The Second Dynasty of Egypt (c. 2900‒2687 BCE) was a relatively geographically constricted state, centred near the Nile delta of Egypt and extending as far south as Aswan and the First Cataract of the Nile. Founded by Hotepsekhemwy, the kings of the Second Dynasty initially ruled over a centralized state, but as the period progressed they had to contend with disorder and civil war that lasted until the last ruler, Khasekhemwy (c. 2714‒2687 BCE).
[1]
[2]
The restoration of central authority after this period ushered in the classic Old Kingdom period, widely considered a high point of ancient civilization.
Population and political organization
Controlled by a god-king who presided over an administration with specialized overseers,
[3]
Memphis is considered the main administrative centre of the Early Dynastic period because tombs of administrative officials are located nearby.
[4]
Also known as the White Walls,
[5]
apparently after the colour of the palace enclosure walls,
[6]
Memphis probably had at least 6,000 residents at a population density of 193 per hectare.
[7]
The government of the Early Dynasties is thought to have developed significant divisions of labour and a more hierarchical structure under King Djer, who introduced permanent institutions,
[8]
although Egyptologist Hratch Papazian stresses that a true hierarchical bureaucracy emerged ’only during the latter parts of the Old Kingdom’.
[9]
Writing in this period was now well established; it had been present since the late Predynastic period (’Dynasty 0’),
[10]
when hieroglyphs were used for labels such as those found in the tomb of U-j at Abydos, dating to around 3150 BCE.
[11]
Regional centres of the Second Dynasty included Hierakonpolis, Abydos, and minor centres further south at Naga-el-Deir and Aswan. Evidence for a system of territorial organization comes from thousands of seal stamps discovered in the tomb of Khasekhemwy, the last king of the dynasty; they mention some historical provinces along with ’administrative titles and the names of the king’.
[12]
However, Second-Dynasty Egypt was likely not yet divided into the clearly demarcated provinces, controlled by local governors, that we find in later periods.
[13]
Abydos appears to have been the most significant cult centre. Its royal cemetery reveals the increasing elaboration of the ideology of kingship through the mortuary cult, and its monumental architecture has been interpreted as the expression of a ’state religion’ on a grander scale than in previous periods.
[14]
The Egyptian population during the Early Dynastic period is difficult to determine, but the archaeologist Bruce Trigger estimated that there could have been over 2 million people living in the Nile Valley at this time.
[15]
[1]: (El-Shahawy 2005, 31) A El-Shahawy. 2005. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
[2]: (Dodson 2016, 9) Aidan Dodson. 2016. ’Go West: On the Ancient Means of Approach to the Saqqara Necropolis’, in Mummies, Magic and Medicine in Ancient Egypt: Multidisciplinary Essays for Rosalie David, edited by Campbell Price, Roger Forshaw, Andrew Chamberlain and Paul Nicholson, 3-18. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
[3]: (Moreno García 2014) Juan Carlos Moreno García. 2014. ’Invaders or Just Herders? Libyans in Egypt in the Third and Second Millennia BCE’. World Archaeology 46: 610-23.
[4]: (Bard 2000, 64-65) Kathryn A. Bard. 2000. ’The Emergence of the Egyptian State (c. 3200-2686 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 57-82. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[5]: (Malek 2000, 104) Jaromir Malek. 2000. ’The Old Kingdom (c. 2686-2160 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 83-107. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[6]: (Thompson 2012, 1) Dorothy J. Thompson. 2012. Memphis under the Ptolemies. 2nd ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
[7]: (Mumford 2010, 331) Gregory D. Mumford. 2010. ’Settlements - Distribution, Structure, Architecture: Pharaonic’, in A Companion to Ancient Egypt, Volume 1, edited by Alan B Lloyd, 326-49. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
[8]: (Engel 2013, 20-38) Eva-Maria Engel. 2013. ’The Organisation of a Nascent State: Egypt until the Beginning of the 4th Dynasty’, in Ancient Egyptian Administration, edited by Juan Carlos Moreno García, 19-40. Leiden: Brill.
