2011, 308)


Paper Currency:
absent

Indigenous Coin:
present

"donations to temples were suppressed unless the priests paid a tax in silver, and orders were issued to reduce the expenses of the temples by 90 percent and to loan the savings to the king who needed it to mint coins for his mercenaries." [1] Teos from 360 BCE?

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 25)


Foreign Coin:
present

Saite Period was inferred absent but Achaemenids had a single currency monetary system and daric coins may have circulated at least for a while after the Persians had left.


Article:
present

"Demotic ostraca discovered in a temple attest to the villages’ existence from the late 26th to early 30th dynasties. The texts - still unpublished - often record transactions with water. Farmers bought the right to have water flow into their fields for a number of days and promised part of their yields in return. The contracts are dated in the traditional Egyptian way according to the regnal years of kings. They include both Persians and those who ruled when Egypt was independent from the empire. The changes in government did not affect how the records were kept." [1] Yields used to buy the right to have access to water.

[1]: (Van de Mieroop 2011, 307)


Information / Postal System
Postal Station:
present

Did the Achaemenids set up postal stations within Egypt or were they just to Egypt? Postal stations were used by the Ptolemies. Coding inferred present on the basis that Cyrene region to the Egyptian Delta may have been bridged by Achaemenid era postal station network and the subsequent dynasties could have maintained this network, even without further expansion of the network in this period.


General Postal Service:
absent

Courier:
present

Information / Measurement System

Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
Wooden Palisade:
unknown

Stone Walls Non Mortared:
present

Stone Walls Mortared:
present

Present in previous and subsequent periods.


Settlements in a Defensive Position:
present

Present in previous and subsequent periods.


Modern Fortification:
absent

Moat:
unknown

Fortified Camp:
present

Present in previous and subsequent periods.


Earth Rampart:
unknown

Ditch:
unknown

Complex Fortification:
unknown

Long Wall:
absent

Military use of Metals
Steel:
absent

No reference found to steel armour or weapons.


Iron:
present

"iron armor and weapons of a non-Egyptian type found in Egypt attest the work of Greek blacksmiths specialized in making and fixing weapons in the military settlements of Daphnae and Migdol. [1]

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 20-21)


Copper:
present

bronze is made with copper. Greek mercenaries possessed "elaborate bronze armor" [1]

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 16)


Bronze:
present

Greek mercenaries possessed "elaborate bronze armor" [1]

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 16)


Projectiles
Tension Siege Engine:
absent

Sling Siege Engine:
absent

Sling:
present

"The sling is shown being used in assault on towns in the early Middle Kingdom tombs at Beni Hasan. Examples found in the tomb of Tutankhamun were made of linen. Despite its rare appearance in battle scenes, it was probably widely used. [...] A sling shot from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods could be made of lead, and carried inscribed messages for the unfortunate recipient." [1] According to one military historian, many ancient armies used slingers. Vulnerable to counter-attacks, slinger units were usually small and used at the start of the battle. Because of the training required to produce and effective slinger they were often hired mercenaries. [2]

[1]: (Morkot 2010: 222) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/AHFJE5Z2.

[2]: (Gabriel 2002, 31) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.


Self Bow:
present

[1] Cretans were famous archers. [2] refers to Greek mercenaries, who were likely used similar to Saite period and contemporary Greeks. [3] "In western Asia, [the self bow] was replaced by the composite bow. In Egypt, the self-bow continued to be widely used, especially by Nubian troops." [4]

[1]: Everson, T. 2004. Warfare in Ancient Greece: Arms and Armour from the Heroes of Homer to Alexander the Great, Sutton.

[2]: Fischer-Bovet. 2014, Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt, Cambridge 135-138.

[3]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17) Christelle Fischer-Bovet. 2014. Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[4]: (Morkot 2010: 50) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/AHFJE5Z2.


Javelin:
present

[1] . refers to Greek mercenaries, who were likely used similar to Saite period and contemporary Greeks. [2]

[1]: Everson, T. 2004. Warfare in Ancient Greece: Arms and Armour from the Heroes of Homer to Alexander the Great, Sutton.

[2]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17) Christelle Fischer-Bovet. 2014. Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


Handheld Firearm:
absent

Gunpowder Siege Artillery:
absent

Crossbow:
absent

"the hand-held crossbow was invented by the Chinese, in the fifth century BC, and probably came into the Roman world in the first century AD, where it was used for hunting." [1] The crossbow also developed after the Syracuse Greek Dionysios I invented a form of crossbow called the gastraphetes in 399 BCE. [2]

[1]: (Nicholson 2004, 99) Helen Nicholson. 2004. Medieval Warfare: Theory and Practice of War in Europe, 300-1500. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke.

[2]: (Keyser and Irby-Massie 2006, 260) Paul T Keyser. Georgia Irby-Massie. Science, Medicine, And Technology. Glenn R Bugh. ed. 2006. The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic World. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.


