The Period of the Regions, or the First Intermediate Period of Egypt, refers to the interval between the Old and the Middle Kingdoms. There was no single capital at this time. Instead, there were several powerful hereditary rulers scattered throughout the region, including the Herakleopolitan kings in the north and the Theban Eleventh Dynasty in the south.
[1]
[2]
Population and political organization
During the Period of the Regions, different local rulers vied for control of the former provinces (the nomes of the Late Old Kingdom). In Upper Egypt, around Thebes, the Eleventh Dynasty was able to establish a centralized system of regional administration. Interestingly, this dynasty lacked the powerful provincial nomarchs that characterized the Late Old Kingdom, which perhaps presages the unitary state of the Middle Kingdom.
[2]
[3]
[4]
At this early date, however, the Theban Kingdom was relatively unimportant and removed from developments elsewhere in Egypt.
[2]
Further south along the Nile river, a local governor at Mo’alla, Ankhtifi, waged war on his own behalf without deferring to royal power and claimed authority over multiple southern nomes.
[5]
The political fragmentation of the period is further illustrated by the ’glaring gap’ in monument-building across Egypt.
[6]
Nevertheless, provincial rulers did command sufficient resources to build monumental mastaba tombs and the Theban Kingdom is notable for its rock-cut saff tombs.
[7]
Although the Intermediate Periods of Egypt are popularly thought of as being synonymous with disruption and a downturn in fortunes for the Egyptian people, several Egyptologists now argue that this assumption is misleading, at least for the First period: they instead contend that economic productivity was generally high during the late Old Kingdom and remained so through the Period of the Regions.
[8]
The main difference was that the king and his court lost power and access to much of this wealth, as the power of local rulers grew vis-à-vis the central state. In fact, despite its portrayal in Middle Kingdom literature as a time of depression, the First Intermediate Period was characterized by dynamism and creativity.
[9]
Popular culture flourished and evidence from burials shows that local populations enjoyed ’conspicuous, if modest, wealth’.
[9]
[10]
[1]: (Lloyd 2010, xl) Alan B. Lloyd. 2010. ’Chronology’, in A Companion to Ancient Egypt, Volume 1, edited by Alan B. Lloyd, xxxii-xliii. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
[2]: (Seidlmayer 2000, 127) Stephan Seidlmayer. 2000. ’The First Intermediate Period (c. 2160-2055 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 108-36. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[3]: (Willems 2010, 84) Harco Willems. 2010. ’The First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom’, in A Companion to Ancient Egypt, Volume 1, edited by Alan B. Lloyd, 81-100. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
[4]: (Seidlmayer 2000, 126) Stephan Seidlmayer. 2000. ’The First Intermediate Period (c. 2160-2055 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 108-36. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[5]: (Seidlmayer 2003, 118-21)
[6]: (Seidlmayer 2000, 110) Stephan Seidlmayer. 2000. ’The First Intermediate Period (c. 2160-2055 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 108-36. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[7]: (Seidlmayer 2000, 116, 124) Stephan Seidlmayer. 2000. ’The First Intermediate Period (c. 2160-2055 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 108-36. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[8]: (Seidlmayer 2000, 113) Stephan Seidlmayer. 2000. ’The First Intermediate Period (c. 2160-2055 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 108-36. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[9]: (Seidlmayer 2000, 136) Stephan Seidlmayer. 2000. ’The First Intermediate Period (c. 2160-2055 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 108-36. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[10]: (Morris 2010, 66-69) Ellen Morris. 2010. ’"Lo, Nobles Lament, the Poor Rejoice": State Formation in the Wake of Social Flux’, in After Collapse: The Regeneration of Complex Societies, edited by G. M. Schwartz and J. J. Nichols, 58-71. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.
| Egypt - Middle Kingdom |
| Preceding: Egypt - Late Old Kingdom (eg_old_k_2) [None] | |
| Succeeding: Egypt - Middle Kingdom (eg_middle_k) [None] |
| loose | |
| nominal | |
| unitary state |
| Unknown |
| inferred Present |
| Present |
| inferred Present |
| Unknown |
| inferred Present |
| inferred Present |
| Unknown |
| inferred Present |
| Present | |
| Absent |
| inferred Present |
| Present | |
| Absent |
| inferred Present |
| Absent |
| Present | |
| Absent |
| inferred Present |
| inferred Present |
| Present | |
| Absent |
| Present |
| absent |
| Year Range | Egypt - Period of the Regions (eg_regions) was in: |
|---|---|
| (2150 BCE 2017 BCE) | Upper Egypt |
No single capital in Upper Egypt. There were important provincial centres which vied for control, until a monarchy based at Thebes was established in the 11th Dynasty.
