Composite Bowīefore the Hyksos invasion, the Egyptians relied on the “self” bow, a simple bow and arrow weapon made from a single piece of wood. In ancient warfare, the khopesh would have served as a secondary weapon like an axe or short sword to put the finishing blows on an enemy in close combat. The boy king Tutankhamun, for example, was buried with two khopeshes. The Egyptians owed the Hyksos once again for this vicious-looking weapon, which is frequently depicted in relief paintings being wielded by a pharaoh to smite enemy armies. They fitted their javelins with diamond-shaped metal blades and made them easier to aim and throw with a well-balanced and reinforced wooden grip. Eliott says that Egyptians didn’t treat the javelin as a disposable ordinance like an arrow. At close range, they would use the javelin to thrust at the enemy behind their shields, but they could also launch the armor-piercing javelin at attacking chariots or lines of infantry. New Kingdom soldiers would carry a quiver of javelins over their shoulder like arrows. It also functioned in close combat as a short spear about a meter long (3.3 feet).
The Egyptian javelin was more than a hand-launched missile. The Egyptians’ shields were utilitarian-three wooden planks bound with glue and animal hides-but they transformed into a formidable defense when the infantry closed ranks in a phalanx formation.
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The Syrians showed them how to forge simple bronze speartips with a hollow socket that fit tightly over a wooden shaft. “You could outfit hundreds of recruits with them, perfect for the warfare of the period.”īefore the Hyksos invasion, Egyptian speartips were wooden and prone to splintering on contact.
“At a time when metal was so precious, all you needed was a small bit of bronze at the tip,” says Paul Elliott, a historian and reenactor who wrote Warfare in New Kingdom Egypt.
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