Composite Bow:
present

[1] Cretans were famous archers. [2] refers to Greek mercenaries, who were likely used similar to Saite period and contemporary Greeks. [3] "In western Asia, [the self bow] was replaced by the composite bow. In Egypt, the self-bow continued to be widely used, especially by Nubian troops." [4]

[1]: Everson, T. 2004. Warfare in Ancient Greece: Arms and Armour from the Heroes of Homer to Alexander the Great, Sutton.

[2]: Fischer-Bovet. 2014, Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt, Cambridge 135-138.

[3]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17) Christelle Fischer-Bovet. 2014. Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[4]: (Morkot 2010: 50) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/AHFJE5Z2.


Atlatl:
absent

New World weapon


Handheld weapons
War Club:
absent

Academic histories of warfare and weaponry in Egypt stop mentioning axes and maces once they reach the New Kingdom, suggesting they fell out of fashion. Preiser-Kapeller (2015) suggests next data for war clubs for an Upper Egypt NGA polity may be East Roman Empire 395-631 CE. [1]

[1]: (Preiser-Kapeller 2015, Personal Communication)


Sword:
present

[1] refers to Greek mercenaries, who were likely used similar to Saite period and contemporary Greeks. [2]

[1]: Everson, T. 2004. Warfare in Ancient Greece: Arms and Armour from the Heroes of Homer to Alexander the Great, Sutton.

[2]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17) Christelle Fischer-Bovet. 2014. Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


Spear:
present

[1] refers to Greek mercenaries, who were likely used similar to Saite period and contemporary Greeks. [2]

[1]: Everson, T. 2004. Warfare in Ancient Greece: Arms and Armour from the Heroes of Homer to Alexander the Great, Sutton.

[2]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17) Christelle Fischer-Bovet. 2014. Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


Polearm:
absent

Dagger:
present

[1] refers to Greek mercenaries, who were likely used similar to Saite period and contemporary Greeks. [2]

[1]: Everson, T. 2004. Warfare in Ancient Greece: Arms and Armour from the Heroes of Homer to Alexander the Great, Sutton.

[2]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17) Christelle Fischer-Bovet. 2014. Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


Battle Axe:
absent

Academic histories of warfare and weaponry in Egypt stop mentioning axes and maces once they reach the New Kingdom, suggesting they fell out of fashion.


Animals used in warfare
Horse:
present

Present in previous and subsequent periods.


Elephant:
present

Present in previous and subsequent periods.


Donkey:
present

Inferred present from use as pack animals in warfare during Saite period [1]

[1]: (Manning 2015, Personal Communication)


Dog:
unknown

Camel:
present

Present in previous and subsequent periods.


Armor
Shield:
present

Used in preceding periods.


Scaled Armor:
present

"the Egyptians had been using bronze armor since the Eighteenth dynasty, "but it consisted of nothing more elaborate than metal scales sewn onto a leather base." [1]

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 135-138) Fischer-Bovet (2014) Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge University Press


Plate Armor:
present

According to one military historian, by 600 BCE early Greeks and Romans had introduced the bronze cast bell muscle cuirass. [1]

[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 21) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.


Limb Protection:
present

refers to Greek mercenaries, who were likely used similar to Saite period and contemporary Greeks. [1] . Greek armor used by Cairan and Ionians "covered much more of the body" [2] Under Persian rule Egyptian naval forces described by Herodotus had breastplates. [3]

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17) Christelle Fischer-Bovet. 2014. Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[2]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 20)

[3]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 39)


Laminar Armor:
unknown

Possible. Already introduced by the Assyrians.


Helmet:
present

Certainly present in Egypt probably worn by charioteers by the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE. [1]

[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford.


Chainmail:
absent

In the New Kingdom mail coats were made out of bronze developed for charioteers. Evidence from a scene from the tomb of Kenamun. Colour of painting suggests bronze used for scales. [1] Is Hoffmeier referring to chainmail or coats with scales? Code assumes the latter. "the Egyptians had been using bronze armor since the Eighteenth dynasty, "but it consisted of nothing more elaborate than metal scales sewn onto a leather base." [2]

[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001)

[2]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 135-138) Fischer-Bovet (2014) Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge University Press


Breastplate:
present

refers to Greek mercenaries, who were likely used similar to Saite period and contemporary Greeks. [1] . Greek armor used by Cairan and Ionians "covered much more of the body" [2] Under Persian rule Egyptian naval forces described by Herodotus had breastplates. [3]

[1]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 17) Christelle Fischer-Bovet. 2014. Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[2]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 20)

[3]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 39)


Naval technology
Specialized Military Vessel:
unknown

Small Vessels Canoes Etc:
present

Merchant Ships Pressed Into Service:
unknown


Human Sacrifice Data
Human Sacrifice is the deliberate and ritualized killing of a person to please or placate supernatural entities (including gods, spirits, and ancestors) or gain other supernatural benefits.
- Nothing coded yet.
- Nothing coded yet.
Power Transitions
- Nothing coded yet.