The Old Kingdom period of Egypt covers the Third to Sixth ruling Dynasties, a period stretching from about 2650 to 2150 BCE. Seshat divides this period into two groups, the ’Classic’ Old Kingdom period, covering the First through Fifth Dynasties (roughly 2650-2350 BCE), and the ’Late’ Old Kingdom, comprising the turbulent Sixth Dynasty (2350-2150 BCE). The Fifth Dynasty, with its complex and effective administrative systems, is considered to be the high point for the centralization of the Old Kingdom government.
Population and political organization
During the Old Kingdom of Egypt, a god-king based in Memphis extended his reach along the Nile river through a network of royal centres, military towers and agricultural domains.
[1]
Few documents survive from the period; what evidence there is suggests that Egypt had become a centrally planned and administered state.
[2]
During the Third Dynasty, high positions within the central administration were characteristically ‒ but not exclusively ‒ the preserve of the king’s family. A notable exception was the chancellor and high priest Imhotep, the architect of Djoser’s famous funerary complex which housed (among other buildings) the Step Pyramid. During the Fourth Dynasty, the number of officials from outside the king’s family increased within the Egyptian administration, a trend which peaked in the Fifth Dynasty when the vizier became a powerful figure in his own right. The vizier oversaw the palace government’s granaries and treasuries, within which there were specialized departments and hierarchies of scribes.
[3]
One of the best known literary works of the Old Kingdom, The Maxims of Ptahhotep ‒ an invaluable source on Egyptian officialdom ‒ was written by a vizier at the end of the Fifth Dynasty.
[4]
According to Egyptologist Hratch Papazian, however, a true hierarchical bureaucracy emerged only in the Late Old Kingdom.
[5]
Initially, control over the approximately 300,000 square kilometres of Egyptian territory outside of Memphis was exercised through royal centres called hwt, run by directly-appointed state officials.
[6]
At first there were no formal provincial boundaries; the hwt, a royal possession, might extend over several villages, large amounts of royal agricultural land, labourers, fields and cattle. The governor and staff of the hwt were responsible for irrigation works.
[6]
[7]
[8]
One notable change that occurred between the Fifth to Sixth Dynasties was that control over the hwt gradually passed from the royal administration to a provincial nobility.
[9]
A religious network of temples, mortuary complexes and local cults spread over the landscape of Egypt between 2650 and 2350 BCE. Long viewed as an incarnation of an ancient sky and falcon god called Horus, from the Fourth Dynasty onward the Egyptian king also was considered the son of a sun god, Ra.
[10]
Ra grew in importance during the Old Kingdom and, around the beginning of the Fifth Dynasty, had essentially become an Egyptian state god. Although a common religious-ideological system prevailed throughout Old Kingdom Egypt centred on the divine authority of the king and a pantheon of deities and spirits, in general religious beliefs at this time were ’locally diverse and socially stratified’.
[11]
independent mortuary priests served cults at tombs dedicated to the afterlives of important individuals and local variation in the focus of worship remained an integral part of Egyptian religion.
[11]
On the burial chamber walls of King Unas, who reigned c. 2375-2345 BCE, we find the first Pyramid Texts, ’the earliest large religious composition known from ancient Egypt’.
[4]
[1]: (Moreno García 2013, 196) 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.
[2]: (Malek 2000, 95) 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.
[3]: (Papazian 2013, 46, 78) Hratch Papazian. 2013. ’Departments, Treasuries, Granaries and Work Centers’, in Ancient Egyptian Adminstration, edited by Juan Carlos Moreno García, 41-83. Leiden: Brill.
[4]: (Malek 2000, 102) 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.
[5]: (Papazian 2013, 67-68) Hratch Papazian. 2013. ’Departments, Treasuries, Granaries and Work Centers’, in Ancient Egyptian Adminstration, edited by Juan Carlos Moreno García, 41-83. Leiden: Brill.
[6]: (Moreno García 2013, 198) 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.
[7]: (Van De Mieroop 2011, 80) Marc Van De Mieroop. 2011. A History of Ancient Egypt. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Chichester.
[8]: (Malek 2000, 94) 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.
[9]: (Kemp 1983, 108) Barry J. Kemp. 1983. ’Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period c. 2686-1552 BC’, in Ancient Egypt: A Social History, edited by Bruce G. Trigger, Barry J. Kemp, David O’Connor and Alan B. Lloyd, 71-182. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[10]: (Kemp 1983, 71-72) Barry J. Kemp. 1983. ’Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period c. 2686-1552 BC’, in Ancient Egypt: A Social History, edited by Bruce G. Trigger, Barry J. Kemp, David O’Connor and Alan B. Lloyd, 71-182. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[11]: (Malek 2000, 101) 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.
