posted
It is hard to imagine predynastic polities in the Nile, without each ruling elite demarcating their respective political frontiers, to repel military incursions from extra-territorial [territories of the polities] imperialists. The strong southern polity formed by unified southern polities, was able to unify the polities in the Lower and Upper Nile into the a single nation state, and so, naturally, fortification of borders to the north and south, became ever more important. There seems to be the perception by some that immigrants from the Levant, freely intruded into the Lower Nile Valley, but the reality is that, the Egyptians were not that passive. Of course for economic reasons, i.e., trade, and channeling booty, loopholes were permitted at fortified borders, and hence, loosened on such occasions...
For example, Amenemhat II records, in unmistakable language, a campaign by sea to the Lebanese coast that resulted in a list of booty comprising 1,554 Asiatics, and considering that Egypt's eastern border was fortified and probably patrolled by soldiers - touregypt
Natural barrier for immigrants to the Delta in the pre-dynastic times?…
Ausar once posted:
In the Paleolithic period [before 5000 B.C.] the Delta and Nile Valley were virtually uninhabitable. The annual flood [inundation] of the river Nile would have placed all areas of the Nile Valley under water for three months of each year, and at other times it was covered with thick vegetation that provided habitation for a variety of wild animals. In the north much of the low lying Delta was converted with papyrus swamps. At this time people lived on the desert spurs and hunted prolific game. As the climate became drier and the vegitation of the Nile Valley gradually changed , they were able to move down into the valley once the inudation receded . Here during the Neolithic period [c. 5000-4000 B.C.] they began to cultivate the land ,gorwing grain and learning to domesticate animals.
Atlas of Ancient Egypt (Cultural Atlas of) - John Baines; Hardcover page 59
Wonder how the above ties with the following…
Did Middle Stone Age Moderns of Sub-Saharan African Descent Trigger an Upper Paleolithic Revolution in the Lower Nile Valley?
VAN PEER P.
ABSTRACT: In this paper, the Middle Paleolithic and the transition to the Upper Paleolithic in the Lower Nile Valley are described. It is argued that the Middle Paleolithic or, more appropriately, Middle Stone Age of this region starts with the arrival of new populations from sub-Saharan Africa, as evidenced by the nature of the Early to Middle Stone Age transition in stratified sites. Throughout the late Middle Pleistocene technological change occurs leading to the establishment of the Nubian Complex by the onset of the Upper Pleistocene. After a period of significant population expansion during the Last Interglacial, the arid conditions of Stage 4 have forced technological adaptation and contraction of population groups into the Nile Valley. In this context, the initial Upper Paleolithic emerges. The paper ends with an interpretation of the causes of the transition and of the impact of this event in adjacent regions.
At any rate…
We can define Egypt's traditional frontiers as the Western Desert, the Sinai Desert to the east, the Mediterranean coast to the north and the First Nile cataract at Aswan in the south. These were the natural physical barriers that allowed protection to the Egyptians from outside interference during the early, predynastic period when this great civilization was formed. - tour Egypt.net
And then, there was fortification…
…of polities!
For most of Egypt's ancient history, it was a land of fortifications. To some extent, all Egyptian ceremonial buildings, including temples and even funerary complexes, were intended to function as bastions of order and harmony, requiring at least symbolic fortifications to protect them from the surrounding chaos. And from the very beginning, we find references to Egypt's attempts to fortify their country, for the Memphis of Menes, united Egypt's earliest King, was known as Ineb-Hedj, meaning "the White Wall". In fact, the earliest surviving Egyptian fortifications were built to protect towns rather than to defend frontiers. Probably the first evidence for an Egyptian fortress is a Predynastic ceramic model of a building, discovered by Flinders Petrie at Abadiyeh, which appears to show two men peering over a crenellated wall. However, the oldest surviving remains of fortifications are the early dynastic settlements in Upper Egypt at Kom el-Ahmar (Heirakonpolis) and at Elkab.
Unless an enemy was willing to besiege a stronghold until it surrendered or could surprise its garrison and subdue it, he had to conquer it by forcing the gates, by scaling the walls or by breaching them. Since the earliest times measures were taken to prevent these possibilities: Hence, there was an attempt to build fortification walls with massive thickness and of a height that ladders could not be built to scale them. The gates were specifically protected. While the tops of walls are often decayed completely, drawings indicate that there were cornices all around, behind which the defenders could take cover.
