Ancient Egyptian navy

Construction of Ships

Ships were first constructed in a very basic manner in which they used reeds. These ships were in no way able to travel in the Red or Mediterranean Sea, and so their purpose was only to navigate through the Nile. Whenever ships were required to endure longer travels, Egypt often imported cedar wood from Byblos, with whom they had good trade relations. At the same time, they would ask other states that they traded with to supply them with a certain amount of ships. This is exemplified in the Amarna letters where we find a request to the King of Cyprus to construct ships for the Egyptian navy. By the time of the Battle of the Sea Peoples, the Egyptians had become experts in constructing ships. Their ships had a single mast with a horizontal square sail on it. One bow was usually decorated with a human skull being crushed by a lion’s head. These ships often had two rudder oars, since built in rudders were not invented at the time. At the same time, they could have been as heavy as 70 or 80 tonnes with around 50 rowers.

Purpose

The Egyptian navy had three main purposes: 1. The transportation of troops and supplies to certain areas that required them; 2. To use as a platform from which archers would fire their arrows upon the enemy that were land or sea based; 3. To destroy other enemy ships.

Transportation

The Egyptian landscape is often considered harsh and very difficult to travel through save for the few miles that surround the Nile Valley. For this reason, using ships as a means of communication and transportation proved to be very effective. The Egyptians had used their navy for the first and most important purpose in this manner. They would send soldiers to areas throughout Egypt whose jobs it was to quell rebellions or to repel attackers. This is very evident in the use of the ships to transport food and supplies to the forts that were stationed in the south near Nubia. These forts often were placed in difficult areas and so in order to feed themselves they relied heavily upon the rations that they received from cities such as Thebes and Karnak. This purpose was always used by the Egyptian from the very start of their civilization to the time of the New Kingdom where they would resupply their troops based in the Levantine region via the sea.

Platforms

This is especially noticeable in the temple reliefs in Medinat Habu that show the great attempted invasion of Egypt by the Sea Peoples. This relief shows us the Egyptian small yet maneuverable ships fighting against the larger yet slower ships of the Sea People. It portrays the ships as platforms from which archers and slingers can pepper down the enemy from. Having such fast and maneuverable ships enabled the Egyptians to constantly harass the enemy at a range while at the same time withdraw to safety and attack from a different side. At this stage, this purpose existed mostly in the New Kingdom era, although we are led to believe that it was used during the Second Intermediate Period during the siege of Avaris by Ahmose.

Boarding

This purpose probably took place more during the New Kingdom when the situation arose for the Egyptians to disable any threats to their sea. It is also most visible to us from the temple relief of Medinat Habu in which it portrays the Egyptian Marines on board the ships attempting to board the vessels of the Sea Peoples. Upon boarding them, most of the crew on the Egyptian ships would arm themselves and fight in close quarter combat through the use of spears, shields, and battle axes. The Egyptian never had a specific Marine unit, but rather it was known that anyone on board is equally capable of both maintaining the ship and fighting at the same time. The Egyptians would board other ships using the most common method of using grappling hooks to pull in a ship after peppering them with arrows and sling shots.

Famous Naval Battles

While naval battles are not often recounted since there was no distinction between the navy and the army in ancient Egypt, we do gather some information every now and then of battles that were fought through the use of ships.

The Siege of Avaris

One such example is when Ahmose led a siege against the Hyksos city of Avaris at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th dynasty. One account of the siege comes from a soldier and sailor that fought in the siege named Ahmose son of Ibana. In his accounts, he states how he was stationed on a ship called the Northern in which he sailed with the Egyptian army towards Avaris. After fighting a battle, they laid siege to the city and surrounded it. The siege of Avaris must have been a combined naval and land based attack since Ahmose son of Ibana claimed to have "fought in the canal against Pezedku of Avaris".

The War Against the Sea Peoples

This war is perhaps the most famous Egyptian war heavily involving the naval strength of the empire, and it is the first to ever be well documented. During the reign of Rameses III which was in 1182 BCE to 1151 BCE, a new threat arose to challenge the Egyptians in a different way than what they were used to. A new people called the Sea People were arriving in the Levantine region and destroying its cities. Already the once mighty Hittites were destroyed by these people of mysterious origin and it soon became obvious that Egypt with all of its wealth would be next. Rameses III prepared a mighty fleet and planned to repulse the Sea Peoples in the Nile. In the account from the temple relief of Medinat Habu Ramises states, "I prepared the river-mouth like a strong wall with warships, galleys, and light craft. They were completely equipped both fore and aft with brave fighters carrying their weapons, and infantry of all the pick of Egypt."

In that relief, it portrays the enemy with their tall ships all falling into the Nile and pierced by the arrows that were being fired from the Egyptian ships. At the same time, Ramses claims that he lured the enemy close to Nile shore where he unleashed upon them hundreds of thousands of arrows. The Egyptians on their fast and nimble riverine crafts won against the maritime vessels of the Sea People, who are depicted by the Egyptians as ill equipped for ranged combat.

Conclusion

While the Egyptians were often a land based population, they quickly proved to master the art of seafaring as they learned its benefits. The Egyptian navy continued to serve the military as a transportation mechanism, an amphibious force, and at the same time an aggressive force with which to wage war. It can be said that without the successful efficiency of the Egyptian navy, the Egyptian army would not have been able to campaign as long as it wished, and therefore, Egypt's influence over the Levantine region would have been drastically reduced. The navy enabled Egyptian civilization to continue with its way of life until its ultimate slow decline.