| none |
| Egypt - Late Old Kingdom |
| Preceding: Egypt - Dynasty II (eg_dynasty_2) [None] | |
| Succeeding: Egypt - Late Old Kingdom (eg_old_k_2) [continuity] |
| unitary state |
| 30,000 people | |
| 50,000 people |
| [75,000 to 350,000] km2 |
| [1,000,000 to 1,500,000] people |
| [1,000 to 1,100] |
| present | |
| absent |
| inferred present |
| present |
| absent |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| inferred present |
| inferred absent |
| inferred present |
| present |
| inferred present |
| inferred present |
| present |
| present |
| present | |
| absent |
| present |
| inferred present |
| inferred present |
| present |
| present | |
| absent |
| present |
| unknown |
| present |
| absent |
| present | |
| absent |
| present |
| present |
| present | |
| absent |
| inferred absent |
| absent |
| Year Range | Egypt - Classic Old Kingdom (eg_old_k_1) was in: |
|---|---|
| (2650 BCE 2351 BCE) | Upper Egypt |
Original name was hw.t-k3-Ptah ("Estate/house of the spirit of Ptah")
[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.)
[1]
This original site was "probably gradually replaced in importance by the more populated suburbs further to the south, approximately to the east of Teti’s pyramid. Djed-isut, the name of this part of the city, derived from the name of Teti’s pyramid and its pyramid town. The royal palaces of Djedkara and Pepy I (and possibly also that of Unas) may, however, have already been transferred further south ... to places in the valley east of the present South Saqqara and separated from Djed-isut by a lake."
[2]
[1]: (Thompson 2012, 1)
[2]: (Malek 2000, 104)
The fifth Dynasty was the high-point for the centralization of government i.e. development of complex granary administration.
Traditionally the Old Kingdom extends from the 3rd dynasty to the 6th dynasty. The earlier times (1st and 2nd dynasty) is considered an Archaic period.
The "classic" period covers the 3rd - 5th Dynasties.
EWA: unitary state 2650-2200.
This period saw the gradual development of a highly-centralized administration. While in the 3rd dynasty the top posts in the Egyptian bureaucracy were held by members of the royal family, and had direct control in all areas of administration, in the 4th dynasty civilian appointments became more common within in a progressively more hierarchical government. By the 5th dynasty the highest bureaucrat was a powerful civilian vizier, who oversaw a highly-stratified government system with specialised departments.
[1]
[1]: (Papazian 2013, 46)
people.
30,000: 2500-2200 BCE Memphis.
[1]
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)
people.
30,000: 2500-2200 BCE Memphis.
[1]
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)
KM^2.
367,000: 2500 BCE
[1]
Polity territory includes the Nile valley and delta plus partial control of surrounding desert regions.
[2]
Inferred 75,000 km2 low estimate per John Baines’ response to 100,000km2 as previous low estimate: "I’d be inclined to give a lower estimate, just for Nile valley and delta, and say in words ‘plus partial control of surrounding desert regions’ or similar."
[2]
[1]: (Chase-Dunn spreadsheet)
[2]: (Baines, John. Personal Communication to Jill Levine, Dan Hoyer, and Peter Turchin. April 2020. Email)
From Memphis (29°50′41″N 31°15′3″E) south along the Nile to Buhen (21°55′N 31°17′E), a fort established during the Fourth Dynasty. [Malek_Shaw 2000, p. 107] Buhen is the southermost settlement shown on Malek's map of the Old Kingdom. [Malek_Shaw 2000, p. 91] The fort at Mirgissa (Iken) was further south, but was not established until the Middle Kingdom. [Smith 1991, p. 107] Roughly calculated using the Google Maps "measure distance" tool and dragging points to follow the course of the Nile.
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.
1. King
"temples and Hwt were part of a network of economic and production centers spread all over the country and controlled by the crown."
[1]
"In contrast to the temples, the Hwt was seldom a path to social promotion to the highest offices of the state during the Sixth Dynasty."
[2]
"temples or Hwt never became private possessions, and the revenues of the local dominant families seem to have been dependent, in a significant way, on their ties with the state and its institutions.
[3]
_ Pyramid complex levels _
High Priest or Overseer of the Estate
Larger cult complexes with numerous "Servants of God" had a high priest (jmj-r3 hmw-ntr). In the 4th, 5th and 6th Dynasty this role was often filled by more than one person. In some complexes this role had a special title.
[4]
"In Old Kingdom royal cult complexes (including sun temples), the hmw-ntr were organized into five phyles, or companies. Each phyle had two sub-groups lead by a shd, inspector, and each of the ten sub-groups served the royal cult complex in rotation for one thirty-day month."
Servant of God (hm-ntr) from 1st Dynasty.
Servant of God "prepared offerings, performed rituals, had access to the sanctuary of the divine image, and controlled entrance to the temple."
[4]
Servant of God (hmt-ntr)
Female priestesses Servant of God (hmt-ntr) was under the authority of a man. Associated with goddesses Hathor and Neith, and music making. Within the temple there was a female head (wrt-hnr) of a musical troupe (hnr).