[9]: (Papazian 2013, 67-68) Hratch Papazian. 2013. ’Departments, Treasuries, Granaries and Work Centers’, in Ancient Egyptian Administration, edited by Juan Carlos Moreno García, 41-83. Leiden: Brill.
[10]: (Bard 2000, 75) Kathryn A. Bard. 2000. ’The Emergence of the Egyptian State (c. 3200-2686 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 57-82. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[11]: (Bard 2000, 60) Kathryn A. Bard. 2000. ’The Emergence of the Egyptian State (c. 3200-2686 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 57-82. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[12]: (Moreno García 2013, 190) Juan Carlos Moreno García. 2013. ’Building the Pharaonic State: Territory, Elite, and Power in Ancient Egypt during the 3rd Millennium BCE’, in Experiencing Power - Generating Authority: Cosmos and Politics in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, edited by J. A. Hill, Ph. H. Jones, A. J. Morales, 185-217. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
[13]: (Moreno Garcia 2013, 190-192) Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia. ’Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE’ in Ancient Egyptian Administration edited by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia. Leiden: Brill.
[14]: (Bard 2000, 66-67) Kathryn A. Bard. 2000. ’The Emergence of the Egyptian State (c. 3200-2686 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 57-82. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[15]: (Trigger 1983, 51) Bruce G. Trigger. 1983. ’The Rise of Egyptian Civilization’, in Ancient Egypt: A Social History edited by Bruce G. Trigger, Barry J. Kemp, David O’Connor and Alan B Lloyd, 1-70. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
| none |
| Egypt - Classic Old Kingdom |
| continuity |
| Preceding: Egypt - Dynasty I (eg_dynasty_1) [continuity] | |
| Succeeding: Egypt - Classic Old Kingdom (eg_old_k_1) [None] |
| unitary state |
| [6,000 to 20,000] people |
| 100,000 km2 | 2900 BCE 2801 BCE |
| 267,000 km2 | 2800 BCE 2701 BCE |
| 300,000 km2 | 2700 BCE 2687 BCE |
| [1,100,000 to 1,200,000] people |
| present | |
| absent |
| inferred present |
| inferred present |
| present |
| inferred absent |
| inferred present |
| inferred absent |
| inferred present |
| present | |
| absent |
| present |
| present | |
| absent |
| present |
| absent |
| present | |
| absent |
| present |
| present |
| present | |
| absent |
| present |
| absent |
| Year Range | Egypt - Dynasty II (eg_dynasty_2) was in: |
|---|---|
| (2900 BCE 2651 BCE) | Upper Egypt |
The "early Egyptian state was a centrally controlled polity ruled by a (god-)king from the Memphis region." One reason Memphis is considered the likely main administrative centre is the large number of tombs of administrative officials located in the region.
[1]
Founded at the beginning of the 1st Dynasty.
[2]
Known as White Wall
[2]
(Ineb=hedj(w) = "white wall(s), i.e the royal palace enclosure walls) or Memphis (Greek Memphis < Egyptian Mn-nfr, an abbreviation of the longer name for the funerary complex of king Pepi I.)
[3]
[1]: (Bard 2000, 64-65)
[2]: (Malek 2000, 104)
[3]: (Thompson 2012, 1)
Estimate from the two sources below:
EWA
Memphis. No figures.
Estimated 30,000 to 50,000 for the Memphite region in 2500 BCE (if included migrant population of 10,000 to 20,000).
[1]
Mumford:"Early Dynastic to Old Kingdom (c. 3000-2125 BCE): Memphis. 31 hectares. 6,000 people estimated population. 193 per hectare."
