Military History

Ancient Egypt: Solar Ships and Funerary Boats

Mythology, Funerary Boats and Religious Ceremonies...

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Queen Hatshepsut's Trading Vessel

A seagoing ship of the Empire Period. One of a fleet of five ships represented in a scene in the temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri (ca 1500 B.C.), this vessel shows clearly the hogging truss that seems to have been characteristic of Egyptian seagoing craft. The stem-post at the bow reflects the foreign origin of the prototype, whereas the...

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The Evolution of Warfare

Egypt was considered to be the most peaceful country in the ancient world. Its natural boundaries (the First Cataract on the Nile at Aswan, the deserts east and west of the Nile Valley, and the Mediterranean coast to the north) provided plenty of protection from outsiders, and Egyptians themselves were not a society of invaders or conquerors. There...

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The Armed Forces of Ancient Egypt

Until the takeover of Lower Egypt by the Hyksos, most conflicts the Egyptians had fought had been civil wars, where mainly armies of conscripted peasants and artisans led by noblemen opposed each other, or relatively short campaigns south into Nubia extending the southern borders of the realm, or east and west into the desert regions....

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The Ancient Egyptian Navy

Predynastic through Middle Kingdom. The use of river vessels and ships in Egyptian warfare is as old as conflict in Egypt itself, though probably at first there was little capability for sea travel. The Nile was always the principal means of transport in Egypt, and the sailing and construction of boats can be traced back to the papyrus rafts of the...

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The Egypian Army In History

The most prominent development added to the ancient Egyptian army was the use of the war wheels, the weapon that was taken from "Heksos" but highly developed and used by Egyptians to the extent that they started to breed horses, an animal that was not very common in Egypt, and modified the designs of the war wheels. It was mentioned, that the Egypt...

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Siege Warfare in Ancient Egypt

It is clear that the Egyptians did posses the means to conduct siege warfare, though in reality, like other powers in the region such as the Assyrian, they tried to avoid this type of battle where possible. They preferred, rather, to force a military decision on the battlefield. However, with the large number of fortified cities throughout Israel a...

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