[5]
W’b Priest
The w’b priest (w’b) assisted the Servants of God (hmw-ntr). They performed "the lesser tasks requisite to maintaining the temples and rituals. Their leader was called the Great W*b." W’b priests "handled ritual instruments and cultic objects." Certainly from 5th Dynasty a W’b could be promoted to hm-ntr "at either the same temple or a different one."
[6]
Lector Priest
The lector priest hrj-hb(t) was "the skillful reader who carried the ritual book and recited the formulas of cultic performance. No woman held this title." The titles Chief Lector Priest and Senior Lector Priest "may have connoted not so much degree of command as length of service."
[7]
hntj-s
"Ann Macy Roth, following Paule Posener-Kreiger, finds that in papyri from Abusir (Dynasty 5 and early Dynasty 6) hntjw-s perform the same duties as Servants of God, save for particular functions relative to the divine image and transporting offerings to and from the temple. She concludes that hmw-ntr served the deceased king’s divine aspect while the hntjw-s served his human aspect."
[7]
2. High Priest or Overseer of the Estatecould also be a Lector Priest hrj-hb(t)
3. Servant of God (hmw-ntr)could also be a Lector Priest hrj-hb(t)
4. Servant of God (hmw-ntr) - Inspector (shd)could also be a Lector Priest hrj-hb(t)
5. Servant of God (hmt-ntr) - Female head (wrt-hnr)6. Servant of God (hmt-ntr) - Musicians
5. Great W*b (w’b ’3)could also be a Lector Priest hrj-hb(t)6. W’b Priest (w’b)7. ... ? ...inferred level - scribes? guards? lay workers attached to the temple estate?
_ Local cult complex _
"Religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians was locally diverse and socially stratified. Practically every area of Egypt had its local god, which for its inhabitants was the most important deity"
[8]
1. Servant of God
In the Old Kingdom a local government official was usually appointed to this role in the local cult complex.
[4]
2. ... ? ...3. ... ? ...
_ Mortuary complex _
"some priests were not associated with temples. These were the mortuary priests who served cultuses at tombs."
[7]
1. Mortuary Priest
[7]
2. ... ? ...3. ... ? ...
[1]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 198)
[2]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 201)
[3]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 202)
[4]: (Shafer 2005, 10)
[5]: (Shafer 2005, 11)
[6]: (Shafer 2005, 11-12)
[7]: (Shafer 2005, 12)
[8]: (Malek 2000, 101)
Throughout Ancient Egyptian history, the Army was a multi-purpose organization which was engaged for civil works labour projects, defence and campaigns.
[1]
Not a professional military but there was military activity. We cannot code zero for levels. There were officers and individuals equivalent to generals in charge of campaigns, wars and battles. Coding 7 which is currently the administrative levels code.Coded as a range [3-7] to take various possibilities into account.
[1]: (Gnirs 2001)
1. King
The term "Pharaoh" as political title emerged in the New Kingdom. In earlier times "Pharaoh" means literally what the Egyptian phrase does i.e. "great house."
"head of state and the topmost administrator of Egypt"
[1]
"royal centers like the Hwt-aAt, the towers swnw, and the agricultural domains of the crown nwt mAwt(literally “the new localities”) continued to dot the Egyptian landscape and helped to assert the presence of the king’s authority, in a formal way"
[2]
_ Central government before the 5th Dynasty (150 people + families) _
2. Vizier"Beginning in the Fourth Dynasty, fewer members of the royal family remained in high managerial posts, and a consolidation of administrative power took place around Egypt’s highest civilian bureaucrat, namely the vizier, beginning in the Fifth Dynasty."
[1]
"the vizier oversaw the entire state administrative system and his office maintained direct and unrestricted control over a range of entities, such as granaries and treasuries, until the appearance of specialized departments sometime in the Fifth Dynasty."
[1]
3. Overseer of the national treasury (from Fourth Dynasty) (usually held by vizier)
[3]
3. Treasury assistant"Titles of seemingly lower rank, such as hry-’ pr-hd "Treasury assistant" appear already in the First Dynasty. Beginning in the Fourth Dynasty the title imy-r3 pr-hd designated overseers of single treasuries until it disappeared in the Sixth Dynasty."
[3]
Pr-hry-wdb (donation management?) was a department of the treasury "already in existence during the reign of Khasekhemwy in the Second Dynasty."
[4]
4 - principal officials of this department.
[5]
4. Overseers of single treasuries.
Scribal hierarchy
[5]
3. Overseers of controllers of the scribes4. Controllers (hrp)5 scribal overseers (imy-r3)6. scribal inspectors (shd)7. scribal under-supervisors (imy-h.t)
_ Central government from 5th Dynasty_
"It would appear that prior to the Fifth Dynasty the existence of a cohesive multi-tiered administration for granaries is not borne out by the evidence, due perhaps to a paucity of the sources, but more likely to the fact that granary management, being carried out by the vizier’s office, may have lacked distinguishable traits. A hierarchical bureaucracy sets in only during the latter parts of the Old Kingdom"
[6]
2. Vizier"Beginning in the Fourth Dynasty, fewer members of the royal family remained in high managerial posts, and a consolidation of administrative power took place around Egypt’s highest civilian bureaucrat, namely the vizier, beginning in the Fifth Dynasty."