[2]
[1]: (Modelski 2003, 28)
[2]: (Mumford 2010, 331)
100,000: 2900 BCE; 250,000: 2850 BCE; 267,000: 2800 BCE; 283,000: 2750 BCE; 300,000: 2700 BCE; 317,000: 2650 BCE
[1]
This includes only habitable area. we will have another that includes the desert (John Baines)JGM: We should bring up, somewhere, theories on the rise of the first state in Egypt in relations to the oases, western desert. Lots of archaeology has occurred, and there is a clear relationship between the desert hinterlands in southern Egypt and the rise of the state in the Nile valley.
[1]: (Chase-Dunn spreadsheet)
100,000: 2900 BCE; 250,000: 2850 BCE; 267,000: 2800 BCE; 283,000: 2750 BCE; 300,000: 2700 BCE; 317,000: 2650 BCE
[1]
This includes only habitable area. we will have another that includes the desert (John Baines)JGM: We should bring up, somewhere, theories on the rise of the first state in Egypt in relations to the oases, western desert. Lots of archaeology has occurred, and there is a clear relationship between the desert hinterlands in southern Egypt and the rise of the state in the Nile valley.
[1]: (Chase-Dunn spreadsheet)
100,000: 2900 BCE; 250,000: 2850 BCE; 267,000: 2800 BCE; 283,000: 2750 BCE; 300,000: 2700 BCE; 317,000: 2650 BCE
[1]
This includes only habitable area. we will have another that includes the desert (John Baines)JGM: We should bring up, somewhere, theories on the rise of the first state in Egypt in relations to the oases, western desert. Lots of archaeology has occurred, and there is a clear relationship between the desert hinterlands in southern Egypt and the rise of the state in the Nile valley.
[1]: (Chase-Dunn spreadsheet)
EWA: 4 Memphis, 3 regional centres like Hierakonpolies and Abidos, 2 minor centre like Aswan/Naga-el-Deir, 1 villages. ref. Bard 2014, 2nd edition.
1. Memphis
2. Regional centres like Hierakonpolis and Abydos3. Minor centres like Aswan and Naga-el-Deir4. Villages(5. Hamlets)
EWA final: this variable for early dynastic to Hyksos should be 4 to 5. The reason is that we can infer the existince of hamlets at the bottom end of the scale. This should be implemented for all the intermediate polities.
_ Abydos cult centre _
Abydos was the most significant cult centre. Kings of the 1st Dynasty were buried in the royal cemetery in the Umm el-Qa’ab area. There were funerary enclosures and a mortuary cult that supported an ideology of divine kingship. In the funerary enclosures priests and other personnel practiced king-cults.
[1]
1. King.
2. Priests
3. Other
_Town cult complex_
In the 1st Dynasty there were probably cult temple compounds within towns which "served a different function from those associated with the funerary complexes, which were located outside the towns."
[2]
1.
2.
3.
[1]: (Bard 2000, 64-69)
[2]: (Bard 2000, 78)
1.King
2. nobles3. officers.
Throughout Egyptian history, the army was a multi-purpose organization which was engaged for civil works labour projects, defence and campaigns.
Soldiers were responsible for transportation of monuments and quarried stone, large irrigation works and land reclamation. The dual purpose of the army was reflected in the hierarchy with the high "brass" as likely to be administrators as fighters.
[1]
[1]: (Gnirs 2001)
1. King
"We can infer that the territorial authority of the pharaoh during the early phases of the Old Kingdom existed as a combination of a network of local centers founded at strategic points and of local authorities tied to the monarchy in a more or less informal way, not necessarily designated by the rank and function titles so typical of the central royal administration, and with titles referring only rarely to activities carried out in a given, precise area."
[1]
_ Administration at Memphis _
2. Overseers
[2]
Early use of writing suggests administration system from Dynasty 0.
[3]
Djer introduced permanent institutions, royal domain got a name different from the king, division of labour and hierarchy increased.
[4]
3. Overseers "whose activities took place only in Lower Egypt""Early Dynastic period, administrative seals and labels mention royal agricultural domains put under the authority of a very particular category of overseers whose activities took place only in Lower Egypt."