[1]
In lower Egypt the Herakleopolitan Kingdom had its capital at Herakleopolis Magna (in northern Middle Egypt near the Faiyyum), but the "Herakeopolitans never had control over southern Upper Egypt."
[1]
[1]: (Seidlmayer 2003)
No single capital in Upper Egypt. There were important provincial centres which vied for control, until a monarchy based at Thebes was established in the 11th Dynasty.
[1]
In lower Egypt the Herakleopolitan Kingdom had its capital at Herakleopolis Magna (in northern Middle Egypt near the Faiyyum), but the "Herakeopolitans never had control over southern Upper Egypt."
[1]
[1]: (Seidlmayer 2003)
Unitary state created by Theban King Wahankh Intef II 2112-2063 BCE?
[1]
although expansion outwards from Thebes probably begun by his predecessors.
[2]
King Wahankh Intef II: "The newly founded state was organized not as a loose knit network of semi-independent magnates, as the Old Kingdom had become toward its end, but as a powerful system relying on strong bonds of personal loyalty and on tight control."
[3]
"We know less about his adversaries, although it seems that the cause of the Herakleopolitan Kings was prosecuted by the nomarchs of Asyut."
[2]
Mentuhotep/Nebhepetre reunited Egypt under one ruler. "Egyptologists usually cautiously put the reunification of Egypt as taking place in or about Mentuhotep’s regnal year 39, c.2007 BC."
[2]
[1]: (Seidlmayer 2003)
[2]: (Strudwick and Strudwick 1999, 24)
[3]: (Seidlmayer 2003, 126)
Unitary state created by Theban King Wahankh Intef II 2112-2063 BCE?
[1]
although expansion outwards from Thebes probably begun by his predecessors.
[2]
King Wahankh Intef II: "The newly founded state was organized not as a loose knit network of semi-independent magnates, as the Old Kingdom had become toward its end, but as a powerful system relying on strong bonds of personal loyalty and on tight control."
[3]
"We know less about his adversaries, although it seems that the cause of the Herakleopolitan Kings was prosecuted by the nomarchs of Asyut."
[2]
Mentuhotep/Nebhepetre reunited Egypt under one ruler. "Egyptologists usually cautiously put the reunification of Egypt as taking place in or about Mentuhotep’s regnal year 39, c.2007 BC."
[2]
[1]: (Seidlmayer 2003)
[2]: (Strudwick and Strudwick 1999, 24)
[3]: (Seidlmayer 2003, 126)
Unitary state created by Theban King Wahankh Intef II 2112-2063 BCE?
[1]
although expansion outwards from Thebes probably begun by his predecessors.
[2]
King Wahankh Intef II: "The newly founded state was organized not as a loose knit network of semi-independent magnates, as the Old Kingdom had become toward its end, but as a powerful system relying on strong bonds of personal loyalty and on tight control."
[3]
"We know less about his adversaries, although it seems that the cause of the Herakleopolitan Kings was prosecuted by the nomarchs of Asyut."
[2]
Mentuhotep/Nebhepetre reunited Egypt under one ruler. "Egyptologists usually cautiously put the reunification of Egypt as taking place in or about Mentuhotep’s regnal year 39, c.2007 BC."
[2]
[1]: (Seidlmayer 2003)
[2]: (Strudwick and Strudwick 1999, 24)
[3]: (Seidlmayer 2003, 126)
in squared kilometers
Estimate for Theban Kingdom that controlled a rectangle in Southern Egypt based around the Nile from Aswan to Thebes, or just a bit north.
"... the Theban Kingdom occupied only a small, remote, and relatively unimportant part of Egypt as a whole ... Most of the country, during the First Intermediate Period, was in the hands of the Herakleopolitan successors to the ancient Memphite monarchy."
[1]
"A well known stela showing the king with a number of his dogs (Cairo CG 20512) is dated to year 50 of the king’s reign (c.2053 BC), and indicates that at that time his southern boundary was at Elephantine (Aswan), and his northern in the tenth Upper Egyptian nome (north of Abydos)."
[2]
[1]: (Seidlmayer 2003, 127)
[2]: (Strudwick and Strudwick 1999, 24)
levels.
_Mortuary cults_
"full-blown, society-wide investment in the mortuary cult did not come into fruition until the First Intermediate Period - when the central state had for all intents and purposes collapsed."
[1]
1. Overseers of priests
[2]
local rulers usually acted as "overseers of priests"
[3]
2. Priests
3. Scribes?
[1]: (Morris in Schwartz and Nichols eds. 2010, 66)
[2]: (Seidlmayer 2003, 117)
[3]: (Seidlmayer 2003, 122)
levels.