[1]
3. Department heads"the vizier oversaw the entire state administrative system and his office maintained direct and unrestricted control over a range of entities, such as granaries and treasuries, until the appearance of specialized departments sometime in the Fifth Dynasty."
[1]
4. Sub-department heads"Administrative units, such as granaries, and treasuries (which included commodity management sub-departments)
[7]
5. Granary complex
[8]
head (inferred)snw.t refers to an individual storage silo, or granary complex
[8]
6. Assistant-directors of the granary (hry-tp snw.t)
[9]
7. Scribes / Other employeesBaker (rth), brewer (’fty), miller (ndw.t), tallier (nht-hrw), foreman, "inspector of custodians of granary property"
[10]
Scribal hierarchy
[5]
3. Overseers of controllers of the scribes4. Controllers (hrp)5 scribal overseers (imy-r3)6. scribal inspectors (shd)7. scribal under-supervisors (imy-h.t)
"I suggest putting King (pharaoh): the term Pharaoh was hardly used for kings until the time of Akhenaten, a millennium later; before that it meant the palace or royal estate as an institution; 2: the hierarchy looks too extended to me, because in principle all the administrators were qualified as scribes, so your levels 3 and 5 are basically the same, for example, while the ’overseer – inspector – under-supervisor’ hierarchy existed in various areas (even nail-clipping!); maybe remove level 5 and remove ‘scribal’ from levels 6 and 7."
[11]
_ Provincial line _
[12]
3. Hwt - administrators of royal centers
[13]
"Private inscriptions state that the HoA Hwt or “governor of a Hwt” was a state official appointed by the administration."
[14]
Early in the Old Kingdom "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."
[13]
"the so-called geographical processions, in which each province was depicted as formed not only by towns and their hinterland (w-“districts”) but also by marshy areas (pehu)."
[15]
4. Staff of nomarchThe nomarch had staff.
[16]
4. 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."
[17]
4. Village leaders (inferred from the existence of villages))"The inscriptions in Metjen’s tomb, from the early Fourth Dynasty, reveal that a Hwt could control several villages, whereas the autobiography of Ibi of Der el-Gebrawi states that extensive fields of about 50 ha provided with workers and cattle were administered by a Hwt, a fact confirmed by the ritual texts where the Hwt appear as administrative centers asserting their control over several fields and domains (Moreno García 1999, 2001a)."
[18]
5. Scribes
_Crew system used to organize labour_
1. Leader of the crew
"In the Old Kingdom, a crew was made up of two gangs"
[19]
2. Leader of a gang"In the Old Kingdom... a gang was divided into four or five phyles"
[19]
3. Leader of a phyle"In the Old Kingdom... each phyle had four divisions of about 10 men each, although this number could vary (Roth, 1991). Hence, the total labour force in a crew could well reach 400 men, possibly even more."
[19]
4. Foreman of a division"In the Middle Kingdom, the most frequent sizes of a division (including one foreman) were 10, 14 and 20 (Gardiner et al., 1952, 1955; Mueller, 1975; Simpson, 1963, 1965, 1969, 1986). However, there were smaller division sizes of 9 and 4, with two supervisors combined into one larger division (Griffith, 1898)."
[19]
[1]: (Papazian 2013, 46)
[2]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 196)
[3]: (Papazian 2013, 74)
[4]: (Papazian 2013, 77)
[5]: (Papazian 2013, 78)
[6]: (Papazian 2013, 67-68)
[7]: (Papazian 2013, 58)
[8]: (Papazian 2013, 60)
[9]: (Papazian 2013, 66)
[10]: (Papazian 2013, 66-67)
[11]: (Baines, John. Personal Communication to Jill Levine, Dan Hoyer, and Peter Turchin. Email. April 2020)
[12]: (EWA, Sept 2014)
[13]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 190-192)
[14]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 198)
[15]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García, Recent Developments in the Social and Economic History of Ancient Egypt, 7)
[16]: (Van De Mieroop 2011, 80) Van De Mieroop, Marc. 2011. A History of Ancient Egypt. Wiley-Backwell. Chichester.
[17]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE, 191)
[18]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, 198 cite: Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15127.html)
[19]: (Ezzamel 2004, 507) Ezzamel, Mahmoud. July 2004. Organization. Vol. 11. No. 4. pp 497-537. Sage publications.