[2]
4. Scribes
[5]
_ Provincial administration _
2. Royal centers
[6]
"territorial organization based more on a network of royal centers scattered all over the country than on a structure of provinces clearly marked out and controlled by local governors."
[6]
"The discovery of thousands of seal stamps in the tomb of Khasekhemwy, the last king of the Second Dynasty, reveals the early existence of some kind of territorial organization, since some historical provinces are mentioned together with administrative titles and the names of the king (Engel 2006)."
[7]
"Ink inscriptions on vessels from the funerary complex of Pharaoh Djoser (about 2686-2667 BCE) and seal stamps from Elephantine dating from Dynasty III, reveal the existence of a network of royal agricultural centers(the Hwt-aAt being the most frequently attested whereas the Hwt are also mentioned) which coexisted with the pr “domains” of some individuals."
[7]
"The ink texts from another enormous set of vessels, recovered at Abydos and dating from the Second Dynasty, confirm this model as they mention institutions named after the element Hwt, like the Hwt-nbw or the Hwt-wr(t) (Regulski 2004). It seems that the territorial organization of the kingdom consisted of a duality of agricultural centers belonging to the crown. The first of these were the Hwt-aAt and Hwt, which were administered by royal officials called HoA Hwt-aAt and HoA Hwt. The second were the pr domains administered by individuals whose links to the royal administration are poorly understood, since it is impossible to determine if they were local magnates who exercised a personal control over the territorial units called pr or if they were royal agents in charge of the administration of these circumscriptions."
[7]
"Another problem is our ignorance of the exact geographical distribution of these centers and circumscriptions: were they evenly scattered over the country or were they only prevalent in specific regions because of their strategic and/or economic importance? As regards this important question, our understanding of the role of provincial governors or of specific nome leaders is rather limited. Only the sSm tA played an active role as can be inferred from their frequent mention in the ink inscriptions, but it is impossible to ascertain the geographical extent of their authority or the scope of their activities (Moreno García 1999:233-38)."
[7]
"Other towns must have developed or been founded as administrative centres of the state throughout Egypt. ... At Hierakonpolis, an elaborately niched mud-brick facade within the town (Kom el-Ahmar) has been interpreted as the gateway to a ’palace,’ possibly an administrative centre of the early state."
[8]
Reign of Den: "Settlements concentrated in areas where irrigation was easily manageable, and those were the districts that seem to have been organized as nomes first. ... The single institutions (domain, : hw.t pj-hr.w-msn.w) are more and more subdivided into several departments, and during the 2nd Dynasty villages are attached."
[4]
3. Managers of workshops within royal centers"some of the institutions whose name is composed with the element Hwt were perhaps some kind of specialized royal workshop like the Hwt-mHa, Hwt-THnt, or Hwt-Smaw known from later inscriptions."
[9]
4. Specialist workers within workshops inferred
[1]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 194)
[2]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García, Invaders or just herders? Libyans in Egypt in the third and second millennia BCE, 3)
[3]: (Bard 2000, 75)
[4]: (Engel 2013, 20-38)
[5]: (Bard 2000, 74)
[6]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 190-192)
[7]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 190)
[8]: (Bard 2000, 65)
[9]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 191)
Menes began construction of basins to retain flood waters, dug canals and irrigation ditches to reclaim marshland. [1] "By the Early Dynastic Period, simple basin irrigation may have been practised, thus extending the amount of land under cultivation and producing increased yields." [2]
[1]: (Angelakis et al. 2012, 128-130)
[2]: (Bard 2000, 65)
Regional and local officials responsible for hoarding and distribution of grain.