In fact, the distinctive features of Egyptian forts, with their symmetrical and often elegant designs, probably reflect the monumental traditions of Egyptian religious architecture just as much as pragmatic military requirements.
Various terms could be used to designate a fortified structure, corresponding to various types, including bekhen, meaning "tower", nekhetw, meaning "fortress" and simply nekhet, meaning "strong". The frontier posts were often called khetem, which means "seal".
posted
The Defense of Egypt's Frontiers Egypt's true military fortresses, as opposed to fortified towns, is very closely connected with the empire's frontiers. We can define Egypt's traditional frontiers as the Western Desert, the Sinai Desert to the east, the Mediterranean coast to the north and the First Nile cataract at Aswan in the south. These were the natural physical barriers that allowed protection to the Egyptians from outside interference during the early, predynastic period when this great civilization was formed. Later, while these boundaries helped maintain Egypt's independence during periods of relative weakness, they required fortification to do so. Of course, the fortresses became even more important over time, and as rulers such as Tuthmosis III expanded the Egyptian boarders to their farthermost extent into Syria and as far south as the Fifth Nile Cataract in Nubia.
The Old Kingdom A fortress at Abydos, the funerary enclosure of Khasekhemwy, was built to protect the temple of Osiris. It was surrounded by a massive inner wall made of mud bricks, about twelve meters high, six meters thick at the base, about five meters wide at the top, and a five meter tall outer wall with a gap of about three meters between them. This arrangement prevented sappers from attacking the foot of the main wall under cover of portable shelters. Apart from the gates and posterns there were no openings in the walls such as loopholes, machicolations or the like…
This fortress gives us some idea of the sophistication of even the earliest of fortresses in Egypt, but it was certainly not alone. Though we know little about the actual fortification of Memphis in the north, it must have been grand. However, even by this time, there appears to have been frontier outposts such as the small Old Kingdom settlement at Buhen near the Second Cataract in Nubia, with a crudely built stone wall. There may have been others in Nubia, including a possible early fort at Kubban, some 60 miles south of modern Aswan, evidently intended to protect the Egyptian copper and gold mining expeditions in the Wadi Allaqi.
The Middle Kingdom By the time of Egypt's Middle Kingdom, her rulers were certainly aware of the need to control the flow of people into their country, be it from the south, the west or the east, for we read in the fictional "Prophesies of Neferti" dating to that period:
"Asiatics who roam the land. Foes have risen in the East, Asiatics have come down to Egypt."
Hence, these frontiers were more or less fortified from the Middle Kingdom onward. Along the Eastern Delta, Amenemhet I began the construction of the Walls of the Prince (inebw heka), a string of fortresses on the eastern border of the Delta which was later protected by a string of fortresses during the reign of Ramesses II, taking advantage of the watery obstacles of the region.
"One will build the Walls-of-the-Ruler, To bar Asiatics from entering Egypt; They shall beg water as supplicants, So as to let their cattle drink. Then Order will return to its seat, While Chaos is driven away."
Prophesies of Neferti, 11/12th dynasty
And in the fictional account of Sinuhe, we also hear:
"I came up to the Wall of the Ruler, made to oppose the Asiatics and crush the Sand-Crossers. I took a crouching position in a bush for fear lest watchmen upon the wall where their day's [duty] was might see me."
The Tale of Sinuhe These fortifications were more or less well defended and maintained over the centuries. They were intended to prevent invasion along the coastal route from the Levant, which was known as the Way of Horus during the Middle Kingdom…
During the 2nd Intermediate Period they were probably largely abandoned, but the New Kingdom saw their restoration. Under Seti I there seems to have existed a bridge at Sile spanning a crocodile infested waterway.
At about the same time as the Walls of the Prince were built, Amenemhat I also seems to have built a fortress in the Wadi Natrun in order to defend the western Delta from the Libyans.