"Food (bread, beer, grain, and sometimes meat) and cloth were redistributed to officials and workers of the state, but beyond this was a system of royal reward, an important part of the economy that also sustained loyalty to the crown. The king not only gave land to private individuals (which was frequently used to support their mortuary cults), but also rewarded officials with beautiful craft goods, such as jewelry and furniture, produced by highly skilled artisans working for the court. Such luxury goods depended on long-distance trade with southwest Asia and Punt, and mining and quarrying expeditions in the Sinai and Eastern Desert, which were controlled by the state. Exotic raw materials (gold, turquoise, elephant ivory, ebony, cedar for coffins, etc.) were obtained on these expeditions, the scale of which depended on state (and not private) organization and logistics. Thus officials depended on the state not only for their subsistence, but also for much of their material wealth in highly desired luxury craft goods." [Bard 2015, p. 139]
"Food (bread, beer, grain, and sometimes meat) and cloth were redistributed to officials and workers of the state, but beyond this was a system of royal reward, an important part of the economy that also sustained loyalty to the crown. The king not only gave land to private individuals (which was frequently used to support their mortuary cults), but also rewarded officials with beautiful craft goods, such as jewelry and furniture, produced by highly skilled artisans working for the court. Such luxury goods depended on long-distance trade with southwest Asia and Punt, and mining and quarrying expeditions in the Sinai and Eastern Desert, which were controlled by the state. Exotic raw materials (gold, turquoise, elephant ivory, ebony, cedar for coffins, etc.) were obtained on these expeditions, the scale of which depended on state (and not private) organization and logistics. Thus officials depended on the state not only for their subsistence, but also for much of their material wealth in highly desired luxury craft goods." [Bard 2015, p. 139]
Occupational specialization was certainly present in this period. E.g. scribes, government officials, artists, surveyors, construction managers and architects, various artisans. [Scarre_Connah 2013, p. 374]
In a chapter on administrative departments during the Old Kingdom, Papazian writes that ’the government was composed of several major administrative departments, such as granaries and treasuries, each with its own broad responsibilities’. [1] Especially during the early Old Kingdom, the same structures appear to have served multiple purposes as royal residences and administrative buildings at the centre, [2] but it seems that there were other specialized government buildings in provincial contexts. For instance, provincial (but state-controlled) granaries included ’in addition to the storage silos, a measuring or tallying court ... It was in that specific area that most scribal and supervisory activities took place’. [3]
[1]: (Papazian 2013, 43) Papazian, Hratch. 2013. “The Central Administration of the Resources in the Old Kingdom: Departments, Treasuries, Granaries and Work Centers.” In Ancient Egyptian Administration, 41-84. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8252XTHU.
[2]: (Papazian 2013, 50-53) Papazian, Hratch. 2013. “The Central Administration of the Resources in the Old Kingdom: Departments, Treasuries, Granaries and Work Centers.” In Ancient Egyptian Administration, 41-84. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8252XTHU.
[3]: (Papazian 2013, 66-67) Papazian, Hratch. 2013. “The Central Administration of the Resources in the Old Kingdom: Departments, Treasuries, Granaries and Work Centers.” In Ancient Egyptian Administration, 41-84. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8252XTHU.
Some later Old Kingdom tomb biographies suggest at least an informal promotional system. e.g. Biography of Weni, Dynasty 6, from Abydos.
[1]
. However there was probably no regular, institutionalized procedure for promotion based on performance.
Promotion on merit was essential to scribal culture but knowing the right person and informal networks also helped a bureaucrat’s career.
[2]
Example given 6th Dynasty scribe Weni of Abydos.
"It was administered by a literate elite selected at least partly on merit."
[3]
[1]: (Lichtheim 1975, 18-23)
[2]: (Garcia 2013, 1029) Garcia, Juan Carlos Moreno "The ’Other’ Administration: Patronage, Factions, and Informal Networks of Power in Ancient Egypt" in Garcia, Juan Carlos Moreno ed. 2013. Ancient Egyptian Administration. BRILL.
[3]: (Malek 2000, 85)
"There seems to have been no separate architectural or engineering division of the administration any more than there was a separate judiciary. The title sʒb is often translated “judge,” but it seems to be a generic term for “official” when applied to a named individual."
[1]
-- no specialist judge
"typical of the Egyptian system that the judicial function was not the prerogative of a professional, specialist body reflected in a clearly defined category of official titles. It is true that the titles of certain officers and bodies ... are suspected to relate entirely to the judiciary, but the basic capacity of making accepted judgements see also to have extended generally to men in a position of authority, even where their titles seem primarily administrative."
[2]
There was "a distinct layer of judicial administration that was in charge of investigating matters relating to discrepancies in the handling of grain resources."
[3]
-- yes specialist judge
[1]: (Quirke 2001)
[2]: (Kemp 1983, 83) Kemp, Barry. "Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period c. 2686-1552 BC" in Trigger, B G. Kemp, B J. O’Connor, D. LLoyd, A B. 1983. Ancient Egypt: A Social History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
[3]: (Papazian 2013, 67)
"There seems to have been no separate architectural or engineering division of the administration any more than there was a separate judiciary. The title sʒb is often translated “judge,” but it seems to be a generic term for “official” when applied to a named individual."