[1]
This was true in Old Kingdom, very likely true in the early period. "A Third-Fourth dynasty complex found at Elkab consisted of storage facilities, silos, and sites where agricultural produce was transformed (Hendrickx and Eyckerman 2009)"
[2]
[2]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García, Recent Developments in the Social and Economic History of Ancient Egypt, 15)
Earliest wells date to the el Napta/Al Jerar Early Neolithic (c6000-5250 BC) at Napta Playa in the Western Desert. There is written evidence for wells from 4th dynasty Old Kingdom. "Most of the inscriptions seem to be connected to mining or quarrying activities in the Eastern Desert or travel routes from the Nile Valley towards the Red Sea." "The basic techniques involved in well-building, such as sinking shafts and building casings of solid stones, must be considered to have existed in Egypt at least since the early Old Kingdom and probably even earlier." [1] A pipe network that connects the drinking water to individual settlements is not known to exist / not thought to be present.
[1]: (Franzmeier 2007)
there is an oblique reference to mining in the predynastic on the Naqada IA-IIB polity sheet. [1]
[1]: Franzmeier, F. 2007. "Wells and Cisterns in Pharaonic Egypt: The Development of a Technology as a progress of Adaptation to Environmental Situations and Consumers’ Demands".[in:] Griffin, K. [ed.]. Current Research in Egyptology 2007. Oxford: Oxbow Books. pg: 40, 48.
The Coptic alphabet is the script used for writing the Coptic language. The repertoire of glyphs is based on the Greek alphabet augmented by letters borrowed from the Egyptian Demotic and is the first alphabetic script used for the Egyptian language. [1]
[1]: Ritner, Robert Kriech. 1996. "The Coptic Alphabet". In The World’s Writing Systems, edited by Peter T. Daniels and William Bright. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 1994:287-290.
"early writing preserves specialized information that is of a very cursory nature at this point in cultural development." [1] the Edwin Smith papyrus (1700 BCE): "attempting to salvage content from an older script dating back to 3000 B.C." [2]
[1]: (Bard 2000, 64)
[2]: (Marios, Hanna, Alsiegh, Mohammadali and Tubbs 2011) Loukas, Marios. Hanna, Michael. Alsaiegh, Nada. Mohammadali, M Shoja. Tubbs, R Shane. 20 April 2011. Clinical anatomy as practiced by ancient Egyptians. May 2011. Clinical Anatomy. Volume 24. Issue 4. pp 409-415. Wiley.
"early writing preserves specialized information that is of a very cursory nature at this point in cultural development." [1] the Edwin Smith papyrus (1700 BCE): "attempting to salvage content from an older script dating back to 3000 B.C." [2]
[1]: (Bard 2000, 64)
[2]: (Marios, Hanna, Alsiegh, Mohammadali and Tubbs 2011) Loukas, Marios. Hanna, Michael. Alsaiegh, Nada. Mohammadali, M Shoja. Tubbs, R Shane. 20 April 2011. Clinical anatomy as practiced by ancient Egyptians. May 2011. Clinical Anatomy. Volume 24. Issue 4. pp 409-415. Wiley.
On the walls of King Unas’s (2375-2345 BCE) burial chamber: "The Pyramid Texts represent the earliest large religious composition known from ancient Egypt; some of their elements were created well before the reign of Unas and map out the development of Egyptian religious thought from Predynastic times." [1]
[1]: (Malek 2000, 102)
they possessed a lunar calendar and the hieroglyphs with which they could write it down
Walled towns present prior to 3100 BCE.
Walled towns present prior to 3100 BCE.
Not mentioned for this period in Shaw’s (1991, 15-24) discussion of Egyptian fortifications. [1] According to Gnirs, "fortification architecture and techniques of siege had become the basic means of warfare by the third millennium BCE." [2] 1st Dynasty fortress built "on the highest point of the shore on Elephantine Island." [3]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 15-24) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
[2]: (Gnirs 2001)
[3]: (Bard 2000, 64)
Copper metallurgy from 2500 BCE. [1]
[1]: (Adam 1981, 235) Adam, S. 1981. “The Importance of Nubia: A Link between Central Africa and the Mediterranean.” In General History of Africa II: Ancient Civilizations of Africa, edited by G. Mokhtar, II:226-44. General History of Africa. Paris: UNESCO. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8APQDQV3.
