page_title: Military of ancient Egypt
section_title: Chariotry
hierarchical_section_title: Military of ancient Egypt / Military organization / Chariotry
caption_attribution_description: English: An illustration from the Encyclopaedia Biblica, a 1903 publication which is now in the public domain. Fig. 4 for article "Egypt". Image of Ramses II storming the Hittite fortress of Dapur (Da-pu-ru); from a wall picture on his temple at Thebes.
context_page_description: Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the northern reaches of the Nile River in Egypt. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and it developed over the next three millennia. Its history occurred in a series of stable kingdoms, separated by periods of relative instability known as intermediate periods. Ancient Egypt reached its pinnacle during the New Kingdom, after which it entered a period of slow decline. Egypt was conquered by a succession of foreign powers in the late period, and the rule of the pharaohs officially ended in 31 BC, when the early Roman Empire conquered Egypt and made it a province. Although the Egyptian military forces in the Old and Middle kingdoms were well maintained, the new form that emerged in the New Kingdom showed the state becoming more organized to serve its needs.
  For most parts of its long history, ancient Egypt was unified under one government. The main military concern for the nation was to keep enemies out.
context_section_description: Chariotry, the backbone of the Egyptian army, was introduced into ancient Egypt from Western Asia at the end of the Second Intermediate Period (c.1650–1550 BC) / the beginning of the New Kingdom (c.1550–1069 BC). Charioteers were drawn from the upper classes in Egypt. Chariots were generally used as a mobile platform from which to use projectile weapons, and were generally pulled by two horses and manned by two charioteers; a driver who carried a shield, and a man with a bow or javelin. Chariots also had infantry support. By the time of Qadesh, the chariot arm was at the height of its development. It was designed for speed and maneuverability, being lightweight and delicate in appearance. Its offensive power was in its capacity to rapidly turn, wheel and repeatedly charge, penetrating the enemy line and functioning as a mobile firing platform that afforded the fighting crewmen the opportunity to shoot many arrows from the composite bow. The chariot corps served as an independent arm but were attached to the infantry corps. At Qadesh, there were 25 vehicles per company. Many of the lighter vehicles were retained for scouting and communication duties. In combat, the chariots were deployed in troops of 10, squadrons of 50 and the larger unit was called the pedjet, commanded by an officer with the title 'Commander of a chariotry host' and numbering about 250 chariots.
  Chariots are best defined as horsedrawn vehicles with two spoked wheels that require their drivers and passengers to stand whilst in motion’ (Archer 1). Simply described, the chariot has been around for centuries in the near East not only showing the owners status in societies but also in times of war. This became the most predominate in the time of the 16th century when the chariot was introduced to the Egyptians during a war with the Hyksos army (Shulman). The chariot aided in many battles, they could be used in a multitude of ways from, a glorified product mover or transportation for soldiers to be moved to and from the battle fields in a ‘battle taxi’ type manner and a variety of other ways (Archer 2). A weapon that accompanied the soldiers and their passengers were objects such as the composite bows, arrows and a variety of other object such as spears and swords. The role of an archer was one of value when place on the back of a chariot, literally making this a target almost unable to hit due to the amount of movement. ‘Chariots were used to ferry bowmen to suitable firing positions, where they dismounted and fired their bows on foot, climbing back into their chariots and speeding away when threatened’ (Archer 6). One major usage of the chariot was to ram into the front lines of the enemy to scare them into breaking formation, giving the army the opportunity to get behind their lines and start fighting. Due to the fact that war horses, although trained, still became scared. ‘Horses will not willingly charge into massed ranks of infantry, always preferring to pull up and stop just short of their lines regardless of the intentions of the riders and handlers’ (Archer 4).  Even if the horse-drawn chariot did follow through and attempt to break the enemy's lines would have been a terrible idea if they were using the lighter Bronze Age type war chariots. The chariots proved themselves most useful on flat unbroken ground, this is where their speed and maneuvering capabilities were at their height. This did how ever become a thorn in the side of Egyptians during the eighth and ninth centuries when the battle between Egypt and Syria, Palestine Empire broke out, causing the Egyptian chariots to become virtually incapable of performing its intended duties due to the very nature of the landscape; mountainous and rocky. There are many theories as to how chariots aided in the rise and fall of Egypt, the most prominent of these was created by Robert Drews. He claims that chariots were responsible for the end of the Late Bronze Age. His claim is that the mercenaries in the area at this time spent a great amount of effort and time watching and learning the strength and wea
caption: Leader riding a chariot holding a bow.
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