[1]
-- no specialist judge
"typical of the Egyptian system that the judicial function was not the prerogative of a professional, specialist body reflected in a clearly defined category of official titles. It is true that the titles of certain officers and bodies ... are suspected to relate entirely to the judiciary, but the basic capacity of making accepted judgements see also to have extended generally to men in a position of authority, even where their titles seem primarily administrative."
[2]
There was "a distinct layer of judicial administration that was in charge of investigating matters relating to discrepancies in the handling of grain resources."
[3]
-- yes specialist judge
[1]: (Quirke 2001)
[2]: (Kemp 1983, 83) Kemp, Barry. "Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period c. 2686-1552 BC" in Trigger, B G. Kemp, B J. O’Connor, D. LLoyd, A B. 1983. Ancient Egypt: A Social History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
[3]: (Papazian 2013, 67)
Law courts with permanent officials, titles include: “Overseer of the court”, “Master of the Secrets of judgements in the court.” [1] Permanent, specialized officials with jurisdiction over criminal cases. The vizier held the top position in the law system, the "overseer of the six courts." [2]
[1]: (Chadwick 2005, 139)
[2]: (McDowell 2001)
Before the New Kingdom inter-regional trade was conducted between institutions. "Merchants who worked for their own gain existed in ancient Egypt only during the New Kingdom." Ancient Egypt was a "supply state" with the necessities distributed down from institutions to the people. Goods exchanged at markets were primarily consumables like beer and bread, also some dried meat, fish, vegetables and fruits. Non-consumables included household artifacts. [1] However: "non-institutional trade networks should be considered. Egyptology has traditionally interpreted pharaonic foreign trade as relying exclusively on exchange operations promoted and carried out by the monarchy, especially through expeditions seeking for exotic and luxury items from Punt, Nubia and the Levant. However, things seem more complex." [2] AD: coded as unknown because no evidence for actual market places or buildings. Warburton disagrees with the supply state view "lack of evidence of state ’control’ of crafts or of the economy; ... absence of evidence of ’redistribution’ ... increasingly widespread evidence of commercial activity ... exaggerated attention to titles has paid neither sufficient attention to their absence, nor to the lack of evidence for an administrative role of titles when they are documented. Together these points suggest that the Ancient Egyptian economy was a pre-capitalist market economy in which administration played a relatively unimportant role in itself." [3]
[1]: (Altenmuller 2001)
[2]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García, Invaders or just herders? Libyans in Egypt in the third and second millennia BCE, 5)
[3]: (Warburton 2007) Warburton, David A. 2007. Work and Compensation in Ancient Egypt. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. Vol. 93. pp 175-194. Egypt Exploration Society.
Before the New Kingdom inter-regional trade was conducted between institutions. "Merchants who worked for their own gain existed in ancient Egypt only during the New Kingdom." Ancient Egypt was a "supply state" with the necessities distributed down from institutions to the people. Goods exchanged at markets were primarily consumables like beer and bread, also some dried meat, fish, vegetables and fruits. Non-consumables included household artifacts. [1] However: "non-institutional trade networks should be considered. Egyptology has traditionally interpreted pharaonic foreign trade as relying exclusively on exchange operations promoted and carried out by the monarchy, especially through expeditions seeking for exotic and luxury items from Punt, Nubia and the Levant. However, things seem more complex." [2] AD: coded as unknown because no evidence for actual market places or buildings. Warburton disagrees with the supply state view "lack of evidence of state ’control’ of crafts or of the economy; ... absence of evidence of ’redistribution’ ... increasingly widespread evidence of commercial activity ... exaggerated attention to titles has paid neither sufficient attention to their absence, nor to the lack of evidence for an administrative role of titles when they are documented. Together these points suggest that the Ancient Egyptian economy was a pre-capitalist market economy in which administration played a relatively unimportant role in itself." [3]
[1]: (Altenmuller 2001)
[2]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García, Invaders or just herders? Libyans in Egypt in the third and second millennia BCE, 5)
[3]: (Warburton 2007) Warburton, David A. 2007. Work and Compensation in Ancient Egypt. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. Vol. 93. pp 175-194. Egypt Exploration Society.
