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.

Ancient Egypt did not have a standing army, ready for battle, before the New Kingdom! In fact, whenever soldiers were needed, the Pharaoh had to call on the many monarchs to conscript able young men from each of their nomes (provinces). This temporary army only lasted for as long as the campaign was alive, and then dispersed once it was done. The young men would go back to their old jobs and villages.

Therefore, the country didn’t consider the need for a professional army – until the invasion of the Hyksos during the 15th Dynasty in the Second Intermediate Period. Up until that time, Egypt had a loosely organized, part-time army and crude, inferior weapons. The army that was raised in times of need, i.e., during civil unrest, consisted of conscripts, who were generally peasants and artisans, led by noblemen.

Guards in ancient Egypt were responsible to protect Egypt against outside invasion and also to maintain Egypt’s control in the ancient Near East region. Military also protected mining voyages during the Old Kingdom period. It even fought civil wars, maintained fortifications.

There were forts which were specially built to establish a military base there. Standing army was used in the New Kingdom period. The military men used bows and arrows, spears, shields with round tops made from the animal skin as their weapons.

Egyptian Guards at Doors

In ancient Egypt there were doorkeepers who controlled the traffic at gates and doors, be it at the entrances of temples, at city gates or at the door-manufacturers Tures, who, at least according to Kheti in his Satire of the Trades, had to be bribed by the weavers working inside, when they wanted to leave to get a breath of fresh air; and there were Egyptian Guards who supervised the goings-on in the market places, and where they apprehended thieves, occasionally at least with the help of trained monkeys.

Ancient Egypt and its people went from being very religious and peaceful to needing to keep their lands free of foreign hands. It worked well for them for a while, at least, though with the invasion of Alexander the Great and his army, Egypt never quite regained what it had been before.