Copper metallurgy from 2500 BCE. [1] Spearheads and arrowheads initially flintstone and bone, later replaced by bronze. [2]
[1]: (Adam 1981, 235) Adam, S. 1981. “The Importance of Nubia: A Link between Central Africa and the Mediterranean.” In General History of Africa II: Ancient Civilizations of Africa, edited by G. Mokhtar, II:226-44. General History of Africa. Paris: UNESCO. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8APQDQV3.
[2]: (Gnirs 2001)
"By the Dynastic Period, archers were most commonly depicted using a ’self’ (or simple) bow" [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 37) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"The principal weapons in the late Predynastic and Protodynastic Periods were undoubtedly the bow and arrow, spear, axe and mace. These are frequently shown in relief depictions of hunting and battle scenes (figure 18)." [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 31) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"Composite bows are known from both Mesopotamia and the Great Steppe from the III millennium BCE." [1] "The composite bows spread into Palestine around 1800 BCE and were introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos in 1700 BCE." [2]
[1]: Sergey A Nefedov, RAN Institute of History and Archaeology, Yekaterinburg, Russia. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin. January 2018.
[2]: (Roy 2015, 20) Kaushik Roy. 2015. Warfare in Pre-British India - 1500 BCE to 1740 CE. Routledge. London.
"The principal weapons in the late Predynastic and Protodynastic Periods were undoubtedly the bow and arrow, spear, axe and mace. These are frequently shown in relief depictions of hunting and battle scenes (figure 18)." [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 31) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"the weaponry being used by the Egyptians and their opponents--a combination of bows and arrows, shields, spears and axes--remained virtually unchanged from the Sixth to Thirteenth Dynasties." [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 37) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"One of the most important sources for the study of Egyptian weapons in the early Middle Kingdom is a pair of painted wooden models (Cairo, Egyptian Museum) from the tomb of Mesehti, a provincial governor at Asyut in the Eleventh Dynasty (figure 22). Forty Egyptian spearmen and forty Nubian archers are reproduced in faithful detail, showing the typical costume and arms of the common soldier." [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"Whereas the conventional spear was intended to be thrown at the enemy, there was also a form of halberd (figure 25c), which was effectively a spear shaft fitted with an axe blade and used for cutting and slashing." [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 36) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"The principal weapons in the late Predynastic and Protodynastic Periods were undoubtedly the bow and arrow, spear, axe and mace. These are frequently shown in relief depictions of hunting and battle scenes (figure 18)." [1] used in earlier time in this region [2]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 31) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
[2]: Gilbert, G. P. 2004. Weapons, Warriors and Warfare in Early Egypt. BAR International Series 1208: Oxford. pg: 34-70, 166-183
"Throughout the Dynastic Period of the most commonly used weapon was the axe. In the Old and Middle Kingdoms the conventional axe usually consisted of a semicircular copper head (see figures 23a and 24) tied to a wooden handle by cords, threaded through perforations in the copper and wrapped around lugs. At this stage there was little difference between the battleaxe and the woodworker’s axe. In the Middle Kingdom, however, some battleaxes had longer blades with concave sides narrowing down to a curved edge (figure 23b)" [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 36) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"During the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom the Egyptians depended upon the donkey’s back for land transport. ... Well before 3000 BC donkeys in Upper Egypt were trained to carry loads." [1] The donkey was probably domesticated from the African wild ass ’in more than one place’ but for the Nubian subspecies 5500-4500 BCE in the Sudan. [2]
[1]: (Drews 2017, 34) Robert Drews. 2017. Militarism and the Indo-Europeanizing of Europe. Routledge. Abingdon.
[2]: (Mitchell 2018, 39) Peter Mitchell 2018. The Donkey in Human History: An Archaeological Perspective. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame." [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
Cowhides probably most common material. [1] "From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame." [2]
[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001)
[2]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame." [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame." [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame." [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame." [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame." [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
Not until the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE. [1] "The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame." [2]
[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame." [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame." [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.