"Every collective in Egyptian society, whether a town or a village, maintained grain storage facilities" [1] "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]
[1]: (Papazian 2013, 59)
[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)
E.g. temples attached to royal funerary complexes. [Malek_Shaw 2000, pp. 90-97]
E.g. pyramids (royal tombs). [Malek_Shaw 2000, pp. 90-99]
It appears that no buildings identifiable as libraries, archives or other public information buildings survive from this period. However, indirect evidence points to their existence. Webb writes: "Redford (1986, 96) traces the evolution of annals, probably written on papyrus, from the Old Kingdom (2686−2160 B.C.) − where they existed as a means of recording the significant events of Pharaoh’s reign – through to the New Kingdom (1550−1069 B.C.) when the term begins to be used more generally as a reference to either mythological texts relating events in primordial times, or to any inscription aiming to record events for prosperity. The fact that these annals were recorded at all undoubtedly implies that they were written with the intention of being preserved for later consultation. By definition, then, some means of storage facility was required for these important documents, a 'library' or 'archive.'" [Webb 2013, p. 22]
I have not found any evidence of dedicated public entertainment buildings (theatres, sports arenas, racetracks etc.) in this period. "Most scholars now agree that pure theater - a scripted performance played in front of an audience for the purpose of entertainment - never took place in ancient Egypt ... a play requires a site for staging. Yet no such building or area has been identified from ancient Egypt that could be interpreted as a location where a play could have been staged". [Leprohon_Csapo_Miller 2008, p. 259] As for sports facilities, from Late Predynastic times onwards, the Sed (jubilee) festival involved the king performing a run; a track built for this purpose survives from Djoser’s pyramid precinct. However, this race was a ritual demonstration of the king's athleticism and fitness to rule, and the track could not be described as an "entertainment" structure in a simple sense. [Decker_Scanlon_Futrell 2021, p. 33]
"Palaces have not been recovered by archaeology" for the Old Kingdom, [Bard 2015, p. 135] but royal residences no doubt existed and would have been differentiated from the homes of the general population. The funerary enclosure in Djoser's Step Pyramid complex may have been a symbolic recreation of the royal palace. [Bard 2015, p. 145]
E.g. harbour installations at Wadi el-Jarf on the Red Sea coast, dating to the Fourth Dynasty. "... a French team co-directed by Pierre Tallet and Elsayed Mahfouz has recently found evidence of a harbor at Wadi el-Jarf, near the site of St. Paul’s monastery. Archaeological evidence there includes the remains of camps and surveillance installations, a large underwater quay construction, and in Zone 1, 25–30 long rock-cut galleries used for storage. These galleries are 16–34 meters long ... The ceramic evidence at Wadi el-Jarf dates to the 4th Dynasty, and the well-preserved inscriptions demonstrate that the harbor was used mainly during the reign of Khufu." [Bard 2015, p. 174]
Road network emerged with development of irrigation systems. Excavated soil was piled by the side of ditches, these formed embankments which were used as paths and roads. Generally not paved. An exception was the 11.5 km paved straight road (flagstones and petrified wood) discovered in the Fayyum. Artefacts date it to c2494-2184 BCE. [1]
[1]: (Partridge 2010)
[1] Menes diverted the Nile to build Memphis where it had run. [2] "To improve their communications with the south, the Egyptians dug out navigable channels in the rapids of the First Cataract at Aswan; this policy, initiated in the third millennium before our era, was to be continued by the kings of the Middle Kingdom and later by those of the New Kingdom. [3]
[1]: (Modelski 2003, 26)
[2]: (Angelakis et al. 2012, 130)
[3]: (Mokhtar ed. 1981, 236)
"Buhen was probably a major trading center with regions to the south, and seals of 4th- and 5th-Dynasty kings have been found there." [Bard 2015, p. 175] There were also likely more ephemeral trading settlements in desert areas. "Dakhla Oasis in the Western Desert was connected to major trade routes along desert tracks – east and north to the Nile Valley through Kharga Oasis, and south to Sudan. From the 4th Dynasty there is evidence that Khufu and Djedefra both sent expeditions to the west of Dakhla, and at the eastern end of the oasis at Ayn Asil an administrative center for the Governor of the Oasis was established." [Bard 2015, pp. 174-175]
E.g. royal funerary enclosures. [Malek_Shaw 2000, pp. 91-93]
E.g. temples attached to royal mortuary complexes. [Malek_Shaw 2000, pp. 90-97]
"In the 4th Dynasty, there is evidence of state workshops for craft goods near the Giza pyramids (for stone carving and copper production, but also pottery kilns)". [Bard 2015, p. 140]
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.
School of medicine at Bubastis. [1] Imhotep, physician, architect, High Priest of Ra. [2] This could also be inferred from the presence of large-scale constructions such as the Great Pyramid. the Edwin Smith papyrus (1700 BCE): "attempting to salvage content from an older script dating back to 3000 B.C." [3] "as early as 3000 BCE official reference standards of length, volume, and weight were being maintained in temples and royal palaces in Egypt" [4]
[1]: (Shafer 2005, 11)
[2]: (Stearns 2001, 29 )
[3]: (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.