Nomarch, top military officer (such as Djary under Intef II) and inferred ranks below.
levels.
1. King
documented instances of officials who were responsible for a territory larger than a nome. Abihu governed: Abydos; Diospolis Parva; Dendera.
[1]
had courtiers, known from their saff-tombs at el-Tarif
[2]
_Centralized administrative system_
2a. High official such as Djari who was as a high official of King Wahankh Intef II.
[3]
3a. "the fledgling Theban state created a centralized administrative system"
[4]
4a. Scribes
_ Administration centers _
2a. Chief temple administrator (Priest?)"over-powering influence of court-culture had faded"
[5]
"great weakening of central government"
[5]
Provincial temples were administration centres and "foci of loyalty" of the people.
[6]
_ Local government _
2b. ... ? ...Theban king Wahankh Intef II had a military officer called Djary who "managed the southern most nomes for the king."
[7]
"The late Old Kingdom kings had transformed provincial rule ... by creating a new class of provincial administrators, i.e. the nomarchs ... Although these functionaries are not attested everywhere, they existed in most Upper Egyptian provinces and continue to appear throughout Upper Egypt in early First Intermediate Period documents. However, in the areas conquered by the Theban rulers ... the evidence for their existence gradually stops."
[4]
3b. Village head?End 3rd millennium: "contemporary priests and scribes proudly proclaim that they worked for simple village governors (hq3w), chiefs (hrjw-tp), and administrators (jmjw-r pr), they reveal the real importance of these authorities, usually hidden under the stereotypical iconography of the punished or bowing chief of a village."
[8]
[1]: (Seidlmayer 2003, 121)
[2]: (Lloyd 2010, 85)
[3]: (Strudwick and Strudwick 1999, 24)
[4]: (Lloyd 2010, 84)
[5]: (Seidlmayer 2003, 136)
[6]: (Seidlmayer 2003, 122)
[7]: (Seidlmayer 2003, 126)
[8]: (Garcia 2013, 1055) 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.
"The late Old Kingdom kings had transformed provincial rule ... by creating a new class of provincial administrators, i.e. the nomarchs ... Although these functionaries are not attested everywhere, they existed in most Upper Egyptian provinces and continue to appear throughout Upper Egypt in early First Intermediate Period documents. However, in the areas conquered by the Theban rulers ... the evidence for their existence gradually stops." [1]
[1]: (Lloyd 2010, 84)
not present Middle Kingdom. inferred present Old Kingdom.
not present Middle Kingdom. inferred present Old Kingdom.
Inferred present Middle Kingdom, inferred present Old Kingdom.
not present Middle Kingdom. present Old Kingdom.
not present Middle Kingdom. present Old Kingdom.
"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." [1]
[1]: (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.
Irrigation systems from Menes who began construction of basins to retain flood waters, dug canals and irrigation ditches to reclaim marshland. By 2500 BCE, a system of dikes, canals and sluices had been constructed. Irrigation system was communal. [1] [2]
[1]: (Angelakis et al. 2012, 128)
[2]: (Angelakis et al. 2012, 130)
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." [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)
Polities would have maintained infrastructure that first appeared in earlier periods?
Present after the reunification of Egypt. Did the Theban Kings conduct any trade via Red Sea ports?
Polities would have maintained infrastructure that first appeared in earlier periods?
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.
medical texts still in existence? literate elite. the Edwin Smith papyrus (1700 BCE): "attempting to salvage content from an older script dating back to 3000 B.C." [1] "as early as 3000 BCE official reference standards of length, volume, and weight were being maintained in temples and royal palaces in Egypt" [2]
[1]: (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.
[2]: (Willard 2008, 2244)
Centralized Theban state and high officials likely to have communicated using individuals to carry personal messages.
Walls were present in Thebes when Ankhtfi attacked. [1] Non-mortared or mortared?
[1]: (Seidlmayer 2003, 121)
"During the First Intermediate Period the town [of Efdu] expanded to almost double its size, a trend which can be seen from the erection of new enclosure walls along the northwestern and southwestern side of the tell. The old walls, however, did not go out of use: an additional wall-layer was added on the outside of the Old Kingdom enclosures (Fig, 3, F116), leaving an inner walled citadel or part of the town enclosed by the former city walls. One can speculate that this now enclosed the religious or administrative quarter of the town." [1]
[1]: (Moeller 2004: 262) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/NKBSEGST.
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] Evidence for bronze arrowheads and spearheads. Spearheads and arrowheads initially flintstone and bone, then 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 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) 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.
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]
[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 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.
"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]
[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.