The most elaborate fortifications during Egypt's Middle Kingdom, however, seem to have been built in the south. Originally, the border with Kush (Nubia) was marked by the town of Elephantine, naturally defended by its island location, the first Nile Cataract, and a thick, surrounding defensive wall. The original name of this settlement was Swn, meaning "trade", from which the modern name Aswan derives. Apparently, this reflects the commercial nature of the southern border…
During the Middle Kingdom, Egypt embarked on a program of military expansion into Nubia, bolstering their position with a long chain of fortresses between modern Aswan and the region of the Second Cataract. These were heavily fortified settlements, located at the most vulnerable points in the trade route from the south and were simultaneously both military outposts and customs stations. Though most have now vanished beneath the waters of Lake Nasser, the rescue excavations of the Nubian Salvage Campaign (1959-1969) did provide a great deal of information about these unique sites. These fortresses were actually some of the most sophisticated fortifications ever built in ancient Egypt, with many features that look forward to the much later medieval fortifications.
The New Kingdom With the New Kingdom begins an era of Egyptian expansion in Asia. Come records of the momentous expeditions is to be found in the contemporaneous literature and in the extensive low-relief representations of Syrian fortresses on the walls of Egyptian temples and private tombs. In fact, despite the abundant military scenes on temple walls, not much can be derived from the text about military architecture. Almost all of the fortresses represented were located in Syria, being either Syrian structures or Egyptian fortresses built to control Egypt's Asiatic possessions. They are rarely accompanied by more than a mere mention of their name.
Little changed over the centuries as far as weapon and fortification techniques were concerned until the Egyptians came into contact with the far more warlike Asiatics. During their campaigns in Canaan and Retenu they encountered fortified places built of stone, with towers and sometimes even water filled moats.
These cities and fortresses easily withstood traditional Egyptian siege techniques. Megiddo for instance fell to Tuthmosis III only after it was beleaguered for seven months. During the 19th dynasty a number of Canaan-style stone fortresses were erected along the Egyptian eastern frontier. They were called by their Semitic name magadilu (In Hebrew for instance migdal means tower; cf. the biblical Migdol [Jer. 44:1; 46:14] ).
From representation of these types of fortresses, Naumann has classified them into three chronological groups, from the time of Seti I, Ramesses II and Ramesses III. The earliest group represent fortresses in south Palestine of a uniform, presumably simplified type, characterized by an enclosure with four bastions and one or two doorways. Above the wall rises a second similar but smaller one, perhaps a citadel. The bastion seems to be crowned by a balcony with machicolations, possibly built on corbeling balks. The second group shows more types, varying according to the sites. The fortresses in Palestine are of the former, simple type, with windows, whereas those in North Syria occupied by the Hittites are more complex and characterized by loft towers. Those of the latest group show both simple and complex types used by the Hittites all over Syria and Palestine…
No strongholds of this era remain, but the temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu shows a number of features characteristic of New Kingdom fortification. A crenellated outer stone wall 4 meters high protects the whole eastern side. The entrance which passes through a massive bastion, is slightly wider than a meter and flanked by two guardrooms…
At strategic places large depots were built. At Tharu (Tjalu, possibly identical with Sile) on the eastern border between Egypt and Asia, we find an interesting example of such. here, a canal bordered with reeds and lively with crocodiles marks the boundary, and the structure stretched to both banks connected by a bridge. On the Egyptian side, a court surrounded by a wall and having two portals, one toward the land and the other to the bridge, is flanked by two series of three rooms each. A portal at the opposite end of the bridge opens onto the remaining part of the buildings, consisting mainly of a court opening on the Asiatic side through a gateway topped by a window that appears much like those at Medinet Habu.
In the south, the fortresses of Nubia seem to have been maintained, with all of the fortresses under the central command of Buhen. Now, these fortresses appear to be symbolic from the standpoint of defense, for we find temples and settlements built outside any enclosures. However, it was entirely possible that as in the Middle Kingdom, they may have been used as springboards for military campaigns deeper into Africa. The fortresses were often improved during the New Kingdom, mostly in response to such technological weapon innovations as the chariot. A series of lookout posts were built, consisting of clusters of rough stone huts at strategic high points along the banks so that strong communications could be maintained between the forts. All information, however trivial, was conveyed back to the military headquarters in Thebes.
From one Papyrus, called the Ramesseum Onomasticon (papyrus Berlin 10495) we also find a list of seventeen of the Nubian forts by name, including "Repelling the Seti", "Warding off the Bows" and "Curbing the Countries".
Source of article on fortresses: Courtesy of Touregypt.net
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posted
It is funny that castles and fortresses with moats and bastions are often thought of as a European/British creation.....
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