[4]: (Willard 2008, 2244)
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)
Instructional literature. Formal legal instruments of property transfers, and letters are also known. There are also temple accounts on papyrus known. "as early as 3000 BCE official reference standards of length, volume, and weight were being maintained in temples and royal palaces in Egypt" [1]
[1]: (Willard 2008, 2244)
The Maxims of Ptahhotep "a major literary work of the Old Kingdom, which summarises the rules of conduct of a successful official, is ascribed to the vizier of Djedkara." (2414-2375 BCE). [1] "The philosophical literture is something perculiar to the Middle Kingdom and First Intermediate Period." [2]
[1]: (Malek 2000, 102)
[2]: (Kemp 1983, 75) Kemp, Barry. "Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period c. 2686-1552 BC" in Trigger, B G. Kemp, B J. O’Connor, D. LLoyd, A B. 1983. Ancient Egypt: A Social History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
The Maxims of Ptahhotep "a major literary work of the Old Kingdom, which summarises the rules of conduct of a successful official, is ascribed to the vizier of Djedkara." (2414-2375 BCE). [1] "The philosophical literture is something perculiar to the Middle Kingdom and First Intermediate Period." [2]
[1]: (Malek 2000, 102)
[2]: (Kemp 1983, 75) Kemp, Barry. "Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period c. 2686-1552 BC" in Trigger, B G. Kemp, B J. O’Connor, D. LLoyd, A B. 1983. Ancient Egypt: A Social History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
The Treasury was a state department of the Old Kingdom, responsible for revenue collection and distribution. [Papazian_Moreno_García 2013, pp. 70-71] This would have included storerooms for precious goods, and "the Treasury is often listed as the source of income for officials". [Papazian_Moreno_García 2013, p. 73]
Walled towns present prior to 3100 BCE.
Walled towns present prior to 3100 BCE.
e.g. Southern border at Elephantine. [1]
[1]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, 190 cite: Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15127.html)
According to Gnirs, "fortification architecture and techniques of siege had become the basic means of warfare by the third millennium BCE." [1] Construction of a fortress at Elephantine. [2]
[1]: (Gnirs 2001)
[2]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, 190 cite: Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15127.html)
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] Construction of a fortress at Elephantine. [3]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 15-24) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
[2]: (Gnirs 2001)
[3]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, 190 cite: Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15127.html)
Meteoritic Iron, present, not used in military capacity.
Evidence of copper metallurgy between 3000-2500 BCE. [1] [2]
[1]: (Baines, John. Personal Communication to Jill Levine, Dan Hoyer, and Peter Turchin. April 2020. Email)
[2]: (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.
Evidence of copper metallurgy between 3000-2500 BCE. [1] [2] Evidence for bronze arrowheads and spearheads. Spearheads and arrowheads initially flintstone and bone, then replaced by bronze. [3]
[1]: (Baines, John. Personal Communication to Jill Levine, Dan Hoyer, and Peter Turchin. April 2020. Email)
[2]: (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.
[3]: (Gnirs 2001)
Present. [1] "By the Dynastic Period, archers were most commonly depicted using a ’self’ (or simple) bow" [2] Evidence for bronze arrowheads and spearheads. Spearheads and arrowheads initially flintstone and bone, then replaced by bronze. [1]
[1]: (Gnirs 2001)
[2]: (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.
"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] Evidence for bronze arrowheads and spearheads. Spearheads and arrowheads initially flintstone and bone, then replaced by bronze. [3]
[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.
[3]: (Gnirs 2001)
Inferred from use in previous periods, though no longer one of the main weapons: "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] Confirmed for an earlier time period. [2] "slate palettes, knife handles, and maceheads." [3]
[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.
[2]: Gilbert, G. P. 2004. Weapons, Warriors and Warfare in Early Egypt. BAR International Series 1208: Oxford. pg: 34-70, 166-183
[3]: (Hassan 1988, 173)
"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] Copper swords earlier than 17th century BCE have been found in Susiana. [2] However, Egypt was behind Sumer in development of armour so may also have developed weapons such as the sword later.
[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.
[2]: (Leverani 2014, 88) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London.
"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.
"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.
camels not considered native to Egypt, likely introduced by Persians in 525 BCE
"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] Parrying stick. [2]
[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.
[2]: (Hoffmeier 2001)
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] Armour not worn during 3rd millennium BCE. [2]
[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.
[2]: (Spalinger 2013, 472)
"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]
Armour not worn during 3rd millennium BCE.
[2]
[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.
[2]: (Spalinger 2013, 472)
"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] Armour not worn during 3rd millennium BCE. [2]
[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.
[2]: (Spalinger 2013, 472)
"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] Armour not worn during 3rd millennium BCE. [2]
[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.
[2]: (Spalinger 2013, 472)
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] No helmets until 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.
[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] Armour not worn during 3rd millennium BCE. [2]
[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.
[2]: (Spalinger 2013, 472)
Navy was the main fighting force until the New Kingdom. [1] Land forces are known, but they appear to have been ad hoc, mustered for specific purposes. Note e.g tomb of Weni, dyn. 6 (Abydos): "an army of many tens of thousands from all over Upper Egypt" mustered to fight the "Asiatic sand-dwellers." [2] Snofru (2575-2551 BCE) sent a fleet of forty ships to trade with Phoenicia. [3] Seagoing ships between the Levant and Egypt existed in the Old Kingdom [4] Spalinger speculates whether Lebanese sailors may have been used in Old Kingdom naval flotilla, just as Nubian soldiers used in Egyptian army (6th Dynasty) [5]
[1]: (Manning 2012, 73)
[2]: (Lichtheim 1975, p.19)
[4]: (Gnirs 2001)
[5]: (Spalinger 2013, 461)