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The History of Egypt Podcast

24c: Old Kingdom Warfare (2024 Edition)

The History of Egypt Podcast

Dominic Perry

History, Society & Culture

4.82.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2014

⏱️ 72 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Before the Fall (c.2600—2200 BCE). Early Egyptians were fierce and active warriors. Our evidence for the Old Kingdom “army,” however, is scattered and fragmentary. Sifting through the pieces, however, we can reconstruct some elements of the early armed forces. In this episode, we explore royal texts that describe campaigns; pyramid art showing battles and soldiers training; and even images of siege warfare… Episode Chapters: Introduction 00:00 Dynasty IV Raids and Warriors 02:40 Army Organisation and Weapons 16:35 Battle Scenes of Unas and Ka-em-heset 26:28 Siege Scene of Inti 38:30 The History of Egypt Podcast: Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Intro music by Stephen Rippy from Age of Empires (1997). Outro music and interludes by Keith Zizza. Music and interludes by Luke Chaos. Notable art and objects in museum collections: Archers from the reign of Khufu, MMA. See Goedicke 1971, MMA Open Access. Sahura training scenes: Published in El Awady 2009. Unas battle scene: First published by Selim Hassan 1938 (Archive.org). Siege scene of Khaemheset: First published in Quibell and Hayter 1927. Archive.org. Siege scene of Inti: See Shaw, Ancient Egyptian Warfare, 2019 (Pen & Sword). First published Petrie 1894. See also Kanawati and McFarlane 1993. Examples of pre-New Kingdom Egyptian weapons in museum collections: Wooden bows: Louvre, MMA (FIP or early MK). Arrows: MMA (FIP or early MK), Louvre (Pre-Dynastic), MFA (FIP or early MK), ROM (FIP). Maces: ROM (4th Dyn., Khafra), ROM (Pre-Dynastic), MMA (FIP or MK). Spearheads: Louvre (FIP), Louvre (12th Dyn.), MMA (MK). Axes: Louvre, (OK), Louvre (FIP), Louvre (MK). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi everyone, this is Scott. If you want to learn about the world's oldest

0:05.0

civilizations, find out how they were rediscovered. Follow the story of

0:10.3

Mark Antony and Cleopatra's descendants over 10 generations or take a deep dive into the Iron Age or the Hellenistic era,

0:19.2

then check out the Ancient World Podcast.

0:22.4

Available on all podcasting platforms. the ancient world podcast

0:24.3

platforms or go to ancient world podcast dot com that's the ancient world

0:30.4

podcast podcast

0:31.3

howdy folks? Dominic here. The episode you are about to hear was

0:36.0

written and recorded in 2024. I have backdated it to the appropriate place in

0:41.3

the narrative so that you can hear it in its context.

0:44.4

But this episode represents new and up-to-date research available at the time of recording.

0:50.4

I hope you enjoy. Sala Malekum, peace be upon you.

1:00.0

Welcome back to the History of Egypt Podcast. Today we begin a new mini-series, revisiting the first

1:08.0

intermediate period. This is the era between 2,200 and 2,000 B.C. when politically the old pharaonic state temporarily

1:19.7

broke down.

1:21.2

It is a complicated and messy time, but also an incredibly vibrant one, full of exciting

1:27.9

stories from ordinary people.

1:31.0

I covered the first intermediate period way back in 2014 and a lot has changed since then

1:37.7

the podcast is different with bigger goals and ambitions I am a better researcher and hopefully a better writer.

1:46.0

And most importantly, scholars have published a lot of new material in that time.

1:52.0

Some stories are quite different from when I first explored this period.

1:57.5

Now, 10 years later, I would like to start revisiting it. In this miniseries we are going to focus on one major theme, warfare.

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